Sugar Crash (9 page)

Taylor raised her hand in a wave and ran full tilt towards her team.
 

Darci took her time getting her things out of the car and walking to the bleachers. Standing at the edge of the field, she looked up to the place she liked to sit by herself. Full.
 

"Darci!" She turned and saw Barb, surrounded by most of the other parents, waving at her from her usual spot above the player's bench. "Over here."

"Why not?" she mumbled under her breath. She pulled the strap of her tote bag tighter over her shoulder and started the climb over the benches towards the group.

"It's so good to see you," Barb said, and motioned to the empty seat next to her. Darci couldn't help but notice how Susanna had slid further to the end of the bench, leaving a large gaping space where none had been before.
 

"Thanks," Darci said. She squeezed in and settled her bag at her feet.

Barb leaned over and Darci could smell the mint gum she was chewing. "How is she? I was so happy when Cam told me she was playing tonight. That's great."

"I don't know about great...I mean, yes it is good, I'm just a little worried about her." Darci quickly corrected herself.
 

"Of course you are." Barb patted her knee and smiled so big that Darci couldn't help but return her smile in return. "That's what we do. We're moms," Barb said. "We worry. It's part of the gig."
 

"Thanks."
 

"It's going to be okay," Barb said with another smile.
 

Before Darci could say anything else, the whistle blew and the game was underway.
 

"Go Chargers!" Someone behind Darci yelled so loud that she spun around to see who the enthusiastic parent was. She'd only turned half way back when she locked eyes with Susanna. For a moment Darci thought she saw pity, or was it fear, in the other woman's eyes. But when she blinked, it was gone. Susanna was on her feet, cheering for the team with everyone else.
 

Darci forced herself to focus on the game. She didn't really believe that Cam would let Taylor play. After all, she'd probably be happy if she only felt like part of the team. That's what Taylor was craving. To let her play so soon after being released from the hospital, not even being released at all really, would be foolish. She knew it, and Cam knew it. So when Darci saw her daughter, hair tied back in a ponytail, socks pulled up to the knees and hospital identification bracelet on her left wrist, running out to field the ball, her heart leapt into her throat. Darci had to swallow hard to keep from jumping up and calling Taylor back in.
 

"She'll be fine," Barb said. Her hand reached out and covered Darci's. When Darci turned to look, she was met with caring, concerned eyes. "I know it's hard, but try not to worry."

"I can't help it," Darci said, "I'm worried."

"Of course you are, like I said, it's part of the job description." Barb laughed and Darci found some of her concern melting away. "The doctor wouldn't have let her play if she wasn't okay, right?"

Darci nodded.
 

"Then she'll be fine." Barb looked so sure of it, that despite herself, Darci found herself relaxing a little and enjoying the game.
 

The girls played well and were ahead by six goals by the time the half time whistle blew.
 

"I'm going to get drinks," Barb's husband, Tim, announced. "Darci, what can I get you?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that." Darci stood.

"Don't be ridiculous," Barb said. "He's going anyway. He'll get you a drink. Coffee?"
 

Darci sat again. "Thanks, I'd love a coffee."
 

After Tim left, Barb leaned over, and said, "He has to get up at half time. He can't stand listening to the women gossiping."
 

Darci forced a smile. She knew Barb's comment was meant to be funny, but she couldn't help wondering what the women had been gossiping about. Had she and Taylor been the subject of their half time chats? She knew without asking, that they had.
 

A few of the other mother's, women Darci didn't know very well, took turns coming to sit beside her to pass on their well wishes for Taylor. "It's so good to see her back on the field," one woman said. "I'm glad she's feeling better," another told her.
 

Darci answered their questions as best as she could without offering too many details. After all, they didn't need to know the ins and outs of what had happened. She was relieved when Tim came back with the coffee and the interrogations fizzled out. Darci sat back on the bench, and let the conversations of the other parents float around her.
 

Once or twice she caught Susanna looking in her direction, but the other woman never spoke to her. Strange, because Darci would have expected that she'd be the first person asking her about Taylor.
 

"So, what do you think, Darci?" Barb was staring at her waiting for an answer.

Darci shook her head free of her thoughts and turned her attention to Barb. "I'm sorry," she said. "What were you saying?"

"I was just asking if you thought that maybe Taylor would like a little company at the hospital tomorrow afternoon? Maybe the girls could come by and they could do homework together? What do you think?"

"Oh." Darci glanced around. "I don't..." she started to say how it wasn't necessary, but then she looked at Taylor down on the player's bench, surrounded by her friends. She was smiling and having fun. Darci hadn't seen a lot of smiles in the last few days. "I think Taylor would like that a lot," Darci finished.

"Excellent." Barb stood and called over Darci's head across the bench, "Hey, Susanna. I'm going to take Abby to visit Taylor tomorrow. Maybe Jennica would like to come too?"

A flash of fear crossed Susanna's face. It was quick, but not so quick that Darci didn't notice it. "Oh, I think Jennica has a hair appointment tomorrow afternoon," she said. "Too bad. Maybe next time."

There wouldn't be a next time, Darci wanted to say. Tay would be coming home soon and the hospital would be a distant memory. Taylor needed her friends now. She wanted to say that, but the she didn't. Instead, the whistle blew and Darci, like all the other parents on the bench, focused her attention back to the field.
 

###

"I wish I could go."
 

Taylor sat in the front seat of the car and stared out the window at her friends, loading into their parent's cars. The Chargers had won their game, securing their spot in the rankings and the whole team was going for celebratory pizza and cokes at Peppi's. But Darci was taking Taylor back to the hospital.
 

"I know, kiddo," she said. She eased the car out of the parking lot, away from the team. "I'm sorry you have to go back."
 

Taylor didn't say anything. She turned and stared out her window. After a moment, Darci heard a sniff and when she glanced over she would catch Taylor swiping at her eyes. Darci didn't push. Instead, she popped a CD in the stereo and cranked up the volume.
 

A few seconds later, music filled the car and Darci started singing along to the classic Mama Mia.
 

She stopped at a traffic light, and loud as she could, belted out the chorus. Taylor still didn't look over, so Darci added some dramatic shoulder dancing to catch her attention. Darci had been playing Abba songs since Taylor was a baby and had accidentally discovered that the songs soothed her. As Taylor got older, she'd quickly learned the words, and instead of listening to Raffi or The Wiggles, the seventies band had become her favorite.
 

Waiting for her back up, Darci kept singing and bopping her shoulders along with the beat.

A moment later, she was rewarded with Taylor's voice, thin at first, but quickly up to full power.

Darci turned and saw the huge grin on her daughter's face. Together they finished the song, shoulder dancing wildly, and singing into Taylor's microphone-fist. There had never been a stronger mother-daughter duo of Abba's classic and by the time Darci pulled up to the hospital doors, they were both smiling and laughing.
 

"Feel better?" Darci asked when they got back to Taylor's room.

Taylor nodded.

"Like I always say, there's nothing to put a smile on your face like a little Mama Mia and some shoulder grooving." Darci bopped her shoulders once more and Taylor laughed.
 

"It's true," Taylor said. "Nothing makes a sucky day better like Abba."
 

Darci smiled and said, "I'm really sorry you had to come back here, kiddo." She pulled her daughter into a tight hug and squeezed hard.

 
"I know." Taylor returned the hug. "Thanks for tonight, Mom."
 

"Hey, I'm glad we went. You played hard tonight."

Taylor gave her mom a squeeze and stepped back. "Thank you for the game, too," she said. "But I meant, thank you for..."

"For Abba?" She finished for her.

"Yeah, for Abba." Taylor's smile lit up her face.
 

"Did I hear somebody say, Abba?" Doctor Wilson came in the room. "That's more my generation, don't you think? Shouldn't you be listening to some puffy girls or something?"
 

They all laughed, and Taylor launched into a discussion about all her favorite bands. Abba made the top of the list.
 

"I'm surprised you're still here," Darci said to him when Taylor went into the bathroom to change.

"I wanted to make sure our little star did okay tonight, so I thought I'd hang around."

Darci's gaze flicked to the closed bathroom door. "You didn't think she'd be okay?"

"Oh, no," Doctor Wilson said. "I knew she'd play fine, I was a little worried about how she'd handle coming back here instead of going home. But, it seems I had no reason to be concerned. You're both handling all this very well."
 

Darci felt like a fake. She wasn't handling any of it well. For the last few nights, she'd laid in bed crying herself to sleep. She wanted to run away screaming whenever she saw a needle, and the fact that this horrible disease was affecting her child, was consuming her with guilt. She wanted to tell Doctor Wilson that. Instead, she nodded and tried to smile.
 

"Well, I think she should be able to go home in another day or so and you both can work on getting your lives back to normal," he said. "I know it can't be easy trying to balance work with a child in the hospital, plus everything else you have to take care of."

Work?
 

Oh no, she'd forgotten all about the staff meeting. Darci looked at the clock on the wall. Ten after eight. Felicity was going to kill her. Or fire her. Either way...

She tried not to let her panic show on her face. The doctor didn't need to know the truth - that Darci really wasn't handling anything well at all.
 

She swallowed her fear and somehow managed not to yank her cellphone out of her bag and check messages until after she'd said goodnight to Taylor and left her in the capable hands of the nurses.
 

It was almost nine by the time she walked outside the hospital doors into the crisp night air and looked at her phone.
 

Two missed calls.
 

Crap.
 

She dialed her voicemail.
 

"First message," the computerized voice said.
 

Monica's voice came through the phone. "Darci, just wondering where you are. Felicity wanted me to call and remind you that the staff meeting was supposed to start five minutes ago. We're all waiting for you."

She hit the button to delete and listened to the next one.
 

"Second message."

"Darci, it's Felicity. Be at the store first thing in the morning. I've made some changes we need to discuss."

Darci pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Changes? Her mind raced with the possibilities.
 

Recalling Monica's recent personality morph, and all of her own screw-ups, she thought she might throw up. Something was going on, and whatever it was, Darci was pretty sure she wasn't going to like it.
 

CHAPTER TWELVE

Darci was right, she didn't like what Felicity had to say. The next morning, she made sure to be at the shop an hour before opening so she was ready when Felicity pushed through the doors. Felicity's long grey hair was pulled back into her customary bun, not a strand out of place. Some thought the look was harsh and it made the older woman look intimidating. But Darci had never felt that way, she could always see past the tough exterior to the caring, warm person beneath. Until the moment that she saw the disappointment in her eyes.
 

Felicity walked up to the counter and got right to the point. "Darci, I don't know what's going on with you. But I'm not satisfied with the way things are going around here."

Darci opened her mouth to defend herself, but closed it again. What could she say? She'd decided long ago never use Taylor as an excuse for doing her job well, and even given the circumstances, she wouldn't give anyone, especially her boss, a reason to think she couldn't handle things.
 

"First the inventory, and then closing up shop in the middle of the day without finding anyone to cover you. It's totally unacceptable to leave the shop unattended," Felicity said. "I thought you knew better." She frowned and Darci felt the disapproval radiating from her. "Never mind the fact that you missed a mandatory staff meeting. I can't even begin to tell you-"
 

"Wait a minute." Darci interrupted. "What did you say about inventory?"

"It was late, Darci." Felicity looked at her as if she was speaking another language. "Thank goodness Monica finished it up and sent it to me or we wouldn't have had any accurate numbers for last month, and you do understand how important the numbers are, don't you?"