I was afraid to ask what that was.
“I’m willing to give whatever the hospital needs in exchange for a board seat.” He answered my question without a prompt.
I started to choke on my food, grabbing for my water. “No. No. Those people are my bosses. Then you would be my boss. Why?”
“Because I’m planning to spend more time on this coast now, and I need a reason.” He sat across from me, smug in his suit, a smirk on his face, his hair perfectly out of place, my virginity in his back pocket and now my livelihood in his hand.
“Find a different reason.”
“My mom likes this one.”
“Ford, seriously?” I cleared my throat, trying to gain composure.
He nodded. “Do you want me to call your boss? Or will you handle the details?”
I wished I’d made this a drinking lunch. “I will,” I said in defeat, shoving my glasses up, eyeing Ford with a death stare.
“Oh good, the little fighter I knew so well is back.”
Then, in the most unprofessional manner, a growl erupted from my chest.
And he had the nerve to say, “Aw, come on, it’ll be fun, James-O, like old times. We’ll hang and have so much fun.”
That was my fear. Like old times, we’d be besties, and my heart would get different ideas.
Ford
The first memory I had of James Silver was about the time we were three and a half years old. It was a hot day in the beginning of May—I remember because mom was due with the new baby soon, and she kept complaining about the heat. Maggie showed up for work, carrying a huge box and smiling wide. I remembered running up to her and tugging on the box, demanding to know what it was and hoping it wasn’t for the baby to be named Willa.
“Shh, shh, Ford,” she’d said.
She spent the next ten years telling me toshh. Out of all my siblings, I was the one with the most spirit.
Later that morning, Maggie whispered, “Let’s take the box over to Jamie’s house.” She took my hand in hers, the box in her other, propped on her hip, and we made our way to the van my family provided for our nanny.
We drove over to Jamie’s house, and she was waiting on the front porch with her mom. I remember her mom whispering a bunch of thanks to Maggie and saying how she knew when the new baby arrived, Maggie wouldn’t be able to do this.
Maggie patted Lauren’s back and said, “Go on.”
The box taunted us from the stoop where Maggie dropped it.
“Miss Maggie, Mommy said we were going to play in the yard.”
“That’s right, silver-eyed girl,” Maggie replied. She snagged the box and walked through the house and out to the yard where she pulled out a plastic circle and set it on the ground. James and I stood next to one another, watching every one of my nanny’s moves as she pulled out the hose and poured water into the circle, which eventually filled up like a pool!
We had so much fun that day. Maggie in a swimsuit and me in a pair of underwear, jumping, splashing, and eating popsicles.
After a few hours, Jamie’s mom came back smiling, saying, “I got it!”
I’d had no idea what she meant, but later found out she’d be working where I was going to kindergarten. Maggie said it was a special school for rich people, and now James would get to go and be special. She also said not to tell my mom we went swimming because it wasn’t officially pool season, and Mom liked everything to be official… At three years old, I already knew that all too well.
“Is it all set?” My mom didn’t even look up as she spoke from her makeshift office in my dad’s hospital suite as I walked in and stood at the edge of the bed.
“Done,” was all I said in response as she continued to bang away on her laptop.
My dad lay in bed, asleep, machines beeping and IVs dripping all around him. He was mostly gone, the tubes feeding him and administering pain relief as his body quit on him. Too bad my mom couldn’t take one hour and sit with him, hold his hand, or whatever type of shit people did when they loved one another for a lifetime.
“I’d like to arrange a photo shoot with you standing outside the current wing, the hospital director shaking your hand, welcoming you to the board. I’ll have Steven call and arrange it. It will be positive press for the family.”
