“How’s Juliet?” Ryan asked. “Can she play?”
“Yeah. She seems fine. It hurts her to sit down, but it hasn’t affected her play. She had the low round for the tournament today. Shot a 68.”
“Fascinating,” Jamie said. “What time does the bus leave?”
He looked at his watch. “About a half hour. Are you going with us?”
“Yeah. Ryan’s team’s on the same flight. One big happy family.”
“Great. See you two in a few.”
As they watched him walk down the hall, Jamie said, “I wonder why Juliet’s making herself scarce. Lauren said she didn’t eat with the team yesterday either.”
“I hope her ass is so sore she can’t sit down to take a leak,” Ryan grumbled.
It was late when they got home, so Jamie begged off calling her mother. Ryan was a little puzzled by her reticence, but she didn’t want to press the issue. Jamie was only taking a Vicodin to sleep, but Ryan was still making her drink a glass of Metamucil—just to be sure.
Jamie swallowed the drink, making a face. Then she took Ryan by the hand and they went up to bed. “Can I finally sleep with you?” she asked.
“I promised you, didn’t I? I just didn’t want to squish you.”
“I’ll let you know if you’re squishing me.” Jamie looked at the bed. “We might have to switch sides.”
“Oh. Right. You need to sleep on your right. We’re figure out a way to keep you comfortable.”
“I won’t be comfortable without you,” Jamie said. “That’s the important thing.”
Early on Monday morning, Ryan gasped when she slid back the shower curtain and saw Jamie perched on the edge of the sink, staring at her balefully. Ryan grabbed a towel and wiped her face so she could see her partner. “What’s wrong?”
“I want a shower,” Jamie pouted.
“Ooo … I’ll give you a shower tonight. I just don’t have time now, babe. You kept me in bed too long.”
“I didn’t know you had to be at school so early.”
Ryan was quickly drying herself, doing a rather haphazard job. “I’ll give you a quick sponge-bath. Just give me a sec.”
Jamie grumbled to herself, but she adjusted the temperature of the water in the sink taps and handed Ryan a washcloth. “Just wash my right armpit, I can do the rest.”
“Poor pumpkin … can’t wash her own armpit.” Ryan did a thorough job, then asked, “Sure you don’t want me to do the rest?”
“No,” Jamie sniffed. “It’s undignified. I’ll do it myself.”
Ryan took her cue and scampered out of the bathroom, figuring it was better to go to school with her hair wet than hang around and annoy her ill-tempered lover.
Since she didn’t have to go to golf practice, Jamie got to observe her favorite morning ritual … drinking coffee and reading The New York Times while listening to National Public Radio. Getting to meet the day in a leisurely way improved her mood substantially, and she was feeling good when she finally called her mother.
“Hey, Mom,” she said when Catherine answered.
“Hello, dear. How did your weekend go?”
“Mostly bad. A teammate and I were talking outside the hotel and she fell backwards. I tried to stop her, but she pulled me over. I landed on my elbow and broke it.”
“Oh, my God!”
Jamie knew it was childish, but it made her feel good to have her mother over-react to her injury. “It’s not a bad break. Ryan’s had the same one and she said it’s not a big deal.”
“Why aren’t you in the hospital?” Catherine’s voice was so high-pitched it almost squeaked.
“It’s really not that bad, Mom. I just need to see a doctor in the next couple of days.”
“We’ll go today,” Catherine said. “I’ll find the best doctor in the Bay Area and get you an appointment. I’ll call you right back.”
Jamie stared at the phone in her hand, amazed that her mother was taking such control. Amazed and very pleased.
It took almost an hour, but Catherine delivered on her promise. “It looks like the best orthopedist is in the city,” she said. “The best I could do is five o’clock tonight.”
“You found a doctor who has office hours at five o’clock?”
“I’m not sure if he has office hours,” Catherine said, chuckling softly, “but he’s seeing you then. I’ll come pick you up at around 3:30.”
“Oh, Mom, that’s so far out of your way. I can drive myself.” She paused and said, “If I drive Ryan’s car. I’m not gonna be driving mine until my arm’s better.”
“You’re not driving anything, dear. Now don’t argue with me. We’ll leave early and have a little snack first if we have to kill time.”
“All right,” Jamie said. “Mother knows best. See you then.” She hung up, feeling much better than she’d started out. Her good mood lasted until she tried to get dressed and realized she couldn’t put on her bra or her running shoes.
Around noon, Mia was lying on the floor of the living room, beginning to do research for a paper for one of her humanities classes when the doorbell rang. She was hesitant to open the door ever since Jordan had told her about the rapist in the neighborhood, so she went to the door and looked out the peephole. The person in the hallway was standing far too close for her to make out who it was. “Would you back up please?” she yelled.
“Fed Ex,” the man said, backing up so she could see his uniform.
She opened the door and gave him a puzzled look. “For who?”
He looked at the envelope. “Mia Christopher. That you?”
“Yeah. What did I get?”
Smiling, he said, “I don’t send ’em, I just deliver ’em.” He handed her the electronic register for her signature and looked at her as she signed. “Maybe it’s a big check.”
“Ya never know. Thanks,” she said, taking the envelope and going back inside. The envelope was open in seconds and she fished inside, coming out with a couple of pieces of paper. The larger one was a piece of stationery, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the elegant JDSE engraved on the outside of the folded note. Trembling fingers hastily opened it.
Mia,
I’m taking advantage of the momentary weakness you showed when we talked on the phone. I know it’s hard for you to accept money from me, but I offer it because I’m your friend, and it’s important to me that you’re able to take advantage of some of the opportunities that are presented by Jordan’s being on the Olympic team.
You’ll be in your fifties by the time you can afford to travel to Russia again, so if you go, I really want you to see as much as possible. Russia might not even be on your list of places that you’d like to see, but it’s a remarkably lovely country, and I know you’d love it if you saw it. So—if you go, I’ve arranged for you to have a tour guide. She’s the same woman we used when we went, and I know you’d like her. Send her an e-mail if you decide to go and she’ll work up an itinerary for you. She’ll bill me, and I’ll tip her. If you do this, you’ll make me happy, and I know you want me to be happy, right?
Now, if you don’t go, I’m sending you a plane ticket back home. I don’t want you sitting in that apartment by yourself, and Ryan and I miss you too much to even think of you having time available and not visiting us. So, again, it’s all about me. If you don’t use the plane ticket now, you can use it later. It doesn’t have any restrictions, and it’s good for a year.
We love you sweetie, and we want you to make the most of this experience. If I had my choice, you’d come home while Jordan’s gone, but I want you to do what makes you and Jordan happy. That’s my goal.
Love and kisses,
Jamie
Mia reached back into the envelope and found the airline ticket. She pressed it to her mouth and gave it a kiss, wishing she could do the same to her best friend.
Catherine knocked on the door at 3:15, and Jamie dashed down the stairs to greet her. To her surprise, her mother almost broke into tears when she took in her
massive splint.
“Oh, honey, that looks so awful!” She reached out and touched Jamie’s arm with a most gentle caress, then looked at her face. “Are you in a lot of pain?”
“No, not anymore. This happened on Friday night. It hurt a lot on Saturday, but it’s better now.” She could see her mother swallow, then Catherine smiled and walked into the house.
She put her purse down and said, “May I get a drink of water?”
“Sure. I’ll get it for you.”
“Nonsense. I know my way around your house very well.” She went into the kitchen and got out a glass, then spent a minute letting the water run. She took a few sips and put the glass in the sink. Jamie could see her shoulders rise and fall, then her mother turned to her. “Why didn’t you call me sooner?”
She looked so hurt; Jamie felt the guilt hit her like a blow. Not having a valid excuse, she said, “I didn’t want to worry you, Mom. I was in Arizona and there was nothing you could do.”
Catherine approached and cupped her daughter’s cheek. She spent a moment looking into her eyes, then said, “That doesn’t matter. It’s important to me to know that you’ll call me when bad things happen to you. I don’t need to be protected, dear. I need to be involved.”
Her lower lip quivered and she started to cry. “I’m s…sorry.”
Catherine wrapped her arms around her daughter and ran a hand through her hair. “It’s all right, Jamie. It’s all right.”
“It was stupid of me not to call you. I … really feel bad.”
“It’s all right,” Catherine said again. “Just promise you’ll call if something major happens to you … good or bad.” She pulled back and kissed Jamie’s wet cheek. “I hope it’s all good.”
“I’m just … I’m a little emotional,” Jamie said. “I’m depressed about not being able to play anymore, and I keep finding things I can’t do, and it frustrates me!”
It didn’t take Catherine much thought to come up with a solution. “I’ll send Marta to stay with you until you’re better.”
“No, no,” Jamie said, laughing a little. “It’s nothing big. Ryan can take care of me.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Yeah. Would you mind tying my shoes? I could only put on these slip-ons, and they give me a blister when I don’t wear stockings.”
“Oh, my! I suppose you can’t tie your shoes. We’ll stop and get you some tennis shoes that you don’t have to tie.”
“I could use a nice bra that you don’t have to hook,” Jamie said, giving her mother a small smile.
“Are you sure you don’t want Marta to come? She could dress you and make you a nice breakfast.”
“Tempting, Mom, but I’m sure Ryan will be happy to dress me. It just didn’t dawn on me this morning before she left.”
“You keep a list, honey. If there’s anything you need, I’ll make sure you have it.”
They were almost a half hour early for the appointment. Catherine guided her Mercedes into an underground parking lot and had started to walk away when the parking attendant handed her a receipt. “Oh! I left something in the trunk. Would you press the button on the dashboard by your knee?”
The young man did as she asked, and Jamie watched her mother struggle to remove a large basket from the car. “What in the heck is that?”
“Oh.” Catherine cast a quick glance at the bundle. “I called a friend of mine whose husband is a well-known orthopedic surgeon. He called me back and said you didn’t need to see a surgeon, and he recommended the fellow we’re seeing this afternoon.”
“Uh-huh.” Jamie put her sunglasses back on when they reached the sidewalk. “Why the basket?”
“He told me that Doctor Maynard is a wine collector, so I bought him a few bottles for going out of his way for us.” Jamie tried to look in the basket, but her mother moved it to her other hand. “No peeking. You know too much about wine.”
Jamie made a face and laughed. “That bad, huh?”
“I hate to drop names and call in favors,” Catherine said. “When I do it, the least I can do is offer a little gift in return.”
“I saw an Haut Brion in there,” Jamie said, wiggling her eyebrows. “If that’s over ten years old … that’s not a little gift.”
“None of your business,” Catherine said, shaking her head and looking oddly adolescent. “This is my deal.”
“Let’s get some coffee,” Jamie said, twitching her head towards a Starbucks. “I’ll buy.”
When they were settled with their drinks, Jamie said, “You seem very chipper today.” Then she remembered what might have cheered her mother up over the weekend and she regretted having said anything.
“I’m just happy to be with you,” Catherine said.
Now that she’d raised the issue, Jamie didn’t want to let it go. “Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yes. It was … good.” Catherine smiled at her, offering nothing more.
“Did you do anything special?”
Catherine took a sip of her coffee. “Hot,” she said, frowning at the cup. She was clearly ready to let the question drop, but Jamie was gazing at her, waiting for an answer. “Special?” she asked, looking thoughtful. “No, not really. I went out to dinner, looked at some art.”
“At a museum?”
“No. I did a gallery stroll. Oh!” she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “I bought a new piece! I’ve been watching a young artist named Vincent Desiderio for a few years, and I’ve wanted to acquire one of his paintings. I saw one this weekend and knew it was the one.”
“Cool! I want to see it.”
“It’ll take a little while. It has to be shipped …” Catherine looked like she wanted to pull her sentence right back into her mouth. “I mean … delivered.”
“Right,” Jamie said, smiling tightly. “Well, let me know when you’ve had it hung.” She actually felt sorry for her mother, who looked a little ill. “Where will you put it?”
“In the city. My new library, I think.”
“Cool. How’s that going?”
“Oh, we haven’t gotten very far. Building permits and all that sort of thing. But I’m not in a hurry. I’m not really looking forward to having my new house in disarray, so even though I want a library—I’m not excited about the process.”
“You love to redecorate,” Jamie said. “Admit it.”
“Yes, I do. But I’m enjoying my new home, and I think there will be too much mess to live there while the work is going on.”
“Mmm … you could always stay at Dad’s place in the city. The doorman would probably wave you right in. ‘Good afternoon, Mrs. Evans.’ He’d probably act like he’d just seen you yesterday.”
Checking her watch, Catherine seemed to gather herself before she said, “I’ve made a decision about my name, honey.”
Jamie looked as confused as she felt. “Your name?”
“My surname. I’ve decided to go back to my maiden name.”
“You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not kidding. I hadn’t thought much about it, but I need a new start. And one way to reclaim my identity is to go back to the name I was born with.”
“I’m … stunned.” Jamie’s eyes were wide and she looked like she might cry. “I … never considered that you’d do that.” She looked down for a moment, then asked, “Do you hate Daddy that much?”
Catherine covered her daughter’s hand, noting it was cool and damp. “No, of course I don’t. Your father and I are getting along very well, honey. Better than we did when we were married, to be honest. This has nothing to do with him.”
“How can it not?”
“I’m doing this for me, Jamie. I’ve been thinking a lot about my great-grandmother.”
“Dunlop?”
“No. Smith. I think I’ve told you that her maiden name was Smith. I’m getting a late start, but she’s the person in my family I’d most like to emulate. I want to reclaim her name and remind myself that if she could make a diff
erence in her world … I should have a very easy time making a difference in mine.”
Jamie blinked and looked at her mother for a moment. “Is that … is that something you’ve been thinking about for a while?”
“Yes,” Catherine said decisively. “Very much. It’s time to stop licking my wounds and start living my life.”
Jamie’s face lit up. “That’s so good to hear, Mom. Really.”
“I’ve been down for months. It’s time to get out of my funk.”
“God. If both you and Ryan start feeling better, I won’t know what to do!”
“Just relax and enjoy it,” Catherine said. “Live in the moment.”
“My God, you’re sounding more like Ryan every day!”
“Now that would be a goal!”
Ryan was already home when Jamie and Catherine arrived bearing dinner. “Ooo … what do we have?” she asked when she answered the door. She played like she was only interested in the food, trying to get the bag from Catherine’s hand, but neither woman was fooled.
“Get your nose out of the food, O’Flaherty,” Jamie said. “Act like a human in front of my mother.”
“Oh! Your mother’s here!” She reached out and hugged Catherine, then took a look at Jamie’s arm. “Not much difference there, sport.”
“There’s a big difference,” Jamie said, following her mother into the house. “Dr. Maynard took off that wrapping under the splint. It’s in two pieces and he said I can take it off to shower. I can’t wait,” she said dramatically.
“Can we have dinner first? I’m faint with the hunger!”
“I suppose. Oh, before I forget, you have to dress me in the morning. I can’t hook my bra and I hate to wear a sports bra.”
“But we got her some nice tennis shoes that have Velcro on them,” Catherine said.
“The shopping twins are at it again. You know, I’m a little surprised the doc left you with the splint,” Ryan said. “I thought you’d have something fancy.”
“I will by tomorrow,” Jamie said, grinning. “He had a guy take an impression of my arm and he’s gonna make a custom, high-tech splint for me. I don’t think I’ll be able to get it autographed, though.”
Osmosis Page 13
