Mia Darien - Good Things

“Jose, I need to tell you something. Something that I haven’t told anyone.”

He smiled, wiping his forehead. “Okay.” He sat on the bench next to her.

“When I left Steven, I decided that if I couldn’t get over it, I would end it myself. I didn’t want to live in fear of him finding me and I surely didn’t want him to find me and actually go back to what I had worked so hard to leave behind.” She took a deep breath and wiped a tear that was trailing down her cheek. “I had this bottle of hydrocodone. It was the last bottle that I had filled before I left him and the divorce was final. I had kept it and my plans were to take the entire bottle if I couldn’t cope. If he found me. I was going to end my life because I didn’t want him to have any more control and I wasn’t willing to give him the power to take anything more from me. I have stared at that bottle every night since then. But last night, I pulled the bottle from my nightstand like I always do and for the first time, I started laughing. I realized there was no way in hell I was going to take that bottle and do what his ultimate goal was. I found a new pep in my step as I went to the toilet and flushed them. I want to thank you. You really have no idea how you have saved my life.”

She watched as his eyes glistened and his chin twitched. “No, it is you saved me. I am so glad that I found you. I have a confession to make now. Days were passing when I was searching for someone like you. Someone that needed me to help them. I was beginning to lose faith that I would ever find you. Then I looked across the gym and saw this woman who…well, since we are being completely honest with each other now, had no clue what she was doing and I knew right then, I had finally found you. My life hasn’t been the greatest either. I lost my way there for a long time and I found my way back in helping you. It’s you that I owe many thanks to.”

“Wait, what? You’re not mad about my admission? About the pills?”

“No. You never would have taken them. You’re too strong for that. You may have thought you would, but you are not a quitter.”

He reached for her and pulled her into his chest. “If I had only met you sooner,” he whispered, kissing her cheek and then walking away.

She wanted to chase after him, but her cell began ringing and she knew that it could only be work-related.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Kamry. This is Suzy. I wanted to tell you that Ms. Maybelle has taken a turn for the worse and we have called in hospice. Her grandson is here with her now and he wanted you to be called. Ms. Maybelle had been talking with him about you.”

“How bad is she?” Kamry asked.

“She won’t be with us by tomorrow, we’re afraid.”

“I’m on my way.” Kamry ended the call and began a steady jog home. She showered, changed, and headed to Ms. Maybelle.

The minute she walked into her room, she saw how bad she was. Suzy was there and she had the familiar bottle of MSIR—morphine sulfate instant release. She knew they usually only used that particular medication when the end was near, because just a few drops of medication under the tongue and it would get into the system. It was used when the person was unable to swallow anymore or when the pain was too severe, because it would get into their system faster than swallowing medication.

“Hey, Kamry,” Suzy whispered.

The man sitting in a chair with his back to the door stood, turned, and smiled. Damn, if the circumstances were different. He was tall. Six foot, athletic build. Short, dark hair that looked like he had just gotten straight out of bed and ran his fingers through it. Dark brown eyes that were lit with attraction, with a tan complexion and long legs. He was wearing a white t-shirt that had some kind of black shape on the front and dark embellished jeans. He was a walking, talking GQ model and there was something very familiar about him. He was definitely Hispanic. That had to be it, Kamry decided. Jose was Hispanic, so maybe she was relating the two of them because of that.

He walked towards her, still smiling. He held his hand out. “I’m Garret, it is so nice to finally meet you. Grammy has talked about you every day for the last four months. She really loved you. I believe her words were, ‘you have to meet her, Garret, she is the tea to my cup and she could make your cup runneth over too’.” He smiled. “You know Gram. She’s always looking for the happily ever after. It was never her fault, though. A hopeless romantic to the bone.”

Kamry laughed. “Yes, she is. Nice to meet you as well.” She shook his hand, feeling a bit of a shock as their hands touched. It was something she had only read about, but had never felt anything like it before. It was like electricity tickling her hand and moving up through her arm then down her entire body. One word was all she could think of: amazing.

She took a deep breath and then let go, walking towards Ms. Maybelle. It took her a moment to gather her wits before she could say a word or even ask a question that made any kind of sense. “Has she been awake today at all?”

“No. Unfortunately, she hasn’t,” Garret answered, sitting back down and taking Ms. Maybelle’s hand in his. “She has been like this all day. I came as soon as I could. They called me last night and I was here in, like, thirty minutes or so. I was hoping that it was just a spell or maybe another mini stroke. Since her big stroke, she has had several of those. It’s not though. Is it?”

Kamry wasn’t a nurse or doctor, but she could tell Ms. Maybelle was going to be visiting Heaven soon. Kamry gently checked her eyes, noticing they were glazed over, and her color was pale. She gently raised the blanket’s footing, noticing that Ms. Maybelle’s heels were purplish. Not a good sign at all. “No, I’m sorry.”

He nodded.

Suzy knocked quietly on the door before coming in with another chair. “I thought you might need this. The kitchen is preparing a tray with coffee and stuff, you know the routine. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

“Thanks, Suzy.”

“Yes, thank you.” Garret didn’t take his eyes from his grandmother’s hand.

They sat quietly for a few moments before Garret spoke. “So, I know this is kind of weird, but all this silence is killing me. Can we talk about something, maybe take my mind off of what I am soon to see?”

“Sure. What would you like to talk about?”

“Well, tell me about yourself. Are you married? Kids?”

Kamry stiffened, taking a breath and beginning to rub her hands on her knees. “Um, no and no.” She silently thanked God for no children. Not that she didn’t want children, she just didn’t want any children with Steven. “How about you?”

“No and no.” He chuckled. “I work a lot and my life, well, it’s kind of crazy and a lot of women are just in it for money or bragging rights.”

Her curiosity shot through the roof, but at the same time, he hadn’t actually said what it was he did for a living, so maybe he didn’t want her to know exactly what it was. “That’s too bad.”

“Yeah. So, I can tell by your accent you aren’t from NYC.”

This time it was Kamry that chuckled. “Nope. I’m a SEMO girl.”

“A what?”

She smiled. “Southeast Missouri.”

“That’s it. That midwestern/southern accent combined. But it’s nice. It’s different. I like different.” He looked up and they locked eyes. For an inkling of a second, the world stood still. Then Ms. Maybelle’s SPO2 monitor beeped and brought Kamry back to reality. Both Kamry and Garret started. Ms. Maybelle’s heart rate was dropping. Kamry stood and silenced the machine.

“Do you want to keep this on? I can shut it off and let the nurses know.”