by Tamie Dearen
“Maybe he’d rather have one of his buddies with him,” Cole suggested.
“Of the three of us, I’m probably the most nurturing,” Bran remarked. “And I’m not all that impressive. I think he’s better off with his mother.”
“Isn’t she old, though?” Cole took another sip from his cup, his face contorting.
“I think she’s in her sixties.” Bran checked the time on his Braille watch, prompting Finn to look at the clock on the wall. 3:25 p.m. According to the surgeon who’d just given them a report, Jarrett was in recovery and would be in a room by 4:00.
“Same age as my mum,” Finn commented. “Jarrett said she lifts weights and runs marathons. I guess she can handle it.”
“Wonder why she isn’t here, now,” Cole mumbled.
“Probably because Jarrett told her it was only a biopsy.” Finn tried gulping the coffee, hoping to skip over the taste buds that detected bitterness on the back of his tongue. It didn’t work.
“He said she’s flying in today.” Bran rubbed his eyes. “Cole, I think I’ve changed my mind. If you don’t mind getting another one, I do want a cup of coffee.”
“No, you don’t,” Finn and Cole said, in unison.
Exhausted, Finn and Cole arrived back in New York, walking into the penthouse apartment like zombies. Finn set his alarm an hour later than usual, opting to skip his morning workout. But when morning came, he barely dragged himself out of bed to start his morning therapy. His coughing had woken him up all during the night, and after an hour of treatment to loosen the mucous, it seemed he couldn’t manage to clear his chest.
He continued his morning routine, still coughing, and an hour later found Cole at the breakfast table, practically asleep over a bowl of cereal.
“Morning.” Finn’s first word of the day set off another coughing fit. “Sorry,” he managed, between coughs.
“You had a rough night, huh?”
“You could hear me coughing?” Finn pushed the button to make a fresh cup of coffee.
“Only when I went down the hall to get a drink of water. Believe me, I fell right back to sleep.”
“Yeah, I don’t feel too good. Not surprising, after yesterday.”
“You’re not getting sick, are you?”
“I shouldn’t be. I wore my mask the whole time we were at the hospital.” Finn sat down at the table, sipping his brew. He lifted his mug toward Cole. “Nice to have a decent cup of coffee.”
“Amen, brother. I promise never to take good coffee for granted again.” Cole took a sip from his own cup with an expression of ecstasy. “You’re not just having coffee for breakfast, are you?”
“No. I usually push about 1200 calories or more at breakfast. Bacon, sausage, eggs, and such. You want something besides cereal?”
“Too early for me to eat like that.”
“I guess I’d better eat fast. It’ll be eight o’clock by the time we get to work, especially since we aren’t early enough to miss rush-hour traffic.” Finn fell into yet another round of bone-shattering coughs.
“Maybe you should stay home today,” Cole suggested.
“You know I can’t do that with Jarrett out.” Finn grabbed some juice from the refrigerator and poured a tall glass. “I’ll be fine. I’m just a little tired.”
“Okay. You know your body by now.”
He did. And that’s why he was worried.
Her mother was crying. As Laurie walked toward the metro station Tuesday morning, she held the phone away from her ear so her mother’s sobs wouldn’t hurt her eardrums. She was tempted to hand her phone to the homeless man with the empty cup and a sign that read Vietnam Veteran and walk away.
Laurie couldn’t remember a time when her mother didn’t cry all the time. She did everything in her power to make her mom happy. She thought if she could grow taller or be thinner or do well enough in school, then her mother wouldn’t be so sad. Nothing worked. Only prescription medication made the crying stop. She also stopped laughing.
And Laurie knew exactly who was to blame... her father.
“I can’t believe you want anything to do with him, Mom. I’m not coming to visit if Tyrone’s going to be there.”
“Your father is a good man,” she sobbed. “He made some mistakes. You need to give him a chance to make it up to you. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“I know Tyrone made mistakes. I’m one of them.”
“He never called you a mistake.” Carmen sniffed a few times. “I promise he didn’t.”
“I think the fact he paid you hush money every month so he could deny my existence means he considers me a mistake.”
She wailed anew. “It wasn’t hush money. It was child support.”
Laurie had heard this argument before. “Are you kidding me? We had a thousand rules to follow to get that money. I’m surprised I didn’t have to live in a monastery overseas so no one would discover the great Tyrone Shields had an illegitimate daughter from an illicit affair.”
“You can’t blame this all on Tyrone.” Carmen’s voice grew a bit stronger, and Laurie wondered if she was faking the tears. “I’m the one who slept with him, knowing he was married.”
“Mom, you were seventeen—it was statutory rape!”
“It was three days before my birthday, and I lied about my age.”
“And that stupid lawyer told you not to press charges because you could never make it stick. But the truth was, he wanted his cut of the hush money.” Laurie paused at the top of the metro station escalator, knowing she’d lose her phone signal underground.
Her mother’s voice was rock steady. “The truth was I loved him. I loved him then, and I love him now.”
“I know you loved him.” Laurie’s voice cracked as she swiped tears off her face with her sleeve. A man coming out of the subway station gave her a sympathetic glance, and she glared at him until he blanched, hurrying away with his eyes averted. “No matter what he did, you always loved him. I know that, Mom. But I don’t love him. I never will. He’s not my father—he’s a sperm donor.”
“Why can’t you give him a chance?”
“I’m not discussing this anymore. If you love him so much, you can have him. I hope you’re very happy. I really do. But I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to talk to him. And I sure don’t want his money.”
“But Laurie, he’s a changed man. He knows he was wrong, and he only wants to make it up to you.”
“He’s a changed man, alright. He used to be a big-time pro football player with a proper wife and a perfect family. You and I were his dirty little secret. Even after he blew his knee and retired from football, he still wouldn’t acknowledge I existed. Then his wife left him, no doubt because he couldn’t keep his pants on. He has nobody left, so he’s come back to you as a last resort.”
When Carmen responded in a shaky voice, Laurie knew her tears were the real thing. Her words had injured her mother’s pride. “I prefer to think he came back to me because he realized he loved me. You can’t believe it, because you don’t think I’m good enough for him.”
“No, Mom. I don’t think he’s good enough for you.”
“If you won’t come here, I’ll come see you. Tell me where you’re living now.”
“I’m going to be late to work. I’ll talk to you later.”
Laurie disconnected before her mother could object. She wiped her face on her sleeve again, noting the black marks from smeared mascara.
Great. I’ve got raccoon eyes. I’ll wipe it all off when I get to work, before anyone sees me.
When Finn spied Laurie shuffling across the lobby with her head down, he knew something was wrong. Usually proud and confident, Laurie strode with her head held high, everywhere she went. To see her ducking her face from onlookers set off all kinds of alarms.
“Laurie!”
Yelling her name made him cough, of course, but it got her attention. She waited for him as he jogged toward her, weaving between the teaming employees. By the time he reached her, he wa
s short of breath like he’d spent an hour on the treadmill. Wheezing, he tried to come up with an excuse for chasing her down.
“I thought we might ride up together. I’ll catch you up on Jarrett.”
“I’ll be upstairs in a minute. I was headed to the ladies’ room. Gotta fix my hair.” She pointed to her dark curls, draped across her face.
As she turned to go, the hair shifted, revealing black under her eye. That’s why she was going to the ladies’ room—to hide a black eye.
He grabbed her arm before she could escape. “Wait, Laurie.” He leaned close to whisper, so no one would overhear. “Who did this to you? Did that guy find you?”
“Stop it. Nobody did anything to me.”
“I saw your black eye,” he insisted.
“Let me go.” She whipped around, covering her face with her hand, tugging against his grasp. “I smeared my makeup, that’s all.”
“I don’t believe you.” Another set of coughs wracked his body, and he felt dozens of curious eyes. He wanted to slip away before he attracted any more attention, but he was too worried about Laurie. As he was coughing, she wrenched out of his weakened grip. She was getting away from him, but there was nothing he could do. When his coughs finally subsided, he was surprised to find her standing in the same place.
“Are you sick?” Laurie asked from behind the hand covering her eyes.
“I’m fine.” He grabbed his thermos and drank, soothing his raw throat. “Tell me what happened to you.”
“Good grief, Finn. You’re so stubborn.” She pushed her hair away from her face and pointed to her eyes, encircled in smeared mascara. “Satisfied?”
He could only think of one thing. “Why were you crying?”
“It was nothing. An emotional phone call with my mother.”
“Oh.” His face burned. He’d made a fool of himself. “Okay… well… if you need someone to talk to, I’m here for you.”
Her huge almond-shaped eyes appeared even larger, accentuated with smeared mascara. She made a point of rolling them around a few times. “Seriously, Finn. You’ve got to give this up. You are not one of my girlfriends. I’m not going to call you up and tell you my troubles while we bake cookies and eat an entire half-gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream.” She let her hair fall back across her face.
“I’m game for that.” With great effort Finn fought the desire to reach up and tuck her hair behind her ear. “Maybe women do it right. Advice probably goes down a lot easier with ice cream.”
“We don’t give advice.”
With her eyes hidden, he found himself hypnotized by her lips, his gaze glued to their every movement. He made it a game, scoring points if they curved into a smile.
“No advice?”
“Usually, we talk about how awful things are, cry together, and pig out on comfort food.”
“Sounds depressing. How does that solve anything?”
“That’s the problem with men, trying to solve everything. You can’t solve life’s problems, Finn. You have to deal with ‘em.”
“Eating ice cream? That’s how you deal?”
He scored big with that one, as her lips spread in a huge grin.
“Works nine times out of ten.” She adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder and turned toward the ladies’ room. “Now, please… let me get my face cleaned up so I can get to work. I’ve got a ton on my plate today.”
“Sure.” Finn coughed, the deep sound reverberating in the lobby, which was now almost empty.
Laurie turned around to face him, her hair pushed back to expose deeply furrowed brows. “What’s going on with this cough, Finn? It doesn’t sound good.” Her finger wagged in his face. “And don’t tell me it’s nothing. You’ve got dark circles under your eyes, and you can’t blame it on mascara.”
He hated looking fragile in front of his employees. For some reason, it was even worse for Laurie to see him that way.
“It’s no big deal. I’m just tired from flying to Denver and back and waiting in the hospital.” He skillfully shifted the focus. “Jarrett’s biopsy turned out to be major surgery. The next step is chemotherapy.”
“Oh, no! How is he? When does chemo start?”
“It’ll take some time to recover. I’m guessing they’ll start the chemo as soon as possible.”
Just then, heavy coughing overcame him, continuing for twenty seconds or more before he gained control again.
Her eyes squeezed into narrow slits, like slivers of black onyx. “I’m telling you, as your good buddy… I think you’re getting sick. I’ve seen it before, you know.”
“That’s my normal morning cough. I feel great, and I can prove it.” He bent his arm, pointing his fingers to the bicep that bulged through his shirt. “Want to feel?”
Her hands went to her hips. “Is this the way men deal with problems? You make a joke and pretend nothing is wrong?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?”
She shot back, “None that lived to tell about it.”
“You remind me of my mum, right now.”
She pressed her lips together, as if she were holding back a sharp retort. “You’re right. You’re a grown man. I won’t say any more about it.”
He gave her his best impish grin.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s hard to take you seriously with all that mascara smeared around your eyes.”
Laurie groaned and stomped off to the bathroom. When the door closed behind her, Finn let his body sag. Feeling weaker by the minute, he knew he was coming down with some sort of infection.
Though Laurie had guessed correctly, he didn’t want her to find out. His personal assistant covered every home or hospital stay with an appropriate story to explain his absence. Branson and Cole could know the truth, but no one else. Especially Laurie Fields.
Chapter 9
I can’t believe it!” When the memo came in right before lunch, Laurie had marched up to Finn’s office to confront him, but his PA informed her he was already gone. “Where did he go?”
“I’m not allowed to give the details, Ms. Fields. We must respect his privacy.”
“He couldn’t have taken the time to tell me himself?”
“Ms. Fields…” Frederick’s condescending expression pressed on her last nerve. “This opportunity arose suddenly—he called it ‘the chance of a lifetime.’ He couldn’t waste time running all over the building to tell everyone he was leaving. You should feel honored that he sent a personal note.”
“I got a memo on my computer. You call that a personal note?”
“As opposed to a group email, yes, I do.” He crossed his arms, drumming his fingers on his starched white shirt.
“He shouldn’t be going anywhere, least of all on some exotic vacation. He’s on the verge of getting sick already. Didn’t you notice how pale he looked? How much he was coughing?”
“I would never presume to give Mr. Anderson advice concerning his health, Ms. Fields.”
He may be right, but he’s still a presumptuous turd.
“What am I supposed to do about the LA Fundraiser? First Mr. Alvarez. Now Mr. Anderson. I’m beginning to think they want me to fail at this job.”
“I believe Mr. Miller or Mr. Knight will be stepping in to provide assistance.” He lifted his chin and looked down his nose. “Mr. Anderson also suggested he might call you each day in case he could help out from wherever he is, via phone or email.”
Frederick’s glare told her he disapproved of the plan, but Laurie assumed Finn was doing it to assuage his guilt. She imagined him, wearing sunglasses as he lounged in a hammock on the beach. He spoke into his cell phone between sips from his fancy drink with a pineapple flag. “Can you talk a little louder, Laurie? I can’t hear you over the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the beach.”
Still fuming, she returned to her office and called Stephanie to unload all the frustrations of her morning. Steph answered on the first ring.
“Laur
ie, I’m so glad you called. I just got off the phone with Branson, so I heard all about Finn. I’m sure you’re freaking out.”
“I am. And you don’t know the half of it. My morning started off with a phone call from Mom.” She swallowed, barely holding her tears in. “She did it, Steph. She got back with Tyrone, just like we thought she would. She begged me to talk to him.”
“I hope you told her no.”
“I did, but you can guess how that went over. It’s a good thing I never told Mom I changed my name. I think she’d do anything for that man, even betray her own daughter.”
“How can she trust him after all those years when he treated the two of you like dirt?”
“Of course, I’ll have to call her tonight and apologize.” Laurie sighed. “It’s so pitiful that she’s ready to forget everything he’s done and run back to him.”
“Maybe he’ll be different this time. Maybe he’ll treat her like he should’ve all along.”
“I hope so. Nothing would make me happier than to eat my words about him. Poor Mom. She deserves a little happiness. But I’m certainly not holding my breath.”
“Yeah… a sure way to suffocate,” Steph said. “You’ve had a terrible day. You started off with Tyrone. Now the bad news about Finn. And of course we just found out Jarrett’s cancer is back.”
What bad news about Finn? Had she missed something? She probed for information, attempting to sound as if she knew what Steph was talking about. “Yeah, it’s bad. Finn told me about Jarrett this morning.”
“You saw Finn today? Were you at the hospital?”
Hospital? Every drop of saliva disappeared from her mouth.
“He was at the office first thing this morning,” Laurie answered, vaguely.
“Wow, I can’t believe they admitted him that fast. I guess it’s pretty bad.”
“Yeah. I was really surprised when I found out.” She didn’t mention that moment was a few seconds ago. “Maybe you heard more details than I did.”
“Branson only said his temperature was 104 when he checked in.” Stephanie lowered her voice, as if someone might be eavesdropping. “You know not to tell anyone he’s sick, right? Because Finn doesn’t want all the employees to know about it.”