Michael put down his food. “It’s just what?”
“I don’t know,” she shook her head, “work is starting to get to me, that’s all.”
“How so?”
Maggie stared out the window and across the street. “I had this case on Monday? Guy beat the shit out of his girlfriend’s two year old because the kid spilled a glass of juice on the floor. After the guy was convicted, the girlfriend turned on me. Said I broke up her family, how was she going to be able to pay her bills with her baby-daddy in jail?”
Michael watched her and said nothing. She sighed. “I’m getting tired of seeing the worst of humanity all the time. It’s making me feel old.” She glanced up at him. “It’s not a big deal, I’m just in a funk, I guess.”
“What does Beau say?” he asked.
“I don’t bother Bobby with my work stuff. He’s got enough going on what with custody issues with his ex and traveling all over.” She looked at him. “Did you know that in about six months the network could decide they don’t want him anymore? He’d be out of a job and lose the apartment.”
“I don’t think he needs to worry about his job,” Michael said. “He seems to be pretty popular.” He pursed his lips. “Back to you, though... Ever think about moving on, maybe leave criminal law entirely?”
Maggie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“I’m sorry that I make this whole business harder on you.” He waved a hand vaguely in front of himself.
“You’re coping the best you can, I know that,” she said. “And I know it’s terrifying. It would be nice if you stayed engaged in the process, that’s all.”
“You have my word,” he promised, right hand held high.
* * *
“Hey there, cher,” Bobby greeted when she answered her phone. “How’s my girl?”
There was no stopping her smile. “Hey yourself, bayou boy. I’m alright. How was your day?”
“It’s better now. I’m missing you like crazy. At least I’m done traveling until Sunday, and then I get to come back to you,” he said.
“How’s Savannah?” she asked.
He laughed out loud. “She’s a hot mess, like always. We went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and ended up played games for a couple of hours after we ate. She came home with a ton of prizes, and now she’s finally asleep, fingers crossed. I think we’ll head to the zoo tomorrow.”
Maggie smiled as she imagined Bobby and Savannah enjoying their time together. “That sounds nice. I’m glad you’re getting to spend the weekend with her.”
“It’s great. But did I mention that I miss you?”
She laughed lightly. “I think I heard that rumor someplace. I miss you, too.”
“How’s work? How’s Michael?”
Maggie sighed. “Oh, you know. Work is work. Pretty much same shit, different day. And Michael...” She paused. “Michael had a doctor’s appointment today. The tumors aren’t shrinking and they want to do more chemotherapy and add radiation.”
Bobby let out a low whistle. “How’s he taking it?”
“In typical Michael fashion,” she rolled her eyes. “He just checks out and makes me handle the information. Actually, he apologized later when we were at lunch. Which reminds me!” Her tone grew stronger. “I hear that you’ve been bringing him beer and junk food late at night.”
“What?” he laughed, all mock indignation. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
She sighed again. “I’m not mad. Matter of fact, I should thank you. He said it makes him feel ‘normal,’ although he’ll probably never tell you that. It means a lot to him. And I appreciate you for being such a great guy.”
“I know you appreciate me, cher,” he said, “but I’m pretty sure it’s because I sex you up.” His chuckle was low and seductive.
“Well, there is that,” she laughed. “Speaking of which... Where are we spending Sunday night? Your place or mine?”
Chapter 15
As Michael was ushered to his recliner in the chemotherapy room, he glanced around. “Will Luther Robinson be here today?”
The nurse smiled benignly. “I’m not sure. Let’s get you settled, shall we?”
Quickly, she hooked him up to the IV and left to assist another patient.
“Excuse me,” said a woman seated in the recliner across the room. “Luther got good news last week. He’s in remission.”
“Is he?” Michael stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Good for him.”
“They can’t tell us anything,” she nodded her head, indicating the hospital staff. “HIPAA and all that.”
Michael nodded. “Thanks for telling me.” He settled back into his seat with his thoughts.
The television on the opposite wall was tuned to a daytime talk show. Michael rested his head against the back of the recliner and closed his eyes, intending to doze.
“I figured I’d find you lazing around here.”
Michael opened his eyes to see Luther standing at the foot of his chair, brown eyes sparkling with amusement. Michael sat up. “Hey there. I didn’t expect to see you here. Someone said you had a clean bill of health on your last check.”
“I did indeed,” said Luther as he pulled a chair to Michael’s side. “I figured I’d check in on you, see how you were doing. I thought you might need another chess lesson.” The older man began setting up a chess board on a tray table.
Michael laughed. “Chess lesson? I think I’m up for teaching you a thing or two.” The two men laughed together.
They played wordlessly for a time, each focused on the game. Finally Michael spoke. “It’s really good news. I’m glad for you.”
A slow smile crept across Luther’s face. “Yeah, it was something when they told us. I couldn’t believe it at first. I was afraid it was a dream, that I’d wake up and be here hooked up to one of these machines.” He hooked a thumb in the direction of Michael’s IV.
Luther gazed pensively across the room. “You know, when I was first diagnosed, I was a mess. I know I was hell to live with, but my Betsy is a patient woman. I kept thinking, ‘Why me? Why do I have to be sick?’.” He shook his head. “As a very young man I started a framing business from nothing. Worked eighty hours a week to build it into something. I raised four kids, put them all through college. I paid my taxes and donated to charity. How could something like this happen to me?”
He fixed Michael with an earnest look. “I was having one hell of a pity party. Then one day it occurred to me, ‘Why not me? What’s so special about me that I shouldn’t have some misfortune in my life?’.”
Michael set his mouth in a grim line as he stared down at the chess board. “I figure I pretty much had this coming.”
“What makes you say that?”
He raised his eyes to meet Luther’s. “I’ve been a bastard to nearly everyone I’ve ever met. I think this is my punishment.”
He watched as Luther rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, man, you can’t really think that your cancer is a punishment.”
Michael shrugged. “I don’t know. My friend Maggie thinks I’m being stupid. She says that people get cancer. It’s not karmic payback or something.”
“I’d say Maggie has a good head on her shoulders. You should listen to her.”
“I don’t know.” Michael sighed deeply and looked around the room. “I started radiation last week. Plus this new round of chemo.” He looked back a Luther. “I have no idea if any of this is going to work. But I’m determined to do some good with the time I have, whether it’s long or short.”
“Nothing in the world wrong with that. Nothing at all.” Luther smiled. “Did I tell you that since the doctors said I was clear, Betsy says I need to be at church every Sunday?”
“No,” Michael laughed. “But Betsy is a smart woman. You should listen to her.”
The two men finished their game, and afterward, they had coffee in a café down the block from the hospital. Throughout the summer, Luther showed up regularly when Michael went to
chemo and they took turns beating each other at chess. For his part, Michael was happy to have someone else he could count as a friend.
Chapter 16
Tiny loose gravel crunched beneath her brown leather sandals as Maggie clipped along the pavement. She paused, scanning the great lawn looking for Bobby. Anxiously, she dialed him again. “I still don’t see you,” she said.
“I see you and you look beautiful. Stay where you are, cher. I’ll be right there.”
She dropped her phone back into her summer bag and distractedly wiped her palms on the skirt of her sapphire colored sundress. She glanced down at herself and for the hundredth time that afternoon hoped that the dress was appropriate for a July 4th family celebration. Bobby had asked her to meet him along with his parents and Savannah for a picnic supper in the park before the fireworks.
Squinting with a hand shading her eyes, she finally saw him striding towards her, lop-sided grin in place, and she let her eyes drink in the way his shoulders and chest were showcased by his fitted brown v-neck t-shirt. Khaki cargo shorts ended where his muscular calves began, and umber leather deck shoes completed the outfit.
When he reached her, she could see herself reflected in his mirrored aviators. “You look amazing,” he grinned, scooping her up and whirling her around.
“Thanks, so do you,” she said, glancing around self-consciously as he set her back down.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I just want your family to like me,” she said softly. “I don’t want to offend them.”
Taking her hand in his, he kissed it gently. “They’re going to love you, just like I do.” Together they left the sidewalk and walked across the grass, dodging picnic blankets that had been placed around like staked claims until they came to a large blanket of blue paisley and edged in blue piping. Beside the blanket were five folding outdoor chairs, two of which were occupied by a middle aged man and woman. A small blonde girl sprawled on the blanket, leaving the pink child-sized chair vacant.
Please let them like me, Maggie prayed as they all looked up at her.
“Maman, Pop, this is Maggie Flynn.” Bobby turned to her. “Maggie, this is my mother and father, Jerilyn and Justin Beaulieu.”
They both stood, and Maggie reached out to shake their hands. “Mr. and Mrs. Beaulieu, I’m so happy to meet you.”
Jerilyn reached her first and, ignoring the handshake, went straight in for a huge bear hug. “Oh, ma cher, I have heard so much about you from my son. I’m glad to finally meet you. And honey, you can just call me Jerilyn. Mrs. Beaulieu was my mother-in-law.”
Bobby steadied Maggie with a gentle touch on the small of her back when his mother released her. Justin hugged Maggie gently and kissed her cheek. “I can see my boy has good taste. It’s nice to meet you, Maggie. I’m Justin.”
“And this,” continued Bobby as he leaned down to scoop up his daughter, “is Savannah. Can you say hi to Maggie?”
“Hi,” said the little girl shyly as she lay her head on Bobby’s shoulder.
Maggie smiled at her. “Hello, Savannah. I’m happy to meet you.”
“Come sit, cher,” Jerilyn said. “Tell us all about yourself.”
Maggie looked wide-eyed to Bobby who smiled happily as he sat next to Savannah on the blanket. “I, uh, well...”
The next hour was spent with Maggie answering questions, Bobby interrupting, Jerilyn telling stories from when Bobby and his sisters were growing up, the entire conversation punctuated with laughter. Maggie realized that she was feeling more and more at ease as the afternoon wore on.
Glancing at Justin, she could see where Bobby got his rugged good looks, thinking to herself that he was probably a foreshadowing of how Bobby would look later in life. They enjoyed fried chicken and potato salad, freshly made that morning by Jerilyn in Bobby’s kitchen, washing it all down with glasses of sweet tea. As the sun began to sink, homemade coconut cream pie was served.
“Daddy, I want to go see the water,” Savannah said, pointing to the lake at the bottom of the hill.
“Okay, baby, we can walk down there,” Bobby said.
The little girl shook her head and whispered in his ear. Bobby’s eyes widened and he looked to Maggie. “Ask her, then.”
Shyly, Savannah approached Maggie. “Will you take me to see the water?”
“Um, sure, if that’s okay with your dad,” Maggie answered, surprised.
“You two go on down there,” Bobby told Savannah. “I’ll meet you there in a while. And you mind Maggie, you hear? Be a good girl.”
As they left the picnic blanket, the little girl slipped her hand into Maggie’s and began chattering about the things she’d seen since arriving in the city. Bobby felt a lump forming in his throat as he watched the two people he loved most in the world walk hand in hand down the hill.
“She’s a nice little girl, Ro-bert,” his mother said. “I like her very much. And she loves you, you can see it in her eyes.”
“I love her, too, maman,” he said.
“She’s a real pretty little thing,” his father said. “Like your maman said, dat ‘tite fille loves you. Makes me happy to see.”
Silently, they watched as Maggie and Savannah reached the pond. Together, the two picked up pebbles along the edge and tossed them into the water.
“I’m so happy I could bust,” Bobby said, grinning.
“Go to them,” Jerilyn said. “We’ll be fine right here, won’t we, Papa?”
They watched as their son strode down the hill towards Maggie and Savannah. When he reached them, he pulled Maggie close for a tender kiss before lifting Savannah up to sit on his shoulders. The trio began making their way back to the picnic blanket but stopped at some sort of vendor’s stand. Ten minutes later they returned.
“What took so long? I saw you start coming back a long time ago,” Jerilyn commented to Savannah.
“We buyed some presents,” she answered excitedly.
“Presents?” her grandmother exclaimed. “Mercy me!”
“My girls wanted jewelry,” Bobby grinned. “How could I say no?”
Savannah scampered to Justin and Jerilyn with a small plastic bag. “This is for you, Papa,” she said, handing him a blue plastic glow necklace. “This one is for Nana,” she said, handing Jerilyn a purple one. “Daddy gets the yellow one,” she added, handing one to Bobby, “and Maggie gets the red one, ’cause her hair is red.” She removed the remaining necklace as the adults laughed. “And this one is mine, ’cause I love pink the bestest.”
“Perfect, ma ‘tite cher,” Justin said, grinning at his granddaughter. He dutifully put on the necklace, as did everyone else. The plastic rings around their necks glowed brighter in the growing dusk.
“Cool!” Savannah exclaimed as she took her seat in her pink chair.
Maggie giggled. “We’re styling and profiling.”
When the fireworks started, Savannah climbed onto Bobby’s lap. He kissed her head gently and reached for Maggie’s hand as they watched the extensive pyrotechnic display. A satisfied sigh escaped his lips. This is what contentment feels like, right here, he thought as he glanced at Maggie.
Her eyes were on the sky and the light of the fireworks reflected on her face. When she turned suddenly and caught him staring, she flashed him her brightest smile before leaning over to kiss him.
Following the fireworks show, Maggie helped gather up the chairs and picnic supplies. Savannah had passed out and Bobby held the sleeping child against his shoulder. They all began to make their way back to the street among the throngs of people leaving the park.
Once they were a block away from the celebration, Bobby turned to his parents. “Your hotel is about three blocks that way,” he pointed. “My apartment is five more blocks this way.” He nodded his head in the opposite direction, speaking softly to avoid waking Savannah.
“Oh,” said Maggie, surprised. “I thought you were staying with Bobby.”
“We’re being treated to a night in a fancy hote
l,” beamed Jerilyn. “Just us grownups,” she added, winking at Justin. “We’re booked for a couples massage later tonight.”
“How nice!” Maggie grinned. “I hope you enjoy it.”
“I’m sure we will,” said Justin, smiling. “I’m so happy to finally meet you, Maggie.”
“I’m happy to meet you, too,” Maggie returned, hugging them both.
“Now, cher,” Jerilyn said seriously, “you will come down to Louisiana for Thanksgiving.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Maggie answered. “I’m looking forward to it.” Bobby and Maggie watched as his parents walked arm in arm heading for their hotel.
“They’re so nice,” she told him as they turned and made their own way toward Bobby’s apartment building.
“They really liked you, too, cher.”
Minutes later they were stepping into the elevator for the ride to the twenty-first floor. Bobby shifted Savannah’s weight slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. Maggie carried four chairs, their bags slung two over each shoulder, with the child-sized chair in her hands. She looked up and Bobby was grinning at her. “Stay the night, cher.”
She frowned slightly. “But what about...” she whispered, nodding at the sleeping child.
“Stay,” he grinned.
He took Savannah directly to his guest bedroom while Maggie leaned the chairs against the bench in the foyer. Sighing, she crossed to the large window that looked out over the street. She smiled as she thought back over the day. I was all worked up for nothing. They were perfectly nice.
“Somebody would like to say good night,” Bobby said from the kitchen. “How about I pour us some wine while you finish up with the ‘tucking in’ process?”
Maggie’s eyes widened. “I’ve never really done that kind of thing before.”
“It’s not hard,” he grinned, kissing her nose. “You just say good night and pull up the covers. The nightlight is already on.” She glanced up at him anxiously. “You’ve got this,” he chuckled.
He was still smiling when Maggie made her way down the hallway to Savannah’s room. “Hi there, sweetie. All ready for bed?” In the kitchen, Bobby realized the baby monitor was on and he paused to listen, wine glasses in his hand.
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