Something So Unscripted

by Natasha Madison

  I place his sunny-side up eggs on the plate with two slices of toast cut into strips so he can dip it.

  “Here you go.” I smile at him and place two eggs on my own plate, sitting down next to him.

  “We need to make a toast,” he says, grabbing a piece of toast and holding it up in front of him. “To me getting better,” he says, and I grab my toast and hold it up as he taps his piece on mine, then dips it in his egg yolk. I shake my head.

  “Where did you learn that?”

  “Dr. Denise,” he tells me while he chews. “We did it with french fries.”

  “Did you?” I laugh, and he says we should do it again. And again and again until nothing is left on his plate.

  “What do you want to do today?” I ask him.

  “Can we go to the park?” he asks, and I look down at him. He used to love the park. He would beg to go there until the bruising got so bad we said no more. “I’ll be careful,” he says, and I nod my head.

  “Yeah, why don’t we walk around the neighborhood and see where there is one?”

  “Yeah.” He celebrates, throwing his hands up in the air.

  I place the dishes in the sink, and my phone rings, showing me it’s Chantal.

  “Hello,” I say.

  “I can’t believe you,” she says, and I look over at Jack. Putting my hand on the microphone, I tell Jack to go upstairs and get dressed.

  “What can I help you with?”

  “I just got served divorce papers,” she says loudly, “at the fucking gym. In front of everybody.” I understand now why she’s pissed. She wants everyone to think she’s got everything going on for her. “Do you know how embarrassed I was?”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say.” I smile. “Jack’s doing okay, thanks for asking.”

  “Ugh,” she says, “I know he’s fine or you would have called and guilt-tripped me into coming and seeing him.”

  I shake my head. “You’re unreal,” I tell her. “You never have to see him again. I’ll add that to the divorce decree.”

  “I want the house,” she says, “and everything inside it.”

  “Take it,” I say to her. If it will get me Jack without her, she can have it.

  “I also want alimony. You got me used to a lifestyle, and it shouldn’t change just because we aren’t together,” she huffs.

  Now, I really laugh. “You’re right; your life shouldn’t change just because we are getting divorced or because your son is sick.”

  “Oh, please,” she says, and I imagine her rolling her eyes. “I wanted us to do this peacefully.”

  “I’ll have my lawyer contact yours.”

  “I don’t have a lawyer,” she says.

  “Ask Colton; you could use the one he used when he divorced his second wife.”

  “You’re an asshole,” she seethes.

  “This has been fun,” I tell her. “Take care.” I hang up and then call my lawyer.

  “Mr. Morrow,” she answers right away. “She’s been served.”

  “I know. I had the pleasure of her calling me.”

  “Good,” she says, “that’s what I wanted. Did she ask for Jack?”

  “No,” I tell her, “she wants the house and alimony.”

  “What do you want me to do?” she asks me. “I know what I want to do, but it’s not my call.”

  “She can have the house and everything inside. I packed up everything I wanted when we left.”

  “What about alimony?” she asks, and I inform her of a fact that Chantal doesn’t even know.

  “I took a pay cut coming to New York. Will that help?” It is only for one year, then they will renegotiate the terms, but Chantal doesn’t need to know that.

  “Yes,” she says, “I’ll see if her lawyer reaches out.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, and I hang up.

  “I’m ready.” I hear Jack yell from somewhere in the house. I walk up the stairs, going to his room next door to mine and find his clothes all on the floor.

  “What is this mess?” I ask him, and he looks at me and then around at the mess.

  “I found my shirt,” he says, flattening the shirt with the Stingers logo on it. “It’s like Michael’s,” he says, and I nod at him.

  “Now clean up the rest of the room while I go get dressed.” He walks around the room, bending and picking up things. When we walk out of the house twenty minutes later, we are both bundled up in our spring jackets, black Stingers beanies, and rubber boots for Jack and booties for me.

  We walk down the street hand in hand as he points out the different places he wants to go to. The corner store, he wants to eat steak tonight, he says, walking in front of the butcher’s shop, and then he sees the flowers.

  “We should buy Dr. Denise some flowers,” he says to me. “We could bring some to the hospital. There are lots of kids there,” he says as he skips next to me, swinging. “We can bring flowers to everyone, so they smile.”

  “I don’t think we can bring them flowers, buddy, but,” I say, looking in the store and seeing handblown glass flowers. Each flower has a green stem and the top in different vibrant colors. A dark red, a light orange, a couple are pale yellow, a bright purple—the colors just pop. “You really want to bring everyone flowers?” I ask him, and he nods his head, smiling. “Let’s do it.”

  We walk inside the store and grab all twenty-four of the flowers that they have. We get into a cab and make our way over to the hospital.

  “She’s on floor three,” Jack tells me as we get into the elevator, and I press three.

  “It’s here,” he says with glee when the elevator pings, and we walk out. “Ms. Mallory,” he says, jumping. “It’s me, Jumping Jack; I brought you flowers,” he says, pointing at me.

  “Did you now?” she says, smiling.

  “I’m Zack.” I smile at her, handing her one of the flowers. “I guess this is for you,” I tell her, and she leans down and kisses Jack on the cheek.

  “Come and see Evie,” he says, walking down the hallway as if he’s at home.

  He knocks on the door, and a little girl looks up from her bed. Her mother looks up also. “Evie, I brought flowers,” he says to her, walking in.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” I tell the mother who looks at Jack with a huge smile.

  “She has been asking for him all day,” she says, looking at me. “I’m Janet.”

  “I’m Zack,” I tell her, and then Jack interrupts us.

  “Look, Dad,” he says, taking his hat off. “We have the same head.” He smiles.

  “You do.” I smile at him as he leaves his hat off. “We have to go deliver more flowers,” Jack tells Evie, who just closes her eyes.

  “She’s not having that great of a day,” Janet says. “My husband is trying to get in today to visit, but he’s been working two jobs,” she says with a tired smile.

  “Jack, let’s let Evie rest,” I tell him and then smile at Janet. “We will see you later. I’ll have Jack come back and say goodbye before we leave.”

  We continue walking down the hall and most of the nurses have already heard about Jumping Jack when we come face-to-face with Denise.

  “Dr. Denise,” Jack says, running to her. She smiles and grabs him in her arms. I watch her, and I’m in awe of her. She doesn’t have a stitch of makeup on, her hair is piled on her top of her head, and she is wearing jeans with flat shoes.

  “Hey there,” I say when I get closer to them. She looks at me and smiles a genuine smile, and she looks beautiful.

  “Hey there yourself.” She looks at the flowers in my hand. “What is all that?”

  “Jack thought we could cheer people up, so we brought flowers,” I tell her, and she turns back to Jack.

  “Well, aren’t you the sweetest little boy ever.” She turns to kiss his cheek.

  “And strong,” he reminds her as his hand plays with the hair on the side of her head that has fallen loose.

  She leans in and whispers to him, “The strongest I have ever m
et.”

  He nods his head at her as she continues to tell him how brave he is and how special he is, and my son just eats it up. And if I’m honest, he isn’t the only one.

  Chapter Seven

  Denise

  “The last round was with the strong dose of chemo.” I look at Evie’s mom, Janet, as she watches her daughter sleeping.

  “She just misses home,” Janet says, and I believe her. Her father and older brother are up in Boston where they live. Her father is working two jobs just to make the insurance payment, and her brother is pretty high in the hockey club. “Darryl is trying to get here this weekend, but he isn’t sure he can swing it. They FaceTimed tonight, and it was mostly just tears. All she wanted was for him to give her a hug.”

  “If you need anything, you let me know,” I tell her and walk out of the room. Grabbing my phone out of my white lab coat, I text Steve.

  Evie isn’t doing well today. I’ll keep you posted.

  I don’t know if he will answer or not, especially since it’s his day off and Olivier just got back.

  “Did you see who just dropped by?” Mallory asks me, and I just shake my head.

  “Jack. He brought flowers to cheer us up,” she says, walking away. I can’t help but smile when I finally spot them coming down the hallway. “Dr. Denise.” I hear being yelled. I smile at him as he runs toward me, and I scoop him up in my arms.

  “Well, hello there, Jumping Jack. What brings you in today?” I smile as I look into his blue eyes that are just like his father’s. I turn to watch Zack walk to us, and I have to take literally a second to catch my breath. He is hands down the hottest man I’ve ever met. The minute he turned around at Max’s house, my stomach flipped, and then I found out about Jack, and my heart broke for him. Watching him walk to me with a genuine smile on his face is causing my heart to race a bit. Oh, fuck that shit—it’s racing a lot.

  “Hey there,” he says, and I smile at him and thank the lord that I wore my good jeans today instead of the ones that Steve calls ratty.

  No, today I went with my dark blue, skintight ones; they feel like leggings, and I love them. I should have left my hair down, but it was getting in the way, so I tied it up on the top of my head. Some strands falling loose at the sides.

  “Hey there yourself.” I look at him and the flowers in his hands. “What is all that?”

  “Jack thought we could cheer people up, so we brought flowers,” he tells me, and I turn and look at this sweet, sweet boy.

  “Well, aren’t you the sweetest little boy ever.”

  “And strong,” he reminds me as his hand twirls in my hair.

  I lean in and whisper to him, “The strongest I have ever met.” He just nods at me, then turns to look at his father.

  “I want to give her the orange ones,” he tells him. Zack looks down and grabs the fullest orange one of all. Zack hands it to me, but Jack grabs it instead. “I bought these for you.” He smiles at me, and I have to blink away the tears.

  “Those are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen,” I tell him, and he beams with pride. “Thank you so much for bringing them to me; they just brightened my day.”

  “We don’t want to get in the way,” Zack says, and I put Jack down.

  “You would never be in the way when you come with cheer.” I smile at them. “We should get together sometime next week when you’re available to discuss a couple of things.” I smile at Zack.

  “I’ll text you my schedule, and we can work around it,” he says, then looks down at Jack. “We should get going if you want us to pick up those steaks,” Zack tells him, and he just nods.

  “Have a great night, you two,” I say. Turning around, I go to the nurses’ station and see Mallory there.

  “I see you saw Jack.” She takes off her glasses, and they hang around her neck on her golden chain.

  “I did,” I tell her, and then Suzanne, another nurse, joins us.

  “Who is that fine tall glass of milk?” Suzanne says as I giggle, writing notes.

  “That would be Dr. Denise’s new patient,” Mallory tells her while she fills out her own charts. “Jumping Jack and Zaza zoom Zack.”

  I laugh at her nickname for Zack. My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I take it out to see it’s a text from Vivienne.

  Are you going to the game tomorrow?

  You betcha!

  D’accord okay, she answers, shenanigans after.

  That sounds like a plan.

  She sends me back a thumbs-up emoji, and I put my phone away.

  “I don’t know about you two,” Suzanne says, “but I would not kick him out of my bed.” I laugh even harder. She is close to fifty, happily married to Harry for the past thirty years, and her youngest just got married.

  “Oh, I hear you,” Mallory adds. “He can leave his shoes under my bed any day.” She smiles and turns to walk away.

  “How are you two happily married?” I ask them, and they both look at each other and then back at me.

  “We don’t act on it.” Mallory shrugs.

  “Yeah, it just plays in our mind,” Suzanne says. “What do they call it again? Spank Bank.”

  “I’m going to google that,” Mallory says, and I push off from the desk and laugh at them.

  “Ladies, I’m going to check on Evie before I leave, and then I’m off. Call me if anything changes,” I tell them, and they both nod at me.

  Walking into the room, I find Janet sitting in the middle of the bed rocking her daughter in her arms.

  “She just had a bit of chicken broth and then said she was too tired,” she tells me, and I see the despair in her eyes.

  Reaching out, I grab her hand. “We’ll do everything we can,” I tell her, and she just nods while a tear escapes her eyes.

  I walk out, blinking my own tears away while I say goodbye to everyone and make my way home. I don’t turn the lights on once I get home. The moonlight shining in provides just enough light for me to undress and crawl into bed.

  My dreams haunt me all night—blue eyes, matching blue eyes. I sleep for eight straight hours, but I still wake feeling like I am dragging my ass.

  I start the coffee, then pick up my phone and call the hospital right away to check on Evie. Her vitals are the same, and she isn’t that tired today. Her appetite is also back, which is a great start. I text Steve, who is on duty all weekend long, asking him to keep me posted.

  I clean up the loft, which really is just dusting since I’m barely home anyway. I’ll be on rotation for the next seven days starting Monday, so I finally do my laundry too.

  The phone ringing has me stopping to answer it, and I see it’s Allison.

  “Hey, we are going to the game tonight. Do you want me to swing by and get you?” she asks me.

  “I would love that.” I smile. “Are you bringing Alex?” I ask her.

  “Yes, my parents are coming also, so if anything, we can pass her around.”

  “Just don’t let her see Max, and it will be okay.”

  “Ugh, I swear she knows when he’s around. She can be good all day, and the minute she senses he’s close, the whining starts.”

  I laugh, thinking she’s exaggerating, but I know my niece, and she is so in love with my brother it’s no joke. “So what time should I be ready?” I ask her, walking into my closet and grabbing my jeans.

  “I should be there in about thirty minutes. Is that okay?” she asks me.

  “I’ll be ready,” I tell her and hang up. I have to jump twice to get my tight jeans on. I grab a black Stingers t-shirt with Horton on the back and my black leather jacket with a ticket green plaid scarf. Putting the jacket and the scarf on the bed, I walk to the bathroom to curl the ends of my hair. It’s gotten so long it’s almost at my waist, but because I keep it tied up most of the time, I don’t realize it.

  I spray on my perfume and apply just a touch of mascara and pink lip gloss before my phone buzzes, and I see that Aly is downstairs. I grab my jacket and scarf, then slide my phone in my
back pocket and toss my purse over my shoulder. I lock the door and run outside to the waiting white Range Rover that Aly is driving. Opening the back door first, I see my Alex.

  “Well hello, my favorite girl,” I say as she gives me a smile that makes her eyes close, showing me her four teeth. I bend down and kiss her neck, taking in the smell of baby. “Best smell ever,” I say. Walking around, I open the other back door, leaning in to see Michael.

  “Well, if isn’t my favorite nephew,” I tell him as he giggles, waiting for me to lean in and kiss him. I cover his face with kisses as he giggles and pretends to tell me to stop.

  Finally opening the front passenger seat, I get in and turn to Aly. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite sister-in-law,” I tell her, leaning in to kiss her cheek as she laughs and waits for me to buckle in.

  “You look amazing,” she says as she pulls out of the parking lot.

  “Is that where you and Daddy fell in love?” Michael asks, pointing at the loft building.

  “It is,” Aly answers.

  He returns his attention to the movie playing in front of him. “Are we excited to see Daddy play?” I ask, turning around, and that sets off Alex.

  “Dada, dada, dada.” She smiles, looking out the window for him.

  “There she goes,” Aly says. We make it to the arena in record time and park in the players’ parking lot. The valet guy comes to get the keys.

  “Mrs. Horton.” He smiles at her.

  “Ricardo,” she says, “so nice to see you. How is the family?”

  I get out and open the back door, unbuckling Alex.

  “Hi, beautiful.” She waves her hands in the air as I pick her up, propping her on my hip while I lean in and grab her diaper bag.

  She is wearing little jeans and a Horton jersey, her blond hair in pigtails, curling down.

  Allison walks around the car to come join us while she holds Michael’s hand, and I see he’s dressed in jeans also with a Horton jersey. “Let’s go,” Allison says. When we walk in, she smiles at everyone she knows, and I wave to the ones I’ve come to know over the years. While I take Alex and go roaming around the arena, I hear my name being yelled.