“Can you? I don’t like what I’m seeing here,” she told him.
Mary looked at her thinning father. It seemed as if overnight his face had turned gaunt…and old. He looked so old. He was only in his early forties, but she was certain anyone looking in would see a man well into his sixties. How could that be? Something was wrong. So terribly wrong. Even at the tender age of 15, she could see it. Dread spread over her entire body, causing her head to droop. Somehow she knew deep in her core that her father was either not coming out of this at all, or would at the very least not be the same man she knew…and adored.
Mary took a deep breath, in an attempt to control her voice and keep it from wavering. “Dad, you look terrible.” She felt no need to sugarcoat it. Something needed to be done and if that required her brutal honesty, then that’s what he would get. “You’re so pale. Have you been sleeping okay? And look how skinny you are. Have you been eating?” The worry showed on Mary’s face as she unconsciously pulled on her long hair.
“Hey, who’s the parent here? I should be asking you those questions.” Tim tried to lighten the mood. He could see the anguish on Mary’s face.
“Dad, please go to the doctor and get checked out. I don’t think you have the flu. This has been going on way too long.”
Tim looked up into his daughter’s face. He could see the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks, and he relented.
“Yeah, okay, Sweetheart. I’ll go see the doctor today. Hopefully he can give me something to make me feel better. It’s probably just some nasty bug, and I’ll be back to my old self in no time. Now, come on and help your old dad up off this couch.”
Mary was anything but convinced that the doctor could just give him something that would magically cure him. But what choice did she have? She realized that there was no point in dwelling on it. He had agreed to go to the doctor and they would finally find out what it was that ailed him. She was grateful for that.
Tim reached up and Mary took his arm. It took the two of them some considerable effort to get him standing. Once he was up though, he was walking fine on his own, albeit a bit slowly. Mary left him in one of the guest rooms, where he took a shower and got ready for the day. He kept a duffle bag of his clothes and toiletries in a closet at the Inn, just in case he needed it. That morning he did. After the morning breakfast rush, he would go see the doctor.
An hour later, Cecily arrived to work for the early shift at the bar. She stopped to talk to Mary at the front desk on her way in.
“Hey beautiful,” Cecily began. “I just saw your dad and he looks terrible. It seems like just overnight he has lost a ton of weight. And he was never heavy in the first place. Has he been to the doctor to get checked out? I’m worried about him.” Cecily pulled her name tag out of her purse and pinned it on her work shirt while she stood there.
“No, not yet. He said he is going today,” Mary responded quietly. She unbraided her hair and ran her fingers down the length of it as they spoke.
“Oh good. I’ve been thinking about this whole thing. I don’t think it’s the flu, like he said it is,” Cecily declared.
“Yeah, that’s what I told him. I talked to my mom a little while ago and she is going to drive him over to get checked out.”
“That’s great. Keep me posted, will you?” Cecily requested.
“Of course. You’re family.”
Cecily smiled at that. After the altercation she and Mary had when she and Javier were gossiping about Mary’s parents, Cecily was so very grateful that Mary had gotten over it. Or at least appeared to have. Cecily had been working at the Wildflower Inn bar for a few years and just adored the Carmichaels, and the twins especially. She had practically watched the twins grow up and thought of them as her little sisters. It pained her to think that one of them was angry at her. Or worse yet…disappointed.
Patting Mary on the hand in a comforting gesture, Cecily responded, “Well, I’ve gotta get to work. See you later.” She continued her path to the bar, smiling to herself all the way.
Two hours into her shift at the bar, Sebastian walked in and sat down on the very center barstool and smiled at Cecily. He was the only one sitting at the bar at the moment. There were a couple of tables occupied, but where he was, he would get her full attention.
Ugh, just what I need today, she thought.
“Hello Sebastian. What can I get for you?” She gave him her standard customer courtesy smile.
“A beer, thanks.”
After setting the beer on the bar in front of Sebastian, Cecily did her best to ignore him and went about her work. He tried several times to engage her in conversation, but she wasn’t biting. She gave him grunts and cursory one word answers to his questions. He wasn’t one to scare off so easily though.
“Cecily, I don’t understand why you won’t talk to me? I’m a nice guy. Really.” He gave her a toothy grin.
She had been restocking the bar and couldn’t take his constant attempts to flirt with her anymore. She turned to face him.
“Sebastian, look, I know you are a nice guy. I’m not disputing that. And in another life we would probably be friends. And…as you obviously know, you aren’t terrible to look at.”
He couldn’t help himself and smiled that cute smile of his again.
“Don’t get too cocky, I’m not done,” she frowned at him. “The problem is that I see how you treat women.” Cecily paused for a reaction.
His brows furrowed. “What do you mean by that? I always treat the ladies like queens. Ask anyone.” He sat his beer glass down on the counter, completely expecting a smart comeback from the bartender.
Cecily picked up his empty beer glass and refilled it before she responded. He waited patiently, never taking his eyes off of her.
“Yeah, that’s what I mean,” she finally responded. “I literally could ask anyone. Pretty much every female in town has dated you at one time or another. That’s just not my thing.” Cecily was being as honest as she could with him, while at the same time trying not to be mean. The truth was that she could see them as friends…as long as he stopped trying to bed her.
“Oh Honey, it’s not like that. Sure, I date a lot, but they all know going in that I don’t want anything serious. They know the rules. I don’t keep it a secret that I just want to date casually,” Sebastian tried to explain.
“I know that,” Cecily replied. “And that part of it is admirable. At least you aren’t lying to them. It’s just not my thing. I don’t want to date someone that doesn’t want a serious relationship. You are who you are.”
“But you’re different,” Sebastian told her. “I do want to try that serious relationship thing. See where it goes. It might be awesome. I don’t know, but I’d like to find out.”
Cecily could see the sincerity in his face. He honestly thought he was going to sell her on the idea of a ‘maybe relationship’ by saying he wanted to see where it goes. That was never going to work for her.
She certainly was attracted to him though. No woman could be immune to that potent magnetism. But his jaunty, devil-may-care charm was not want she wanted in a man.
“No. I don’t want to be your guinea pig. Find someone else to try out your science experiment on. Leave me out of it.” With that, Cecily resumed her work with the inventory and restocking of the liquor.
“Aw, Cecily, come on, don’t be like that,” he teased.
Cecily took a deep breath, and spun around to face Sebastian. “And what about my friend, Eliza, huh?”
“What about her?” Sebastian was taken aback, having no idea where Cecily was going with that question. Well, perhaps he had some idea.
“You know what I’m talking about! You seduced her and then dumped her. And she was married at the time. Still is actually!” Cecily didn’t quite yell, but her voice was louder than she meant it to be.
“No, you are wrong.” Sebastian felt the need to defend himself against her accusations. “Yeah, we slept together. Once.” He held up his left index finger for emphasis.
“When I wanted to see her again, she told me she was married and that she had made a mistake. She told me to leave her alone. And that’s the honest truth.” Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest in defiance.
“That’s not the story she told me.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. That’s how it happened. I can’t account for her distorted version of the truth.” Sebastian shook his head in disbelief.
“You knew she was married before you even started up with her. So why are you surprised that she regretted her mistake and refused to see you again?” Cecily challenged him.
“What difference does any of that make now?” Sebastian felt like he was being attacked over nothing. “That was a long time ago. Eliza and I are good now. We don’t talk much, but we have all moved on. What is your problem with all of it?”
“Sometimes your actions have consequences, you know?” Cecily looked him straight in the eyes.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Sebastian raised his eyebrows as he waited for her reply.
“Look, just leave me alone. I’m not ever going to go out with you. Okay?” Cecily didn’t know what else to do but be perfectly blunt about it. Nothing else seemed to be working.
“Fine with me. I won’t ever bother you again!” Sebastian threw some cash on the counter and stormed out of the bar. Cecily watched him walk away.
Chapter 13
As the day wore on, the breeze from far out over the ocean made its way toward the shore. As it did, it picked up speed. By the time it reached the Wildflower Inn, the clouds had rolled in with it and the wind was so fierce that the umbrellas and chairs on the deck were being blown over, and onto the beach.
The cafe door flew open and slammed into the wall behind it as it was yanked from Frankie’s grip. Even though she was across the room, Mary yelped in surprise. She looked up to see Frankie with her long red hair flying in all directions. It was quite a sight and she wondered how Frankie could even see what she was doing with all that hair in her face. Frankie attempted to brush it away from her eyes, to no avail. She couldn’t fight the wind.
“Mary!” Frankie yelled over the howling wind from just inside the door. “Go get Piper and help me with these umbrellas. They are flying down the beach!” She didn’t wait for a reply from Mary and began a tug-of-war with the door and the wind. Somehow Frankie managed to win that one and took off down the steps to chase the wayward umbrellas.
Just as Piper and Mary reached the sand, the rain hit. It seemed to come down in large sheets of water, instead of individual droplets. Due to the strong winds, the drenching rain was coming at them sideways. All three girls were instantly soaked, and chilled to the bone, as the temperature seemed to drop at least 15 degrees in a matter of seconds. Neither Tim nor Roxanne were home at the moment, so the furniture rescue effort was left up to the three teens. A handful of the Inn’s guests noticed what was going on and ran out to help. The girls were grateful for the aid.
Ten minutes into their adventure on the beach, Piper turned around in response to Mary’s warning to watch out for flying furniture. It was just in time for a deck chair to fly through the hair and hit her square in the forehead. Down she went.
“Oh my god, Piper!” Mary yelled. “Frankie, Piper’s hurt!”
The two girls ran over to check on Piper, who was already pulling herself up into a sitting position by the time they got there. She had her hand pressed against her own forehead and blood was dripping down her face, between her fingers. It was a soggy mixture of blood and rain and was forming a large pinkish stain on the front of Piper’s shirt.
“You’re bleeding!” Frankie yelled above the storm.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Piper shouted back. She used her other hand to pick off the strands of hair that seemed glued to her face by the wind and rain.
“Come on, let’s just go inside,” Mary ordered the girls. “This stuff can wait. If it all gets swallowed up by the sea, so be it. We need to take care of Piper.”
Frankie and Mary stood on opposite sides of Piper and helped her stand up. They each put an arm around her waist.
“Seriously, you two don’t need to help me walk. I got hit in the head. My legs work fine,” Piper told them.
“We know,” Frankie told her. “We just want to make sure you are all right. You hit your head pretty hard, and might get dizzy. Now shut up and let us help you.”
Piper smiled at Frankie’s bossiness, and wrapped her arms around the helpful shoulders. She knew at that moment that no matter how Frankie came to be with them, she was their big sister, and always would be.
Once they got inside and out of the storm that hit them without warning, the girls sat Piper down on the couch in the lobby. There were a few guests milling around, but no one paid much attention to the teens. There were a few sideways glances in their direction, especially at the blood still dripping down Piper’s face. But they could see that she was being attended to and went on with their business.
Mary took a look at Piper’s head. The wound was a bleeder, but it was just superficial. They had a few butterfly bandages and once Mary dried and cleaned the wound, she applied the bandages. Mary had taken some first aid and CPR classes and was the one they always went to for some basic first aid.
“I don’t think you need any stitches,” Mary told her sister. “It has already stopped bleeding. Now let’s all go get changed. Especially you, Piper. You look horrid with all that blood on your shirt. You look like you’ve been stabbed.”
Piper looked down and smiled. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Besides, I don’t know about you two, but I’m freezing,” Mary announced.
The three girls joked and laughed about their adventure on the beach, as they ran up the stairs to their rooms.
By the time Tim and Roxanne arrived home, Frankie, Piper, and Mary were all sitting on the couch in their living quarters, wrapped in blankets, and drinking hot cocoa. They were laughing when their parents walked in.
Though the day started out with a rainy adventure on the beach, that afternoon would turn out to be one of the most devastating days in the lives of the Carmichael family.
“Girls, sit down, we need to talk to you,” Roxanne told their daughters, as she and Tim joined them in the living room upstairs that was private to only them. “Frankie, you too,” Roxanne said to the girl as she got up to give them some privacy. “You are family. Come sit with us.”
“Um okay. What’s going on?” Frankie asked as she sat back down on the couch next to Piper and Mary.
“Piper, what happened to your head?” Roxanne asked her with a frown on her face, as she pulled up two chairs for her and Tim to sit in. The two of them sat down, facing the girls.
Piper’s hand instinctively shot up to touch the bandages. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just got hit by a flying chair, that’s all.” She laughed at her own joke.
Roxanne didn’t find any humor in her daughter’s injury. But they could talk about it later. There were more important things to discuss at the moment.
Roxanne suddenly became pensive. She took a deep breath and thought about what she was about to say. “We need to tell all of you something,” she began.
Tim put his hand on his wife’s knee and looked her in the eyes. “No, let me do it. It’s my burden to tell.”
Roxanne didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. A small nod of the head was the only response necessary.
Tim turned back to Frankie and his daughters. “You know how I’ve been sick for a while? Of course you do. That was a dumb question.” Tim looked down at his lap and back up at the girls. “Well anyway, I went to see the doctor today. I needed to find out what this was all about.”
Tim paused as he contemplated how the next thing he told his daughters was going to change their lives forever. He took several shallow breaths, summoning the courage to speak.
“Dad, what is it?” Mary asked. “You’re scaring me.”
He looked up at his beautiful daughter. At b
oth of them. And Frankie, who had become like a daughter to him during the time that she had been living with them. He was about to break their hearts…and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Dad?” Piper chimed in.
“Okay, I’m sorry girls. I just needed a moment. The doctor gave us bad news today. It seems as if I have a brain tumor.”
All three girls gasped in unison.
“Daddy, no!” Mary cried out. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around her father as she began to sob uncontrollably.
Tim wrapped his arms around his daughter and they both cried in each other’s arms. Mary had always been the sensitive one. His beautiful little girl that cried at everything. Every sad, and happy, scene in a movie. Every injured animal she saw. Every time anything emotional happened around her. He loved her for that. He loved that things affected her so personally. And so deeply. It was just his Mary. He squeezed her harder as she cried.
Piper and Frankie got up and wrapped their arms around father and daughter. All four of them were a blubbering mess, as Roxanne watched, powerless to change anything. She had already heard the bad news and would cry herself out later, in the privacy of her bedroom. Still, she attempted to reign in the tears that threatened to escape. It was of no use though. After a few moments she gave up and just let the tears soak the front of her blouse as she took in the heart wrenching scene in front of her.
After several minutes, the girls released their hold on Tim and sat back on the couch. Roxanne handed each of them a handful of tissues.
“So…what happens…now?” Frankie stuttered out as she tried to catch her breath, dotting her eyes with the tissues at the same time.
Though Tim was not her father, not even her adopted father, she couldn’t have loved him anymore if he were. Frankie grew up with a single mother that had a string of loser boyfriends. Tim was the first man that ever treated her like his own daughter.
“Well girls, there’s nothing they can do. It’s too far advanced. Even if we had caught it early, the surgery would almost certainly have left me worse off than without it.” Tim did his best to explain, without going into all the gory detail. That was stuff they really didn’t need to hear.
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