Chapter 2
The Summerville Cancer Care Center – though not the number one cancer care center in the country, or even the state – was one of the best in the local area. I had tried to convince my mom that a center up north might have been better, but she had refused to be moved. The argument had been so normal, but I could tell that it wore on her because every time she snapped, I would flinch. I never meant to, but it reminded her of how she had acted before, when her medications had been mixed up. She blamed herself and I blamed me. Like mother, like daughter, Isupposed.
In the end, this had been a decent compromise. I wanted to move her to a cancer center and she hadn't seen the need to move from the hospital at all. At least at the center, she was looked after 24/7. She got to meet people who had some of the same problems, a support group of sorts, and I could visit because it was less than a thirty-minutedrive.
The heavy smell of disinfectant permeated the hallways of Summerville's Cancer Care Center. For care centers, though, it wasn’t that bad. Marv had made sure of it, and considering I had no idea what to look for, I had relied on his expertise. Well, his, Bellamy's, Knix's, and Texas’. Over that thick disinfectant smell, there was the feeling that this place didn’t represent death and that was the bestpart.
"Baby!" My mom's voice carried across the care center's dining hall. Her curled blonde-gray hair peeked above all the others as she leaned forward in her wheelchair and waved for my attention. I rushed forward with Texas trailing behind me. "Are those for me?" Mom asked, indicating the pale yellow and pink roses Icarried.
I smiled and held them back for a moment. "The flowers?" I asked, teasingly. "No, someone just handed them to me in the hall. I wanted to show themoff."
She wrinkled her nose at me and held out her arms. "Brat," she replied. "Give them here, let me smellthem."
I handed them over and sat on the other side of her table. The older woman that had been visiting with my mom just moments before had been wheeled away by a nurse who had announced that she was being requested in the game room, leaving the three of us – Mom, Texas, and me –alone.
The dining room of the cancer care center was quite different than anything my mom was used to. The wooden tables, covered in pure white cloths were the main attractions atop a burgundy train. In other areas of the center, there were game rooms and pristine nurses’ stations. My mom shared her private room with another woman close to her age. I met the woman only once and, though she was quiet and reserved, she seemed like a nice enoughperson.
"Texas," Mom called across the table to Texas who was still standing. "Have a seat. How has my Harlow beendoing?"
I knew well enough by now that there was no getting around my mom's questions. Half the summer was over, and I had been working with the guys for a little over a month. Mom had met each of them – at her insistence after our conversation following the fiasco with Grayson'sbrother.
Call it a mother's intuition or whatever you will, but Mom had known exactly how I felt as soon as she had met them. She had barely taken one look between Knix, Bellamy, Marv, and Texas and turned to me with a nod as though she approved of each. It was so nice having the mom I always wanted back, therealmom beneath the surface of her illnesses and medications. Even though the cancer had spread, in the care center she had flourished. With the right medications, she was actually up and about every day. I could tell she was muchhappier.
"Oh, she's doing well," Texas said, taking hisseat.
I rolled my eyes, but didn't correct him. To be honest, though, I hadn't done much of anything since Grayson's brother disappeared off to a rehab center upstate. I'd worked a few extra shifts at Alex's Diner, with Knix, Marv, Bellamy, or even Texas watching. I didn't know why they didn't think I could handle it, considering I had worked there long before they ever met me. When I tried convincing Alex to kick them out, he had simply laughed and told me to enjoy thetips.
"Mmmhmm," Mom hummed, squinting at Texas with suspicion. "And what has she beendoing?"
"Oh, you know how it is Mrs. Hampton. She's been training really well so far," Texasevaded.
I glared at him. So far, training had only included more self-defense lessons from Knix and Bellamy, and running errands with the rest of them. They had encouraged me to get back into doing gymnastics, but it hadn’t felt right – especially with everything else that had taken place with the move and my mom being admitted, long-term, at the carecenter.
It had taken a couple of days to pack up the duplex and put most of the stuff we had collected over the years into storage, then move in and set up the new house. It had taken several more days to move my mom from the hospital to the cancer care center. There really hadn't been time for more "training."
"I see." Mom’s gaze moved to mine. "And how do you like it,Harlow?"
"I like it just fine, Mom." I reached for her free hand, the one not lying over the bouquet of fresh roses. "But don't worry about that. I'd really rather you worry about gettingbetter."
Now it was her turn to roll her eyes and she did so with a familiar finesse, flicking her hand at me in nonchalance. "Oh, don't worry about me, Baby. I'm fine here. This place is quite nice." Her head bobbed gently, and she glanced around at the rest of the people in the hall. "I've made a few friends and you visit so often." She turned back to me. "You were here just yesterday. I'm surprised your co-workers are willing to drive you here so often." Mom's shrewd gaze rotated towardsTexas.
"Well, erm...Mrs. Hampton, with Harlow working for Iris, she gets lodgings, and we live in the vicinity. It's no problem at all." I could understand his awkwardness. I certainly didn't want to tell my mom that I was living with four guys, even if she seemed fairly calm about the idea of me dating one or more ofthem.
"Mom," I said, bringing her attention back to me. I managed to suppress a smirk at the relief on Texas' face as her sharp mom gaze was redirected. "I like visiting you and they won't have to drive me much longer, because they're helping me get mylicense."
Mom looked at me with her narrowed gaze and I smiled at her in reassurance. "How about I make you a deal," I said. "I'll try to stop worrying about you and you try to stop worrying aboutme?"
She harrumphed but nodded herassent.
The rest of our visit went by as it normally did. She regaled Texas and I of her time in the center and the wonderfully polite nurses and their love lives that she enjoyed listening in on. I had never known my mom to be a gossip, but I supposed that now that she was finally on the right medications and around people, it was easier to see a side of her that I hadn'tbefore.
As Texas smiled and nodded and joked with my mom, I found my gaze straying to the swooping of his hair. It was getting longer on one side than the other. Naturally, he said it was like that already, but I knew that he just didn't care enough about cutting his hair to fix it. I was sure he had gone to some hack hair stylist before and I resolved to sit him down and cut it after dinner thatnight.
It felt like one of the only things I could do for him – and for the others. So far, other than the measlytrainingit felt like I was nothing more than amooch.
I bit my lip and glanced towards the double doors that led into the lobby catching a middle-aged nurse scurry outside, her face turned down, her hand resting on her cheek as though she didn't want anyone to see her as she moved. I tilted my head to the side, straining to the edge of my seat and caught only a glimpse of a woundedexpression.
"Harlow?" My mom's voice drew me back and I stuttered on the edge of my chair, nearly careening and falling over. Texas reached out and adjusted the back of my seat before I could embarrass myself, but some damage had already been done. My mom and Texas both looked at me confused, and my cheeks began to heatup.