My Only - Alex & Jamie (13 page)

“He was in and out of my life until I was five, but he’s been in prison since then,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Prison?” Alex asked, surprised. That had not been what he had been expecting to hear. ‘Never around’? Maybe. ‘Deadbeat dad’? Sure. Even that she ‘never knew her dad’, but ‘prison’? That possibility hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“Armed robbery, manslaughter, and assault with a deadly weapon,” she explained, “He had served some time for minor offenses - B&Es, drug possession, violating parole. You know. Garden variety low-life stuff. But then he and this guy he had met when he was locked up one time decided that they were ‘master-criminals’ and tried to rob a bank. They held it up and, during the robbery, an elderly woman had a heart attack and died. That’s where the manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon charges came from.”

Every time she peeled back another layer, revealing more of her life, the instinct to protect her, to keep her safe, to never let anyone hurt her again grew stronger and stronger. He couldn’t believe that the gorgeous, funny, smart girl that sat before him had gone through everything she had.

“We visited him once, I think I was seven. The whole time my mom just talked about the new guy she was seeing, and I remember she just kept calling my dad a loser. “

Jamie shook her head, her face letting him know that she was clearly lost in the memory. “I was nervous. Prison is scary place. I don’t think I talked to him, and I don’t remember him talking to me.

“In fact, the last memory I have of my dad is him standing up from the table, motioning for a guard to come and get him, then looking at my mom and saying, ‘Don’t ever bring her back here.’” She paused, leaning forward and placing her elbows on her knee as she looked out over the river, “I remember at the time that it hurt my feelings to hear him say that, but now I think it may have been his way of protecting me.”

Alex reached out and rubbed her back, “I think you’re right.”

She was quiet for a while and Alex just let her be with her thoughts. He wanted to ask more but figured she would talk when she was ready. He continued rubbing her back, hoping that she felt his silent support.

It grew darker and the only source of light came from a string of bright bulbs that the city had installed running all along the riverbank. He wasn’t sure how long they had been sitting out there. It could have been fifteen minutes or an hour. He just knew that this moment felt like one of the most raw, intimate moments he had ever shared with someone, and he didn’t want it to end.

Far too soon she turned to him and said, “Thanks, I’ve never talked to anyone about that.”

He tried to make his face a neutral mask that would hide the pride that welled up in him at the sound of those words. He didn’t want to scare her off, but he wanted her to know that he was here if she needed him. He said, softly but firmly, “You can talk to me anytime, about anything.”

She stared at him and he got the feeling that she was searching for something, like a ‘tell’ she could latch onto and determine if he was lying. He wasn’t; he had nothing to hide from her. He just waited her out. He realized he was becoming more and more patient every time he was around Jamie.

Finally, she nodded her head, just once, as if she had come to some sort of decision, then she smiled and his chest tightened. Damn, he could sit and watch her smiling forever.

She stood as she announced, “We'd better get you back. Vickey said one hour, tops.”

He let her help him back into the wheelchair. He hated that he needed help. He wished he had met her when he hadn’t been injured. He wanted her to feel protected, taken care of, safe when she was near him - not like he was weak and she had to take care of him.

“So did Dr. Corbin give you any good news?” she asked as she pushed him back up the path they had taken to get down to the river.

“He said that it looks like he is going to release me tomorrow.” He felt so conflicted over that news. Part of him, of course, could not wait to get out of there and was counting down the seconds until that happened. But another part of him, and the one currently winning his internal battle, was not happy at all about the news because it signaled the end of the time that he would be seeing Jamie.

Sure, more likely than not he’d run into her. He could definitely stop by The Grill when she was working. But it wouldn’t be time like this, just the two of them. She was busy. She had two jobs. She had a young son. And the biggest hurdle of them all - she didn’t date.

As Jamie pulled the laundry out and shut the door of the dryer she wanted to bang her head against it, “I told you, Aunt Hazel, nothing is happening between us. We aren’t engaged. We aren’t seeing each other romantically. We are just friends. I don’t know what else to say. There is nothing going on.”

“Well, it’s just that I can’t tell you the number of people that have come into the diner and said different, is all.” She raised her penciled-in brow and knowingly tilted her head as if that statement somehow explained everything.

“I know that there have been some rumors, but you can’t believe everything you hear.” Patience had always been a virtue of Jamie’s, but it was wearing thin right about now.

“Oh honey, from your mouth to God’s ears. You’re preachin’ to the choir on that one. Believe me, I don’t pay any mind to rumors. But these aren’t rumors, they are facts.”

Jamie took a deep breath as she plopped the laundry basket on the couch, sat beside it and started folding the darks. “No they aren’t, Aunt Hazel.”

Folding laundry had always been one of Jamie’s favorite things to do. It calmed her and gave her a sense of control. With every piece of clothing she folded she felt more centered.

She didn’t know that much about psychology but she figured it had something to do with the fact that keeping clean clothes and towels had not been a priority for her mom. As a kid, going to school with dirty clothes had been humiliating. She shook her head, trying to clear the memory from her mind.

“So you’re saying it is not a
fact
that Alex Sloan proposed to you?” Hazel asked.

“He was high on medication, it wasn’t a real proposal.” For the love of Pete, how many times was Jamie going to have to go through this.

“And are you saying that it is not a
fact
that Alex Sloan said he loved you.”

She clearly was not getting the point. “Those
facts
need to be taken in context, Aunt Hazel. He wasn’t himself. He didn’t even know me then.”

Hazel eyes lit up, “But he does know you now. And all reports have been that the sexual tension sizzling between you two is so thick you could cut it with a knife.”

“Aunt Hazel!” Jamie was still shocked at some of the things that came out of her seventy-two year old aunt's mouth. “You have to stop listening to gossipy girls.”

“Jasper Corbin is not a gossipy girl,” her aunt declared.

“Dr. Corbin said that?” Jamie eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yes, that and more, but I don’t want to embarrass you.”

“Too late.” Jamie shook her head, letting out a sigh of frustration.

The back door slammed open and it sounded like wild horses were running through her kitchen behind her. She heard the fridge door open.

“Wash. Your. Hands.” Jamie instructed from her seat on the couch.

She heard a similar sigh to the one that had just escaped her mouth as the fridge door clicked shut. She then heard the legs of a kitchen chair being pulled along the tile, stopping, and water rushing out. Almost as quickly as it came on, it shut off.

“With soap,” Jamie said in her firmest ‘mom’ voice.

She heard the water come back on and she had to smile to herself. She hadn’t had a great example of what a ‘good’ mom was. She had mainly tried to do the opposite of what she had experienced as a child with her own mom.

Sure, there were tons of books and websites on parenting and she did use those resources, but basically raising Joey was kind of like on-the-job training. It was a lot of trial and error. She prayed every day that she wouldn’t screw it up.

“Mom, can I have two Go-Gurts?” Joey yelled from the kitchen.

“Yes, but if you eat them both now, you can’t have one after dinner,” Jamie answered him.

“Kay!” Joey happily agreed. The fridge door opened and shut and then she heard the back door slam.

Jamie knew that there would be pleas and begging once dinner was over and Joey was unable to have another yogurt treat. But for now, he was pacified.

“You have done such a great job with him, honey.” Aunt Hazel picked up some of Joey’s t-shirts from the basket and began folding them.

“Thanks.” Jamie didn’t want to tear up, but if there was one subject that got her emotional, it was Joey.

“And you did it all alone.” Hazel shook her head with regret. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry I didn’t know about you both sooner.”

Hazel was Jamie’s great-aunt on her father’s side. Jamie’s dad, Roger, had been estranged from his family for several years before Jamie was born. Hazel’s brother Harold, who was Jamie’s paternal grandfather, had known about Jamie but never sought out a relationship with her while he was alive.

Four years ago, Harold had passed away from complications of pneumonia, and on his death bed had told Hazel about Jamie. As far as they knew, he wasn’t aware that Jamie had had a child and that he was a great-grandfather. But as soon as Hazel had heard about Jamie’s existence, she had hired a private investigator that had found both Jamie and Joey in a matter of days.

Jamie had initially not been that friendly or welcoming when Hazel had gotten in contact with her. Joey was barely one and she protected him like a lion would protect her cub. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Hazel to be a part of their lives. Just because Hazel was family didn’t mean she was a good person. Jamie had learned that lesson the hard way.

After a few months of persistent phone calls and emails, though, Jamie had agreed to meet Hazel at the cafeteria on the UIC campus. She had met her alone, she hadn’t wanted to bring Joey just in case Hazel turned out to be, well, just like the rest of her ‘family.’

But, five minutes at lunch with Hazel and Jamie had known that the wonderful ol' gal was different than her mom and dad, who, up until that point, had been the only family Jamie had ever known. She saw that Hazel was eccentric, maybe, but that she also had a heart of gold.

“I wish we would have known each other sooner, too, Aunt Hazel. I can’t imagine not having you in my life now.” As she spoke the words she realized how true they were. Jamie had tried not to depend on anyone in her life. She had been burned too many times. But she knew from the bottom of her heart that she had not only grown to love her aunt but also, and more significantly, grown to trust her.

“So, Alex is going home today,” Hazel said.

Great. They were back on that topic. “How did you…? Oh, right. Dr. Corbin,” Jamie sighed. Small towns – gotta love ‘em.

“As far as I know, that is the plan,” Jamie confirmed what her aunt already knew to be true.

“Do you think you’ll be seeing him?” Hazel asked, obviously digging for info.

“Nope, not that I know of.” Jamie knew that logically she should be relieved that she wouldn’t be facing hours in a small confined space with one of the biggest distractions and temptations she had ever encountered. But she wasn’t.

She already missed him and she had seen him less than eight hours ago. That was not a good sign, not at all.

“Well, you never know how things are going to work out,” her aunt sing-songed.

Her aunt’s statement made Jamie feel both nervous and excited in equal measure. She pushed both of those feelings down below the surface of her emotional waters. She wasn’t going to behave like some teenager who had a crush on the football captain. She had done that once. And look how that had turned out.

--- ~ ---

“Alright, well, everything looks good. Once we process all the paperwork, then you are a free man. You will need to have your dressings changed every twelve hours, obviously you can’t do it yourself due to the location on your back.” Dr. Corbin pushed his glasses up on higher on his nose as he looked over Alex’s chart. “But I see it says here that you have someone lined up to take care of that?”

Alex had no idea what Dr. Corbin was talking about. First of all, no one had said anything about having to change the bandages that were covering the burn on his back. And since he hadn’t known that needed to happen, he certainly hadn’t lined anyone up for the job.

“Yes, we will be staffing that in-house,” Vickey quickly stated.

When Alex looked over at her with a questioning expression she winked at him. What did she have up her sleeve? Alex thought to himself.

“And I know that you have been resistant to any sort of pain management but I am going to go ahead and write you a prescription for Fentanyl,” he said as he ripped the paper he had just been writing on off of the pad he held, “just so you have it.”

Alex took the prescription from Dr. Corbin but knew that he would never fill it. He had seen what pills did to his mom. No way in hell he was going to end up like her.

“Okay, you have my cell. Don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions or concerns.”