“You can’t tell me what I can and cannot like,” I huffed with a laugh. Inside, I smiled. This was another part of Rhett I enjoyed so much. He knew how to cut me to the quick and tell me cold hard truth that I needed to hear. But he could also lift me back up in a heartbeat by making me laugh.
“I’m just informing you that it’s not a real color,” he replied.
“What’s your favorite color then, Picasso?”
“Gray.” Then he turned his head and smirked at me.
That frustrating man! I think he enjoyed provoking me. I decided for once to take the high road and not fall into his trap.
“I love chocolate peanut butter cake that you can only find at Earth Bistro in Ohio, and I miss peanut butter and jelly sandwiches more than you can believe,” I began. “I have no idea what my thermostat is set to at any given time. Rose has always dealt with that, but I like it cold when I sleep as long as I have lots of blankets. I love the way the air smells during the winter, but I don’t like having cold feet and hands. I love the warmth on my skin in the summer, but I burn easily. Fall is where my heart really lies, and the beach is where my soul is the happiest. Oh, and… I never have any free time.”
Rhett stopped and turned to look at me. “You weren’t supposed to tell me all of that; I was supposed to learn it over time. That’s cheating. Now you’ve taken all the mystery away,” he teased.
“Well, maybe I like you and wanted to give you a head start. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of mystery left, subway.”
I didn’t turn to see his face, but I heard him reply in a deep voice, “I’m sorry, you what? Did you finally admit you like me?”
“This isn’t third grade,” I groaned.
“Admit it,” he called in a singsong voice.
I twisted around on my toes and said, “Okay, maybe I do—”
My words cut off when I saw the expression on his face. Rhett was no longer looking at me, and there was zero hint of teasing in his features. A nondescript sign on the door he was staring at read: Level 7 – Hearthstone.
“Is this our floor?” Please say yes. We’ve already scaled half the building.
“My dad has Alzheimer’s.”
I felt a shock rock through me as all of the air left my body, and I half stepped, half stumbled toward him. “Rhett…”
“Don’t say ‘sorry.’ I really hate that shit.”
“How long?” I asked instead.
“He was diagnosed five years ago. Everything flipped upside down so fast. One day we were road-tripping to Nashville, and the next he was getting lost going places he’d been thousands of times. After the diagnosis, he divorced my mom. Told her she was too young to deal with it and that she needed to go find someone her age to love.”
My mouth hung open. “He divorced his wife right before the toughest battle of his life?”
“It’s a battle with no cure, Ever. I’m still not sure what he did was for the best, but he was right about one thing. My mom’s way younger than him… by seventeen years. She was pregnant with me at eighteen and he’s sixty now.”
I ran the math in my head. “Your mom was eighteen when she married a thirty-five-year-old?” I was stunned.
He chuckled. “Yeah, trust me, they dealt with plenty of backlash from a lot of people. But it wasn’t just that she was a gold digger, because I’ll be honest, she was. They truly loved one another—or at least they eventually did. She was heartbroken and still is that he made her go. He still supports her financially, even though she’s remarried, and she still visits him a few times a week.”
“Wow…” I had no more words.
“I know, and believe me, I didn’t get it at first. But now, after seeing the progression of the disease, I can see what he was doing. He knew what was coming. It’s not something you can slow down or change the ending. Some days are better than others, but some days are really bad. She would have been up here every single day until his last one on this earth, and he knew that she needed to get out there and continue with her life. Like I said, she’s still young.”
I placed my hands on his shoulders and felt him take a deep breath.
“He still knows who I am,” he continued. “Sometimes he confuses me for his brother who died around the same age as me. We looked a lot alike, so that makes sense. They say he’s in the middle stages, but he could be in the late stages at any time. There’s literally no telling. He could also die from a simple infection or the flu or pneumonia. He just recently started feeling better after this last bout of pneumonia, and…” He paused, drawing in a shaky breath. “Well, it scared me to death.”
“Rhett… I’m so sorry. Shit! No, I’m not. Wait, yes I am. Crap. I’ll stop…” I fumbled over my words until I caught a small smirk from him. I reached down for his hands so I could give him what I had to offer—right then, it was my friendship and a listening ear.
“As I mentioned before, he still knows me. He knows my mom. He has a hard time remembering the nurses and staff, but that’s because there are so many of them. Sometimes he’s up all night and sleeps all day. Some days he’s in a horrible mood, and some days he’s in a great mood. But if I couldn’t remember who the people around me were or how I got where I was every single day, I would be crabby as hell.”
I loved that he felt he needed to defend his father, even if he definitely did not. Not to me…not to anyone. It showed how caring he was and that endeared him to me even more. In fact, if Rhett were mine right now, I would grab his face and kiss those lips. But he wasn’t, so I continued to offer him what I could.
“I have to be honest… I don’t really know much about Alzheimer’s. I’ve seen it in movies, but I’m sure that’s grossly exaggerated.”
“I didn’t either until all of this,” Rhett admitted. “Movies usually have to speed up time for dramatic purposes, and sometimes I feel like he’s been fighting this for a lifetime. Then other times it feels like it was just yesterday he went out for a jog and got lost in Central Park—a place he jogged every single morning.”
“Are you sure I should be here?” I had to ask.
“I want you to meet him.” He took a rough breath and continued. “This disease is evil and unexplainable. I never know when it will be the last time he’ll remember me—or anyone else. I feel like no matter what ends up happening between us, you will be someone very important in my life. So… I need you to meet him. I need you to know that part of my life. I need you to know the man who encouraged me to pick up a guitar. And even though he was one of New York’s most successful lawyers, he encouraged me to play for coins because that’s what made me happy. So yeah, I just need you to meet him while you still can.”
I could tell how horribly painful that had been for him to admit out loud, but in that moment, it made me value this friendship we had formed so much more.
That moment of pure honesty.
That moment of laying down all of his cards.
“I would love to meet him.”
— FIFTEEN —
After keying another set of digits into a security panel, we heard a voice call out, "Well, look what the cat dragged in! How are you doing, hon?" A round woman with kind eyes approached as we entered the Hearthstone lobby.
“Hey, Beth,” he replied while giving her a side hug. Ah, so this was Beth. His mysterious caller. Now I felt like an idiot being jealous of her. He smirked at me over her shoulder.
“You were just here yesterday, honey. I wasn’t expecting to see you again today.”
"You know I can't stay away from you for too long. And I brought company today." He gestured to me as I stepped closer to them.
“Ms. Ever James,” she said with a sigh and a smile. “You are even lovelier in person.”
“You’re very kind.” I smiled in return.
“This way.” Rhett gestured for us to start walking down one of the many hallways. Beth walked alongside us.
"You know…" She looked up at me as we
walked. "We all knew how amazing of a musician he is, but I still don't think we really believed he was joining Ever James’ band."
Rhett scoffed and grabbed his chest. “Ouch. Thanks a lot, Beth.” He laughed good-naturedly.
"I'm sorry." She chuckled. "But when someone you've known for years all of a sudden says he's joining forces with the biggest female rock star… you can't fault me for being a bit skeptical."
“Well... the biggest needed the best.” He smirked and squeezed me to his side.
I laughed and shoved him away. As we continued down the hall, I realized that a few weeks ago that little jab would have sent me into an angry downward spiral. I would have lashed out at him with everything inside of me. But now… now I was a little thankful he was joining the band.
Okay, honestly? I was beyond thankful, but there was no need to tell him that. The “best” tended to have trouble keeping their ego in check.
Since our announcement, the paparazzi had been out in full force for any glimpse of either of us. I heard that a picture of the two of us together was worth a small fortune. It was ridiculous. All of the social media networks had been trending with cute little hashtags and stories. There was a buzz around the band again that hadn't existed for quite some time now, so I couldn’t be too mad. I was just surprised we were able to make it all the way here without being spotted.
My thoughts were interrupted when we turned down a new hall. This place was unlike anything I had ever imagined a retirement facility to be. There were ornate wooden walls and marble flooring. It was definitely a place that exceeded most people’s budget.
We reached a door with a glass shadow box containing what looked like personal mementos. Mostly pictures. Pictures of Rhett as a young boy. Pictures of Rhett with an equally handsome yet older man who could only be his father. Pictures of a striking blonde woman who didn't look a thing like Rhett except for her stunning blue eyes. Rhett wasn’t kidding when he said his mom was very young. She looked like a baby holding a baby in some of the pictures.
The box also displayed an old pocket watch with an engraving no longer legible, a pretty pink seashell—the kind you can only find on the white beaches near the Gulf of Mexico—a marble with green and blue swirled throughout, an old handmade teacup, and a coiled guitar string.
These were the precious possessions of a dying man. The things he wanted to see every single day as he walked in and out of his room. I could only assume since Rhett had described his dad as one of New York’s most successful lawyers that he was well off. Yet these possessions held little to no monetary value, other than the pocket watch. And even that was tarnished and showing signs of rust. These things were personal and gave him memories of times in his life he cherished most.
"My mom put that together for him. The nurses here said that it would hopefully help him to identify which room was his." That was all he offered. He didn't tell me the stories behind the items, but I could imagine each one was a happy memory and that made me smile for the man I hadn't yet met.
The pretty blonde from the pictures came waltzing out of the room we were about to enter. She looked a bit older than in the photos, but she had aged well.
She smiled widely at Rhett and reached for him. "My baby," she said. Her baby stood more than four inches taller than her. I watched as he pulled her in for an embrace.
“Mom, are you leaving?”
"I'm about to head out.” She gestured back to the room. “But first I need to go grab something for him."
“Not another candy bar?” Rhett shook his head. His mom didn’t answer, just crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Mom, he’s not supposed to be eating that crap.”
“Rhett, he’s sixty years old and having to live in a”—she lowered her voice to a whisper—“group home. If he wants to eat a damn chocolate bar, I will get him a damn chocolate bar.”
Rhett rolled his eyes and let her go. She didn't even glance in my direction, just continued down the hall in her Valentino boots carrying a handbag I knew had a mile-long waitlist.
Rhett looked my way and said, "She's still in denial. She hasn't once said the word Alzheimer's and refuses to call this place anything other than a group home."
“It’s got to be hard seeing the person you love go through something like this,” I offered.
He shrugged as if it were a battle he didn’t care to fight anymore. “I’m worried how bad off she’s going to be when this… you know…”
He couldn't say it, and I started to wonder how bad off he would be when this came to its inevitable end.
I reached out and squeezed Rhett’s hand in support. He offered me a small smile then released me before pushing open the heavy door. I heard him greet his father with a smile in his voice.
"Hey, son," I heard a man say. His voice was raspy and aged. I grinned because it appeared he knew who Rhett was today.
I chose to hang out in the hallway as long as Rhett would let me. I didn't want to intrude on his private time with his dad. When I heard the Valentinos clicking down the hall, I knew Rhett's mom was making her return. She rounded the corner, and I watched as her shoulder-length blonde hair swayed with each step.
She walked down the hallway, and I had to suppress a giggle. When Rhett had said she lived in a bubble, he couldn't have been more accurate. His mom looked as if she had no idea of anything that was around her. She walked forward but didn't quite look at anything. She hadn't even noticed I was standing in front of the door she was about to enter.
Her heels came to an abrupt stop, and I watched her eyes finally focus on me standing there. I made sure to hold my jacket closed. I didn't usually feel uncomfortable with my clothes, but I didn't think it was appropriate to show my midriff here. Rhett hadn't given me the heads-up as to where we were going.
“You look familiar, sweetie,” her quiet voice said. “Renee Grayson. Are you my son’s new girlfriend?”
I reached out to shake her offered hand. "Ever James. And no, we aren't dating. We work together."
There was no recognition in her eyes at the sound of my name. I wouldn't lie and say I wasn’t a little disappointed, but another part of me was happy I didn't have to deal with a million questions.
“Work?” Her brow wrinkled. “Do you… play in the subways, too?”
I had to laugh a little. "No. I'm in a band. Rhett is our new lead guitarist, and he does vocals with me. He hasn't told you?"
"Oh dear… I'm sure he has. He loves to play that guitar his daddy gave him," she said with a smile. She appeared nice enough, but she also seemed a bit vapid.
We moved to the side when the nurse from earlier—Beth—scooted out the door with a rolling cart. It held empty plates and cups. She smiled warmly at us but didn’t say a word as she pushed the cart down the hall.
I looked back at Renee. “You said your last name was Grayson? I thought Rhett mentioned you were remarried…” I couldn’t stop myself from being a little inquisitive.
"I am… to a wonderful man. But when the time came, I just couldn't bear to change it. Besides, having the connection to Richard Grayson has its perks. If you'll excuse me," she said and nodded toward the door right before she pushed her way in.
I was puzzled. Did she love the man inside, or did she love his influence and money? I guess it really didn't matter in the end.
Richard Grayson … that name sounded familiar. I decided to do a quick Google search, and thousands of articles appeared within seconds. I gasped when I realized who he was. Of course!
Rhett’s father was an entertainment lawyer. And not just any entertainment lawyer… the very one who successfully sued Global Music Group, the second largest record label in the world. It happened fifteen years ago, but the effects were still felt throughout the music industry.
This was actually pretty hilarious. No wonder Rhett scored such a sweet contract with the label. I had thought it seemed strange that they would allow a guy off the street to come in and deman
d things the way Rhett did. I mean, the Grayson Law Firm, with its imposing downtown office, was still a huge deal in this town.
Rhett definitely did not want me to know this information, and boy, was I going to tease him for it. Some of these websites stated that his dad was worth hundreds of millions. All while Rhett lived in a shoebox and owned less than ten different shirts. Something I was hoping to change soon.
“Pipes, you ready?”
I stuffed my phone back into my purse and looked up at his gorgeous face. Now was not the time to be snooping. Meeting his dad was important to Rhett, and I needed him to know that I could be here for him.
“Do you still think this is a good idea?” I asked. “I mean, it seems like that’s a family situation going on in there…”
“It’s not like that,” he replied. “Please,” he continued.
I nodded my head and stepped into the room. The cold air conditioning hit me, and I pulled my jacket tighter. Goosebumps dotted my bare legs under my skirt. My thigh high boots helped ward off the frigid air, but it wasn't enough to stop a little shiver. Rhett’s dad couldn't actually live in this icebox, could he?
As if Rhett could read my mind, I felt his lips against my ear as he said, “Sorry, I forgot to warn you. He either has the room freezing ass cold or burning the hell up. The nurses are constantly trying to sneak in and adjust the thermostat.”
“I’m okay,” I assured him.
Richard Grayson sat upright in a fancy version of a medical bed with thick blankets lying across him from the waist down. He was older than he looked in the pictures outside. His hair had all turned gray, his cheeks were slightly sunken, and the skin beneath his eyes was a little bit darker.
Renee leaned over the bed and gave a quick kiss to Rhett’s dad on the lips. It was still so strange to me. I couldn't imagine that kind of love, especially from Richard's perspective. He’d wanted his wife to go and find someone new. He hadn’t wanted her to be dragged down by his sickness. He seemed like a great man, and I hadn't even met him yet.
Renee told him she would return in a few days and that she loved him very much. I grabbed Rhett’s hand and squeezed it to stop the emotions that wanted to bubble out of me. He held on before I could pull back.
Ever Lonely (Ever James Band Book 1) Page 20