“I rest my case,” Jacklyn said, smirking. “I’d give him a wide berth if I were you. He’s got more seniority than you do, too.”
“And I might add,” another nurse, Nicole said. “The new residents are due to come in Monday.”
“Ah,” Jaclyn said. “The New Zoo Review.”
The women laughed. It was historically hectic when new residents came on board. The younger, single nurses excitedly prepared for a new batch of possible dating material, switching the focus from impending chaos to potential romance.
“I’m glad you reminded me,” Tiffany said. “I’d completely forgotten about that!”
“Would you really go out with someone else?” Jaclyn asked. “I mean you’ve waited this long for Jason. Why give up now?”
“You just got done telling me I’m too young for Jason. What he needs is a dose of his own medicine. I need to flaunt another guy in front of him. When’s the Christmas party? That’s as good a time as any.”
“Harley and Jason never went to any party the OR had. You have a short memory.”
“Oh, right,” Tiffany said, thinking. “I’ll get even with him somehow.”
It wouldn’t take long for Tiffany to get even with Jason. The Monday after Thanksgiving, when everything was blessedly back to normal except for Harley’s absence, Jason noticed Tiffany was avoiding him. Assigned to another room, the first time he saw her that day was entering the lounge for a break. Leaning against the wall, talking with Andy about the next sporting event they would go to together, Andy elbowed him as she passed them on the way to the coffee machine without acknowledging him. Jason raised his eyebrows up and down, and they stifled laughter. Her countenance was so elementary school, and Jason was so happy he saw it, relieved he hadn’t made too many mistakes with Tiffany.
“Hey Tiffany,” Andy said, Jason kicking him. “What’s going on?”
“Go to hell, both of you,” she said, provoking laughter among the staff sitting around the long table.
“What did I do?” he asked, sincerely confused.
“Not everyone likes you, Forman,” she said, throwing the spoon she used to stir her coffee into the sink where it hit with a bang.
Jason never said a word, watching Tiffany sweep around like a diva, sitting down near the end of the table. Next, a handsome young resident entered the lounge. Catching her eye, she waved him over. “Help yourself to coffee,” she said.
“New orthopedic chief resident,” Andy whispered.
“Okay, gotcha,” Jason said, nodding.
“You sure work fast,” Nicole said to her, coming in for a break. The room burst out laughing again, angering Tiffany, but Jason had to hand it to her; she did a great job getting over it.
“You’re just jealous,” Tiffany answered, leading to more laughter. Nicole’s face turned red, but she didn’t get defensive, she asked for it.
“I’m getting out of here,” Jason whispered to Andy.
“I’m right behind you,” Andy said, and they left the lounge.
The resident went to the coffee pot and Tiffany quickly turned to Nicole. “If you say a word, I’ll kill you,” she hissed.
But Nicole just laughed, shaking her head. “You’ll dig your own grave with that one, honey. I won’t have to say a word.”
The prophetic words resonating, and the new resident latched on to Tiffany the first day, and by Christmas they would be engaged, Tiffany flashing her ostentatious diamond around, relieving Jason of any guilt his flirtation propagated.
Chapter 32
Preparations for Christmas forged ahead, effectively leaving little time for sadness. Each of the family grieved in their own way. Jason’s struggles with loneliness segued to simply missing Harley as he and Kathy Agin spent more time together. He still woke up periodically in the middle of the night, crying. Anything which reminded him of Harley he relished, unwilling to let go completely. She’d always be the love of his life.
Bennie stayed busy with her job and classes, missing her mother terribly, but making more decisions on her own. Angie shocked everyone confessing she was homesick, the family looking forward to her homecoming every Friday night. Tina worked harder than ever at school. Without Albie, who’d acted as a needed distraction, she drove herself, continuing to make exemplary grades. Devon flourished under Kathy and Laura’s attention, the regression she suffered after Harley’s death stopping as abruptly as it had started. Kathy’s willingness to encourage Harley’s presence would keep her memory alive for the rest of Devon’s life.
Once Jason accepted that Kathy was important in their lives, her move couldn’t happen fast enough. The week after Thanksgiving, she began the search for an apartment near her new teaching job.
“I’ll be nearby next week,” she told Jason over the phone. “I’m coming in early Saturday morning. We’re going to stay with Bea.”
As much as he would have liked to tell her to stay with him, it was better if that didn’t happen so early in their relationship. The choices he made as an adult were much different from those he made as a dating single man in his twenties. He didn’t love Kathy Agin, but he was fond of her and admired the same things about her that Harley appeared to have liked.
At night, he lay in bed, fingering Glenn Bloom’s dog tags like they were rosary beads, praying with his eyes closed. The prayerful conversations morphed into Jason whispering to Harley, talking to her about what was happening, or thinking out loud. Then, he’d have to be careful not to refer to it in a conversation with his family, not always successfully.
“I told Harley about Kathy’s job and looking for an apartment here and she seemed really happy.”
Fran was there, unloading the dishwasher while Jason had a cup of coffee after work. Stopping with a dish poised near the cabinet, she looked at him worriedly. “You told Harley.”
Realizing what he’d admitted to his mother, Jason started to laugh, a rich belly laugh unlike anything he’d produced for months.
“I knew I was going to slip one day. I’m just glad it was you and not one of the girls. Yes Mom, I talk to Harley all the time. Full conversations. Do you think I’m nuts?”
Pulling out a chair next to him, Fran sat down, the dish still in her hand. “No, I don’t think you’re nuts. I do the same thing. I even pray to her.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You know how Harley was the girl who got things done? Well, I miss that. She was so dependable. So now I count on her help but coming from a different plane.”
“Oh boy, that’s a little spooky,” Jason said.
Fran grabbed his hand. “Think about it! She’s watching over her girls. I feel it. Even Devi told me she believes her mommy is close by. I’m telling you, don’t underestimate that kid. She’s deep, Devon is.”
“Now you’re freakin’ me out, Mom.”
“Don’t be. It should comfort you knowing she’s still around us.”
Signs of Harley’s presence multiplied as time went on, rather than diminished.
“Do any of you have Mom’s dog tags?” Jason asked one night after dinner. “I usually keep them in my top drawer and they’re gone.”
“I didn’t take them,” Devon said. “I know better.”
“Me either,” Bennie said, Tina concurring.
“No, I didn’t really think you did. It’s just odd they disappeared. Maybe Maryanne took them. They really belong to her.”
The next morning, Jason reached into his locker for his stethoscope, his fingers grabbing a nubby object instead and he pulled out Glenn’s dog tags. “What the…” he exclaimed. Looking around, confused.
Running through all the possibilities how the tags could have gotten into his locker, he settled on the obvious one; he’d forgotten they were around his neck and when he took his clothes off the day before and hung his sweatshirt on the hook, the tags were caught onto it as well. That evening when he dressed again after work, he’d left the tags behind. There was no other explanation. Looping the chain around his neck, he
tucked the tags into his scrub top, and throughout the day, the sensation of the cool chain on his flesh was a constant reminder of Harley.
Returning home that evening, he related the story of the discovered dog tags to his girls. “I’m going to call Angie and tell her about this,” Tina said. “It’s so weird!”
Similar reminders of Harley popped up all the time. Slowly, the items gathered from around the house to make a bedside memorial for Harley found the way back to their original places, her tea mug the first thing noticed. After dinner, Tina, who’d taken charge of the evening coffee ritual, put a pot of decaf on and rummaged through the cabinet, looking for mugs. Surprising each family member with a special mug, Tina loved the reactions she’d get. Reaching for an unfamiliar one far in the back, it didn’t register right away which mug it was until she turned it around. It was a large white mug with Harley’s nursing school alma mater; Drexel University 1891, with Science, Industry and Art printed on a triangle overlaying crossed torches, within a double circle.
“Here’s Mom’s mug,” Tina announced, bringing it to the table. “It was stuck in back of the cabinet.”
“That’s supposed to be in her bedroom,” Bennie said, frowning.
“Maybe Granny Fran put it away,” Devon said.
Jason walked in on the conversation. “I thought the memorial is looking a little sparse. She must be putting things away. I’ll talk to her about it.”
“I’m not ready to put stuff away yet,” Tina said. “I like having everything in one place.”
“Me, too,” Jason said.
But Fran denied touching it. “I even add things to it,” she said. “Notice her nursing school graduation picture? That was from Maryanne. We agree it’s helpful having that set up. It’s helping us grieve.”
The next strange occurrence took place on Christmas Eve. They were spending Christmas at the shore so Maryanne wouldn’t have to drive so far and Kathy’s mother could be with them, too. Harley’s pumpkin pies took center stage again, along with her macaroni salad. Fran reached into the refrigerator to pull out a pie to serve with the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
Handing it to Bea, Fran turned back to the refrigerator to get the whipped cream. “Unwrap that please, will you?” she asked.
Bea lifted a corner of the foil so as not to break the crust. “Oh! Someone couldn’t wait,” she said, pushing the plate closer to Fran.
“What are you talking about?” Fran asked, turning back to her.
Bea was standing at the counter, looking down at the pie with a perfect eighth cut out. “A piece is missing,” she said.
Fran yelped and put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God,” she said, genuflecting. “Harley used to mark the crust like that. Into eighths. Then, she’d take the first piece out so the pie would be easier to serve at the table. It looks exactly like something Harley would do.”
“Granny, you’re losing it,” Bea said worried.
“I swear to you, I didn’t touch the pie. Ask Angie! She just put it in there.”
“I’m going to,” Bea said, scared, texting Angie to join them in the kitchen. “Stuff like this has been happening to me, too.”
“Like what?” Fran asked, fascinated.
“When Harley was interviewing women on LoveMatch, she decided on two she liked for Jason; Kathy and that Anna girl who came to the house on game night.
“Oh. The one you were jealous of,” Fran said.
“Whatever. She wrote letters to both women, just in case Jason ended up with one of them. She’d asked me to throw them away when Kathy decided she didn’t want to continue but I forgot to do it.
“When Jason and Kathy went on that date, I searched all over the house for the letters. I knew where I put them; in a plastic shoebox on the top shelf of my laundry room supply cabinet. But they weren’t there! I wanted to tear up the one to Anna in case I died and Dave decided to pull a fast one and send it off to her.”
“Like Dave would do, I guess,” Fran replied.
“Exactly like Dave. So I couldn’t find the letters, but then last night out of nowhere, when we were loading up the car, I found the box in my closet.”
“Did Dave put it there?” Fran asked. “Or one of the girls?”
“Everyone denied touching the box.”
“Did you throw away the letter to Anna?”
“Not yet because I suddenly thought, what if Jason changes his mind and decides to date her instead of Kathy? I’d better wait until he’s married again before I start throwing stuff away.”
“Oh, I’d love to read them,” Fran said, hopeful.
“Well, you’ll have to wait. I don’t even know what they say. She sealed the envelopes and sent them to me. They’re postmarked and everything, with the words Not to Be Opened Until THE WEDDING written on the envelope.”
“Harley was so organized,” Fran said, tenderly.
“She really was amazing,” Bea said.
“You rang, Aunt Bea,” Angie said.
Bea slid the pie over to her. “Look,” she said.
Angie screamed. “No way!”
“See? She didn’t do it, either,” Bea said, palms up.
“What’s going on?” Angie asked, frightened.
“I think your mother is trying to signal us,” Fran said, triumphant. “I’ve been telling Jason for weeks. This is proof.”
Calming down, Angie shook her head. “It’s impossible,” she said. “Someone is teasing us. I mean, it doesn’t feel destructive to me. It feels playful.”
“Who’s playful?” Bennie joined the group. Angie pushed the pie over to her.
“What do you think?”
“Mom!” she hollered. “This is so cool, who did it?”
“We don’t know. I put the pies in the fridge when we got here, and this happened sometime after that. I know for sure that was a whole pie when I covered it.”
“Could Jason have taken a piece?”
“Get real, Granny,” Bennie replied. “Have you ever seen a pie Dad’s cut into? It looks like he used an ax.”
“That’s true,” Fran said. “I guess we won’t know. We’re the only ones who know how Harley cut a pie. It’s not like a stranger came in to tease us.”
“To hell with that,” Bea said. “I’m asking everyone here. For all we know, Dave is up to it.”
“Dave didn’t know anything about Harley’s obsessive pie cutting, did he?”
“No, you’ve got a point, Fran. But it didn’t just happen. I mean, I don’t believe in ghosts.”
The women huddled around the pie, wheels turning in all their brains. “I guess we’ll never know,” Angie said. “It’s sort of sweet. Like someone is trying to force us to remember the little things we’d forget about her.”
“I’m not afraid,” Fran said.
“Me either,” Bea replied. “I mean at first I was, but not now.”
Reaching for the sisters, Bea hugged them, pulling Fran into the huddle. “I wonder what else will crop up this weekend.”
“Once you start looking for the supernatural, you’ll see it everywhere,” Fran said.
They agreed they’d keep an eye out for any untoward occurrence, thinking the same thing but not voicing it; whatever they could do to keep Harley’s memory alive, they’d do.
No one noticed Kathy lurking in the hallway, a tear rolling down her cheek, but a smile on her face.
After dinner, Kathy and Laura acted as gaming ring leaders. “You like cards, you’ve got the right woman for the job,” Dave said. “Leave it to my brother to bring a Black Jack dealer to Christmas Eve Game Night.”
Kathy laughed good-naturedly. “Take a seat, Dave. Everyone, let’s get this party started,” she called out.
“I think I’m too full of fish to play cards tonight,” Joe said. “If you don’t mind, I’m moving to the couch.”
“Pop, when do you ever play cards?” Devon asked, everyone joining in the laughter.
“Okay, Pop is exempt from cards,” Kathy said. “I h
ave a lot to learn.”
“You’re doing fine,” Bea said. “Everyone sit down!”
Kathy dealt the cards while the family pulled chairs around the table. Even after the meal, snacks abounded, bowls of popcorn for Tina and chocolate covered pretzels for Amanda, trays of cheese and crackers and little hors de oeuvres Fran found in the frozen foods at Costco.
“Look at these little pigs in a blanket Granny made!” Devon shouted.
Fran and Maryanne hovered at the backs of chairs, filling drink orders; lemonade for Kathy, hot cocoa for Devon.
Betsy, Kathy’s mother, sat on a bar stool watching the game, wondering how the family had come through the horror of losing the mother of these girls and still able to play games.
“They seem to be doing pretty good,” she said to Fran, nodding toward the girls.
“Well, in a few months it will be almost a year that she’s been gone. They couldn’t find the strength to play games for a while after, but having Kathy around has really helped. She keeps everyone going.”
“I know from Kathy having Laura that it’s rough being a single parent,” Betsy said under her breath.
“Where’s her dad?” Fran asked.
“I’ll let Kathy share that story,” Betsy said, frowning .
“She’s really a dear,” Fran said, sorry she pried. “We’ve enjoyed having them both here.”
“How nice,” Betsy said. “Kathy raves about how great everyone has been with Laura.”
“Yes, well….” Fran didn’t know what to say, happy Kathy and Laura felt welcome, but unsure whether they would become members of the family. “So, how are you feeling about Kathy moving so far away?”
“It will be different,” Betsy said. “But it’ll free me up. I think people assume grandparents don’t want to do anything but babysit for their grandchildren. I have a life to live and with Laura and Kathy out of the house, I can start living.”
Fran felt like she’d been punched in the face. The insult was raw, yet she understood the woman could have no idea of the impact her words had. “I pretty much lived my life babysitting for Harley,” she said, nodding her head to the game table. “Those young women in there? Harley and Jason’s girls? I took care of them from the time they were infants. It never occurred to me to want anything else from life.”
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