Read HANDLE WITH CARE (The Ludzecky Sisters Book 5) Online
Authors: Kathryn Shay
HANDLE WITH CARE (The Ludzecky Sisters Book 5) (15 page)
“And they were all clear?”
“Yes.”
Ana looked to the heavens. “Thank you, Jesus.”
Caterina walked on her knees over to Sofia and grasped her hands. “Why didn’t you
tell us? We would have gone for the tests with you.”
“Max went with me.”
Elizabeita asked, “What’d he do to make you break up with him?”
“Nothing, then. He stayed with me until we got the results. Then spent the night cuddling me.”
“This isn’t making sense,” practical Paulina said.
“I know. I’ll tell you the rest if Lizzie promises not to go off about it.”
“I promise.”
“He began to distance himself from me. It was subtle, but in reality, he was rejecting me like Damien did all those years ago. I watched him struggle to be better, but he couldn’t do it. Then his mother came to see me.”
She explained about Lil’s cancer.
“Oh, honey,” Ana said. “What bad, bad luck.”
“The Ludzecky curse.” As soon as she uttered the words, she clapped her hand over
her mouth. Finally she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put this on the level of the guys dying.”
“It’s not, and best you remember that,” Paulina responded. “But you’ve suffered a loss. Are you in love with him?”
“That’s the worst part. I am. I didn’t even realize it until he was out of my life. But that doesn’t matter. How can I be with someone who could flake on me when I was
really
in trouble? I can’t live with that, or having the cancer held over my head.”
Paulina said quietly, “I would have lived that way with Donnie if I had to.”
“Oh, my God, you’re playing the dead-husband card?” This from Nia.
Again everybody stilled. Then Paulina shrugged. “I guess so. I’ve healed a lot more than I thought I had.” She turned to Sofia. “That doesn’t make what I said any
less true. I would have done that. Nia would do it for Rafe, Ana for Jared, Mags for Logan and Cat for Aidan.”
“I understand,” Sofia said calmly. “But it doesn’t change things. You can all leave now.”
“Leave?” Ana stood. “We can’t leave. Do you have any idea how long it takes to get laundry soap out of the carpet?”
“Just put water on it,” Sofia said, grumpy again.
“You can’t. It
makes it worse. You have to pour salt over it. Let it sit. Vacuum it up. And repeat the process. Many times.”
“Then, let’s get started.” Caterina headed for the kitchen. “I’ll get the wine I brought.”
“I’ll order dinner,” Paulina offered.
Because she didn’t want their fussing, Sofia took the throw off the chair and put it over her head.
August 1
When the doorbell rang,
Max was icing his shoulder because he’d worked out too hard on the machines. Every time he heard the sound, he vowed if it was Sofia, he’d throw her out on her pretty little ass. And every time it
wasn’t
her, he fell deeper into something he’d rarely experienced before: depression.
Maybe he wouldn’t answer it. He had the thought as he found himself getting up and going to the door. He didn’t
even check to see who it was.
And was shocked as hell to see Elizabeita Ludzecky on the stoop. Before he could ask if Sofia was all right, she said, “Sofia’s okay physically.” She reached up and slapped him across the face. He put his hand on his cheek but didn’t say anything.
Then she shocked him by bursting into tears. Jesus. He drew her inside and—what else could he do?—he pulled her
into his arms. Sofia’s sister sobbed into his chest. When she drew back, she hiccupped and wiped her eyes. “C-can I have some water?”
“Yeah, come out to the kitchen.”
When they settled at the table, she sipped from the glass, then set it down. “You can live with the worry about her, Max. You can find ways to deal with it. Ways other people won’t understand. But you can do it.”
Something
made him ask, “How do you know that, Lizzie?”
“Because I do. I’ve found ways to live with her cancer, Luke’s and Caterina’s jobs, the guys dying, Ana’s daughter’s illness. It’s possible.”
Openmouthed, he stared over at a woman who he knew didn’t like him. “What brought all this on, Lizzie? What happened?”
“I want to make this better for Sofia.”
“So do I.” He hadn’t realized that
until just now. “I’m open to suggestions.”
Mid-August
Sofia said to the group, “Easy breath in, longer breath out.”
The eight women around the room were still and serene as they followed her instructions. Eyes closed, they were excellent students. Cancer did that to you.
Too bad it hadn’t helped Sofia this summer. It had, once, but she’d lost her serenity when Max came into her
life, and she was struggling to get it back. Even the intervention hadn’t helped much. Though the girls’ company felt good that night, the incredible loss of Max had made a hole in her heart.
When the breathing time was over, one of the women, her head wrapped in a scarf, raised her hand. “Sofia, I have a question.” She gestured to the class. “It’s from all of us. Is your cancer back?”
She shook her head vigorously. “No.”
“Did you have a scare?”
“How did you know?”
The women stood and walked to the front of the room, sat cross-legged in front of her. They formed a half circle around Sofia.
“Because we know the signs. Though you try to hide it, you’re so sad you can barely function. You rarely smile.”
“It was a false alarm.”
Though she’d already denied
the recurrence, she watched as every single one of them relaxed. And Sofia saw, with her own eyes, exactly what was important in life.
“Let me guess,” a woman who had had a scare earlier in the year said. “A man in your life didn’t handle it well.”
“He blew it big-time.”
“My husband, too. Men are such babies when women are sick.”
“My brother flipped when I got my diagnosis. He
still calls every day.”
“And sex right after the treatment, or the diagnosis? They either can’t perform, or are so gentle and tender it isn’t even that good.”
The women laughed.
Sofia asked, “Did you stay with them?”
“Of course. My Billy got me through the whole thing. He’s entitled to his reaction. But he knows he has to get better about it.”
“Mine had to go to a support group
to deal with his concerns. He did.”
Eight pairs of eyes focused on her. “What’d you do, Sofia?” one of them asked.
What indeed had she done?
o0o
Max and four guys on his team sat in front of a group of kids with cancer. Jakes had asked on the way over, “Why are we doing this again?”
“Because it’s important to give back.” What he didn’t say was,
And face your fears.
“These kids need adults to play with them. Take their minds off things.”
He’d found out about the children’s volunteer program on a disastrous date he’d had with a nurse here. He didn’t tell her his situation, but she told him point-blank he needed to get out of himself. So she suggested he help somebody else.
Right now, he was involved in a checkers match with an eight-year-old. Brad
played chess with one of the boys. Jakes was drawing with a little girl. Kirk, who’d balked at coming, read to three of them. Yeah, this was good for them.
And good for him.
Cancer existed. The most you could do was deal with it, help out if you could, and hope for the best. Instead, he’d gone off the rails.
When they were walking out, Brad had tears in his eyes. “Thanks for taking
us, Coach.”
He’d put an arm around the sensitive boy’s shoulders.
“Can we come back?” Jakes asked.
“Yeah,” Kirk said. “Just being there for them is important.”
Max sighed heavily. “Yeah, just being there is probably the most important thing of all.”
o0o
Sofia had no choice but to come to the first day of practice. She’d promised these boys she’d help them with
yoga if they gave her a chance, and she’d do it. Despite the fact that she’d have to see the man she loved for the first time in almost two months. She approached the door to the weight room, with her heart thrumming in her chest. And there he was, standing in front of the guys, talking quietly to them. He looked so big and strong, but he was breakable, she knew now, because he was human.
“Is she coming, Coach?” one of the players asked.
“I’m not sure. She’s had a rough summer. Some personal stuff. If she doesn’t, it isn’t her fault or a reflection on you guys.”
“I’m here.”
He pivoted fast. “Sofia?”
“Sorry I’m late.” She crossed into the room and over to the team. And to Max. “But you’re right. I’ve had a tough summer. I’m better though, now.”
“You are?” he asked.
“Mmm.” She smiled at the boys. “Good to see you again.”
“We thought you might come to the July camp,” Brad said.
“No, I needed July to deal with things. Now, let’s get started.” She addressed Max who looked so freaking great she wanted to jump his bones. “I assume you’re participating?”
“I am, Ms. Ludzecky.”
“Let’s lie down in
savasana
.”
They obeyed immediately.
Sofia
didn’t drop down on a mat. Instead, she stood in the middle of all of them. “I have a reading I’m going to do that applies to life and, by extension, to football. Many times in yoga, we use a reading to focus on the positive.”
No comments.
“Life is a series of waves. You can go with the flow, or you can interrupt it. If you halt its course, you stop its natural conclusion. For instance,
you can get out of your head in a game and lose your focus. In life, you can stop painful things before they have a chance to work themselves out. The cosmos has a design and it’s best to be patient and allow it to happen.”
Max lay on the floor, totally unable to concentrate on breathing. All he could think about was that she was here. And saying maybe some hopeful things. But he couldn’t
be sure.
After a few minutes of more of this philosophy, she said to the boys, “All right. That’s enough. Slowly turn to your sides, rest a moment, now push yourself upright and sit in cross-legged pose.”
They did. She heard someone say, “I didn’t get it.” Jakes, the sweet but sometimes obtuse kid. He scanned the room. “Did you guys get what was she saying?”
“I got it,” Max called
out as he rolled to his feet. “She said people can be real shitheads sometimes. They let you down. They abandon you when you need them the most. But she also said it’s wrong to not give them a chance to work out what they need to.”
Jake’s mouth dropped open. “She said all that?”
Sofia faced Max. “Yes,” she answered. “I did.”
They watched each other. From the corner of her eye, she
saw Brad get up and gesture to the guys. “Maybe we should take a break. Fifteen minutes enough, Coach?”
Without taking his eyes off Sofia, he said, “Yeah, Brad. Fifteen minutes would be great.”
The boys left, and still Sofia and Max stared at each other. He broke the silence. “So. Where do we go from here?”
“I guess that’s up to us.”
“Not fate? Not the heavens?”
“Nope. We make
our own decisions.” She bit her lip and he itched to cross to her, take her in his arms and hold her to him. But he didn’t.
Sofia wanted to throw herself into his arms, tell him that everything would be okay, but that would be wrong. Instead, she started to walk toward him. He met her halfway and she knew that was the universe’s way of blessing them. “I made a bad decision, Max.”
“I know
you did. But I gave you cause. I can’t believe I behaved that bad.”
“I couldn’t, either. But in the end, I decided it was partly out of your control. Though you should get some help with your feelings about what happened to your mother.”
“If you think it’ll be good for me, I will.”
“I do.”
He jammed his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t touch her. “What else can I do to make
this better?”
“Be yourself. Talk to me when something happens and it’s hard for you to deal with.” She arched a brow. “Love me.”
Now he brushed his fingers down her cheek. “I do, Sofia. I love you so much. I’ve been miserable.”
“Me, too.”
“Been miserable? Or you love me?”
“Both. I love you, Max.”
He swallowed hard. “I promise to work things out with you.”
“And I promise
not to act rashly if you hurt me. I think we’ll be good if we do that.”
“I do, too.”
“Now, do you want to hold me? Because I’d like you to.”
He took her in his arms. Kissed her head. “I wanna do a lot more than this, Sofia.”
“Not in school.” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed his mouth. “But later.”
“You’re killin’ me, babe. Just killin’ me.”
“I know, and I love it.
I love you.
Kocham Ciebe,
Max.”
-o0o-
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Be sure to read the rest of
THE LUDZECKY SISTERS
series as these six beautiful blond women try to make their way in the world after a tragedy strikes the family. Their stories will capture your heart.
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