Taking Charge

by Mandy Baggot

  Cole let out a snort of laughter.

  “Cole, could you take up the freshly laundered sheets and pop them in the closet,” Robyn said, and she swung round, a pile of linen in her hands.

  “I think I’ve walked into the wrong house,” Cole remarked.

  “He’s making a joke. Usually wash day is tomorrow, but my father’s having an operation and I want to be at the hospital,” Robyn said quickly.

  “I see,” Martha replied, smiling at Robyn kindly.

  “She’s trying to make a good impression,” Cole whispered to his mom.

  “I can see that,” Martha replied.

  “So, how is work going here?” Martha asked Cole.

  He had given her the grand tour of the house and now they were sitting at the dining table enjoying Nancy’s homemade chicken stew and cornbread.

  “Good. It’s a good team. They’re very dedicated and enthusiastic,” Cole said.

  “More enthusiastic than your team in Chicago?” Martha asked.

  “I don’t know, things are different here, slower paced. It’s the Michigan way, isn’t that right, Robyn?” Cole said, grinning at her.

  “That’s right,” Robyn answered brightly.

  “Have you made any more progress with your theory?” Martha asked him.

  “I thought we were going to have a breakthrough the other day. Things looked good, the science said it should work, but it didn’t,” Cole told her.

  “Why not?” Martha asked.

  “I haven’t figured that one out yet. But I will,” Cole assured her.

  “I don’t really know what he does all day, but it sounds very important,” Robyn said, taking some more bread.

  “Doesn’t she know?” Martha asked, looking at Cole in horror.

  “Mom, it isn’t important,” Cole said dismissively.

  “Cole! How can you say that?” Martha exclaimed.

  “Because my life here isn’t just about the job, that’s why. There is more to me than work, Mom.”

  “Robyn, Cole is the closest anyone’s been to creating a revolutionary cancer drug. He’s a formula away—a formula,” Martha said firmly.

  “It’s more than a formula, Mom. It’s a long process and there are a number of factors to take into consideration,” Cole told her.

  “I didn’t realize. I should have realized,” Robyn said, swallowing a feeling of stupidity. Why didn’t she know that? She should have known that.

  “No, you shouldn’t have realized,” Cole insisted.

  “What he’s going to achieve is nothing short of miraculous,” Martha continued.

  “Mom, don’t do this. You always do this and it’s embarrassing,” Cole said, laying his napkin down on the table and toying with his water glass.

  “You should be proud of what you do.”

  “I am proud of what I do, but it isn’t everything.”

  “Did you know Cole’s my best player on the ice hockey team?” Robyn asked.

  “I hardly think ice hockey’s as relevant to the world as finding a cure for cancer,” Martha mocked.

  “Here in Portage, we take ice hockey very seriously. My Uncle Bob always says hockey isn’t life and death—it’s far more important than that. I’ve never really known whether he’s serious or not,” she replied with a smile

  “What a ridiculous statement to make. I can’t believe you don’t discuss your work with your girlfriend. Is she your girlfriend? Because you haven’t really said,” Martha said, wiping her mouth with the napkin and looking at Cole.

  “Why don’t I get dessert,” Robyn offered, standing up.

  “Mom, Robyn and I are getting married,” Cole told her bluntly.

  Robyn sat back down and stared at her half-eaten bowl of chicken stew. Her ring was in the pocket of her jeans and she slipped her fingers inside to touch it.

  “Getting married,” Martha repeated, pursing her lips and putting down her soup spoon.

  “Yes, next week. The twenty-second. Can you come?” Cole asked her.

  “Cole, is this some sort of joke?”

  “No. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but we know it’s what we want. When we met, we just gelled and…” Cole started.

  “Gelled,” Martha said as if the very word was too ugly for her mouth.

  “We connected…like you and Dad did when you first met. Remember when you first met each other, under the cherry blossom, both holding a copy of To Kill a Mocking Bird. You’ve told me that story so many times. You said you knew right then that there would be no one else. He was your Mr. Right and you were right for him. That’s how I feel about Robyn,” Cole said.

  “Cole, I know how scarred you feel from what Bryn and Veronica did to you, but this isn’t the way to make things better. We’ve been there with you making inappropriate decisions before,” Martha reminded him.

  “This has nothing to do with Bryn and Veronica—or Dad. It has nothing to do with any of them. It has to do with me and Robyn and how we feel about each other,” Cole insisted.

  “I know they hurt you, more than you will ever let on, but jumping feet first into a relationship won’t lessen the pain. It’s something that will ease with time, moving on too quickly will only make things worse,” Martha said.

  “Mom, you’re not listening to me. I didn’t love Veronica. When she did what she did with Bryn, I wasn’t hurt because she was the love of my life, I was hurt because neither of them could tell me how they felt. They went behind my back instead of being honest with me. It was the lies and the deceit, not the depth of my feelings. Robyn and I, we tell each other everything, good and bad. The way I feel about her…it’s much more than anything I’ve ever felt before,” Cole tried to explain.

  Robyn blinked back tears as he spoke. The truth hit her full force. He loved her. He really loved her, just how she was. Flawed, crazy, and a little bit damaged.

  “I don’t want you to do something now that you might regret a little while down the line,” Martha said.

  “Is that what your mom said to you when you told her about Dad?” Cole asked.

  “Yes,” Martha said with a laugh as she wiped at her eyes with her fingers.

  “Please, come to the wedding, Mom. You can stay here, we’re getting married by the lake. It’s going to be a special day,” Cole said, taking her hand.

  Martha looked at Robyn. Robyn couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her face as she watched Cole with his mom.

  “Well, how can I refuse an invitation to my son’s wedding? My! I’ll need to buy a new dress and a hat!” Martha said, dabbing at her eyes with her napkin.

  “But no shoes,” Robyn said, stirring from her trance.

  “What?” Martha asked.

  “It’s a barefoot wedding, Mom, no shoes allowed,” Cole informed her.

  “Does that have something to do with religion?” Martha inquired, a puzzled look on her face.

  “No, it has to do with algae from the lake. Get that on your shoes and they’ll never be the same again,” Robyn said with a smile.

  “Have you got a dress yet?” Martha asked her.

  “Er, no. I haven’t really had time, what, with my dad and the roadhouse and the hockey team and…” Robyn began, looking awkwardly at Cole.

  “Then you must let me take you shopping. One day next week, yes?” Martha offered.

  Cole looked at Robyn encouragingly.

  “Yes. That would be nice,” Robyn agreed with a smile.

  She’d promised not to sing but she did it every time she dried the dishes. And today his mom had joined in! Some old track by George Strait or Alan Jackson, Hell, he didn’t know. Telling his mom about the wedding had been the right thing to do, despite Veronica’s reservations. She had a sparkle in her eyes now as she commented on Robyn’s floral blouse and scrubbed at the pot. He still couldn’t contemplate Thanksgiving yet, but his mom was smiling again, properly. He hadn’t seen her smile quite like that in a long time.

  Chapter Thirty-three

&nbs
p; “You should have called me last night. Has she been out at all?” Robyn asked Pam when she let her into the house later.

  “No, and she hasn’t eaten anything either. I made beef stew and it hasn’t been touched,” Pam said, leading the way to the spare room.

  “Hi, Robyn.”

  “Hi, Robyn.”

  Sienna and Sierra bounded out of their bedroom wearing ice hockey pads, shirts, and helmets, all of which were far too big for them.

  “Hey, look at you! Where did you get the uniforms?” Robyn exclaimed, admiring her nieces.

  “Daddy got them for us. They’re secondhand, but there’s hardly any wear,” Sierra announced excitedly.

  “Mine has a number seventeen on the back,” Sienna said, twirling around.

  “Cool! So you all ready for tomorrow night? You’re in charge of the water, that’s the most important job, you know. You have to get it right,” Robyn told them seriously.

  “We’ve been practicing at school,” Sienna replied confidently.

  “Great,” Robyn said, giving them a thumbs up.

  “Sarah! Robyn’s here, she’s coming in,” Pam called, tapping on the door.

  There was no reply, so Robyn opened the door and entered.

  Her friend was sitting up on the bed wearing jogging pants and a baggy t-shirt, staring vacantly at the television and channel hopping. She didn’t acknowledge Robyn’s entrance and flicked from the weather channel to a re-run of American Idol.

  “You’re a hard woman to track down. You lost your phone?” Robyn asked, sitting on the bed next to her.

  Sarah didn’t reply, but Robyn saw that her cell was right next to her.

  “Okay, so what are you doing here when you have a perfectly good home a few streets away?”

  “I told you I was leaving Mickey and that’s what I’ve done. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t want to be a third-wheel to you and Cole. Brad isn’t an option given the current circumstances, so Pam was the only person I could think of that would take me in for a while and not give me a lecture,” Sarah finally said.

  “You wouldn’t have been a third-wheel. Cole and I aren’t dating,” Robyn announced quickly.

  “Whatever.”

  “Mickey loves you, he’s been crying on my doorstep. He’s worried about you; he wants you to go home,” Robyn told her.

  “He doesn’t love me. He’s probably just wondering why his dinner isn’t magically cooking on its own or why the laundry hasn’t been done,” Sarah snapped.

  “That isn’t true. He’s devastated. He’s drinking, he’s taken time off work, he’s not himself, and he doesn’t know what to do,” Robyn explained.

  “Robyn, you’ve just described an adolescent. Need I say more?”

  “Listen, this is madness. Okay, he’s a bit slow at coming forward, but last night, before he saw the suitcase and everything, he was going to ask you to marry him,” Robyn told her.

  “Why? Because you told him to?”

  “No, because he loves you.”

  “I don’t believe you. I haven’t left him to prove a point, you know.”

  “No? Well, why have you left him?”

  “Because I can’t see us growing old together. He’s never going to grow up. We want different things, we’re two different people who got together too young and settled for what we had because we didn’t know any better,” Sarah tried to explain.

  “That isn’t true.”

  “Yes it is. You haven’t been around for years, you don’t know how it’s been. You’ve been in England living an exciting life with new people, experiencing different things. All I’ve had is Portage, Michigan,” Sarah complained.

  “This is a midlife crisis come early. You’ve flipped. This isn’t the Sarah Gorski I know.”

  “Maybe it isn’t. Maybe the Sarah Gorski you knew doesn’t exist anymore, and maybe the new Sarah Gorski wants more from her life than a town obsessed with ice hockey and monster trucks and a boyfriend who still acts like he’s fourteen,” Sarah blurted out.

  “Then what do you want? You want to go to England? Go! Live my so called exciting life. I worked on cars, I worked in an office, and I slept with my fifty-five year old boss. I’ve decided it’s not for me, but try it—it might be just what you’re looking for,” Robyn yelled.

  “It might! At least it isn’t here. At least I wouldn’t be trapped with the same people and the same shit, day in and day out. Everything’s just routine, drudgery, and discount coupons.”

  “You ungrateful bitch!” Robyn said, gritting her teeth as she looked at her friend.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. You’re an ungrateful bitch. You know why I left town. It wasn’t because I wasn’t satisfied with what I had here. I love this place. I love the people and the places and all the so-called routine and drudgery. I would have given anything to have had that back. You’ve got a guy who’s loved you for as long as anyone can remember. So, he’s got his faults. He drinks too much, he likes hockey too much, he smells a bit after work, but he’s real. You had a real life, doing things that real couples do. I would have given anything to have had a piece of that. Excitement and adventure aren’t real, they’re temporary feelings that don’t last, and if you want to give up something genuine for that, you’re a fool,” Robyn blasted.

  “You don’t get it,” Sarah said, tossing the remote control on the bed.

  “No, I don’t. And I’m giving up trying to get it. My dad’s having a heart bypass tomorrow, so excuse me, but I’m going to visit him. I’m completely done here,” Robyn said, getting off the bed and heading for the door.

  She stormed out of the room and went marching up the hallway toward the front door.

  “Is everything okay?” Pam asked as Robyn prepared to leave.

  “No, it isn’t, she’s gone nuts. She’s having some sort of menopausal meltdown. I’ve got to go, Nancy and I are going to see Dad,” Robyn informed her, opening the front door.

  “Oh, honey, give him these magazines. I keep forgetting to take them every time I go,” Pam said, collecting some ice hockey magazines and handing them to Robyn.

  “Sure,” Robyn agreed.

  “Oh, and someone called for you earlier, someone named Trudy? She left a number.”

  “Max! Oh, Max! Wakey, wakey old timer! Nancy’s brought you your favorite chocolate muffins,” Nancy said, waving a paper bag in front of his face.

  “Chocolate muffins? You never told me you had those! What are you trying to do to them?” Robyn exclaimed, snatching the bag from Nancy’s grasp.

  “Shh, they’re not really chocolate. They’re oatmeal and raisin, but he won’t eat raisins anymore, so I say it’s chocolate. Zip it!” Nancy hissed quietly to Robyn as she snatched back the bag.

  “What did you say? Stop whispering. What you got?” Max asked, snapping his eyes open and surveying the goodies.

  “Chocolate muffins, Max. Hey, Dad,” Robyn greeted, moving over to her father’s bed and sitting down on the chair.

  “Hey, yourself. What time d’you call this? I thought you were coming earlier, it’s after six,” Eddie grumbled, checking his watch.

  “Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. It’s been a busy day. The new tables and chairs arrived, then Cole’s mom came for lunch, and Sarah left Mickey and…” Robyn began.

  “Sarah left him in the end, did she? We weren’t sure how that one was going to go after what Brad was saying. My money was on Mickey popping the question,” Max said, chewing on a muffin and spitting bits all over his covers.

  “You can’t force someone to marry, though, can you? It has to be for love,” Nancy said, putting her arm around Eddie’s shoulders and kissing him on top of his head.

  “Why aren’t you at the arena? Isn’t it training tonight?” Eddie asked Robyn gruffly.

  “Yes, but I wanted to see you. Grant’s there, I’m going to go later.”

  “You should be there now, you don’t want to let things slide after the great result. Important game
tomorrow, Grand Rapids is climbing the table,” Eddie informed her.

  “I know that, Dad, but you have your operation tomorrow. I wanted to see you and wish you luck,” Robyn said, her voice weakening.

  “Wish me luck? I’m not a racehorse about to enter the Kentucky Derby, it’s a bypass operation. If I need luck, then there’s no hope for any of us in here,” Eddie growled.

  “Robyn didn’t mean luck. She just wants to see her grumpy old pop and wish him well. And to let him know that when he comes round tomorrow, we’re both going to be here to nag him about eating right and doing some exercise,” Nancy said.

  “Yeah, that was it,” Robyn agreed.

  “He’s made of stern stuff is Eddie. It’ll take more than a few doctors poking around his beater to do him in,” Max remarked, stuffing another muffin in his mouth.

  “So how are things going with the roadhouse?” Eddie asked.

  “Great. Robyn’s doing a good job; we’re all set for opening on Friday night,” Nancy told him.

  “What she means is we still have a hundred jobs to do before we’re going to be ready for opening night but we will be ready—even if we all have to work twenty four seven,” Robyn explained.

  “She’s a taskmaster. A chip off the old block,” Nancy said, smiling at him.

  “And you’re getting along?” Eddie asked them both.

  “Of course! Why wouldn’t we be? It’s like having my own daughter. We even cooked together,” Nancy said.

  “Sounds touching, Eddie,” Max remarked.

  “Sounds over the top to me. What are you hiding? You had a fight you’re trying to cover up?” Eddie asked suspiciously.

  “No, Dad,” Robyn replied.

  “I may be stuck in this bed, but it hasn’t affected my mind,” Eddie assured them both.

  “Everything’s running like clockwork, Eddie. When you come home the Panthers will be top of the league and the roadhouse will be the most talked about eatery in Michigan,” Nancy assured.