Foolish Notions (5 page)

Samantha looked over her shoulder and
then back to Ginger. “What?”

“When he said a nurse named
Samantha was coming by, I didn’t think he meant the Samantha.”
She chewed her gum with a wide mouth. “He calls you ‘Sam,’
” she nodded. “I think that’s what threw me. The
little devil didn’t tell me.”

The woman’s statement took
Samantha by surprise. Puzzled, she said, “Excuse me?”

“Your looks gave you away.”
She nodded in agreement with herself. “You’re just as he
explained.” She shrugged. “Of course, that was some time
ago, but you still look the same.”

Samantha felt like she had just walked
into an already existing conversation. Was she missing something?
“Who explained?” Her stomach was beginning to flip-flop
again. She swallowed hard against the queasy feeling. Is this how
Alice in Wonderland felt? Lost, confused, and a little out of place.

Ginger moved forward and cocked her
head. “I have to see these eyes.” She focused in on
Samantha as she rolled her gum from side to side and began to nod.
“Yes, I do see it. He said ‘angelic’ and he was
right. What is that, a hint of gray around the edges?”

“Angelic? Gray?” Samantha
shook her head. She knew she shouldn’t have come. Something
wasn’t right. She couldn’t even carry on a conversation
with this woman. She was beginning to feel like an unintelligent
idiot who wasn’t able to follow the simplest of conversations.

“Boy, he has you down to a T. I
didn’t believe that gray bit, but he was right,” Ginger
said with an aloof shrug of her shoulders.

Samantha was certain the woman was
either confusing her with someone else or she was having some type of
reaction to the ungodly amount of makeup on the woman’s face.
Whichever it was, Samantha didn’t take offense to her babbling.
If anything, it eased her into the awkward situation by keeping her
mind off the fact that she was standing in what used to be her home.
She couldn’t really dwell on the reality of where she was and
what it meant to her, while Ginger was constantly talking. The woman
had a way of worming her way into your head and allowing nothing else
in.

“The hair is nice too. I can see
what the fuss is all about. It’s not easy to have a good head
of hair, because it’s all in the genes.” Ginger poked her
finger in the air and waved it from side to side. “But them
there eyes are something else.” She gave a long soft whistle as
she let her breath out. “You know, it’s been a long time
since he talked about you but—” She tapped her temple
with her finger. “I remembered every detail he said.” She
shook her head. “I’ve never seen a man talk about a woman
the way he talked about you.”

With the intense way Ginger was staring
at her, Samantha felt she had no other choice but to watch Ginger’s
eyes too. They were caked with mascara and narrowed when they
examined her. For a brief moment she thought the woman was going to
reach up and touch her hair. “I must apologize,” Samantha
said quickly. “I’m not normally this scatterbrained. I
have a lot on my mind at the moment.” She smiled faintly,
feeling flustered once again. “To be quite honest with you, I
don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t mind me, I’m
just thinking out loud.” Ginger snatched the duster from
beneath her arm and waved it wildly in front of her. “If you
need anything just give me a holler. I’ll be around here
somewhere.”

Samantha stood in the foyer after the
woman had disappeared into the living room, trying to make sense of
the last few minutes. Ginger was like a whirlwind that left those in
her wake a little confused and disoriented. She had never met anyone
quite like her. Samantha smiled. Given the chance, she could really
like this woman. Understand her, not likely—but be fond of her,
definitely. Ginger was unique to say the least.

Her awareness shifted from Ginger to
her surroundings. She was standing in a house that had once been her
home, the place she thought she would raise her children and grow old
in. It was surreal. She had never dreamed she would see this place
again. But now that she was inside, it enveloped her like an old
familiar friend. She took a few steps forward. The house looked the
same. It smelled the same. It smelled of pungent salt, rich leather,
and James. She fingered a large, glossy green leaf that belonged to
the massive plant next to her. She had moved the tree from the dining
room into the foyer because the afternoon sun was burning it. She had
been correct in thinking that the indirect light was better. It must
have grown at least a couple of feet in its new location. She smiled
at the beautiful ceramic pot it was in. She had almost forgotten
about it. It had been one of her best flea market finds. One Sunday a
month she and Marie would scout the local flea market for treasures.
James had frowned when she had brought the pot home because he had
thought it was too ugly to put in the house. Yet, it was still here.

Samantha abruptly clutched the strap of
her purse with both hands. Horror shot through her when the reality
hit. Was she completely out of her mind? This wasn’t some fun
little walk down memory lane. She was here to see Marie and that was
it. The last thing she needed to be doing was reminiscing.

Squaring her shoulders, she stood tall.
The small act made her feel stronger. It’s only going to take a
few minutes, she told herself. “In and out,” she said
aloud, as she expelled a long breath.

She hurried up the stairs and stopped
several feet before the opened door. Moving slowly, she peeked into
the room. Marie was sitting in bed looking out a huge window at the
endless blue ocean. She didn’t look well. Her once-enchanting
eyes were now bleak. Her posture was stooped, her demeanor somber.
All these traits were so unlike the woman she had known only a year
ago.

Samantha couldn’t ignore the
intense urge to run away from the pain, even as her heart ached for
this woman. The powerful sensation swept through her, demanding she
get out of the house, get into her car, and drive as fast as she
could to the safety of her apartment.

But she couldn’t do that to
Marie. She wouldn’t do that to Marie. It wasn’t going to
be easy but she had to at least speak with her. She stepped into the
room and said softly, “Marie.”

Marie’s face lit up as she
turned. “Hi, sweetheart. I’ve been waiting for you.”
She gestured for her to come in.

Samantha went to her bedside and
immediately gave her a hug. “It’s so nice to see you.”

“It’s wonderful to see you,
darling; it’s been a long time. Too long.”

Samantha nodded her head in agreement
as she pulled away.

“Yes, it has.”

“I wasn’t sure you would
come.”

“Of course I would.” She
tried to smile, but couldn’t force it. Lying didn’t come
naturally to her.

Marie arched a brow.

She would fess up. Starting their
meeting off with a lie was a daunting thought. “The truth is, I
turned around three different times on the way over.”

Taking Samantha’s hand in hers,
Marie patted it reassuringly. “Yes, but you’re here and
that is all that matters now.”

Samantha looked at their hands. She
felt dreadfully guilty that she hadn’t made the effort to see
Marie before now. It didn’t matter how painful it might have
been; she should have come and visited or, at the very least, called.
“You’re too kind to me, Marie. After everything—”

“Stop.” Marie touched the
bed beside her. “Sit. Let me get a closer look at you.”

Samantha sat next to her on the big
bed.

“You look just as beautiful as
you did the first day I met you,” Marie said.

“Thank you, that’s very
kind.” Samantha remembered the day James had taken her to meet
his mom. James had tended the barbeque as Marie had showed her around
her prized rose gardens. As she and James were driving home at the
end of the day she could remember thinking that she would love to
have Marie as a mother-in-law. She had felt an instant closeness to
Marie. Even though she and James had only been dating for three
months, she knew that he was the one. They were compatible in every
way. They thought alike, they had a lot of the same interests, they
liked the same music, and they even appreciated the same type of art.
They were well matched, to say the least.

She blinked to clear the thoughts. She
couldn’t have been more wrong about a person than she had been
about James. She didn’t want to think about it. It made her
sick to think about the mistake she had made. It had not only cost
her several years of her life but the torment she lived with was
unbearable at times.

She turned her attention to Marie. “How
are you feeling?”

“Oh, I have my good days and my
bad days. Today happens to be one of the good days, since you’re
here.” She rested her hand on Samantha’s. “Did
James fill you in on everything?”

“Yes, he did.”

“What do you think?”

Samantha thought for a moment. “I
think you’ll pull through this just fine. It’s amazing
what doctors can do these days.”

Marie shook her head. “Do you
want to take care of me?”

“I would love to take care of
you, Marie, but I can’t.”

“Why?”

She raised her shoulders. “Because
I have my job at the hospital. I can’t just get up and leave.”

“Don’t you have any
sick-leave time coming?”

Samantha shook her head. “I’m
sorry, I don’t.”

“How about vacation time?”

“Afraid not.”

Marie dropped her shoulders and looked
down at her hands, her expression forlorn. “I need you,”
she said in her best pathetic voice. “I can’t get through
this without you. I just don’t know what I’m going to
do.”

“Don’t say that, Marie. You
don’t need me.” Samantha leaned in. “I know this is
going to be hard but you can make it. You’re strong and you’ve
taken good care of yourself. Besides, you’re not alone. You
have James, who will support you through this.”

Marie hung her head. “James isn’t
taking this well and it worries me tremendously.”

Samantha found Marie’s hand, took
it into hers, and squeezed it. She waited until Marie was looking at
her before she spoke. “He’s a strong man. I think you are
underestimating him. We both know what James is capable of.”

“But you haven’t seen him.”

No, she hadn’t seen him. When she
had spoken with him, he had obviously been distraught, but not to the
point that she was overly worried about him. “The both of you
will get through this.”

“I hope so.”

Samantha took a deep breath, eager to
comfort the woman. “I’ll stop by from time to time and
check in on you. I’ll give you my number. You can call me
anytime if you have any questions or just need someone to talk to.”
She hoped her consoling was working. She took both of Marie’s
hands in hers. “You can do this, I know you can.”

Marie’s demeanor didn’t
change. “You know what they are going to do to me.”

Samantha nodded.

“I don’t want a stranger
taking care of me. I don’t want some stranger to hold my head
up when I’m being sick or bathing and dressing me when I’m
too weak to do it myself. James doesn’t understand how I feel,
but I know you do.” She looked directly into Samantha’s
eyes. “You understand, don’t you?”

Tears caused Samantha’s eyes to
gloss over. She cared deeply for Marie. They had been good friends
once. Marie had been like a mother to her. It was killing her inside
to see Marie like this. “I understand,” she said softly.

“Do you?”

“Yes, Marie, I do.” It was
one of the truest statements she had made while she was there. When
she had been in nursing school she had to spend time in a cancer
ward. The pain that cancer patients went through was insufferable.
Sometimes the cure made them sicker than the disease. She knew what
Marie had ahead of her. “But that doesn’t mean this kind
of arrangement would work.”

“If you’re referring to
James, he is never here. You know how much he works. And
since—well—you left, that’s all he does. I’m
asking you to do this for me, not for James.”

“If it were that easy I’d
do it in a minute. But it’s not,” she said.

Marie coughed into a Kleenex before
speaking. “I don’t know what happened between you and my
son; that is between the two of you. But I need your help to get me
through this.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’ll
beg if I have to. You can’t even begin to understand how
important this is to me. Honestly, I’m afraid of the treatment,
but I’m also afraid that we’re not going to find someone
to take care of me. It’s all approaching so fast. We only have
two days to get everything in order before my first treatment starts.
I’ve depended on James too much as it is. I need someone to
help me. I feel so helpless, I’m not sure what to do.”
Marie paused for a moment. “Samantha, if it’s the money,
you know I can pay—”

“For heaven’s sake, Marie,
it’s not the money. How could you ever think it’s about
money?”

“Then what is it?” Her hand
pressed against her chest. “Is it me? You just don’t want
to work for me? If that’s the case just tell me.”

“Of course that’s not the
case.” Samantha stared at Marie in the huge bed as she
considered the situation. She raked her teeth over her bottom lip and
took a deep breath. She couldn’t allow Marie to think it was
because of her when it wasn’t. God, what kind of nurse was she?
What kind of nurse refused to help someone because they didn’t
want to see their ex-boyfriend? She should be ashamed of herself. And
to think she always prided herself on the fact that she went the
extra mile as a nurse, and as a friend. “Two days until your
first treatment?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t give me much
time to get everything done.”

Marie cried as she pulled Samantha to
her. “You won’t regret this. I promise.”