Sharing Space (The Complete Series) (24 page)

I didn’t want to pressure Chloe, but at the same time I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t want to have sex with her. I did. A lot. Chloe was special. She was the first girl I’d dated who felt like a true friend first. I had enough friction going on with friends that I had no desire to do anything that would cause a problem between us. The few weeks that we didn’t speak after our first kiss were horrible. I didn’t know where the relationship was going, but I knew I wanted it to work. I was fine following her lead of taking it slow.

That’s not to say it wasn’t hard as hell. There were nights she’d fall asleep with her head on my chest and it took every ounce of self-control I had not to carry her off to my room. I knew things seemed more intense because we lived together, but even if we were a
normal
couple who didn’t already live together it would be about that time. I’m not sure either of us could hold out any longer.

My cell phone rang the moment I entered the apartment. It was Paul.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know it’s just gonna be me next week. Derrick’s going home to Chicago for Thanksgiving.”

“You’re not going with him?”

“We’re not at that stage yet. No, I’ll be coming alone.” Paul laughed. “Speaking of stages. This is a big step, huh?  Meeting the family, Thanksgiving dinner, and all that.”

“Yeah, it is. Am I crazy?”

“No, you’re normal. Chloe seemed like a very nice girl and, from everything you’ve told me about you two, it sounds like you’re happy. That’s a good thing. A great thing in fact, considering everything going on.”

I wanted to ask about Max but, before I could, Paul changed the subject.

“Did you get a hold of Charlotte?”

He’d changed it to an equally uncomfortable one.

“Yeah, the other day. She said she’d try and make it. But look, I don’t want to talk about that. I have good news. Great news.”

I’d just started to fill Paul in on how much closer I was to landing the part on
Shining Moments
when the call waiting beeped. “Hold on, Paul,” I said before clicking over.

At first, all I heard was static.

“Hello? Hello?”

“Patrick, can you hear me?”

“Chloe? Now I can. What’s—”

“Sorry, my connection is pretty bad.”

“What’s wrong? Where are you?”

“I’m at St. Luke’s Hospital. It’s Uncle Troy—”

“I’m on my way.”

Chapter Three

Grateful, Part 3

Chloe

When we were ten, Uncle Troy took
me and Crystal to the Bronx Zoo. He was given strict instructions from my mother not to let me have any junk food. He agreed. By the end of the day Crystal and I had eaten hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream, and all the cola we could keep down. On the train ride home I started to cry. I just knew my mother would have a fit when she found out all the junk food I’d consumed.

“What’s wrong with you, girl?” Uncle Troy asked, handing me tissues from his jacket pocket.

I explained that I didn’t want to get in trouble with Mom. Uncle Troy just chuckled. “What your mother don’t know won’t hurt her. If you don’t say anything neither will I. Are you going to tell, Crystal?” Crystal giggled and shook her head, making the beads on the end of her braids jingle.

As I rode in a taxi headed for the hospital I remembered that day so clearly and quite suddenly. Funny the places one’s mind goes in an emergency. I glanced down at the cell phone in my hand. I’d told Crystal to call me if anything changed with Uncle Troy’s condition before I’d arrived. As worried as I was, I was hoping that my phone wouldn’t ring. It could only be bad news if it did. When the taxi pulled up in front of the hospital I quickly paid the driver and headed for the fourth floor. Once Crystal had calmed down enough to give me the details, she’d told me that was where she’d be waiting for me, and that’s where I found her sitting in the hallway. We hugged for a long time.

“Where is he?”

“They just took him for an MRI. It might be awhile.”

“Where’s Brianna?”

“Still in school. Miss Etta will pick her up and take her home. I don’t want to tell her anything until we know more.”

“Right. Tell me again what happened.”

We sat outside Uncle Troy’s empty room and held hands as Crystal recounted what happened at the restaurant earlier. She and Uncle Troy were in the kitchen, prepping for that night’s dinner service, when he suddenly complained of a dry mouth and feeling really tired.

“I told him he should sit down and let me and the crew finish the rest. I should have known something wasn’t right because he actually listened to me. He took a seat by the freezer and I went to get him a glass of water. While I was gone one of the sous chefs, John, realized an order was wrong. Daddy wanted to call the supplier and complain but, when he tried to dial the phone, he wasn’t able to. John said he was just pushing random buttons and, when he tried to ask if he was okay, Daddy couldn’t talk.”

Crystal wiped tears away with her free hand. I squeezed the other. “When I got back he was on the floor and his face was kind of drooping and… and... he had tears in his eyes. I could tell he was trying to talk, but nothing was coming out and—”

I pulled her close and held her as she cried. I knew the rest, a frantic call to 911 and a frightening ambulance ride to the hospital. Uncle Troy was able to talk by the time the paramedics had arrived and insisted that all was fine. Crystal, thankfully, didn’t buy it and accompanied him in the ambulance to the emergency room. She had called me while they were running tests on him and, now that I was there, she didn’t know much more than when they’d arrived except that the doctors wanted to admit him for further observation. We sat in silence except for the soft sounds of Crystal’s crying.

Being in a hospital reminded me of the night my father died. I was only six, but I remembered it clearly, especially all of the adults talking around me in hushed tones. It was the same kind of quiet Crystal and I sat in, waiting for word on Uncle Troy—the kind of quiet where your mind goes a million places it shouldn’t. The air around us felt heavy and it made me feel as if I were choking. 

The night my father died the eerie silence was broken when the doctor came out to tell my mother he hadn’t survived. Her cries came from somewhere deep inside of her. Uncle Troy was there, holding my mother then as I held Crystal now.

Crystal wanted to call and check on Brianna, so I offered to get us something to drink from the cafeteria while she did. Instead of following the signs for the cafeteria I headed outside to call Patrick. I felt like I was going to explode any second and he’s who I wanted to talk to, to be with, but I didn’t want an audience. 

True to form, Patrick said he’d be there without me having to ask. I gave him the specifics of where he could find us in the hospital and then called my mother and left her a message. I purchased two cups of coffee from the cafeteria. As I approached Uncle Troy’s room I found Crystal standing in the hall looking distraught and speaking with a doctor.

“What’s happened?”

Crystal nodded to the doctor that it was okay to fill me in.  The doctor, a tall Indian man who looked much too young to be a doctor, crossed his arms across the front of his blue scrubs and tried to explain Uncle Troy’s condition in simple terms.

“We refer to these as mini strokes, the body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. In about half the cases of people who experience one, there’s a better-than-great chance they’ll have a full-blown stroke within a year.” Crystal grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “We’re waiting for his EKG results to see what, if any, damage was done to his heart. We’ll be able to assess his condition and recommend treatment when those are back. They should be bringing him back to his room shortly. We’ll definitely want to keep him until all the test results are in and we can get his blood pressure to an acceptable level.”

After the doctor had gone Crystal and I spent the next twenty minutes waiting for Uncle Troy to return to his room. When the nurse wheeled him in he looked both happy and embarrassed to see me.

“Lady, you didn’t have to come all the way up here for this. Crystal, I told you not to bother anybody,” he grumbled.

“Uncle Troy, you know better than that. This is not a bother.”

“And why I gotta stay here all night? I’m gonna miss CSI. And who’s going to handle opening the restaurant tomorrow? How long will I be here, anyway?”

“Will you just stop it?” Crystal had been adjusting the pillows on his bed but stopped to snap at him, her hands slapping against her thighs. “That’s what the DVR is for and I will handle the restaurant. Just stop fighting and stop being so damn stubborn. This is serious!”

“Now, Crystal—“

It sounded like Uncle Troy was about to scold Crystal for her tone, but she wasn’t done scolding him. “You’re acting like this isn’t a big deal and it is. You don’t eat right, you skip your doctor appointments, you don’t always take your medication like you’re supposed to, and I’m not much help. You start with your complaining about being treated like a child and I turn a blind eye. Not anymore. You could have died. Do you understand that? You could have died.”

Before Uncle Troy could say anything Crystal stomped out of the room, nearly knocking over a nurse on her way in. I watched in silence as the nurse administered his blood pressure medication, which knocked him out almost immediately. I thought it best to give Crystal some time alone so I remained in the room, watching my uncle sleep. I was struck by how old he looked. I’d just seen him a few weeks ago when Patrick and I had gone to the restaurant on our first date.

Did he look this old and fragile then?

Crystal returned; her face looked freshly washed and showed no signs of the tears and streaks of makeup from earlier.

“Do you think you can stay here while I run home and pack some clothes for him?”

“Of course.”

While she was gone I decided to sit in the hall, because watching Uncle Troy sleep and look weak was difficult. Our family was so small already. We couldn’t lose Uncle Troy. Just imagining our lives without him brought me to tears. I felt someone standing over me and looked up to find Patrick.

“Come here,” he said, reaching out to hold me. I rose and welcomed his arms around me. I’d tried hard to be strong in front of Crystal. I felt since she was obviously and understandably so upset, it wouldn’t do to have us both fall to pieces. Now, in Patrick’s arms, I gave myself permission to finally let go. He held me as I cried and, when I could finally talk, I told him everything that had happened. 

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks for coming. You didn’t have to.”

“Of course I did.”

We stood there, staring into one another’s eyes. My feelings for Patrick seemed to get stronger every day but, for the first time, at that moment I was truly grateful to have him in my life. We kissed gently and then broke apart. He rested his forehead against mine and stroked my hair. For a brief moment I felt as if everything would be okay. I closed my eyes and wished that the feeling would last forever.

“Chloe?”

The sudden sound of my name broke through the magical moment and I was reminded that we were standing in a hospital hallway. We both turned to see who had called my name. Myra stood a few feet away with her mouth wide open.

Chapter Four

Disgust
and Disapproval – Part 1