Jayden came out of the tent right then, carefully zipping it shut before she made her way over to us at the picnic tables.
“The rotten kid went to sleep quicker than I thought,” she smiled at Nick. “I was hoping he would keep singing me to sleep.” She sat next to me on the picnic bench and leaned her head against my shoulder.
“He was singing to you?” Nick asked.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “I have no idea what he was saying, but it was definitely something he knew the melody to.”
“Was it ‘Goodnight, Sweet Dreams’?”
With a laugh she replied, “I think he said something like that.”
Nick sang part of the song for her.
“Yes! That’s what he was singing.”
“Huh.”
“Why’s that?” she asked him.
“Oh, uh, it’s a song I wrote.”
“Yeah? A new one?”
He actually seemed a little uncomfortable, but he shrugged it off and replied, “One I wrote a couple years ago, but I’ve been thinking about revamping it and putting it on the next album.”
“You’ll have to play it for us tonight,” she said eagerly. “I’d love to hear it.” She looked around the camp and asked, “Where’s Chris? I’m ready for lunch.”
We walked together down to the water to look for him, but only the girls were there. After spending twenty minutes or so with them, we found Chris back at the campsite already grilling some hamburgers. Jayden seemed to help with the meals no matter whose turn it was to cook, and this time she was slicing up the tomatoes and onions for him. She was almost finished when she got stung by a bee, and that caused her to cut herself with the knife. She barely said much except for a quiet curse word, but the blood was dripping off of her hand significantly onto the ground.
“Here,” Chris handed Nick the spatula to finish the burgers and he made Jayden sit down. “Ty, grab me that med kit,” he pointed to the other side of the table. He wasn’t even concerned with the depth of the cut at first. He only grabbed a piece of gauze out of the kit when I set it by him, and he wrapped it around her finger. He had something else in his hand, watching her very closely, and that’s when I realized he was checking her breathing.
“Is she going into shock?” I asked. “Jayden, are you okay?”
She slowly nodded at the same time Chris said, “She’s very allergic to bee stings.”
I wasn’t even sure if I knew that or not. She tried avoiding them at all costs. I just thought she was afraid of them, but possibly she did tell me once. Maybe it didn’t register.
Chris was still watching her carefully. Something must have changed because whatever he had in his hand went right into Jayden’s leg. He was reminding her to stay relaxed and to just give it a minute. Cali and the rest of the girls arrived about that time and Chris automatically warded them off. I later learned that an audience tended to make things worse, and Jayden had a harder time controlling her breathing when everyone got overly concerned.
“Jayden got stung,” Cali observed as she stood next to me. “Did she get epinephrine?”
I assumed that’s what was shot into her leg, so I nodded my head. The girls left the scene to head off the guys that had just returned from riding. They all stood in the distance, watching to see if everything was okay. By that time Chris was checking Jayden’s pulse.
“I’m good,” she finally spoke. She took a few more easy breaths and I think I finally released the breath that I was holding. Chris was looking over her left wrist where she had been stung, monitoring the swelling. He made her take off her ring for the time being, so she switched it to the other hand.
“I don’t need to give you mouth-to-mouth?” Chris asked her with a smile. He glanced at me with the same smirk.
Jayden laughed. “I think I’m breathing on my own this time.” She paused for a moment and took a couple more breaths. “But how about this?” she smiled, shaking the gauze off her hand. “It looks pretty deep, Dr. Davis.” Chris shook his head but kind of smiled, and then she added, “Let’s make Shawn watch. I wanna see if he’ll pass out.”
“You’re terrible,” Chris laughed.
“Hey Shawn!” she hollered. He turned from where he was standing with Matt and Cali. “Wanna watch me get stitches?”
He gave her the finger, but everyone else was laughing.
I had pretty much kept out of the way until Jayden patted the spot next to her. “Sorry about all that. I thought I was going to stop breathing.”
I shook my head and sat down. “Well it’s a good thing there were other people here. I had no idea you needed…all that,” I motioned.
“Jayden,” Chris said with disbelief. “You know better than that. That’s something he needs to know.”
“I know,” she replied. “I’m sorry, I just… I guess I thought I told you.”
“You told me you were allergic, but you never said you go into anaphylactic shock. That’s a little different. But…I guess now I know.”
“She carries epinephrine everywhere she goes,” Chris informed me, holding one of the syringe-like pens in his hand to show me, and then he instructed me on what to do if it happened again. “You carry one with you, right?” he asked her sternly.
“Yes, dad. I have one in my purse, one in the car in the glove box, and one at home in the medicine cabinet. And I think all of my friends carry one, too,” she smirked.
Chris looked at me to make sure I got all that, so I nodded. He kept checking her pulse, and when he felt all was well, we moved away from the table so everyone else could come and eat. Jayden sat in a chair several yards away from everyone, and Chris pulled up a chair next to her.
He actually put a couple of stitches in her right then and there.
When they were done, Jayden joined the rest of the group, but Chris made her remain sitting. He continued to check her pulse every so often, and asked her standard questions about her breathing. She’d been stung a few other times and the reactions had varied. But about four years ago was the scariest when everyone was down at the river one evening. She didn’t have epinephrine with her at the time, and Shawn had to race to her car to find some while Jayden pretty much stopped breathing and passed out. Chris had to keep air in her until Shawn came back, thankfully with the epinephrine in hand. It did the trick and she was breathing on her own, but they took her to the hospital anyway to make sure everything was okay. It freaked everyone out pretty bad. And then last summer she got stung and nothing even happened.
“Is she going to be okay after going through that?” I later asked Chris. Jayden had Sam on her lap, looking through a book.
Chris sighed. “Yeah, she’ll be fine. She’s never really had any other reactions other than the breathing problems. As long as her heart rate is normal and she’s breathing fine, she won’t even let me mention a hospital. If you don’t believe me, you can try suggesting it,” he said with a smile.
I laughed. “Uh, no that’s fine. I’m familiar with how she feels about hospitals.” After a short pause I asked, “She hates needles yet she’ll let you stitch her up with one?”
With a chuckle he replied, “She’s a little odd.”
We went out on the boat later on. Jayden was just a passenger and I was glad she didn’t insist on doing anything else. She sat with me at the front of the boat with Nick, Sam, Josh and Silvia. Shawn, Matt, Chris, and Allen hung out at the rear and took turns being out on the water. Everyone else sat at the water’s edge and watched from a distance.
Sam was fascinated with being on the boat, almost as much as the motorcycle. Jayden kidded Nick that his son needed a visit to Washington every summer, just to get a taste of how “the other half lives.” Nick completely agreed, claiming that he would much rather his kids grow up in this type of environment.
“I don’t think Bree would go for that,” she smiled. “She loves L.A.”
“Yeah, she does,” he replied. His son was saying something to him and he laughed after he figured out what
it was. “He wants to ride the motorcycle now,” he told Jayden.
“Ah, you like riding the motorcycle?” she asked the little guy. He tried to say the word again and Jayden laughed because it sounded like he was saying “more psycho.”
I didn’t sleep very well that last night. I was almost afraid Jayden would stop breathing again. She told me I was being silly, but I couldn’t help it. I knew that people could actually die from anaphylactic shock if they weren’t treated fast enough. I understood why her friends kept epinephrine on hand, just in case. It was scary to watch someone not be able to breathe, and I couldn’t imagine what I would do if anything happened to her.
She was up and going the next morning before seven. She admitted that she was pretty sad for summer to be over. It was her favorite time of year because she and her friends did so many things together and she loved to be outdoors (minus the bee stings). She also knew if she got pregnant after we were married, she wouldn’t be doing most of the activities she normally did. But she wanted kids more than anything, so she kind of viewed this camping trip as one last event in her life before a new chapter began.
I knew that summer wasn’t the only time she and her friends did fun things together. Besides doing traditional stuff like going to movies, attending concerts, or going out to dinner, they also spent a couple of weekends on the mountain. Instead of snowboarding with the guys, Jayden joked she would now be sitting in the lodge with the girls, checking out guys.
“Too bad you’ll have your ball and chain with you,” I told her, “because I’ve never snowboarded in my life, and I don’t plan on trying.”
She laughed and replied, “Then we’ll just forget everyone else and I’ll get to stay in the room with my husband all weekend.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Summer seemed to be officially over when the next week consisted of nonstop rain. It was Washington, so it was expected. Nick and his family stayed in town for three more nights (in a hotel to his wife’s liking) and we spent some time with them each evening. Bree ended up spending Tuesday at Cali’s salon, returning to her much-desired luxurious lifestyle. Nick hung out with Shawn and Josh for the day in Shawn’s recording studio, trying to take care of his son and play some music at the same time.
Jayden took off from work at four-thirty to join them, but Sam required much of her attention and she ended up playing with him instead. Everyone met for dinner at six-thirty at Time Out, somewhere all of us liked to go because it was casual and laid-back, and Howard always treated us really well.
Bree seemed less than enthused to be hanging out in a sports bar. The disapproving look on her face was pretty apparent. I think she and Nick weren’t on very pleasant terms at the time. I sensed a lot of hidden tension between the two of them. Luckily she had Cali to help bridge the culture gap. Cali was very much into fashion and makeup, the latest celebrity news, and she was fascinated with Bree’s stories about L.A. Stacie and Silvia also fit in with them well, tending to be interested in whatever they were talking about.
Jayden was a different story. She was no doubt the nicest and most polite out of everyone there, but she didn’t care much about the upper crust of the world. She listened and participated in some of their conversations, but she also wasn’t afraid to offer her opinions when the opportunity was given. Bree couldn’t believe Jayden wasn’t a social drinker, and she also couldn’t believe Jayden had never been in some of the stores that Bree couldn’t live without.
“Come for a week and I’ll convert you into a Californian,” Bree told her. “With your looks, you’d fit in just fine. I’ll take you to all the hotspots and you’ll love it.”
Jayden smiled. “Maybe. But it would be equivalent to us trying to turn you into a casual, laid back Washingtonian that loves the outdoors. I don’t think you’d convert as easily, either.”
Bree thought for a second. “True. But L.A. and here are two different things. People want to move up in society, not down.”
The statement was a little unabashed and a few of us raised our eyebrows. Jayden could have easily put her in her place, and I could see the temptation written all over her face. But she remained very composed and all she replied was, “I guess that’s why my roots are here. It’s where I’m meant to be for now.”
“I guess that’s why Nick wanted something better,” Bree smiled.
Nick was feeding his son a bite of food and dropped the fork onto the plate. The loud clanking was the only sound that came from the table, followed by a few seconds of silence. He looked at his wife with disbelief, but she was already asking Cali about when she might move to L.A. She’d said what she wanted to say, and then moved on with something entirely different and innocent. It was very nicely played.
“Uh, sometime after the wedding,” Cali replied uneasily, eyeing Jayden and me.
Chris, Matt, and Shawn had been in their own conversation at that time, so none of them heard what was said. But when the table went silent, they also stopped talking. Now they were all watching curiously to see what the drama was about. But Bree kept Cali talking, and Nick was cleaning up Sam’s hand from sticking it in his food as the guys continued on their discussion about the most overpaid athletes.
Jayden completely moved on from the incident. The comment probably bothered me more than it did her, but she didn’t let it ruin her evening with friends. Howard brought a flaming volcano via Jayden’s request. She thought Sam would really like it and he did. The sparkler lit at the top mesmerized him, but he was sad when it finally fizzled out. But his interest quickly recovered when he realized the volcano was built of chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, and raspberry syrup drizzling down the sides of it.
Everyone grabbed a utensil and began sharing it, and the look on Bree’s face was priceless. She had no intention of joining in; I’m sure it was all pretty barbaric to her. Her disapproval of our “way of life” completely amused me.
By nine o’clock Jayden and I were at my house, thankful for the quiet and the chance to be alone. The incident at the restaurant came up and she just shook it off.
“She’s a bit like Cali. She just kind of…says things without thinking.”
“Yeah, but Cali usually realizes it and apologizes.”
“Don’t worry about it. Bree is just a different person; she’s cut from a different cloth. She’s a Californian,” she smiled.
“Not every Californian has issues with her husband’s ex-flame.”
“Oh, really?” Jayden laughed. “I thought that’s what Hollywood was all about. Drama.”
“True,” I shrugged with my own smile. “But all joking aside, Jay, I think there’s a problem and you’re just not seeing it.”
She was silent for quite a while and she seemed to contemplate. Finally she said, “Okay, what am I not seeing?” She sounded a little hurt, and I felt bad because of it, but I honestly felt I should say what I wanted to say.
“I’m going to be completely honest with you, okay? And you might even get mad at me, so I’m apologizing in advance, all right?” She didn’t respond, so I went on. “I think Nick loves his wife, but I think he still has feelings for you.” She was about to object but I motioned for her to wait. “I think his wife knows it, too. But she’s pretty…fond of herself, so I’m not sure if it’s anything she’s actually worried about. It’s almost like she just…accepts it. But Jayden…you spend more time with his son than his own wife does. You’re more of the role model he wants for his kid. I think…” I sighed, knowing this was the hardest part to say. “I think they’ve been having problems and… I think you’re making it worse.”
She looked like she’d been slapped in the face, and after the shock wore off, she did look a little upset. But she didn’t say anything for a while, so I was hoping she had thought about it and agreed with me.
“So you think I really am coming between Nick and his wife because I like to spend time with their son?”
“Sort of,” I replied. “But what I mainly mean is that Nick i
s having a hard time with it. Especially because his relationship with his wife is unsteady, and now he’s reminded that you’re the one that got away.”
“Ty, you’re crazy—”
“Jayden, I’m not being jealous or trying to make you feel bad. I just think you need to see it.”
“Nick and I are friends. Are you saying I shouldn’t be friends with him anymore?”
“I’m not saying that. I just think you need to be aware that he has very strong feelings for you, just so you’re careful.”
“Have I said or done anything inappropriate?”
“No,” I sighed. “You haven’t done anything wrong—”
“But you said I’m making things worse. I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m very much in love with you,” she scoffed. “And Nick hasn’t done or said anything that would cause me to think there’s a problem.”
I paused, trying to collect my thoughts and what I should say. “ ‘Goodnight, Sweet Dreams’?”
She looked at me with confusion. “The song? What about it?”
“It’s about you,” I chuckled.
She scoffed again and shook her head with doubt, but I continued.
“It’s about someone he lost, someone he thinks about every night… Someone that he had to say goodbye to—with much regret—but now he finds himself whispering ‘Goodnight, Sweet Dreams’…to a memory.”
She was still shaking her head. “Ty, that song could be about anything. That’s the magic about songwriting. It comes completely from the writer’s mind, and it could have many different meanings. Every song is up for interpretation.”
“Exactly. That’s why the song sounds like it’s meant to sing someone to sleep—it has the allusion that he’s just telling someone goodnight. But the real meaning is what I just said. It’s about someone he lost, someone that meant a great deal to him.”
“Songs are about taking an idea, and going with it. Sometimes that turns out a little more dramatic than the real experience actually was. People, places, things… They are all inspirational. You start with one little idea sometimes, and it can make a great song.”
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