Blue Like Elvis (23 page)

C
hapter 34

After I finished
my shift in the ER on Sunday, I went home and kicked my feet up for a while.
Sandra had made her famous red beans and rice, as only Puerto Ricans can make
it. The aroma wafting from the kitchen almost made me drool. We were just about
ready to eat when Jimmy showed up.

“Where in the
world have you been?”

“What are you, my
mother?” he quipped, giving me a hug as he walked in.

“No, but you said
you were going to be in town for a while, so I was hoping to see you
occasionally.”

“Well, take a look
and see me now. I’m here! And just in time for dinner, by the looks of it.
What’s that I’m smelling?”

“Arroz blanco con
habichuelas. My mama’s recipe for red beans and rice.
Come join
us,” Sandra said. “You’ll love it. Shelby, pour him a glass of tea.”

“Hey, Chiquita.
Nice to see you again.” Jimmy made himself at home, taking a seat at the table
as Sandra put a plate and silverware in front of him. I was really disappointed
he’d been so out of touch the last few days, but decided not to bug him after
his comment. “So where’ve you been keeping yourself?” I asked, placing a napkin
in my lap.

“I drove down to
Tunica. Some guys in my unit live down there. We checked out the casinos. You
ever been down there?”

“You’ll lose your
shirt at those places, Jimmy,” Sandra said, serving him a plate filled with the
spicy red beans and rice.

“Oh, man, this
looks amazing.” He forked a bite.

“Slow down there, hermano!
Those are hot off the stove.”

He took a bite
anyway then reached for his tea before he barely started to eat. “Whoa! Those
are some kind of
hot
!”

Sandra shot me a
look. “He’s
your
brother.” She served the two of us then took a seat. “So
how much did you lose?”

He was still
gulping down his tea, then set down his glass and let out a long sigh. “So what
makes you think I lost? I’ll have you know I won $1000.”

“You won $1000?” I
gasped.

He just nodded,
proud as a peacock.

“Okay, hot shot,”
Sandra began, “but how much did you invest
before
winning the thousand?”

“Invest?”

“Surely you didn’t
win on your very first try. How much had you lost before you won?”

“Oh.” Jimmy got up
to fill himself another glass of tea. “I dunno, around that much. Maybe a
little more.”

“Jimmy!” I gasped,
for the second time.

Sandra shook her
head. “See, no one ever includes that little bit of information. It’s all about
how much you win, win, win. Never mind that you lost, lost, lost before you
won, won, won.”

“In other words,
you pretty much broke even?” I asked.

Jimmy sat down
again. “Well, not really. I made more than I lost.”

“Like what—a
hundred?”

“Well, no, not
that much. What is this, an inquisition?”

We changed the
subject and chatted over the rest of dinner. Sandra served her famous flan for
dessert. It was amazing. So creamy, with just the right amount of caramel. She
was such a good cook. Though how she ate like she did and stayed so tiny, I had
no idea.

“Chiquita, thanks
for dinner.” Jimmy placed his napkin over his empty plate. “Make your roommate
chip in and help occasionally.”

“Hey, I do my
share.” I picked up our empty plates and put them in the sink.

“Well, I’m outta
here,” he said, heading into the living room. “I need to get some sleep over at
Tuck’s. Haven’t seen him in a few days, but just as well. I guess you know he’s
been over in Nashville.”

Nashville? Why
was Tucker in Nashville?
It explained why I hadn’t seen him around the
hospital, but—but it really didn’t matter, did it? He certainly didn’t owe me
any explanations.

Before I could say
anything, my brother continued. “And by the way, I’m leaving in the morning.”

“Again?”

He opened the
front door. “Yeah, I’m driving down to New Orleans for a few days. Not sure
when I’ll be back, but I’ll let you know.”

“Great. I’ll hold
my breath to hear from you.”

“Jimmy, stay away
from those casinos down there!” Sandra yelled from the kitchen.

“Wonderful. Now I’ve
got three mothers.” He smacked a kiss on my cheek and stepped outside.

“Bye, Jimmy. Be
good.”

“Oh, I will.”

And oh, how I
hoped he would.

Since I’d worked
Saturday and Sunday, I got to take Monday and Tuesday off. It was strange being
home on a weekday, but I have to admit I enjoyed it. I slept late, putzed
around the house cleaning up a little, then drove over to spend some time with
Rachel and sweet baby Cooper. Actually, I spent time with Cooper. He’d been up
most of the night and Rachel was exhausted, so I sent her to bed for a long
nap.

Have I mentioned
how much I love the little guy? I’m fairly sure he already knew that Auntie
Shelby was permanently wrapped around his tiny little finger. All he had to do
was flash those baby blues, and I was a goner. We had a nice long chat, but as
is often the case with the men in my life, I quickly put him to sleep. I gently
placed him in the cradle they’d set up in the family room, then stretched out
to read one of Rachel’s magazines.

Rachel woke up a
couple of hours later and wouldn’t stop thanking me for letting her sleep. “Any
chance I could hire you to do this full time?”

“Very funny. I’m
sure Baptist would collapse without my presence.”

“Oh, that reminds
me. Have you heard the news?”

“What news?”

Just then, Cooper
let out a fussy wail. “Dr. Grieve announced his retirement this morning.”

“What? How did you
find out?”

“One of the girls
in my office called this morning. I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. Then again,
I’m surprised you hadn’t already heard.”

“So what does that
mean for the hospital?”

“I’m not sure.” She
picked up Cooper then took a seat in her rocking chair and nursed her baby. It
was such a sweet sight, the two of them. “But there will definitely be some
changes,” she continued. “And not the good kind.”

“I don’t like the
sound of that.”

“Neither do I.
Being on maternity leave puts me in a vulnerable position, to say the least.”

“Oh, they’d never
let you go, Rachel. You’re the one who keeps them running.”

“Ha ha.”

“Now, as a fairly
new employee myself, that’s a whole different situation.”

“I know. I feel
bad, helping you get a job right before this unfolds. Course, I had no idea
this was coming. The thing is, we could all be out of jobs. Who knows.”

“Stop. You’re
depressing me.”

“So, how’s it
going with Tucker?”

I didn’t really want
to talk about it, so I made my answer brief. “Came and went. End of story.”

“What?!”

“Rachel, it was
such a long shot anyway. Especially with our history. I’m just glad I found out
early on that it wasn’t meant to be. He’s a jerk. Can we just leave it at
that?”

“No, we can
not
just leave it at that. I can’t believe this! Tucker is one of the nicest guys I
know. Why would you call him a jerk? What happened?”

I told her the short
version, ending with Jimmy’s lucid visit last night. “What I can’t figure out
is why he would do such a thing, Rachel. But I have to tell you, I’m relieved.
Good riddance.”

She stared at me,
still gently rocking her son as he nursed. “Why is it I’m having a difficult
time believing you really mean that?”

I shrugged and
looked away.

“Has he called
you?”

“A couple of
times. I let the answering machine take the call. I’m not really interested in
hearing any more of his analyses of my brother. Did I mention he’s a jerk?”

“Tucker Thompson
is not a jerk. You all just need to talk it out. I’m sure there’s just been
some sort of misunderstanding. Why won’t you at least give him a chance to
explain?”

“Explain what?
That he’s such a brilliant doctor he can diagnose someone from across the room?
Seriously, Rachel, it’s over. Just let it go.”

She shook her
head. “Well, you should at least come to some kind of truce on the subject. You
attend the same church, you work in the same building with him—you’ll run into
him constantly. Why not make the effort to smooth things over?”

“We’ll manage.”

Rich arrived home,
thankfully providing an end to the subject. He brought home a bucket of
Kentucky Fried Chicken and all the trimmings and insisted I stay for dinner.
But when I finally made my way home later, I couldn’t shake the dark cloud hovering
over me. Everything seemed so out of sorts.
Everything.
And I wasn’t
quite sure what to do about any of it.

By the time I got
back to work on Wednesday, I found an office filled with gloom and doom. Mrs.
Baker hadn’t said anything, but all the girls seemed to think it was just a
matter of time before we all got pink slips. I got so sick hearing all of them
talk incessantly about who was hiring, what kind of transfers might be available,
and a whole boat load of other options. I grabbed my things and headed
upstairs, needing to be away from it all.

I made my rounds
then stopped by to visit with Donnie. He looked terrible. I couldn’t believe he’d
been here so long. After two-and-a-half months, he’d become good friends with
the entire staff on my floor, and I was so proud of them for taking such good
care of him. I’d prayed and prayed for him to get that phone call, the one
telling him a new heart was available. But so far, nothing.

We were into
another round of verbal sparring when I heard my name paged.

“Be right back,
Donnie. Not that you’ll miss me, of course. You seem to keep yourself well
entertained without me.”

“You got that
right. Besides, it’s time for my soaps. Don’t hurry back.”

I answered my page,
and the operator connected me to the hostess office.

“Shelby, it’s Sarah
Beth. Mrs. Baker asked me to page you. They just brought Dr. Love into the ER
again. She wanted you to know.”

I took a deep
breath and thanked her, then hung up. I raced back down the hall to Donnie’s
room.

“Donnie, it’s my
pastor. He’s in the ER again. I need to go.”

“Sorry, Shelby.
Go. You know where to find me.”

This time the ER
was fairly vacant. Apparently the church members hadn’t heard the news yet. I
found Mrs. Baker sitting with Elsie who was sobbing.

This can’t be
good.

Debra was at the
hostess desk so I checked in with her. “Have you heard anything?”

“No, but it must
be bad. No one’s making eye contact. And you know what that means.”

I certainly did.
Working with patients day in and day out takes a toll. It’s hard to be openly
compassionate around the clock. And when a situation is more serious than the
staff may want to portray to the family, they avoid eye contact. At least some
do.

“Do you know if he
was conscious when they brought him in?” I asked her.

“He wasn’t, which
probably explains why Mrs. Love is so upset. I feel so badly for her.”

We looked at my
boss who was trying to comfort her dearest friend. Mrs. B looked up and waved
me over. I quietly approached them. “Shelby, go see if the prayer room is
available,” she whispered.

If ever an area of
a hospital needed a prayer room, it was the emergency room. Just around the
corner from the main waiting area, this particular prayer room was larger than
those on the other floors. It had more rows of chairs and a larger kneeling
area at the front. Finding the room empty, I returned and waved to Mrs. B, who
quickly escorted Elsie there.

The day passed
agonizingly slow. Eventually, I went back upstairs and tried to work, but I’m
sure my patients thought a zombie had replaced their hostess. I ran several
errands, helped three patients check out, and even played cards with a dear
lady who asked me to help her pass the time. We don’t usually do that sort of
thing, but I was glad for the distraction.

Before leaving for
the day, I checked back with Mrs. Baker and learned that Dr. Love was in critical
condition. I just couldn’t believe it. And I definitely couldn’t bear to give
anchor to the thoughts that kept waving through my mind.

I wish Tucker
was here.

I blinked, wishing
that particular thought hadn’t buzzed through my mind either. Still, he would
be able to tell me more and keep me updated on any changes in Dr. Love’s
condition. If we were talking, that is.

How did life get
so messy? Why did bad things always have to pile up this way? There wasn’t a
single area of my life that wasn’t in turmoil right now. My job. Donnie. Dr.
Love. Tucker . . . And even though I knew Jimmy wasn’t into all
the things Tucker had suspected, I still wasn’t pleased that he seemed to be a
little lost, wandering here and there. And gambling?