Always and Forever (20 page)

“I’ll keep your request in mind,” Jory said through pressed, white lips. “We don’t want people to talk about your shiftless daughter, do we?”

“Don’t be so melodramatic. Reputations are important, and what you do now can follow you the rest of your life.” Mrs. Delaney glanced at her gold watch. “I have to dress and meet your father at the club. We’re entertaining some Arab businessman who’s interested in one of the old estates on Bay-shore Drive. It’ll mean a tidy commission if we close the deal. But don’t think this conversation is ended, Jory. I’ll let you stay home from Europe this trip, but I expect you to do something about your future. And you’d better get started. Time’s running out for you to get into a good college.”

Jory swore she saw dollar signs flash in her mother’s eyes before she swept through the patio’s French doors, leading into the house. Still trembling, Jory plunged into the cool blue water of the pool, balling her body to stay weighted on the concrete bottom.

Beneath the surface, it was quiet, serene. She opened her eyes, allowing the chlorine to sting and take the place of angry tears. Jory wasn’t stupid. She knew that her wealth gave her a cushion. She thought again of Melissa, of the horrible cancer that lurked within her body. She thought of the chemo that had stripped her of her hair and her beauty.
Jory also knew her mother was right. Life had smiled on Jory Delaney. For years, she’d dated and partied and lived exactly as she pleased. But there was a void inside her too. In some ways, Melissa had so much more than she did, in spite of her cancer.

Lungs bursting, Jory struggled to the surface, gasping for air. She swam to the side and heaved herself onto the glazed tile border. “Well, Mother, thanks to me at least she’s pretty again,” she muttered, remembering with satisfaction the waist-length wig she’d given Melissa as a gift. She stretched backward onto the tile, allowing the sun to warm her golden skin. And as for her mother’s warning about who to date …

For Jory, there was only Michael Austin, Melissa’s dark-haired, blue-eyed, brother. He was twenty-two but seemed older. For as long as Jory had known the Austins, Michael had been son and brother and father. When Mr. Austin walked out on his family, Michael stepped into his role while their mother worked. Now, between his jobs and classes at the university and an occasional ride in his hot-air balloon, Michael seemed to have no other life. Jory longed to change that. She could be so much to him if only he’d let her.

“Michael … ” She whispered his name. He’d always thought of her as Melissa’s spoiled rich friend, a kid, but she’d prove him wrong. She recalled the one time when he hadn’t looked at her like she was a child, the night last spring when she’d given Melissa the wig.

“You did this for Melissa?”

“Why not? What are friends for?”

His hand drifted up to stroke her cheek. She gazed at him through thick lashes, her heartbeat fluttering and erratic. “Thank you.” He tipped her chin upward and lightly brushed her bangs off her forehead before trailing his fingers over the arch of her cheekbone
.

She could have drowned in his eyes. She almost lost emotional control and whispered, “I love you, Michael …”

Restless, tingling with the memory, Jory sat up. She would dress and drive over to Melissa’s. With school starting in five weeks, they could talk about new wardrobes and what it would be like to be seniors and speculate whether Melissa would be named a National Merit semifinalist. And maybe, if she was very lucky, she’d catch a glimpse of Michael.

“Hey, Jory. How goes it?” Melissa asked as Jory coasted into her friend’s driveway.

“Okay. How goes it with you?” Jory climbed over the side of her convertible and walked to the kitchen door, where Melissa waited behind the screen. Melissa was wearing not her waist-length hairpiece but, instead, her own hair, regrown into a sleek black cap.

“They make doors for cars, you know.”

“A nuisance.” She followed Melissa to the kitchen counter, strewn with the makings for soup and pasta salad. “What are you doing?”

“I thought I’d get a head start on dinner for Mom. She’s training a new group of operators at the phone company today and that sort of thing always wears her out.”

Jory felt totally comfortable in the familiar Austin house. Her eyes darted from the worn wallpaper to the refrigerator, cluttered with notes and magnets, to the old pine table where she’d shared so many meals with Melissa, Mrs. Austin, and Michael. “Smells yummy,” she said, popping a chunk of chicken into her mouth.

“Didn’t you have breakfast?”

“Lost my appetite,” Jory said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“What happened?”

Jory shrugged, deciding not to mention Europe. “I had a tiny run-in with Mother. She and Dad keep fussing about my going to a private school.” Jory silently wished that her mother were more like Melissa’s. Mrs. Austin always seemed to have time for her family, in spite of how long and hard she worked. Jory never heard her griping at Melissa about how to live
her
life.

“A private school’s name on your diploma would make any college look harder at you,” Melissa said, chopping celery.

Jory knew she could never make Melissa understand that an exclusive college campus wouldn’t make the idea of four more years of school any more attractive to her. The fact was that while she was innately smart, she loathed disciplined study habits. “I know I’ve got to decide something soon about
my future. But right now, life’s too short and the summer’s almost gone.”

Life’s too short
. Jory could have bitten her tongue for using that particular phrase. But if her friend noticed, she didn’t let on. “You sound like Scarlett O’Hara—‘I’ll think about it tomorrow.’ ”

“Oh fiddley-dee,” Jory said with a flap of her lashes.

“I saw Brad last week,” Melissa said casually.

“Oh, yeah? How’s the former captain of our victorious Brain Bowl team doing?”

“Getting ready to head for Yale. And it was an
almost
victorious Brain Bowl team,” Melissa corrected, punctuating the air with the tip of her paring knife. “We lost in the state finals, and you know it.”

“Wasn’t your fault,” Jory griped. “The judges were prejudiced toward the Miami team.”

“We’ll get them next time. Don’t forget, I’m going to be captain when Lincoln selects its new team next spring.”

Jory grinned. “I thought you had to try out for the panel. Or does rank have privilege because you’re one of the few returning players from last year?”

“Lyle Vargas will be back. You remember him?”

Jory puckered her brow. “A science whiz, right? He makes me yawn.”

“Really? He speaks highly of you, you know.”

“Definitely not my type. Give me dark, handsome, and older anytime.”

“What’s all the noise out here?” Jory felt her heart pound at the sound of the voice. She turned from the counter to see Michael, rumpled and disheveled and unbearably sexy, standing in the doorway. She smiled at him, but his blue eyes swept past her as if she weren’t there.

“Well, good morning,” Melissa said. “What woke you from your long summer’s nap?”

“The smell of food and female chatter,” Michael rumbled, sticking his head into the open refrigerator.

When he reemerged Jory shifted, trying not to feel hurt. She eyed him covetously. His upper body was bare, tight with tanned muscles from working in the sun. Well-worn jeans hugged his lean hips.

Michael clutched a carton of milk and a small bag of powdered-sugar donuts and wandered to the table. “I worked construction until three yesterday, then took the late shift at the grocery warehouse. I’ve had four hours of sleep and I chew up little girls who stand around in the kitchen giggling.” He opened the carton of milk and downed a swig.

Melissa brandished her paring knife. “Careful, or I’ll cut off your ears.”

“Watch it, Melissa, he really does look mean,” Jory interjected, propping her elbows on the counter. She decided to act flip, desperate to be more to him than a “little girl.”

“Can’t you two go wander around the mall or something? I need my sleep.”

“We’ll be out of here as soon as I finish making dinner.”

“Do you want to hit the mall?” Jory asked, in no hurry to be away from Michael.

Melissa dropped her gaze. “I can’t. I’ve got a clinic appointment at noon.”

Jory saw the muscles work in Michael’s jaw while she felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Wouldn’t her best friend’s life ever be normal again? Michael asked, “How are you getting there? Why didn’t you work out something with Mom? I can hitch a ride to work if you want to borrow my pickup.”

“Mom had a hard day ahead of her and I didn’t want to complicate it. It’s no big deal, Michael. I go to the clinic twice a month, you know. I’ll just take the bus,” Melissa said brightly.

“Like hell,” Michael snapped. “You got sick last time and almost didn’t make it back.”

Melissa blushed, obviously embarrassed. “Don’t be silly,” Jory interrupted hastily. “I’ve got nothing to do today. I’ll take you.”

“Oh, Jory, it’s a long visit today. They’re doing a lumbar puncture, and if I don’t lie perfectly still for at least half an hour afterward, I get the world’s worst headache. There’s nothing for you to do but sit and wait.”

“I don’t care. I’ll read.”

“You hate to sit and read.”

“Let Jory take you.” Michael’s command settled the matter instantly. He stretched out in his chair, his long legs crossed at the ankles, and ate
donuts. Jory made a stab at starting a conversation, but the good humor of the day had evaporated. Melissa finished quickly in the kitchen, and after she changed Jory drove her to the clinic.

“Keep the top down,” Melissa said when Jory started to raise the soft cloth roof of her car.

“But I thought the sun was bad for you.”

“Some of my medications react to too much sun, but I doubt I’ll turn splotchy in a twenty-minute ride.” Melissa’s tone was cynical. Jory watched her friend from the corner of her eye as Melissa rested her head on the bright red upholstery and turned her face toward the sunlight. “I’ll bet I’m the only girl at Lincoln who returns this year without a tan,” she grumbled. “God, I miss going to the beach.”

Jory missed going with her. They hadn’t been once all summer. “The beach is hot and sticky anyway,” Jory said. “Who needs it?”

“I need it.” Melissa sighed. “It’s the ocean I really miss. And the waves.”

“And the good-looking guys,” Jory joked, in an effort to chase away Melissa’s doldrums.

“Aren’t I allowed even a small pity party?”

“Absolutely not. You don’t see me feeling sorry for myself because your brother acts like I’m part of your household fixtures, do you?” She shook her head as she parked in the clinic lot. “No-o-o. Not Jory Delaney. She just picks her tongue up off the floor every time she’s around Michael and keeps on smiling.” Jory’s speaking about herself in the third person made Melissa chuckle. She couldn’t stand
seeing Melissa down-and-out. “And incidentally, I’m going to have to get tough with Michael if he’s not careful.”

“Tough?”

“I’m just going to have to grab him, throw him to the floor, and ravish him. Not that I’m a pushy broad, but I’m tired of waiting for him to ravish me. Lord knows I’ve been waiting since the sixth grade!”

They entered the clinic, laughing. Melissa signed in and Jory found a seat, moving some toys left by the younger kids. She glanced around the building and shuddered. The place gave her the willies. The smells, the sounds, the sight of so many kids with cancer caused her nerves endings to itch. How did Melissa stand it?

As soon as Melissa was called into the lab area, Jory went outside for fresh air. The July heat was oppressive. In another month school would start.
My
senior year
, she thought. She’d be a graduate by the following June. Jory wished she cared.

She would, however, have to think of something to get her mother off her back so that she could enjoy her final year of high school. She glanced toward the beige brick of the hospital and thought about Melissa getting needles poked into her veins and her spine. Jory wished there were something she could do for her friend.
Something
that would make the pain go away and make their senior year memorable.

*  *  *

“Are you going to be all right?” Jory couldn’t conceal her terror. They sat in the blazing sun on the shoulder of the road while Melissa leaned out the open door and vomited. Jory felt helpless, panicked, as she patted Melissa’s sweat-drenched back and tried to comfort her friend.

“I’ll … be … fine.” Melissa managed between gags.

“This is the pits!” Jory said, raising the convertible’s roof She turned on the air-conditioning full blast to ward off the unbearable heat. Her blouse stuck to her skin. She’d helped Melissa before, but she’d been in the hospital then and there had been nurses close by. Now, Jory knew, there was no one but herself. “I think the cooler air will help,” she told Melissa above the roar of the air conditioner fan.
Be all right, Melissa. Please, be all right
, she prayed silently.