Pieces (Riverdale #1) (19 page)

     
Cara stared at Deb for a moment before she
spoke. “Jake is my world, and you guys are right up there with him. After all
you’ve done for me, strength is the least I can do.” She glanced at Jake and
then back at her. “You’ve both held me up through my weakest times. So really,
no thanks are ever required.”

     
Deb walked around the bed and wrapped her
arms around her, hugging her tightly. “I love you Cara and I’m so happy you and
my son found one another all these years ago.”

 
    
Cara
gave her a tight squeeze, before she untangled herself from Deb’s death grip.
She laughed slightly, and nodded for her to sit in the chair she had occupied
for the last three hours.
 
She stepped
out of the room quietly, and leaned against the door. She took a deep breath,
gathered her strength and her bravery, before making her way to the rest of the
family.

     
It was easy to spot them, they were all
wearing the black and lime green shirts she had bought them, as they sat around
the tiny waiting room. Sam and Joe were huddled together, playing with Joe’s
new I Phone. Luke and Nick sat across from them; both of them looked at the
father and daughter amused. She stepped towards them.

     
“What’s going on?” She asked Luke and
Nick, motioning to Sam and Joe, who were completely oblivious to their
surroundings. Joe’s glasses were on and he was still squinting at the screen.

     
“Well, my darling sister thought it would
be a good idea to set my father up with a Twitter account.”
 
Jake said blandly.

     
Cara looked at him incredulously, then
back to Sam and Joe. Joe didn’t know the first thing about electronics, never
mind social media. He had gone to half a dozen classes, just to learn the
simple basics in working the phone.

     
Joe glanced up from the screen, and smiled
at Cara. “I just tweeted.”

     
She couldn’t tell if it was the grin on
his face or the mere fact that Joe actually composed a tweet, but she burst out
laughing.

     
“He doesn’t have any followers though.”
Sam pointed out, holding back her laughter.

     
“So you popped his cherry and no one will
ever know.” Nick said amused, and Cara laughed harder.

     
“Do you do the twitter Cara?” Joe asked as
he moved his glasses further on top of his nose. “If so, friend me or follow
me? Which is it?” He looked at Sam, for help.

     
“Follow. See how you’re following Derek
Jeter, and all his tweets show up in your timeline? If someone follows you they
will see everything you tweet on theirs.”

     
Joe nodded, and then looked up at Cara,
shrugging, giving her the I-have-no-idea-what-the-girls-talking-about look.

     
“I’m sorry Joe, but I don’t tweet.” She
winked at him and sat in a chair beside Luke.

     
“Would you like some coffee?” He asked
her.

     
“I’ve got it. Thanks.” She said, leaning
over the coffee table, and fixing one of the empty cups that Nick had brought
them. Since the day she had found out about Jake, things were a bit strained
between her and Luke. Not that anyone would be able to notice, but she did and
she was sure he did too. She didn’t like that he thought he could dismiss her,
and keep her in the dark about Jake’s illness. It didn’t matter to her whether
it had been his idea or Jake’s, she thought they had an understanding that
night at the track, she thought they were together on getting Jake well.
Clearly, she had misread their understanding.

     
She sat back against the chair and took a
long sip of the coffee.

     
“How is he doing?”
 
Nick said, leaning forward, and glancing at
her across Luke.

     
“He’s good, just exhausted.” She smiled at
him. “Thanks for the coffee.”

     
Nick smiled in return, and fingered his
shirt. “Thanks for the shirt. Hey, I stopped by my apartment and saw Rudy. He
told me to let you know that he covered your shifts for the rest of the week.”

     
Sam looked up as Nick spoke. ‘Cara between
all of us, he won’t be alone so if you have to go to work, don’t worry.”

     
“I know that, I just wanted to be with him
this week. I mean none of us really know how his body is going to react.” Cara
said as she took another sip of her coffee.

     
“My son’s a lucky man.” Joe said, pausing
from his Twitter tutorial to sing Cara’s praise. He winked at her and then
looked back at his phone. “Don’t tell your mother, but I just followed Sports
Illustrated.” He said and nudged Sam.

     
“You did what?” They all turned at the
sound of Deb’s voice. Her eyes were firmly planted on her husbands.

     
“How’s the boy?” He said, dodging her
interrogation.

     
“He’s awake; Dr. Capernick said we could
all go in. He’s doing excellent so far.”

     
They all rose quickly to their feet, and
shuffled their feet to see who would make it to Jake’s room first. When the
doctor opened the door, the lot of them basically fell through the open door.

     
“Well, looks like your team is here.” Dr.
Capernick said before looking over his shoulder and smiling at Jake.

     
Jake smiled, still obviously groggy. “Hey
guys.”

The
doctor stepped back and allowed them all to file into his room. “His vitals are
good, and we’ve finished administering his first dose. We’ll continue to
monitor him for a few days before he goes home.

     
Cara smiled as she made her way to his
bedside. He reached for her hand and squeezed it.

“I’m
proud of you.” She said reassuringly and kissed his hand.

     
“Thank you so much doctor.” Deb said.
“You’re taking such good care of our boy.”

     
“He’s surprisingly a good patient. I’ll
give you guys some time.” He said before seeing himself out of the room.

     
“How do you feel?” Sam asked as she leaned
down and kissed his cheek.

     
“Like a million bucks.” Jake quipped, but
he obviously didn’t. His voice was tired and he looked awfully drained.

     
“Guess what?” She tried to sound hyped.
“Dad’s got Twitter.”

     
Jake laughed and his eyes roamed the room
to his fathers. “Really?”

     
“Yeah, but no one follows me.” Joe
cracked, pulling up a chair and taking a seat.

Jake
looked over at Nick. “Thanks for coming, man.”

     
“Are you kidding me? Where else would I
be?” He brought his finger to his lips, signaling everyone to not give him up,
as he moved behind Sam and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Especially
with your sister camped out here.” He nuzzled her hair, and she jumped so
quickly.

     
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She spat, removing his hands from her waist.

     
“What kind of shampoo do you use?” He
said, savoring the scent.

     
“None of your business. Take a hike.” She
flipped her hair in his face and he held his heart, cracking a smile over her
shoulder at Jake.

     
“Cut the guy some slack, Sam.” Jake said,
closing his eyes briefly. “One day he’ll stop teasing you and you’re going to
miss it.”

     
“Never.” She insisted.

     
“Never will I stop or never will you miss
it.” Nick asked from behind her and she looked over her shoulder at him.

     
“Does it matter?” She asked and he didn’t
answer her, just stared at her.

     
“Did anyone call Pete, and see how my
business is? I can’t let Riverdale Ink rot while I lay here.” Jake said.

     
“I did. Pete says everything is under
control. Don’t worry about the shop we’ll take care of it. You just get your
rest.” Luke said sincerely.

     
“You want me to get you the pot?” Joe
asked from his seat. All eyes wandered to him, and Jake chuckled.

     
“Joe!” Deb shouted outraged.

     
“What? Like you don’t know they did the
pot back in the day? At least now he has a reason!” He argued innocently, then
looked at Jake and raised one brow, telepathically sending the question to him
again.

     
“Thanks Dad, but I’m good.” Jake said as
he laughed.

     
“Open offer, if you need it. I know a
guy.” His father said very nonchalantly.

     
“You know a guy?” Deb asked him as if the
concept was completely absurd.

     
“You know what? You guys have had a really
long day. Why don’t we go to the cafeteria and get you guy’s something to eat?”
Sam offered, trying to defuse the tension. Joe jumped up at the sound of food.

     
“We’ll be back.” Sam said, and looped one
arm around Joe’s and the other around Deb’s.

     
“I’ll go along with you.” Nick said,
following Joe, not giving Sam a chance to deny him.

     
“Are you sure you don’t need us?” Deb
asked over her shoulder, as Sam tried to usher her out.

     
“Are you going to offer me pot too?” Jake
asked teasingly and watched as Sam dragged their parents out of the room.

     
“You better get your ass better, they’re
driving us nuts.” Luke said and sat on the foot of his bed.

     
“Have you been here all day?” Jake asked
his brother and Luke simply shrugged. “Go home Luke, I’m fine. Ava needs you.
She doesn’t get what’s going on. So go spend some time with her and give her a
kiss from her favorite uncle.”

     
Luke looked at him for a moment. “Are you
sure?”

     
“I’m positive. Besides, you’re the only
one left here and I can’t convince my sweetheart to get naughty in my hospital
bed with you standing right there.” Cara blushed even though they all knew Jake
was kidding. He was too exhausted to lift his head much less attempt to do
anything else.

     
“Okay. I’ll leave you to it then.” Luke
said and stood up. He looked at Cara. “If you guys need anything, just call
me.” She nodded, but didn’t take her eyes off of Jake.

     
Jake waited until Luke left the room
before he looked at Cara, mustering up a smile. “You’re awfully quiet, second
thoughts?”

     
“Never.” She said taken back. “That’s the
last time you get to ask me that, you got that?” She demanded, and he smiled.

     
“Okay.” He tried a different angle. “You
can’t be mad at Luke forever. He was only doing what I stupidly asked of him.”

     
“I’m not mad at Luke.” She said as she sat
on the edge of his bed, and he scooted over giving her room.

     
“If you say so.” He said as he reached up
and touched her cheek. “Will you lay down with me?”

     
“I’d do anything for you.” She whispered,
and did as he requested. She lay beside him, nestled in the crook of his arm.
“You did it baby, you took the first step.”
 
She said as she laced her fingers with his.

     
He closed his eyes and rested his head on
top of hers. “Because of you. With you in my corner, I feel like I can do
anything.” He barely finished his sentence, as his breathing became labored.
Cara knew he was fast asleep, just by the way his breathing changed. She sighed
heavily, and laid her head to his chest. She let the sound of his heart beating
be the lullaby that lulled her to sleep.

     
Jake leaned over the side of the bed,
throwing his guts up into a bedpan. Cara was sitting on the bed holding the
bedpan with one hand and caressing his back with the other. He had been home
one week, since his first dose of chemotherapy. While he had been in the
hospital, his parents had moved all his belongings back into their house, and
gave his landlord notice that he would be moving. They claimed that it would be
easier for everyone to care for him, if everyone was in one house, he’d never
be alone. Cara even moved in, and now they shared the basement of his parent’s
home. Nick and Jake took turns running their business as well as Riverdale Ink.
Sam made it her duty to be Jake’s personal nutritionist. Which was pretty
humorous considering she usually burnt toast, but he had to give her credit,
she made a mean smoothie and could work a juicer like it was nobody’s business.
So many changes were taking place on his behalf, and in the darkest of days he
felt he was blessed.

     
Jake didn’t understand what the point of
coming home to rest was. He felt worse since he had been discharged. He was
beginning to feel like he was knocking on death’s door, and couldn’t fathom
what the second dose of chemo would do to him. He lifted his head, and felt the
room spin. He didn’t know what he was throwing up at this point, he hadn’t been
able to hold anything down. Every smoothie, every morsel of food, he would
regurgitate.

     
Cara continued to caress his back with one
hand. “Do you have to let more out?” She asked, there wasn’t a hint of
agitation in her voice. He managed to shake his head. “I’m going to the
bathroom to flush this, I’ll be right back.”

     
She took the bed pan and went into the
bathroom that was attached to their now make shift bedroom, emptying its
contents before flushing it. She threw the bedpan into the bathtub and poured
some Lysol into it before soaking it in water. She was accustomed to this
routine, and managed to hustle. She grabbed a towel off the rack on the wall
and dampened it with some cold water. She wrung it out before heading back to
Jake who was struggling to sit up on the bed.

     
“Wait. Let me help you.” She stammered,
and tripped over her own two feet as she hurried to get to him. She caught
herself before she fell.

     
“Cara stop, please!” Jake begged. He
couldn’t take it anymore. He knew he looked like shit, but my God, so did she.
She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her hair looked like she hadn’t
brought a comb through it in days, and he was pretty sure she had worn the same
thing for the last two days. She froze like a statue, at his tone and he wanted
to kick himself. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled.

     
“It’s fine.” She forced her feet to take
the steps that were needed to close the distance between them and pressed the
cool compress to his forehead. “Do you want to try and shower, maybe you will
feel better? I will help you.”

     
He looked at her for a moment, and pulled
the compress from his head. He threw it onto the night table and took her hand.
“I’m okay, baby. Please I need you to do something for yourself.”

     
“There’s nothing I need to do for myself.”

     
“Cara, you look like you haven’t slept in
days. I can’t even run my fingers through your hair because they’ll get stuck.”
He said softly and squeezed her hand with as much strength as he could muster
up.

     
She looked as if he had just struck her
with his hand, and he closed his eyes. He didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, she
had been incredible the last couple of weeks. He couldn’t have asked for a
better woman to be by his side, but she was so wrapped up in caring for him
that she was letting herself fall apart. What scared Jake most was that she
didn’t even realize it. Gone was the beautiful vibrant Cara, and it was all,
his fault. He may be the one to die ultimately, but she was the one dying on
the inside.

     
Jake opened his eyes and stared into her
hazel eyes. “I love you, Cara and you’ve been incredible, but I need you to
take time out for yourself.”

     
“If I’m too overbearing, I’ll stop. I just
want to make you comfortable. I’ll give you some space.” She rambled on.

     
“No, you’ve been wonderful. Please I’m not
saying any of that.” He paused and debated on whether or not to admit
everything freely. She hated when he spoke pessimistically, but the truth
needed to be spoken. “Cara we don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I’m
fighting with everything in me to kick this, but we both know I might not make
it.” His voice was hoarse but he held a firm ground as he spoke. Her eyes began
to water instantly as the dread reared its ugly head. “I might be on borrowed
time right now, and each day I’m given is a gift. I want you and me to live each
day like it’s the last one we’ll have. I don’t want to die watching your spirit
die right along with me.”

     
She covered her face with her hands and he
heard her sob. He leaned forward, finding a new found strength and took her
hands delicately in his. Her head lifted and she looked up at him, tears
streaming her face. “Please don’t talk like that. Please don’t talk like you’re
dying.” She pleaded.

     
“But I might be.” He said honestly. “And
that’s something we have to face.” He tucked a strand of her wild hair behind
her ear. “I’m not giving up, but we both know I don’t have control over the end
result.”

     
“I thought we decided that we were going
to strictly focus on recovery. We weren’t going to talk about what ifs.” She
stared at him, her face drained.

     
“And after today, we won’t okay? But we’re
going to get something straight. We’re in this together right?”

     
“Of course.” She nodded.

     
“Then let’s make a pact right now that
we’re going to live each day of this battle like it’s our last. Because if
tomorrow never comes I want to die remembering the Cara, who was so full of
life, so exuberant.” He felt the tears fall from his eyes, but he forced a
smile at her. He took her hands and placed them over his heart, over the tattoo
of her, sacred territory. “The girl on my chest, isn’t who I’m looking at right
now.”

     
Her eyes looked over the tattoo, and then
back up at him. “Are we being honest?”

     
“Yes.” He said softly.

     
“I’m afraid to go to sleep. I’m afraid to
miss one single moment with you.” A sob escaped her lips and she tried to
swallow the others that threatened to follow. “I regret that I kept all my
feelings bottled up for so long, and never told you how I felt the moment I
knew. If you leave this world, this life of ours, it’ll be my only regret. That
I let all that time we could’ve been together slip away from us.”

     
He nodded, understanding, because he had
the same regret. “There’s nothing we could do about that, but we could make
every day count now.”

     
“Okay.” She said and sniffled. “We’ll live
every day to the fullest.” She traced her fingertips down his cheek. “I love
you, so much.”

     
“I love you too.” He smiled and crooked
his finger and gave her the best come hither look he could manage. She leaned
into him and he cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs tracing her thumbs.
“My beautiful,” he whispered much like he did that night they sang
karaoke.
 
He leaned forward and kissed
her forehead sweetly.

     
“I guess I should take a shower.” She
whispered and that earned her a chuckle from him.

     
“Thatta girl.” She smiled and wiped at her
cheeks with the backs of her hands.

He
winked at her and slapped her ass, forcing her to jump off the bed.

 
    
“Alright,
I’m going! No need to get testy.” She said, laughter, finding her voice.

     
“Cara?” He said as his eyes found her ass,
she peered over her shoulder at him.

     
“Yes?”

     
“Shake your ass when you walk.” His eyes
met hers and he shot her a devilish grin. She laughed and sashayed her hips as
she walked into the bathroom. “Thank you.” He called out before she shut the
door behind her.

     
He heard the shower water running, and he
leaned against the pillows, just as a knock sounded on the door. “Come in.” He
called and propped himself up. Sam stuck her head in the door and smiled widely
at her brother.

     
“I was just going to text you.” Jake said
as he pushed the blanket off his legs, and sat up.

     
“Is it all clear?” She asked. He nodded
and only then did she let herself in.

     
“She’s in the shower.” He stood up,
gripping the night stand to get his balance. When Sam quickly advanced to him,
he shot her a look. “I’ve got it.”

     
“Okay.” She said, sighing and leaned
against the wall and watched him rise to his full height. He took a few steps,
letting his body acclimate his weight. When he didn’t feel like his legs would
defy him, he looked at her smugly and her smile widened. He walked over to her
and tugged her ponytail. “Don’t underestimate me, kid.”

     
“Never.” She smiled, her eyes twinkling
with pride. “So what’s the plan, big brother?”

     
“The plan is for you to get her out of the
house and smiling.” He grabbed his jeans and pulled out his credit card and
handed it over to her. “Take her for a manicure, get her hair done. I don’t
know whatever girly shit it that you guys do.”

     
Sam took the card and tucked it safely
into her jeans. “Want me to get her drunk, so you can have your way with her?”

     
Jake looked at her. “Well that would be
short of a miracle.” He was lucky he legs allowed him to stand, anything else
standing to attention would definitely be questionable. He pondered, and
decided he was willing to give it a shot.

     
“Don’t sell yourself short. You never know
what you’re capable of unless you try.”

     
“I love you, Sam but I am not having this
conversation with you. It’s just all sorts of weird. As far as getting her
drunk, go for it.” He raised one eye warningly. “Do not let her pay for one
single thing, everything goes on my card. Go bananas.”

     
“Your wish is my command.” She said as she
bowed to him.

     
“Thanks.” He said and hugged her tightly.
“I owe you one.”

     
“You owe me nothing. We’re family, it’s
what we do.” She kissed his cheek affectionately as Cara walked out of the
bathroom.

     
“I thought I heard you.” She smiled at
her. “Delivering smoothies or is it juice today?”

     
Sam and Jake pulled out of their embrace
and both turned to her smiling.

     
“What? Do I have something on my face or
something?” She said wiping at her face with the towel she was using to dry her
hair. She already was beginning to look more like herself. She was dressed in
black capri cargo pants, which dipped low at her waist. She had paired it with
a plain white tank top. Her hair was wet and curly.

     
Sam looked at Jake for approval, and he
nodded his head, smiling at Cara as he did so. “I have a different job today.”
She walked over to Cara and slid her arm into hers. “I’ve come to kidnap you.”

     
Cara looked up at Jake, eyes wide. He
shrugged his shoulders, playing it off. “What are you two up to?”

     
Jake balked at her innocently as Sam bent
down and picked up a pair of flip flops and shoved them into Cara’s hands.
“Okay, we’re on a tight schedule missy. You can ask questions later.”

     
“But…” Cara stared at Jake.

     
“Have fun.” He grinned and pressed his
lips to her cheek, he needed to get into that bathroom and brush his teeth so
when she got back he could kiss her properly.

     
“Oh we will!” Sam said, winking at her
brother as she pulled open the door and collided into what she was sure was a
brick wall, but to her dismay when she looked up it was Nick and the brick wall
she thought she hit was none other than his broad chest. “Well thank god, we
were just leaving.”

     
He smiled at her amused. “What a shame.”
He said and cocked his head as his eyes bore into hers. She rolled her eyes and
pushed at him, to move him, but he was solid and held his stance.

     
“Jake, can you tell him to move?” Sam
said, pleading with her brother, holding up Cara’s hand as to emphasize.

     
“Boy did you ask the wrong one.” Cara
said, reminding her that Jake got his kicks off of this.

     
Nick sighed and stepped to the side,
reveling in the fact that Sam brushed against him as she dragged Cara out the
door, huffing as she did. Jake watched Nick watch as they left, his stare
lingering for a moment before he shut the door.

     
“Man, you lose your touch or something? By
now I thought you would’ve sealed the deal with my sister.” He said as he took
a seat on the foot of his bed.

     
Nick sighed and leaned against the door.
“She won’t give me the time of day.”