The way I felt about him triggered alarm bells in me. The calmness he provided made me nervous. The comfort he offered made me uncomfortable. The desire he invoked in me made me reckless. He made me feel so good, andthatmade me feel bad.
I was still pondering Lamar’s radio silence when I walked into Aunt Addison’s hospital room and froze. A doctor and two nurses were gathered around her bed. Nurse Monica was standing off to the side, but she was close enough to hear what was going on. I stood in the doorway with my mouth agape, unable to process what I was seeing.
“Jazmyn,” Monica called out to me.
I forced my feet to move in her direction. “Is… everything okay?” I asked the room as I focused on my aunt’s face.
Her eyes were closed, and she looked peaceful.
No, she can’t be.My stomach dropped, and I instantly felt faint.
“Ms. Payne is resting,” the doctor informed me. “She had aneventful morning. She got quite spirited during the conversation, and I think she just wore herself out. She closed her eyes maybe three minutes ago, so either it’s a nap, or she’ll awaken in a couple of minutes. Are you Jazmyn Payne?”
“I am.”
The doctor stepped toward me and started to speak. “… the two clots… thickened heart muscle… heart function is at forty-seven… no progress… keep her comfortable.”
I heard him, but I was in a daze.
Monica thanked them as I just continued staring at my aunt, praying she’d wake up in the next couple of minutes.
The doctor and nurses left the room.
“What’s going on?” I asked Monica, pulling the chair close to my aunt’s bed.
“They were discussing her progress.” She sighed loudly. “Or lack thereof.”
I gently took Aunt Addy’s left hand in mine, and I continued praying she’d wake up.
“She’s not responding to physical and occupational therapy, and they’ve seen a slow decline in her overall functioning. Addison’s doctors agree that since she wants to be home and this place isn’t helping, we should take her home.”
I nodded. “Okay. Will they be coming to the house to do therapies?”
“If she wants that. Apparently, she said she didn’t earlier. With her decline, it may be for the best to not force anything.”
“So she’s on hospice again…” I clarified. “For the fourth time.”
“Yes. And as always, we’re going to make sure she has everything she needs to be comfortable. But she has requested to be in her own home. I tried to explain to her that she can’t be home alone in her condition, and she wasn’t hearing it.” She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Is there anyone who can stay with her if she returns home?”
“I can stay for another couple of weeks,” I assured her.
Two more weeks would be mid-July, and I could do that.
She gave me a tight smile. “From the looks of things, we’re thinkingshe’s going to need someone with her for longer. Is there anyone else who could stay until mid-August? I know your parents will be back by then, but is there any other family in Chance?”
There was no one else who could do it. She didn’t have any children. I was the only one she’d trust to be there. I was the only one she had.
“I’ll do it,” I whispered, my eyes welling with tears. “I can stay for the summer.”
10
Aunt Addison’s health had gone downhill around the same time as my marriage, and that seemed to bring us even closer. She began feeling sick, and I started listening to my gut about the man I shouldn’t have married, but we persevered. When shit hit the fan in both our lives—she had a cardiac event, and I found out Tyson was cheating—it was in the exact same month. Nothing had been the same from that moment on.
“The only way to keep a man is to get a man who wants to be kept,” Aunt Addy said from the recliner in the living room on Wednesday afternoon.
With a laugh, I snapped my fingers and nodded in agreement. “Facts.”
After her doctor had ordered a battery of tests to be done before she could leave, Aunt Addy was released from the rehab facility on Sunday afternoon. She’d been home for three days, and she was in much better spirits. She was back to her old self—personality wise.
