by Renee Dyer
The smell of sweat and cleaner hits me as I walk in the door. They’re always cleaning the equipment. That’s why I like this gym. But, you can’t get rid of the smell, not when you have people working out twenty-four hours a day. Luckily, they have good ventilation so it isn’t overwhelming or stomach churning. I walk to the locker room, change, and do my stretches. I’m ready for exhaustion time.
I feel women watching me throughout my workout and I ignore them. It happens every day. I don’t come here to pick women up. I know some guys do, but I’m here strictly for the workout. Some of them chat to their friends about me, some giggle like schoolgirls, which really fucking annoys me, and others just stare. At least they leave me alone, which I’m happy about. I always think some of them will approach me by the way they act, but so far, none have. I often wonder if the gym has a policy about it that I skipped over reading. I need to go back and read my paperwork.
Two hours after walking into the gym, I’m ready to hit the showers. My body is covered in sweat and my muscles are burning. It’s a good burn. Makes me feel alive. I head off to the showers. The water relaxes any tension that remains in me and I hang my head down to let the water cascade down my back. Man, that feels good. I stand there for a few minutes letting the heat wash through me, massage me, and relax me. I needed this after the stress of the day.
I give a nod to the kid at the desk as I head out, like I always do. Getting in my truck, I reach for my cell and see I have voicemails. I roll the windows down and dial into my voicemail while I sit there. The first message is Grams asking me to call her because she isn’t feeling well. My stomach churns at the thought of her being sick. I know I’ll be calling her first thing. Instantly, I’m pissed that my assistant called in today. If she hadn’t, the phone would have been answered when Grams called. Yvette had better truly be sick or she and I will be having words. I move onto the second message and all the air in my lungs leaves me at once.
It’s her.
“Tucker. It’s Adriana. Please call me as soon as you get this. It’s an emergency.” I start to breathe again, but my breaths are coming too fast. I have to put my head down. Why did she call? What’s the emergency?
Oh God! She’s pregnant. She said she was on the pill, but that’s not always one-hundred percent effective. Christ, Tucker, you got her knocked up and now she has to talk to you. My heart is beating so fast, it sounds like the Kentucky Derby is being hosted in my chest. I realize I still have a third message and try to calm myself enough to hear it. Taking a few deep breaths, I press the button to retrieve it. Her voice flows into my ear again, a shock after not hearing it for so long.
“Tucker. It’s Adriana again. I’m so sorry to leave this on your voicemail. Um…I-I didn’t want to, but your Grams called here tonight and... um... well… oh, Tucker, I don’t know how to say this, but she must have passed out. Luckily, I had the note you wrote me with the town you lived in so I called and got her help. They took her to the hospital. I wish I knew more. I’m sorry.” The message ends and I sit there holding the phone, thinking that it can’t be true. Why would Grams call Adriana? Then I think back to the message Grams left me. She said she hadn’t felt good.
Nothing can happen to her.
Panic sets in and I have to know what happened. I quickly dial Adriana’s number. I know it’s the middle of the night where she is, but I’m hoping she’ll answer. I get the voicemail at her house so I hang up and dial her cell. Again, I get voicemail. Fuck! I have the Junction City police programmed into my phone in case anyone ever bothers Grams. I call them, praying this is all a bad dream. The dispatcher puts me through to Captain Coopmans who informs me that Adriana was telling the truth. He gives me the number to the hospital. I think I thank him, but I feel so numb I can’t be sure. Please, God, don’t let anything happen to her. She’s all I have.
I’m thankful that the nurse I get on the phone is a girl named Jenny who I went to school with. She doesn’t make me go through any kind of process to prove who I am. She informs me that Grams had a minor heart attack. She’s in ICU for the night being monitored, but they have her stabilized. They have her scheduled for eight in the morning to put a stent in due to a blockage. I can’t get there that fast. That’s the thought running through my mind. Forgetting the time, I ask if I can talk to her, but she tells me she’s sleeping. I ask that she please let her know I’m getting the first flight out to be with her. She promises and I disconnect the call. I can’t stop the tears that fall. Grams had a heart attack. She’s stable, I try to remind myself. Grams needs surgery. What if I had lost her? Adriana got her help. I heard Adriana’s voice. Adriana may have saved Grams’ life. Oh God, I don’t know what to do with that. Why did Grams call her?
Thank God she did.
Ten minutes later, I calm down enough to call Eddie. I tell him what’s going on. He tells me he’ll plan my flight and for me to go pack. This is why he’s my best friend. When things get rough, he’s the guy to go to. He takes care of things without me even asking him to. I get to my place and Eddie is waiting there with my flight itinerary in hand.
“Fuck, man, that was fast.” I hug my friend, not caring that he’s a dude. Sometimes it doesn’t matter.
“Helps that I only live about two minutes away and my laptop is always on.” He tries to play it off like it’s no big deal, but it’s a huge deal. “Look, booking it this late notice left you with shit options. I got you on a flight leaving in a little over two hours, but there are a couple layovers. You don’t land until about six tomorrow evening. I’m sorry, man. It’s the best I could do.”
My heart sinks knowing Grams will be alone all day, but I’ll call her during those layovers. She’ll know I’m coming to take care of her.
“Thanks, Eddie. I’m sorry. We just got the show back on track.”
“Fuck the show, Tuck. Go take care of our girl.” Eddie loves Grams and I know he means it. I shake his hand and head for my room to pack. I hear him close the door behind me, leaving me to my own thoughts. I don’t know that leaving me in my own head is a good thing. Luckily, I have to hurry, so I can’t dwell on everything that’s swirling around up there.
I’ll have plenty of time to do that on the plane.
Chapter Eleven
Adriana
The plane lands in Kansas and I breathe a sigh of relief that I’m finally on the ground. I want to get on my knees and kiss the ground, but I’m sure they would haul me off to the nearest looney bin. I grab my bags from the carousel and head for the car rental stand. The pilot said the wind worked in our favor or some nonsense like that, allowing us to land about twenty-five minutes early. All I felt were the ups and downs and bumps along the way. I’m exhausted from what little sleep I got on the plane. I thought about this the entire way here and I know I’m going to have to lie about who I am when I get to the hospital. I only hope Rose goes along with it. If she doesn’t, I very well may be arrested today.
It’s a chance I’m willing to take.
I load my bag into the Honda Civic I rented, pull out the directions to my hotel, and head there to check in real quick before heading to the hospital. “Geary Community Hospital,” I say the name and replay the story I’ve made up, over and over, during my drive. I need to make it sound believable. I’ve never been a liar so I’m hoping I can pull this off. I’m also hoping that Mrs. Stavros is alright. The thought that she may not have made it through the night has my heart rate increasing and my palms sweating. I almost turn back to the airport to see if I can change my flight back to New Hampshire to today, but I know I need to see this through. If she pulls through and is alone, I can’t have that.
With a new determination, I continue talking to myself the entire drive to the hospital. By the time I get there, I’m sure that I can pull this off. I walk to the reception desk and tell them I’m looking for my grandmother, but I don’t know what room she’s in. I give the receptionist her name and the woman tells me the floor and unit, but that I’ll have to talk to the
nursing staff there. I’m sure they are careful with all of their patients, but this is the grandmother of Tucker Stavros so I’m betting there is extra security in who goes in to see her.
On the elevator, my nerves start to take over again. I’m not sure I can do this. I know now that Mrs. Stavros is alive. Maybe someone is with her. I don’t know that she’s alone. The elevator dings and I make the decision that I’m going through with it. I flew all the way out here, now is not the time to chicken out. Stepping off the elevator, I can feel sweat start to trickle down my back and I hope the nurses can’t see how nervous I’m feeling. I read the signs and follow them to the unit I need. It’s a locked unit and I find myself grateful that no one can waltz in at any time to get to Tucker’s Grams. I know that’s what I’m trying to do, but I don’t mean her any harm. I’m sure there are others who would come here simply to say they saw Tucker’s grandmother, not caring that she’s ill. It makes me think of one of the notes he wrote me. One of his biggest worries in life is that he can’t be there to protect her all the time. I wonder how he’s holding up, not being able to be with her now. I know he got my messages because we’ve been playing phone tag.
It’s awful of me, I know, but I’m relieved that we haven’t been able to reach each other. I’m not ready for contact with him yet. Just hearing his voice on my voicemail has my body reacting and I wish it didn’t.
A nurse buzzes me in and I walk to the desk. I try to remember some things Tucker told me about acting. Keep your back straight, head up, and be confident. Oh boy, those are not my normal traits. But, for his grandmother’s sake, I’m going to try. She asks me if she can help me.
“Yes. I’m here to see my grandmother. I was on the phone with her yesterday and I think she passed out. It was the first time I had spoken to her in a long time, could go ask her if she’s okay with me visiting her?” I try to act remorseful about not talking with my so-called grandmother, but I don’t know if it comes off that way.
“Her name?” she asks and I feel like she’s buying it.
“Rose Stavros.” I see her face change and I worry that I lost her.
“Sure, I’ll go ask her and what’s your name?” I can see the distrust in her eyes.
“Adriana Monroe.” I’m not going to lie about my name. I don’t even know if Tucker told her my last name. In case he did, I want to give the whole thing.
“Stay here and I’ll go ask your grandmother if she wants to see you.” With the way she says ‘grandmother’, I know she doesn’t believe me. I just nod. She takes a few steps and looks over her shoulder at me. “If you were on the phone with her when this happened, why did it take you so long to get here?” Now she looks disgusted.
“I had to fly here from New Hampshire. I am the one who called and got her help.” I don’t know why I feel I had to tell her that, but I don’t like this woman accusing me of being negligent. I may not really be her granddaughter, but I flew half way across the country out of concern and I am not about to take this woman’s shit. She nods and walks down the hall, out of my site. I stand at the nurse’s station and wait for her to come back, wondering if she’ll go to Mrs. Stavros’ room at all or go straight to calling the police. When the nurse comes back and says she’ll bring me back to see my grandmother, I think I’m hearing her wrong and I can’t help but wonder if this is a set up. I follow anyway and I’m surprised when she stops at a door and faces me. “She gets tired easily so don’t expect too much and don’t ask a lot of her.”
I nod my head and watch as she walks away. Taking a deep breath, I slowly open the door and walk in. The woman before me is not what I pictured at all. She is not a tiny, frail, gray haired woman as I had imagined. Even lying in a hospital bed with wires and tubes hitched up to her, I can tell she is much taller than my five foot two frame. Her hair is salt and peppered and she has the same olive skin as Tucker, although she’s pale right now. She’s looking at me and there’s a big, warm smile on her face. She has deep, dark brown eyes, that I’m sure, if I let her look at me long enough, would see all the way into my soul. She’s gorgeous and elegant, even in this state. I can feel myself becoming drawn in by her smile.
“Are you going to stand in the doorway or are you going to come in and talk to me? You’ve come a long way to be here.” Her voice still holds a hint of the accent from the years she lived in Greece. Tucker didn’t tell me when she moved here, but he did say she lived there her whole life before moving to the States. The smile hasn’t left her face and I’m glad that I came.
I close the door behind me and walk across the room, holding my hand out as I was taught. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Stavros. I’m Adriana.”
“Dear girl,” she lightly chuckles. “Please, call me Rose. Thank you for coming. It’s rather boring here and I’m thankful for the company. So, what should we talk about first? Boys, maybe?” She winks at me and I can’t help but let out a small laugh. This woman is unbelievable.
“Can I ask first what happened yesterday? Why are you here?” I may be overstepping my bounds and she may not want to tell me, but I also remember what the nurse said. I don’t want her to overdo it by trying to entertain me.
She smiles again, which I find odd considering I asked her why she’s laying in a hospital bed. “I really can see why he’s hung up on you.” She lets the comment hang in the air for a few moments. There’s only one person she can be speaking of and my heart knows it. It’s telling me he’ll be here soon and it’s about time I stop running. But, who knows if he still thinks of me at all. Maybe her medicine has her confused. “I had a small heart attack, but I’m doing better now,” she says, like nothing happened.
“Oh, maybe I should go so you can rest.” I start to stand to leave.
“Poppycock. When I feel tired, I’ll tell you. Until then, I’d love for us to talk.” I can see that she means it and I can’t say no to her, so we talk for a few minutes about my siblings and what it’s like having a twin. When she asks about my parents, I can’t stop myself from gushing over them. I talk about how close my mom and I are and how close I was to my dad before he passed. She’s genuine when she says she’s sorry. I tell her some funny stories about my childhood and love how her face lights up when she laughs. She seems to be truly curious about everything about my life.
I listen as she tells me about meeting Kostas, Tucker’s grandfather, in dance classes as a child. They didn’t become dance partners until their teens, but she knew he was the one for her pretty quickly. “He needed a little more time,” she tells me with a twinkle in her eye. I sit there mesmerized as she tells me about the competitions they went to and the routines they danced to. It sounds so romantic. It’s like a book playing out before me. She tells me how they got married on a hillside overlooking a vineyard. When she talks about the injury that took Kostas away from dancing, I can see the pain in her face, but then she talks about the vineyard and the winery they opened and her eyes sparkle with happiness. I worry this is too much excitement for her, but she tells me memories are the key to wellness. Doctors just haven’t figured it out yet.
She starts talking about her kids, all seven of them, and I look at her in wonder. She’s so slender. I can’t imagine what it was like for my mom having three of us, but Rose had seven children to contend with. She tells me that when she and Kostas moved to the states all of her kids decided to stay in Greece to run the vineyard, except Mikos. He would never let her be too far from him. He’s the youngest and always felt he needed to protect her. She must have noticed the change in me.
“Tucker must have told you some about his father.” It isn’t a question, so I don’t answer. However, I also can’t look at her. My parents always taught me that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything. I don’t have one nice word to say about that man. “You don’t have the whole story, Adriana and neither does Tucker. He would never let me tell him. If you’re willing to listen, I’ll tell you. It may not change your mind and it may make you dislike him more, bu
t at least you’ll know why he did what he did.”
I look at her and see her pleading with me. Mikos is her son and I can see she feels the need to defend him. I nod at her so she knows I’m willing to hear her out.
“When we moved to Kansas, Mikos hated the idea, but he felt that I needed to have him here to look out for me. He was always a bit of a momma’s boy. He was only twenty-two and could have done so much with his life. He left a beautiful girl behind in Greece. At the time, I thought he would have married her. I realize now that she was not the one for him. We were only in Kansas for four months when he met Lily.”
She stops and I think that maybe she’s gotten too tired to go on. She closes her eyes and her breathing appears to have evened out a little. I figure I’ll sit here a minute and if she falls asleep, I’ll slip out and go back to my hotel. However, she opens her eyes and a smile curves her lips.
“The day he met her, I knew something had changed. He walked around with this dopey look on his face and kept muttering about ‘damn blonde hair and blue eyes’. I kept telling him to stop cursing, but I don’t think he realized he was doing it. He chased that girl for months, but her parents looked down on us because we were foreigners that talked funny. They forbid Lily from seeing him. Mikos was devastated. He started working three jobs to try to prove to them that he was a hardworking man, worthy of their daughter. No matter what he did, they shut him down; saying no dirt colored scum would ever get the hand of their daughter. Lily didn’t share her parent’s beliefs. She started sneaking out to be with him. They were in love. It was only seven months into their relationship when they came to Kostas and me, saying they wanted to be married. We could tell they were meant to be together, but we knew how her parents felt. We agreed to go with them to talk to her mom and dad. Needless to say, that talk did not go well. Her dad told her to choose between them or Mikos. Lily packed her stuff that night and came with us. She never talked to her parents again.”