Syncopated Rhythm (14 page)

Ky stopped and seemed to shake for a second.  Then she inhaled deeply and stood up straighter and took a deep breath in resolve.  Her patented 'Kylee' smile came up on her face though her eyes looked haunted as she dragged me to a woman who was watching television on a couch.

Two things struck me instantly about the woman.  One, that she wasn't as old as most of the people in the room, and two, her dark red hair with it's heavy silver streaks looked so much like Kylee's and two, her iceberg blue eyes were almost identical to Ky's.  There was absolutely no mistaking that this beautiful older woman with the faraway look in her eyes was Kylee's mother.

She only looked to be sixty or so.  I hated Alzheimer’s before I had even met someone with it, but I was hating it with a seething passion now... seeing the pained, scared but hopeful look in Kylee's eyes as she stood in front of the woman on the overstuffed couch.  “Mom?”

The woman looked up and the fog seemed to lift from her eyes as she answered,  “Kylee?  Why are you so... old?”

A tear ran down Kylee's cheek as she bent and engulfed her mother in a hug.  “Never mind that mom.  I dropped by for a visit.  And this is my friend Amber Lee.  Amber this is my mom, Marilyn.”  She motioned to me.  The woman smiled at me then looked afraid for a second and looked back and forth between me and Kylee, who was quick to add, “This is her first visit to Post Falls.  She wanted to meet you.”

There was a look of strained relief on her face.  God!  It must be terrifying not knowing if you should know someone or not.  She smiled as I offered my hand but she pulled me down into a quick hug.  “Kylee is such a loner, she never brings people by the house.”  Then she looked around and added, “Or... ummm... here?”

I looked over at my friend as she avoided the confused question and sat down beside her mother. She reached up and grabbed my hand with a smile and pulled me down beside her onto the couch.

Then they started chatting about all sorts of things.  Just from listening to their fun banter back and forth, I could tell that Kylee steered clear of anything that had to do with the past unless Marilyn brought it up.  You could see her mother get confused sometimes when she couldn't remember details about things or lost track of what she was saying altogether.  I could see the fear in her eyes and the pain in Kylee's.  I was on the verge of tears, but kept a smile on my face and joined in whenever either woman prompted me.

One thing that was unmistakeable was that these two loved each other.  Their secret language of sarcasm and fun punctuated the conversation.  I could see where my imp gets it from now.  We spoke for a couple hours and Marilyn seemed to be getting a little tired.

Then things started to go wrong.  Marilyn seemed to drift and get confused in mid sentence a couple times.  Then she mentioned to us, “I have the most adorable baby girl, Kylee.  I think you girls would like her.”

Kylee's eyes were misting up but her smile stayed plastered on her face.  “I'm sure we would.”  My heart was breaking.  Her pain was obvious to anyone looking.

One of the orderlies or nurses that patrolled the room noticed Marilyn's mild aphasia and stepped in with a smile for us all.  “I'm sorry ladies but it is time for Marilyn to take her medication.”  She helped Mrs. Nelson gently up and started moving her toward the rooms down the hall.  The woman turned back as they went.  “I'm glad you got her on a good day Kylee.  We'll see you tomorrow?”

Ky was nodding and  Marilyn said to us, “Kylee?  That's my daughter's name too.  She wants to be a filmmaker one day.  She is so full of wonderful dreams.”  Then she seemed to get confused and the nurse led her off, offering an apologetic smile.  Something in that sad smile set off my antenna.  I really don't think it was time for Marilyn's medication.  I think this is something the staff does to keep family members from hurting too much, saving them some pain.  I think I really like this place.

As soon as they were out of sight Kylee was dragging me down the hall away from the recreation room and then broke down.  I pulled her head onto my shoulder and stroked her hair.  A few seconds later she pulled away and looked embarrassed.  She gave a weak smile as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve.  “Sorry.  It is just hard sometimes.”

I returned the smile.  “Never apologize to me Ky.  I really like your mom.  She's funny.  I can see where you get your humor from.”

This brought back the patent pending proud Kylee smile I loved so much.  She zipped up her coat and bumped our hips and started for the door.  Calling back to me she asked,  “You coming?”

I zipped up my jacket and hurried past her, giggling. “On your left!  Too slow, Potato.” As I passed her and out into the cold outside.

She caught up laughing and predictably warned me. “Watch it, Cornfed.”  Why the hell do I find that so damn funny?

We got into Baltar and once she got the beast running we had to sit for a couple minutes to wait for the windows to defrost a bit.  I turned to her thoughtfully.  “Why didn't you show her the memories you compiled?  You've been working on it for years.”

She shook her head.  “It isn't finished, it never will be.  It isn't good enough.”

I decided shock therapy was required here.  I blurted loudly.  “Bullshit!”

Her eyes snapped to me and I continued.  “It is spectacular and it would bring a smile to her face. You put too much on yourself.  You carry way too much weight on your mind.  Share it with her.  It will do both of you so much good.”

She was shaking her head with a scared look on her face. Then she just put the car in gear and started us back down the road.  “Lunch.  I gotta get you fed before you get cranky.”

I rolled my eyes then slapped her shoulder lightly before I grabbed her hand.  “Fine... but you didn't win.”

With perfect comical timing after an awkward silence, she mumbled, “Yes I did.”  She was grinning slyly as she watched the road.  She pushed her glasses back then she spoke up, “So, whatcha wanna eat?  It is kind of almost dinner time now.  I'm sorry it is so late.”

I shrugged.  “This is your trip, I'm just the plus one.  What do you usually do?”

She blushed and kept staring at the road.  “Ummm... fast food.  It's all my budget can handle on these trips.  Over half my income goes into gas and food on the weekends, visiting here.”

I tilted my head, half her income?  How little are they paying the interns there?  Peanuts?  I shrugged at her as I cued up some music with my free hand.  No way in heck am I letting go of her hand with my other.  I loved the warm tingly feeling I got from our contact.  “That sounds good to me. Lead on Macbeth.”

Her playful eye roll was followed by a shy glance at me.  She seemed to be recovering from the emotional visit with her mom. 
I'll just keep her mind off of it.
  I started singing with the music, squeezing her hand to get her to join in with that sinfully delicious imperfect voice of hers.

We reached the main drag in the little town and hit the drive thru at a burger joint.  I tilted my head at her and she just drove silently.  We drove for ten minutes, up into the forest to a great view of a river below. “That's the Spokane River.”  She prompted and we ate silently.  Both of us shooting glances at each other.  Gawd she was sexy.

When we finished, I tilted my head.  “Well, shall we go relax?  Where's your house?  I can't wait to see where Babette Stevenson grew up.”

She suddenly froze and uttered under her breath.  “Frack!”

I glanced at her in alarm.  “What is it Ky?”

She looked extremely embarrassed when she replied, “I didn't even think of it until just now.  I had to sell the house to help pay for my mother's care.  I have a couple blankets in the back, I just usually sleep in Baltar whenever I visit.”

I chuckled playfully.  “Well, you know
THAT'S
not gonna happen.  Just get us to the nearest hotel or motel Potato.”

“
I can't let you...”

I interrupted her, “You, shush... now drive woman.”  Then I winked at her with a huge smile on my face.

She sighed then started driving back toward the town again.  I gave a toothy grin.  “I win.”  She squinted an eye and released my hand and waggled a fist at me.  I slapped her shoulder and retrieved what was rightfully mine... her hand.

Minutes later it was starting to get dark as we were pulling into the Post Falls Resort Motel.  U
mmm?  Where's the resort?  This place is like a parking lot and a building.
  I pointed at the sign in confusion.  She grinned like the Cheshire cat and explained,  “I think it is because they have an outdoor pool to swim in in the summer.”

I nodded and pretended to understand.  I mumbled, “Livin' in the sticks.”

She nodded satisfactorily and stole my thunder away.  “Precisely.” 
Dang, she's fun!

We grabbed our bags, once Baltar finally had the decency to die, and we went to check in at the office.  James, his name tag read, was going all bug eyed looking at me.  Damn I forgot I was in my Amber LaLanie persona.  I really should have wore the black wig today.  I sighed in resignation and said, “James we will be needing...”

I turned to Kylee, “One room or two?”

She shrugged and I said, a room with two beds please.  He couldn't keep his eyes off me as he charged my card and gave us a key.  I turned back as we were exiting, “And James.  I'd appreciate it if you kept this just between us.  You can be a good man and do that for us can't you?”

He nodded and I gave him what I hoped was a winning smile and we made our way outside and up the outside steps to room 2B.  As soon as we got into the room Kylee burst into laughter.  “Oh my gawd he was about to explode!  But I understand.  I feel that way every time you are next to me.”

I cocked an eyebrow.  “I'll take that as a compliment.”

She chuckled.  “As well you should.”

She hopped up on a bed and smiled at me as I got on the other and turned on the television to catch the news.  She laid back on a pillow and pulled out her iPad and started working again.  Doesn't she know how to relax?

I scowled playfully at her and her iPad then hopped off the bed and onto hers, I had her raise her head and I replaced her pillow with my lap.  “You work too much,” I mumbled as I watched the news and ran my fingers through her deep red hair.  That reminded me, I needed to finish that song. She felt stiff as a board, and...  “Umm... Ky?”

She looked back at me with a question in her eyes.  I smiled softly at her.  “I'm pretty sure you're going to have to breath at some point or another.”

She nodded and exhaled and took another deep breath.  “I just didn't want to ruin the moment.  You really shouldn't tease me like this, you don't know...”

I shut her up with an upside down kiss.  Gawd I felt like I was going to explode, I wanted to kiss her like this forever.  Her lips were so soft, so... hungry.  I broke the kiss and left her panting and blushing in my lap as I turned my attention to the television with a smug look on my face and a fire inside.  I murmured at her as I watched the news, “Smitten.  That's what I am.  Look the word up, Potato.  Now shush, I gotta get my news fix.”

She must have been staring at me for thirty seconds before her brain caught up with her.  I blushed over the fact I could have that effect on her.  It is the same effect she has on me.  She seemed to snuggle her head into my lap with a dreamy smile on her face.  Her voice was tiny as she went back to work on her presentations.  “Ok Amber.”  My body was on fire and I was curling my toes into little balls.

As I watched the international news I unpinned my wig, tossed it over to my bed and let my hair down.  It still amazed me that I didn't seem to mind doing that around her.  I felt like hugging myself remembering when she called me a snow leopard.  I don't think she realizes, but I'd be just about anything for her.  She scares me and excites me, I just need to gain some courage, she thinks I'm only playing when I kiss her.

I glanced down every once in a while.  She was reworking the storyboards for Max McDonald's video on the project like it was nothing to her.  From what I saw, she was turning something that was a little generic but had promise into something tailored to Max's personality.  But the shocking thing was that she was only making minor tweaks to the project to pull it off.  I was amazed.

I got caught up in it, and I was so lost in what Ky was doing that I lost track of the news until a story in the entertainment portion of the news snapped both of our attention to the screen.

She pushed her glasses back on her nose and we watched as the news anchor said,  “Babette Stevenson and Amber LaLanie were caught sneaking out of their hotel today.  They had day bags with them.  This is leading to speculation of a love getaway.  But the concierge vehemently denied it and responded with, 'The hotel has no comment, we value the privacy of our guests.' when pressed.”

I nodded with respect for Sylvester... good man.

The reporter continued.  “We were able to get access to Conrad Chase to see if he could corroborate the reports.”

The camera switched to Conrad outside of his hotel.  “What?  Are you kidding me?  In a word... no. Babette and Amber are actually meeting with perspective actresses for the Captain Amelia Masters role in the film. You really should stop making stuff up and reading more into things than there is.”  Then he pushed his way through the reporters to his waiting car.