What They Left Behind

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What They Left Behind Page 55

by Karen Teagarden

The next thing Gennie knew she was in a hospital. She vaguely remembered being inside an ambulance. They put smelling salts under her nose and she regained consciousness. She didn’t remember much after that. They must have given her a sedative or something.

  Gennie sat up straight in the bed. Where’s Michele? She scanned the room. Ben was slumped over in a chair, sleeping. Holy cow, Gennie thought, it must be a lot later than I imagined. She looked at the alarm clock on the side table. It was five minutes after six, but she didn’t know if it was AM or PM. There were no windows in the room and all the lights were on. She could hear a little bit of activity outside in the hallway.

  She was about to turn on the TV when she remembered. If the news was on, she would be sure to hear of what happened and she didn’t want to be reminded of it.

  She slumped back into her bed. Oh God, she thought, let this be a dream. She wished Rory would come into the room and tell her he was all right.

  No one could have survived that crash, though. Gennie could still see the explosion and she whimpered in response. He was definitely gone.

  She threw a blanket over her head. She wanted to go back to sleep and forget what happened, but sleep wouldn’t come. Unfortunately, she was well rested.

  Ben stirred. With his eyes opened a crack, he looked at his watch and groaned.

  “Are you awake?” Gennie asked.

  “Sort of,” he said, his voice slurred. He rubbed his eyes.

  “When did you get here?”

  “Yesterday. Rory’s parents called me and told me what happened. They came down here too.”

  “I don’t want to see them right now.” She was afraid that if she saw the pain they were in, it would set her off.

  “They’re at your house, taking care of Michele.”

  “How is she?”

  “She’s doing good…as well as can be expected, I guess.”

  Gennie nodded. Tears blurred her vision.

  Ben walked over and gave her a hug.

  That was too much for Gennie to take. She sobbed into his shoulder for several minutes.

  “Geez,” Ben said, as her crying subsided. “I feel like I took a shower with my clothes on.”

  Gennie chuckled in spite of herself.

  “Would you like breakfast?” he asked. “I’ll order some for you.”

  “No, I can’t eat right now.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I can’t eat knowing Rory’s…you know…” She let a low sob.

  Ben held her and patted her back. “Nothing can be done about that now. Besides, he’d want you to eat. You need to keep your strength up.”

  “But…”

  “Hey, no buts about it. If something had happened to you, would you want Rory to stop eating because you were gone?”

  Of course not.”

  “See? Come on, let’s get you some breakfast.”

  Gennie ordered a piece of toast, an egg, and a glass of orange juice. She was relieved when they came. It made things seem so normal, even though they weren’t.

  At eight o’clock, the doctor examined her and determined that she was well enough to go home from the hospital. She dressed in the clothes Ben brought from her home and was wheeled to Ben’s car wearing one of his hooded sweatshirts, in case there were photographers wanting to take her picture. The car was waiting just outside the entrance. She left with a bottle filled with Valium, one of which she took immediately.

  “Michele can’t wait to see you,” Ben said.

  Gennie wasn’t in the mood for talking. She felt like she had been pulled through a wringer several times.

  “It’s all right,” Ben replied in response to her silence. “You take it easy.”

  When they pulled up to her house, Michele peeked out through the kitchen window and opened the door.

  “Mommy!” she cried.

  “Hi, sweetheart,” Gennie said. She walked up to the door and held her daughter tight. “God, I missed you.”

  “I missed you too.”

  “How are Grandma and Grandpa taking care of you?”

  “Good. Grandma made me chocolate chip pancakes today.”

  “That sounds yummy.” She was glad her in-laws were keeping Michele busy and happy.

  “Grandma’s making cookies now. Wanna see how they’re doing?”

  “Sure,” Gennie replied. She took her daughter’s hand and they went inside.

  Carla was keeping herself very occupied. Wax paper covered the counters and cookies filled half of them.

  “Hello, Mrs. Fox,” Ben said. “Mind if I have a cookie?”

  “Not at all,” she said. “Help yourself.”

  “Can I have one, Grandma?” Michele asked.

  “Of course. I made them for you, sweetie.”

  Gennie didn’t know what to do or say, so she let Carla speak first.

  “Do you want one too, Gennie?” she asked.

  “Maybe later,” she replied.

  “How are you doing?”

  “Uh…I don’t know. Trying to keep myself together, I guess.”

  There was an awkward silence. Carla nodded in empathy.

  “Well…don’t worry about a thing. I cleaned the whole house. Eugene’s taking care of all the arrangements. If there’s any reporters or news people that come by, I’ll tell them you have no comment. You just relax and play with Michele.”

  “All right,” Gennie said tiredly.

  The valium kicked in about a half hour later and Gennie retired to her bedroom. Carla did a good job of cleaning the house. There wasn’t a speck of dirt or a sign of Rory anywhere. All his personal effects were gone. Gennie opened their closet and peeked inside. His end was nothing more than bare walls. Even the hangers had disappeared. He had been erased from her life.

  Gennie collapsed on the bed. How was she going to make it without him? She wasn’t worried about money. Rory had a half million-dollar life insurance policy and Gennie could always get a job when that ran out. She was more worried about being alone. Life without him was going to be a nightmare. She’d never be able to replace him, not that she wanted to. There was only one Rory Fox in the entire world and now he was gone.

  Tears streamed down her cheeks before she fell asleep.

  Chapter 56: June 2

 

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