"I'm sure it's good, Edie," I said, but my mind was on what I could still hear going in the front of the house.
"You okay, Baby?" Jax said, catching me around my waist.
I nodded against his sweaty chest and pulled away to grab my coffee.
Nothing else mattered at the moment.
I needed coffee desperately.
"So what do you think, Jax," Edie began. "Pancakes or french toast?"
I knew they what they were doing. They were trying to distract me from the scene in the front yard.
Two scenes within a couple of days all because of me.
I had dropped into one of the dining room chairs with my full mug but found the room too confining. So I hauled myself back up to the bedroom and closed the door.
Okay, I slammed the door, if I was going to be truthful.
Not about Jack or Grams.
Not about pancakes or french toast.
Just about my stupid, screwed up old life which was thrusting into my new one.
*.*.*.*.*
They heard the bedroom door slam and looked at one another.
"Is she going to be okay?" Grams asked, her eyes wide behind her glasses.
"I hope so," Jax mumbled. But even he wasn't sure. That was a pretty intense scene between the three out in the front when he'd come down the driveway. But, he had to admit he'd had a hand in it because he'd called Sarge, who luckily had been at the Bakery.
That Belinda was a piece of work and he was sure he was only seeing the tip of the iceberg of her craziness. The way she kept coming after Lacey was a problem, and it wasn't one he would put up with, not in front of Grams anyway.
His beautiful, loving, wonderful old grandmother was dying and there wasn't anything or anyone who could help. And every time, every fucking time those words hit his brain, his heart broke a little more.
"Why don't you show me how and we'll do french toast?" he said. "Just let me shower and then we can get to it, okay?"
"Sure, Hot Stuff," she said hesitantly, glancing at the stove and then out the window.
Aw, shit.
He had hoped that the outside wouldn't touch her, not now, yet he could see that she was worried. Worried about things that she couldn't help, things she couldn't do anything to change.
"C'mere, old woman," he said as he helped her step around the walker so he could hold her.
"You grab another cup of coffee and I'll take a shower. Then you'll teach me how to do breakfast and we'll surprise Lace, alright?" he murmured, his cheek pressed into the fluff of white hair at her forehead.
"Uhm, Jax?" she murmured.
"Yeah, Grams?" he replied gently.
"You're gonna need to pull out the brass balls, Hot Stuff, because if I know anything about women, Lace is going to leave," he heard his grandmother say, muffled on his chest.
"What?" he yelped, pulling his head up quickly and looking toward the stairs.
"She's going to try and leave. She's embarrassed, Jax," Grams explained. "She feels responsible and hates that we got to see her dirty laundry."
"You need to go upstairs and love her up. Make her see stars," she rushed on, pulling away and settling herself behind the walker. "Go up there and do the nasty, boy! Convince her that we still need her and that today was nothing. Go on! Get!"
Jax took a couple of steps back, eyeing the old woman like she'd gone completely doo-lollie.
She had never steered him wrong yet. Talked a little too plainly for his taste sometimes, yet her advice had almost always been dead on.
He took the stairs two at a time and eased the door open to see that Lace was, as predicted by the little powerhouse in the kitchen, packing her clothes.
"I've got to get back, Jack," she said slowly and turned to the drawers in the dresser he'd cleared for her to use.
"Why?" he asked, and realized the question was stupid even to his own ears.
"Because I'm losing money every day the Bakery is closed," she replied calmly, but Jax could see how stiff, how fragile, she was as she placed her tops in the suitcase.
"We need you here, Lace," he said, trying to echo her calmness but he was shaking from the inside out. How had the old woman known?
"I'm just bringing you and Edie trouble, honey," she said, moving to the closet. "Trouble neither one of you need right now."
"You're wrong," he said, moving to her, pulling her back into his chest, burying his face in her hair. "We need you now more than ever, Lacey."
He felt her still and lean into him.
"Stay with us. Stay with me," he begged and didn't care if she knew it. "I need you. Need you here with me. Grams needs you, too."
He felt her back move as his ears caught her sob.
Jax turned her so she was pressed up next to him, her head in 'her' spot, their bodies as close as they could possibly get.
"Please don't leave me now, Lace," he whispered. "Stay with me. Stay with us."
She was curled up against his chest, her hands tucked under her chin.
He moved a hand and used one of her moves, the chin-grab, to bring her face to his and brought their mouths together.
"Stay with me, Lacey," he murmured against her lips before slanting and taking the kiss deeper.
Eventually they moved to the bed, after Jax had shifted the old suitcase to the floor.
And he did exactly as his dear Grams had suggested.
He loved her up, helping his Lace see stars even in the daytime.
Leading the two of them in doing the nasty in the nicest, most loving way he knew how.
Chapter 27
"And this is Lacey, my grandson's fiancée. Lacey, this is Ida, the day nurse Dr. Lindstrom's office sent over," Jax heard Gram's introduction from somewhere in the kitchen. He was on the stairs in a pair of partially buttoned jeans, no shirt or shoes. In other words, not dressed to receive company. He'd gone downstairs to see what was taking Lacey so long. He had been thinking along the lines of them having a naked party for two in the shower.
"I'm just his girlfriend," he heard Lacey say in her honeyed voice, which caused his jaw to flex and he vowed to correct that misinformation in a later conversation with her.
"I prefer to be called Miss Ida, if you don't mind," the other voice announced with a sniff.
Just from the tone given, never mind the fucking sniff, Jax turned and headed back upstairs to grab a shirt and at least a pair of socks. Anyone asking to be called 'Miss' on their first day wasn't anyone to mess with, especially before coffee.
He was just coming back out of the room as Lace hit the top of the stairs.
"What she like?" Jax whispered, still buttoning up his shirt.
"Scary as shit," Lacey whispered back, moving past him into the bedroom.
Well, then.
He slowly walked down and arranged his face into a calm, slight smile. The same kind of smile he used to wear for press conferences and award shows.
"There he is! Miss Ida, this is my grandson Jax Wynter," Edie announced proudly.
"How do you do, Miss Ida," he said, moving to kiss the top of Grams head before going to the coffeemaker that was grunting and groaning from its perch next to the stove.
Hearing no reply, Jax glanced at the woman dressed in all white and saw she was staring at his arms, his tats, exposed by the cuffs he'd rolled back.
"You're that rocker fella," she said slowly.
Jax's eyes moved to Grams before going back to the bulkhead that was to be his grandmother's daytime caregiver.
"Uh, yeah," he answered, not really knowing if the nurse had asked a question or not.
"I don't like rock," Miss Ida announced firmly. "I don't like hip-hop nor will I listen to any of that nasty rap. I like country. You play country, boy?"
Holy shit.
Lacey had the right of it. This woman was one scary bitch and didn't mind anyone knowing it.
"No, ma'am," he replied and allowed his eyes to roam over her. She was a big ol' gal with salt and pepper hair whic
h was pulled up tight. She had a humongous bullet-shaped chest which was balanced by extremely wide, womanly hips and thick legs. But it was her little waist, encircled with a slim, white, patent-leather belt that your eye caught on.
"Doc said that I was to only answer to Mrs. Edie here until she can't answer no more," Miss Ida proclaimed. "Then, and only then, am I'm supposed to answer to you."
Jax could feel his eyes do a deep blink at her words.
What kind of shit was this?
He chanced a glance at Grams and saw her staring up at the stalwart nurse almost in fucking awe.
"Uhm, okay," he said, not knowing what else there was to say. "Would you care for some coffee?"
"I do tea, and I brought my own, made just the way I like it," the battle-axe replied. "I'll take lunch with the family but will only do dinner if I have to stay past five."
Jax nodded, at a loss for words. This chick was more demanding than Denny had been about what the band needed to have on hand backstage!
Luckily, Lacey came back into the room, smelling clean and fresh from her shower.
Damn, Ida-the-Hun had interrupted his plans for their shower party.
"Coffee ready?" Lacey asked, looking between Jax, Grams and the new nurse.
Receiving no reply, she leaned against the counter to watch the last of the water drain into the coffeemaker's carafe before she pulled down four mugs.
"She brought her own tea," Jax whispered, leaning towards his girl.
"She still needs a cup," Lacey whispered back.
Jax didn't disagree, though he wanted to.
"Edie, what would you like for breakfast today?" Lace asked, glancing at the older woman who had remained silent throughout Jax's conversation with her new nurse.
"Surprise me, sweetie," Edie said gently, her eyes still stuck on the vision in white.
Jax caught Lacey's bug-eyed glance before she started handing out the cups.
"Won't you have a seat, Miss Ida?" she asked, moving on stocking feet to the fridge.
"You have any cushions for these seats? Them chairs look hard to me," the nurse asked with a frown, pulling out one of the heavy oak chairs and wiggling her way into it.
Jax ran a hand over his face before pushing himself off the counter and moving to the living room to grab a throw pillow from the sofa.
There was a knock at the back door and Jax made his way to it after dropping the cushion off at the table where Miss Ida and Grams were talking softly.
"Sarge!" he greeted and went through the complicated handshake he and the older man had established.
"Don't close up yet, Slugger. Turner and Boots are right behind me," he was told by his soon to be grandfather-in-law. Well, if Jax had any say about it, anyway.
Jax waited and then escorted the men into the kitchen.
"Boys, this is Miss Ida who will be Gram's day nurse. Miss Ida, this is Boots, Sarge and Turner," he introduced.
"Nice to meet you," she said with another sniff. "No hats in the house, please."
Jax saw Boots practically rip the baseball cap off his head and shove it in his back pocket.
"We're doing a frittata this morning, fellas," Lacey said digging through the cupboards for a cutting board and setting it in front of Gram. "You're welcome to stay if Edie says it's okay."
And the day moved on, alternating with moments of sheer terror at stepping a foot out of line and welcome relief when Jax was finally able to escape the house.
Over breakfast, he'd asked about using the old workroom on the other side of the garage as a practice space for the band.
"The stable would work better, Jax," Grams said slowly. "It's wired for electricity and with its lower ceiling might give you better sound."
The farm had a number of buildings dotted around the forty acres and he'd only come across a few in his meanderings, back in the day when he needed to be by himself.
"Cool," Boots replied.
"Awesome. Thanks, Edie," Sarge said.
Turner smiled his thanks, however he seemed too intimidated by the new nurse to utter a reply. Jax had seen his old band mate looking at the woman, but only out of the corner of his eye. It was nice to know Jax wasn't the only one minding his manners, trying to prevent a scolding he knew was going to happen at some point or another.
The woman was just so goddamn picky.
It had taken a couple of months but, after the house in Malibu sold, Jax received his and Denny's old instruments plus some equipment which Grams had asked the movers to put in the basement. It took a few trips from basement to the bed of Sarge's old Ford to get everything loaded and moved to the stable.
He and Lace were standing out in the backyard, foreheads pressed together, chins down.
"Please don't leave me alone with her," she begged.
"I know she's scary, Lace. But, as long as Gram likes her, we gotta stick with it, alright?" he said. "Why don't you do some baking? You know, a cake or something. It'd take your mind off her and give the rest of us something to look forward to."
"When will you be back?" she asked, pulling her head back and lifting her chin.
"Noon, Baby," he answered, loving how her lips felt against his as she spoke.
"Okay," she said finally, pressing against him and looping her arms around his neck.
"Missed you in the shower this morning," she whispered. "I've got a whole new slew of words to share with you."
"Slugger? If you're gonna do her, then get to it. Otherwise, Dude, let's go," Sarge rumbled.
"Love you, Lace," he said.
"Love you more, Jack," she said softly back with a squeeze before letting her arms drop.
*.*.*.*.*
Jax's suggestion actually worked.
Or maybe it was that, after the boys left, Miss Ida got to work.
I heard her help Edie with a bath and got her dressed before she stretched her out on the bed and inserted the IV line that Dr. Lindstrom had warned us would be done.
I relieved Jax of kitchen duty since he'd been so anxious to get away from the 'marauder' of a caregiver now a part of their lives. His word, not mine.
I couldn't call her that now. Not after I heard how Edie and Miss Ida interacted.
She didn't use the same voice with us as she did with the undemanding, older woman. No, the tone she used when she talked with Edie was caring, encouraging and they shared more than a few giggles and chuckles as they spoke. The laughter was something I think Grams had been missing in the years between her Pete's passing and her Jax waking up to life.
I scrounged through the pantry and decided that a layer cake filled with the new strawberries and blackberries from Edie's garden would be perfect as a center layer.
My time in the garden done, I went back to the kitchen noticing that the morning had flown by and the cakes were almost ready to come out of the oven.
"Mrs. Edie says you're the Lacey behind Lacey's Bakery," Miss Ida said.
"Yes, ma'am, I am. I took it over from my grandmother," I said, balancing the cake tins on the small potholder. I really needed to upgrade Edie's kitchen linens.
"I love that place," Miss Ida continued.
"Really? Thanks," I sent back. Like Jax said, it's always nice to meet a fan. "What did you like the best?"
"Those oatmeal cookies with the berries and white chocolate," the nurse replied quickly. "Heaven. Have you ever had those, Mrs. Edie?"
"No, no I haven't," I heard the older woman reply. "Good?"
"Oh, you better believe it. The best," Miss Ida confirmed firmly. "Maybe we can have those sometime?"
"It'd be my pleasure," I assured her. I'd climb Everest to make them for Edie. Everyone needed to taste those cookies at least once before they…
Aw, crap.
I turned off the stove and excused myself as I quickly escaped to the living room. How many times were we going to have these kind of moments? When something was going to come up and make us remember that Edie was not going to be with us for much longer?
&nb
sp; I grabbed a tissue from the ever present box Edie kept next to the remote on the end-table and tried to suck it up. It took a few moments for me to find my composure, yet when I got back to the kitchen, the two older women were deeply engrossed in their conversation and didn't seem to notice my absence.
It was a good thing.
We decided on Spaghetti Carbonara for lunch and I moved the cutting board and knife to Edie's place at the table where she seemed not to even notice the IV line dragging around as she moved.
"I can help," Miss Ida, said at last. "No reason for me to sit idle when you two are working."
Edie had a shit-load of cutting boards and knives, so I pulled another set and placed them before the nurse. I got a nod with a wink before I moved away, which made my steps stutter when I walked back to the counter.
Maybe this would work out, after all. Because, if this scary woman could make Edie's last few weeks better, then I just became her biggest fan.
Lunch was a huge affair, filled with a lot of talk, a lot of teasing and laughter. The boys made short work of the pasta and grilled parmesan bread I'd made as well as the huge salad. The cake was a hit too and while I'd planned on leftovers to have after dinner, that wasn't going to happen.
Miss Ida stepped out to the backyard as Edie took her afternoon nap and I saw her on her cellphone laughing and smiling as she walked and talked while admiring the garden of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Again, I saw a different person as she moved and spoke softly. Not quite so intimidating or scary.
I received my own call that afternoon.
Ms. Russell had been approached with an offer to buy the strip mall for a staggeringly outrageous sum.
I told her that I needed to consider it and that I'd get back to her later.
I needed to think.
But the buy-out of one of Grandma Lilly's properties was the least of those things that needed to be thought about.
Chapter 28
It had only taken a couple of days and things had settled into a routine.
The fellas, as Edie called them, showed up in time for lunch and then would take off to the stable to practice until dinner time. From the smiles, laughs and ragging they gave each other when they came back to the farmhouse, I was guessing that the practices were going well.
Everybody Falls Page 23
