“A glass of wine will do,” I said.
“Um . . . We’ll wait on that order!” She laughed and crawled to get into bed beside me. “So, how you doing?”
I didn’t say anything. Fine would be a lie and bad hardly touched the surface. I was in disarray. I was unfurling. A disaster area. Hurricane Katrina. My father’s mind. Was there a word for that? I started crying again.
“Oh, baby,” she said, reaching over me to get tissues from the nightstand on my side of the bed. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s not that, Marce. I just, you know, just don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“He called.”
“What?”
“While you were asleep, he called three times. Said he just wanted to make sure you were okay. He was going to come by, but I had Damien call him to calm him down. I think Damien went over there.”
“Damien knows?” I asked. It was a dumb question. Of course he’d know. Did he know about Coreen too?
“Well, someone had to get your car from in front of that woman’s house.”
“He got my car?” I was actually relieved to hear that.
“Yeah, he brought it back over here and parked it right outside for you.”
“Thanks so much, Marce, for hooking me up. For everything.”
“No problem. I had to get him out of my hair anyway. He was driving me crazy about this party tonight. He’s a bit nervous, I think.”
“Oh, I keep forgetting about the party.” Damien was finally leaving the ER and opening his own practice and they’d invited everyone in the universe to celebrate.
“Yeah, I’ve been downstairs working with the caterers for the last two hours.... We need everything to be perfect.”
“Oh, no, am I in the way? I could leave and go home or to my mom’s or something,” I said, sitting up.
“Girl, please; this is your home. You don’t have to go anywhere. Plus, it might be good for you to see some people. It’ll keep your mind off things. And if both you and Jamison aren’t here, people will wonder why. You know how they talk.”
“I know,” I said, “ but I’m not ready for all that.”
“Well, just think about it. You can mix and mingle or you can lock yourself in this room all night. I’ve got your back either way. I’ll even smuggle a
plate upstairs for you.”
“Now, that’s love!” I forced a smile.
“I can’t let you starve my godson.” We both laughed and I settled back into the bed.
“I know it’s crazy, but for some reason, I keep thinking about when Jamison and I first met,” I said after a long pause.
Marcy turned to me.
“I don’t think it’s crazy at all. When you go through something like this, it’s natural to wonder how you got there and think about how things began, the good times you never thought would end.
“You remember the Valentine’s dance?”
“Don’t remind me of that fiasco.” Marcy rolled her eyes and smiled. “You nearly broke that boy’s heart.”
“No, I didn’t,” I protested.
“All I remember is Jamison banging on Damien’s car window, complaining about how you won’t let him touch you and that he wouldn’t have agreed to babysit you if he knew you were so stuck-up,” she said giggling.