Always and Forever (28 page)

Jory stepped aside, trying to make herself unobtrusive. Cold fear knotted her stomach, because she could tell something was wrong. Very wrong. “Melissa has a fever,” Mrs. Austin said, taking Michael’s hand. “She’s sick, Michael. And it’s either an infection or the first signs of rejection.”

“Melissa needs blood. Will you help me?” Jory spoke to Lyle, who was sitting at a table in the school library with books and papers spread out in front of him.

“I’ll give blood,” he said.

Jory fidgeted. “She needs lots of blood. I’ve asked permission from the principal to organize a blood drive for her. But I need help.” Lyle was watching her so intently that she almost turned and ran off. “You said to come to you if I ever needed anything,” she said, almost accusingly. “Will you help, or not?”

Under the table he shoved back the chair across from him with his foot. “Sit down.” Jory sat on the edge, tapping her foot impatiently. “What’s happened?” Lyle asked.

“I’m not sure. Mrs. Austin just said that she needs blood. She’s getting it through the blood bank, but they need to replenish what Melissa uses. I figured it was something I could help with. There’re plenty of kids at school who would like to do something. Everyone asks about Melissa. I know people care.”

Lyle hunched forward, wrinkling his brow and
nodding thoughtfully. “We could do more than organize a blood drive.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you that my mom had cancer. It almost wiped us out financially. I’ll bet the Austins are hurting for money by now too. Can you guess how much all this must be costing them?”

Jory shook her head, but recalled that Melissa often worried about money and what would happen when her mom’s insurance ran out. What Lyle was saying made sense. She wished she’d thought of it. “What have you got in mind?”

“A carnival here at the school. Something that the whole community can come to. We’ll call it Melissa Austin Day—”

“—and we’ll charge a donation of blood for admission!” Jory cried, catching on to his idea.

Lyle grinned. “Two bucks if you’re squeamish.”

“We can have the newspaper write it up. Maybe some radio stations will give us some time on the air to talk about it. There are lots of stores in this area. We could ask them for merchandise and raffle it off,” Jory rambled on, her mind racing with ideas. “We can charge for games of chance. Different clubs here at school can man booths, and all of the proceeds will go toward Melissa’s hospital bills. Of course, we’ll take straight donations too. We’ll have to set up a special account at a bank.…”

By now, Jory was bursting. “It’s a great idea, Lyle. You and I will be the main committee. Let me
get some of the faculty to help too. I know Mrs. Watson will. Melissa’s always been her favorite.” Jory scrambled for her notebook and began jotting notes furiously. “If we get right on it, I’ll bet we could get it together in two weeks. That’s right before Gasparilla. Maybe we could even have a float in the parade … ”

“Whoa,” Lyle cautioned with a laugh. “Boy when you catch on to something, you go all out.”

Jory shrugged sheepishly. “Okay. I got carried away. No float. But the carnival is perfect and we can use a pirate theme.” She tapped her lips with the end of her pencil. “My parents are wired to everybody in this city. They could help get some nice donations.”

“Would they?”

Jory thought back to her party and wondered the same thing. “Sure,” she said, with a confidence she didn’t feel. “A few things anyway.”

Lyle crossed his arms and studied her. “You’re really into this idea, aren’t you?”

Jory looked straight at him. “Last summer, I promised Melissa that we’d have the best senior year ever. But she got sick again and I feel like I haven’t followed through on my promise. This will make up for it.”

“You’re a great friend, Jory.”

She blushed and stood up quickly. “Geez, I’ve got a million things to do. Let me get started and I’ll call you tonight. And thanks, Lyle. I mean it. It’s a great plan, and Melissa’s family needs it.”

Lyle caught her hand and squeezed it. “It’s not just for Melissa, Jory. It’s for you too.”

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she stared into his amber eyes. “Then thanks from both of us,” she said and skittered away.

“That’ll be one pint of blood. Step into the bloodmobile behind me.” Jory flashed a flirtatious smile at the two senior boys waiting to donate blood and get into the carnival.

“I wouldn’t do this for just anyone, Delaney,” one of them said.

“Don’t give me some line about helping Melissa,” Jory teased. “You just want the chance to dunk the principal in the water tank at the baseball toss.”

The boy grinned. “Hey, now that sounds like fun!”

The boys entered an enormous blue-and-white vehicle, and Jory stacked a pile of dollar bills from the many who’d paid cash to get into the carnival.

“How’s it going?” Lyle asked as he came up to her.

“Business couldn’t be better. How’s it going on your end?”

“The water balloon throw was wet.” He shook drops of water from his hair. “And two freshmen won the egg toss.”

“When do we raffle off the weekend for two at the beach?”

“After lunch. It was great of your parents to
persuade that resort to make the offer. Are they here?”

Jory dropped her eyes and her smile faded a bit. She thought back to her mother’s reluctance to help. “It’s not that we don’t approve of what you’re doing, Jory,” Mrs. Delaney had said. “We’d like to help, but … ”

Jory had gotten angry. “All you have to do is
ask
, Mother.”

Jory told Lyle, “They have other plans and won’t get by. But who cares? We’re doing a booming business.”

Lyle closed the cash box and said, “Why don’t you take a break and walk around and see the sights with me?”

“But we need someone to man the entrance.”

Lyle whistled shrilly and three players Jory recognized from the basketball team jogged over. “Let Larry, Curly, and Moe fill in for a while,” he joked. “Can you dudes handle it?”

The guys razzed one another, but sat dutifully at the table. Jory explained the procedure to them and then she and Lyle made their way through the crowds. He took her hand. “Wouldn’t want you to get lost.”

“I’m a big girl,” she said, but she didn’t pull away.

Blue sky blended with warm sunshine. The smell of hot buttered popcorn and candied apples hung in the air. Jory inhaled. “We got lucky. February can turn mean, but today’s gorgeous.”

“I special-ordered it,” Lyle said. He stopped in front of a booth. “Want to try your luck knocking down the bottles?”

“You don’t think I can do it, do you?”

He shook his head. “It’s a game of skill. Girls aren’t any good at games of skill.”

“Watch this, buster.” Jory plopped down a dollar, and the attendant, whom she recognized from her Spanish class, handed her four baseballs. Two minutes later, every stack of bottles lay in a heap.

Lyle raised his hands in surrender. “I take it back. You’re terrific.”

“And don’t you forget it.”

He reached out and touched her cheek. “How can I?”

Jory felt flustered, suddenly ill at ease. She glanced away. “What’s that long line for over there?”

Lyle followed her pointing finger. “That’s the cheerleaders’ booth. They’re selling kisses for a buck, and making a fortune too.”

“Humph,” Jory said and flounced over to the booth. She watched a line of guys putting up their money and being kissed. Lyle eased behind her. “They certainly get into their work,” Jory said, arching her eyebrow. “Especially Shirley Vaughan. Look at her. If she gets any closer we may have to hire a surgical team to extract her.”

Lyle placed his hands on her shoulders and she felt the length of him against her back. It was comforting and she didn’t want to move. She leaned into him ever so slightly. His fingers tightened gently.

“Hey, Delaney!” A guy from the line yelled. “I’ll give you
two
bucks if you’ll kiss me.”

She started to refuse, but then an impish grin lit her face. “Make it three.”

The kid moaned. “Geez, the things I do for love.”

He shouldered his way through the line. As Jory took her place in the booth, she flashed Shirley a smile. The cheerleader tossed her head and stepped aside. Jory kissed the boy and attempted to leave, despite a chorus of cheers for her to stay. “Drop it, fellas,” she called. “This was a one time only.” Suddenly, Lyle stepped forward and slapped down five dollars.

Startled, she stared and whispered, “Lyle, don’t be silly, we’re on the committee together.”

“Every penny counts.” he told her, leaning forward. “Besides, it’s not for me. It’s for Melissa.”

Someone overheard him and began to chant, “Go for it, Lyle!”

Jory’s pulse fluttered as Lyle’s hands came up and cupped her chin. She caught her breath as his lips came down on hers, very soft and very sweet.

“Are you mad at me?”

Lyle’s question and boyish grin almost caused Jory to forget that she was annoyed with him. “That was a dirty trick you played on me this afternoon.”

“What trick? I paid five bucks for a kiss.” She turned her head, determined to stay miffed, but he dipped into her line of vision. “It’s my money and it was worth it.”

She warmed her hands on a mug of hot chocolate and watched as several faculty members counted the receipts for the day on the far side of the gym. “Fifty people were watching and it was embarrassing.”

“I could arrange a private performance.”

Jory fumbled with her cup, confused. Lyle was getting too personal and she didn’t want that. This day was for Melissa. The thought of Melissa made her sober. “I called the hospital,” she told him, ignoring his offer. “Mrs. Austin says that Melissa’s got a rash now and they’re working on the assumption that she’s rejecting Michael’s bone marrow.”

Lyle eased beside her in the bleachers. “I’m sorry. But maybe the tide will turn. I’ve done some reading. Rejection can reverse itself.”

Jory shrugged. “Sometimes I feel that we’re all on a big merry-go-round and we can’t get off.”

“Where’s Little Miss Optimism?”

“Going down for the count,” Jory confessed with a tired sigh.

“We did great today,” Lyle said, enthusiastically. “We got gallons of blood and raised a ton of money.”

“It
was
a good day, huh?” Jory felt lifted by his good humor and offered a tired smile. “Mrs. Austin was really touched. When I told her what we were planning on doing, I thought she’d break down and cry.”

“You’ll have to give her a final tally tomorrow. Maybe things will be looking better all the way around by then.”

“Maybe so.” Jory leaned on the bleacher. “I’m wiped out,” she confessed.

“Look, I’ll go over and get a ballpark figure from the principal and then take you home. You can call her first thing tomorrow.”

Jory watched him cross the gym floor and wondered where he’d gotten his energy. Her thoughts returned to Melissa lying in her hospital room, fighting for her life. She thought of Michael too. Michael, whose bone marrow was to have given his sister a second chance at life. Jory wanted to be with them both.

Lyle returned, his brow knitted thoughtfully. “What’s up? Do they need a Brinks truck to haul it away?”

“We got some checks in donations,” Lyle said. “From people who didn’t come.”

“That’s good, although this afternoon it seemed like half of Tampa showed up.”

Lyle handed her a check. She saw the amount—five thousand dollars—and whistled. Then she saw the signature and gasped. The check was signed by her mother.

“Why did you do it, Mother?” Jory impatiently shifted from foot to foot in her parent’s study, a room painted forest green and accented with brass and ferns.

The desk lamp cast shadows on the wall as her mother worked on real estate contracts at her antique desk. “Do what, Jory?”

“I saw the check for Melissa. It shocked me that you would donate so much money to her family. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do that?”

Mrs. Delaney put down her pen and removed her glasses. “I’m not insensitive, Jory. I know how much Melissa means to you and I feel very sorry for her family and what they must be going through.”