LIFE Interrupted

“My bones will never be the same. They might be brittle, I’m told. I might lose my breast and what will my hair look like when it grows back in?”

“I get it you’re angry. My mom is too.”

She gasped at him. “Does your mom have breast cancer?” Her voice had gotten softer. She leaned on the edge of the desk regretting that she pushed so far when she didn’t know what was wrong with his mother.

“No, she doesn’t. There’s no cure for Mom’s disease.” He looked at Sophie and he smiled sadly. “She’s bed ridden now with Parkinson’s. She’s only fifty-five. She didn’t address it when she should have. Mom ignored her symptoms until they couldn’t do anything to help her.”

Sophie reached across the desk and grasped his hand, she squeezed it hard. “I’m sorry. She must feel like I do. Out of control of her own body.” Jagger nodded.

“Before she got sick, she was beautiful and vibrant. She had this beautiful, long blonde hair. We look a lot alike.” He lowered his eyes to their hands. “I miss that woman that she was. She was shocked at first, refused to believe anything was wrong. My mom was always healthy. She ran mini-marathons. She’s bitter and angry now.”

Sophie understood everything that Jagger was telling her. It sounded exactly like her own story only with a different disease and a different outcome, she hoped. She was bedridden for only a few days. She felt hopeless which made her feel these emotions that weren’t helping her cause. She needed to pull herself out of this. She was even more convinced of this.

“I’m so sorry, Jagger.”

He nodded. “Me too.”

“You don’t need me to tell you this but you’re doing a great, job. Josh hasn’t had to worry at all about the business.”

“Thanks, Sophie.”

She got up to see if Josh was off the phone. He had turned his chair towards the window and was deep in conversation with whoever was on the other end of the call. She sighed and checked on Ally who was quieter than ever, talking to Brian. At least they weren’t arguing now.

Heading back to the entrance, she didn’t know what to do now. This wasn’t her domain anymore. She glanced around the entrance. She took her phone out of her pocket and called her dad to see if he would come back and get her. He didn’t answer.

“What’s wrong, Sophie?”

“Dad didn’t answer. I was going to ask him to come back and get me.” She contemplated walking home. There was a time when she could have done it, but she knew that was pre-chemo days. Now she wasn’t able, and she almost wanted to cry.

“I’ll run you home,” Jagger offered.

“Thanks Jagger. I’d appreciate it.”

He wrote a quick note, leaving it on the keyboard where Ally would see it when she got off the phone with Brian. Then he walked with her outside to his shiny, white Dodge. She chuckled to herself wondering if he and Josh argued about their choice of vehicles. Josh was a diehard Ford man.

“Who takes care of your mom while you work?” She asked him.

He held the door for Sophie. “I have twenty-four, round the clock care. Not sure how much longer that will work. They are recommending she go to in-house care. She’s becoming a handful.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Sophie understood his feelings on nursing homes.

“I don’t. She’s my mom. She’s ready to go when I’m ready. I think some days, she’s making our lives difficult, so I’ll give in and put her in a nursing home.” He smiled at Sophie more out of frustration than anything else.

Sophie was seeing Jagger in a different light than she had when she first met him. He was a charmer all right, but he was a kind and caring son also. She patted his broad shoulder. “You’re a good son, Jagger.”

He snorted. “Tell Mom that, would you?”

She chuckled at him. “Jagger, sometimes, we don’t always appreciate our loved one’s efforts when things aren’t going so well. I’ve been really difficult.”

“Ally told me.” He cleared his throat realizing he might have offended her, the boss’s wife.

Sophie laughed. “I’m sure she did.” Sophie got in the passenger seat and Jagger shut the door for her. When he got in she asked him, “Why aren’t you dating anyone? You aren’t getting any younger, you know.”

He did a double take. He didn’t know the real Sophie. He hadn’t been exposed to her brashness. Her inability to have a filter for her mouth.

“How do you know I’m not?” He asked.

“Please, you’re either with my daughter hanging out or with Doug. Are you dating one of them?” She teased him.