“It’s my job to worry about your homework.” Juliet frowned as she tried to adjust. Pain clawed at her and she couldn’t hold back a moan.
Worry furrowed Caitlin’s brow. “Right now, my English homework should be the last thing on your mind. For once, can’t you just rest and focus on yourself?”
Juliet wasn’t completely sure she knew how to do that. She had been taking care of those she loved all her life, from the time her own mother died when she was fourteen and she had to help her father raise her younger sister.
She hadn’t minded. She loved her family, loved cooking nutritious meals and keeping house. Marrying Steve right out of high school and slipping into life as a full-time mother and wife by accidentally getting pregnant on their honeymoon had seemed a natural transition.
And then, after all those wonderful years of marriage, Steve had been killed and she had been left to handle everything. The garden center. Sea Glass Cottage. The girls, with Natalie in and out of jail and treatment centers as she battled her addictions and Olivia slipping further and further away, like a freesia blossom bobbing on the breakers, being carried out to sea by a riptide.
She was trying. Exercising more, eating better. She had lost some of the stress weight she had gained after Steve died and she wanted to think she was more fit than she’d been her entire adult life, especially after her doctor told her regular exercise was one of the best ways to slow the progression of her condition.
What would happen now? Would she regain all the weight while she recovered from her injuries?
Had this stupid fall ruined everything?
The questions seemed to rattle together in her brain like dry seeds in a gourd.
“You should rest while you can,” Caitlin said, fluffing her pillow and adjusting the blanket.
Sleep did sound lovely. In sleep, she could push away all the fears and worries and unfinished tasks she didn’t make it to that day.
“What about you? Do I need to arrange a ride home for you? It will be dark soon.”
“I could take the bus if I had to, but I don’t because I’m staying here. The nurse told me this chair folds out to a bed, so I will just sleep in the room with you in case you need anything.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Why? It’s just one night.”
“Because you have school tomorrow. How do you think you’ll do on your history test on two hours of sleep in an uncomfortable hospital chair?”
“I’m planning to take a sick day tomorrow. You need someone here when you have surgery.”
She almost told Caitlin she had asked Olivia to come home, but suspected her granddaughter would not be thrilled at the information. For some reason, Caitlin didn’t seem to like her aunt right now, though they had been de facto siblings for most of Caitlin’s life and certainly since Juliet took full custody of her granddaughter after Natalie’s death, when Caitlin was not quite three.
Yet another thing Juliet couldn’t fix. Pain lodged in her chest, this time having nothing to do with her broken bones. She had tried to dig out the root of Caitlin’s anger toward her aunt, but this was one thing the girl wouldn’t share with her.
Oh well. It probably wouldn’t be an issue. She doubted Olivia would be able to come home. Her daughter was far too busy and successful and happy in the life she had created away from Cape Sanctuary. It was for the best anyway.
“I will call one of my friends to be here during the surgery. Maybe Stella or Jane could come while I’m in surgery. I understand that you might not want to stay at Sea Glass Cottage by yourself tonight. Let me call Henry and see if he can pick you up and let you stay at their place tonight.”
Caitlin lifted her chin. “Stop worrying about me. I don’t need a ride and I don’t need a babysitter because I’m staying here tonight.”
Some part of Juliet was grateful for her granddaughter’s loyalty. Caitlin could be the sweetest thing, affectionate and helpful, eager to please.
She could also be as stubborn as a mule with a canker sore.
“You have school tomorrow,” she repeated. “You can’t stay here all night. I appreciate the offer, honey. Truly I do. I’ll be okay. I can press a button if I need a single thing and the nurses will be here soon.”
“How are you going to stop me?”
She narrowed her gaze at the defiant tone, so familiar. When she spoke like that, she looked and sounded just like her mother had in the last few years when Nat had been so troubled. Slipping out at night, going to wild parties, coming home drunk or stoned.
She had learned some bitter lessons through the experience of being Natalie’s only remaining parent in the last three years of her oldest daughter’s life. She wasn’t about to make the same mistakes: passivity, inertia, acquiescence. Forget that.
“Young lady,” she said sternly. “You are still a minor and I am still your grandmother, not to mention your legal guardian. I might be in a hospital bed but that doesn’t make me completely helpless. You are not staying at this hospital tonight. I will make that clear to the entire medical staff if I have to. You don’t have to stay with Henry and Jake if you don’t want to. I can call another of your friends. Maybe Emma or Allie. It doesn’t matter to me. You choose. But you’re not staying here.”
Caitlin looked slightly shocked at her fierce response. “I just don’t want you to be alone.”
“I’m in a hospital full of people who will be coming in and out at all hours of the night to check my vital signs and take my blood and roll me this way and that. By the time they release me, I’ll be desperate for some alone time.”
Caitlin still looked as if she wanted to argue, but before she could, a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” Juliet called, grateful for the interruption.
It wasn’t a nurse with another dose of pain medicine, as she was hoping. Instead, Henry Cragun and his son Jake pushed open the door.
“Hey. You up for visitors?”
Juliet fought the urge to pull the hospital blankets over her head. How ridiculous, when she was injured and in pain, that she could worry about vanity right now, but she hated the idea of Henry Cragun seeing her like this.
Wounded, frail, broken.
Old.
She sighed. While she didn’t particularly want Henry here, perhaps he and his son could talk some sense into her stubborn granddaughter.
“Hi,” she said, aware she sounded slightly breathless. With any luck, Henry would merely assume she was in pain. He could never guess that lately she always felt this way whenever he was around.
While Jake went immediately to Caitlin to give her a hug, Henry headed to her bedside. He was carrying a vase full of flowers, big lush pale pink peonies she knew probably came from his garden. They looked feminine, almost sensual in the hands of such a tough, hardworking man.
“Those are gorgeous,” she managed, her voice squeaking. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He set them on the table beside her bed, then gave her a long look. “Oh, Juliet. What have you done to yourself now?”
She felt old and clumsy and stupid. “I broke the cardinal rule of ladders and now I’m paying the price.”
“I hear you had quite a nasty fall.”
“She has two broken ribs, a concussion and a broken hip,” Caitlin offered, ever so helpfully.
Juliet felt like an ancient old crone.
Henry winced in sympathy. “You never do things halfway, do you?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Surgery tomorrow and a few weeks of recovery and I’ll be good as new.”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly doubtful, and she wanted to throw a pillow at him. She was trying to be optimistic here. She didn’t need a hospital room full of Debbie Downers.
“I hope that’s the case,” he said. “What time is surgery tomorrow?”
�
�We’re not sure yet,” Caitlin said.
“I haven’t decided if I’m having surgery.”
It was a stupid position and she knew it. Of course she had to have surgery. She had a broken hip that needed to be repaired. She had no choice, and no amount of trying to exert a little control would change that.
“I hope you know that Caitlin is welcome to stay with us until you break out of here. Even after, if you need to go into a rehabilitation center.”
She was an old lady with a broken hip who might need to go into a nursing home to recover.
Could her life hit a lower point?
“Thank you. I was hoping you’d say that. There you go, honey. You can stay with Henry and Jake for now. I’ll compromise. You can take a sick day tomorrow to be here during my surgery as long as you email your teachers to find out what homework you might have.”
Her granddaughter pouted but apparently didn’t want to argue in front of their neighbors and friends.
“What can we do to help?” Henry sat in the visitor’s chair, entirely too close for Juliet’s comfort. Of course, anywhere he chose to sit in the room would be too close for comfort.
That was the awful pain pills talking, she told herself, but she knew it was a lie. Over the past few months, she had developed a completely ridiculous attraction to the man.
She couldn’t be attracted to him. He was her friend. One of her closest. His late wife had been one of her dearest friends.
She needed to focus on that and not on the way her pulse seemed to jump whenever he was near and her insides felt shaky and weak.
She cherished his friendship too much to ruin everything. Not only that, but he was eight years younger than her, and as a local landscape designer with a thriving company, he was one of her best clients at Harper Hill Home & Garden. She couldn’t lose sight of that.
“I don’t know yet, to be honest. Right now, I can hardly think straight. I just want to make it through the surgery tomorrow and then I’ll focus on how to make it through the next few months.”
He reached for her hand, his skin warm and a little rough from his work as a landscaping contractor.
“I would tell you to call me if you need anything, but I’m pretty sure you won’t do that, will you?”
She wanted to lean into his hand, into him, and let him take care of everything. That was one of Henry Cragun’s defining traits. He came across as a strong, capable man who could handle any crisis, from a leaky faucet to a woman who hadn’t had an orgasm with someone else in years.
She didn’t lean into him. Instead, she slipped her hand away to play with the edge of the hospital blanket. “I don’t think I need help right now, but thank you. I have good employees.” At least the ones who were left. She felt the betrayal all over again of losing Sharon.
“Well, keep me posted, then. I’ll be around.”
She found more comfort from that than she probably should. “Thank you.”
A knock at the door heralded more visitors.
“You’re a popular person today.”
“Yeah. And all I needed to do to win the popularity contest was fall off a ladder.”
He smiled as the door opened and Lucien Hall, her longtime neurologist, walked in.
Juliet could feel panic swelling in her along with the pain. Oh no. She should have anticipated this. Lucien treated her disease and was one of a very small number of people who knew about it.
If he said anything, even dropped a hint, her secret would be out and everything would change.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I was here visiting another patient and received a text from Dr. Adeno, letting me know about your injuries. I just saw you a week ago. What happened?”
“She fell off a ladder and broke two ribs and her hip. And she has a concussion,” Caitlin said, giving the doctor a curious look. Juliet’s heart dropped. It was clear her granddaughter was wondering what kind of doctor Lucien was and what reason Juliet might have had for visiting him.
Lucien gave her a look that was part disbelief and part admonishment. “What were you doing up on a ladder?”
“Hanging flowers,” she said. “I’m fine. I’m sure Dr. Adeno gave you the full report. How are you? How’s Jorge?”
Lucien had recently married his partner in a beautiful seaside service, and Harper Hill Home & Garden had helped with the flowers.
“He’s wonderful, but don’t think you’re going to change the subject that easily,” he said.
Juliet tried not to panic. She couldn’t have a conversation right now with him while Henry, Jake and Caitlin were there.
To her vast relief, Henry seemed to pick up on her distress. He glanced at the teenagers.
“Come on, kids. Let’s let Juliet and her doctor talk. We can grab some dinner then head over to Sea Glass Cottage and pick up some things for Caitlin so she can stay in the guest room.”
Caitlin looked reluctant to leave her grandmother. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”
“I’m fine. I have nurses to take care of me. Don’t worry.”
“I’ll call you later, to make sure you’re still okay.”
“Is there anything we can bring back to you later tonight? Anything from home you might find comforting?” Henry asked her, so much gentleness and kindness in his eyes that she suddenly wanted to cry.
She couldn’t lose his friendship. It was too precious to her, like a rare flower that only bloomed once every hundred years.
He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and she again fought the urge to throw her arms around his neck and let him take care of her.
“Thank you for the peonies. I can’t believe you remembered they’re my favorites.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, his voice gruff. “Don’t fall off anything in the night.”
“I’ll do my best.”
She felt that same complicated mix of gratitude and tenderness as Henry ushered his son and her granddaughter out of the hospital room, leaving her alone with her neurologist.
“So. Talk to me,” Lucien said in his no-nonsense voice. “What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” she admitted.
“You shouldn’t have been up on a ladder. You know that, right? I warned you that the new medication we were trying might cause dizziness.”
She shifted on the bed. “Yes. It’s been worth it. I haven’t had any symptoms.”
“It’s too early in the trial to know if that will continue. You know that, right? You have multiple sclerosis, Juliet. You can’t pretend you don’t. Yes, you’re lucky enough that your symptoms have been mild so far, but no one can predict what might happen.”
“I feel strong and healthy, except for the broken bones,” she muttered.
“You know that may not continue forever, though. We can keep the symptoms at bay a long time but possibly not indefinitely.”
She knew. She knew entirely too well. She woke up each morning wondering if today would be the day she would suddenly develop vision problems or her hands would go numb. With each muscle pain or spasm, she worried this was the beginning of a steep decline.
At the end of each day, she said a prayer of gratitude that she’d been able to make it through another day where she could keep up with the demands of her life.
Dr. Hall’s voice gentled. “You need to promise me that next time you’re prescribed a medication that may cause dizziness, you don’t climb up a twenty-foot ladder to hang a flower basket, got it?”
“I promise. It was a mistake. One I’m paying for dearly.”
“Dr. Adeno says she wants to operate tomorrow.”
“That’s the plan.”
“You’ll be in excellent hands. She’s a very good surgeon.”
“Nice to know.”
“If I have your permission to talk with her, I’ll give her a call to discuss
co-treatments. Some of the medications you’re on for the MS might impact your healing process.”
“Yes. You can talk to her. Thank you.”
He squeezed her hand. “Good luck tomorrow. I’ll check in while you’re still an inpatient and have my office schedule you for a few months from now so we can check in.”
After he left, the room seemed blessedly empty, but she knew it wouldn’t last. More nurses and technicians would be in to poke at her.
Juliet was exhausted suddenly. She longed to curl up on this bed and forget everything. Her pain, the accident, the burden of her MS diagnosis that she had carried alone every day for the past four years.
The bouquet Henry had brought her stirred the air with its luscious smell, and she closed her eyes, focusing on that scent and trying to picture the showy blossoms with their intricate layers of petals until she fell asleep.
3
OLIVIA
“Only another hour now, Otis. Can you believe we made it this far? We got this, right?”
The little dog in his crate on the back seat snored, which she decided to take as his answer.
She was so tired. It had taken her several hours to make all the arrangements at work, tie up loose business ends and pack up her car. She hadn’t been able to hit the road until about ten the previous night and had been driving for twelve hours, stopping only to catch an hour or so of sleep in the parking lot of a twenty-four-hour grocery store.
She had stopped for gas and to let Otis out a few other times. Other than that, she had been behind the wheel.
The scenery here was lovely as she headed south along the coast toward home. Still, she couldn’t help wondering if she was making a terrible mistake.
Her mother was in an accredited hospital with trained caregivers. What exactly could Olivia provide that they couldn’t?
What could she do in Cape Sanctuary besides get in the way? She wasn’t good at dealing with sick people. The sight of blood made her queasy and she didn’t have a lot of patience for sitting around in a hospital room.
The Sea Glass Cottage Page 3
