Chapter 14
Keisha woke the next morning, feeling as if she’d been dragged over hot coals all night.
She was blaming herself, and she understood that, but damn it hurt.
She truly didn’t remember anything about Jaxon’s father passing.
After she woke up in the middle of the night, she’d gone back through their text messages from years and years ago.
And, sure enough, she found a short terse one, where he’d shared that his father had passed away and that he needed to go home.
He would be taking leave, and he would contact her when he got stateside.
There was not even a responding text from her.
When he contacted her again by text a little later, it had been another short message, saying that he was dealing with his family issues, and he would contact her later. And she’d given him a thumbs-up.
He’d lost his father, and she’d given him a thumbs-up?
She sat here, hugging a cup of coffee in the morning, wondering what the hell had happened to her world. And yet she knew that, ever since the accident, when her parents had passed and her sister had been injured, Keisha hadn’t even had a chance to catch a break.
She managed to finish her degree and had set up her own practice, all while everything had blown up around her. And what had she done in response? She’d blown up her own marriage.
When she heard Kelly slowly wheel her way into the kitchen, Keisha looked over at Kelly and asked, “How was your night?”
“Pretty shitty. The least you could have done was tell me you went out on a date with him,” she grumbled.
Such venom filled her sister’s tone, Keisha stared at her in shock. “It wasn’t a date. It was a conversation, and divorces require that, you know?”
“No, they don’t. They require conversations with lawyers,” she snapped, then wheeled over and poured herself a cup of coffee. “You did not need to go out with him in any way, shape, or form.”
Keisha stared at her sister for a long moment, not even sure what to say, still dealing with her own issues. “Did you know that his dad died?”
Kelly looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, so did you.”
“Are you sure about that? He said that he told you and left a message for me.”
“Oh, did he now?” she asked, with an eye roll. “That’s nice and convenient for him, isn’t it? And for you too, so you don’t have to acknowledge that you didn’t give a crap.”
She stared at her sister. “Are you saying that I was so cold and disinterested in him that I didn’t give a crap that his father died?” she asked, staring at her sister, trying to figure out just what this was all about.
“I sure won’t mention it,” she snapped, setting the cup down hard. “We had enough on our plate at the time.”
“Yes, we did, and part of that was you having multiple sessions where you had to go to the hospital, as I recall.”
“Yeah.” Kelly rolled her eyes. “Believe me that I remember.”
And that same bitterness filled her tone. Keisha wasn’t sure what to do about it. How did one handle that? She didn’t say anything and just took another sip of coffee.
Kelly looked at her. “I never did tell you.”
“You never did tell me what?”
“I never did tell you that his dad died, but … I’m pretty damn sure he texted you about it.”
“Yeah, he did, and I didn’t see it,” Keisha noted. “He texted me a couple times, and I didn’t realize they were related to his dad having died. The texts didn’t spell that out, and I didn’t scroll up to look. But then again, you didn’t pass on the telephone message either.”
“No, I sure didn’t. I can’t stand him, and, if his dad died, … well, sorry about that, but you didn’t need one more thing on your plate.”
At that moment, Keisha realized the level of selfishness her sister exhibited was completely off the wall and had probably been the norm all this time. “Are you saying that you deliberately didn’t let me know because you were afraid it would distract me from looking after you?”
Kelly looked at her, a funny expression on her face, and then shrugged. “I don’t know, and I guess we’ll never find out, since it’s over with, and his parents are both dead and gone.”
It was such a callous attitude that Keisha stared at her. “Yeah, they are, and that’s one of the reasons he was not in great shape when he got here, since he was hanging on to that resentment.”
“That’s his problem,” Kelly declared. “He’s an adult. He can deal with it.”
Keisha stared at her sister. “He lost his father. Did you not hear me?”
“Yeah, I get it, but, if you’d read your text messages, you would have known. It just goes to show you that you weren’t really that interested in his life since you weren’t even reading his messages.”
“I did read his messages. I just missed the one above,” she explained.
“I read that family issues were going on, but I never at any point in time saw the text where it spelled out that his dad had passed on. The fact that he phoned and left a message with you that you deliberately didn’t tell me about is something I’m really struggling with. ”
“Of course you are,” Kelly spat bitterly. “As soon as he comes back into your life, you’re just this big old mess,” she snapped. “Everything was just fine without him.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I don’t know how fine any of it is,” Keisha replied.
“It’s way better than when he was here.”
“He said that you were really rude to him.”
She looked over at her and snorted. “Apparently not rude enough, since he didn’t leave until you finally gave him the boot.” She stared her down. “I figured that, if he wasn’t around, then things could get back to normal.”
Keisha winced. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously. I don’t even know what you saw in him in the first place.”
She stared at Kelly. “It doesn’t matter if you knew what I saw in him or not. You should have been happy that I found someone to share my life with.”
“Right, I’m supposed to be happy for you because you found someone, when I’ll never find anyone myself.”
“So, what then? I’m not allowed to be happy because you can’t be happy either?” she asked, staring at her sister. “Is that what this is all about?”
“No, of course not,” she muttered, with a wave of her hand. “God, that’s not my thing at all.”
And yet Kelly’s tone had been slightly off, and it stuck with Keisha throughout the day.
When she finally had time for a breather at the clinic, one of her assistants looked over at her and said, “I know you keep saying everything is fine, and you don’t want to talk about it, but something is definitely riding you. You’ve been working us all incredibly hard today.”
She blinked as she stared at her, then looked back around at Tania, the receptionist, who nodded.
“And we’re happy to help,” Eva added, with a shake of her head. “We obviously know some issues are going on, but if your ex is causing you this much stress, it’s no wonder you’re getting divorced.”
Tania looked at her and asked, “You’re divorcing him? I told you that your husband was here just yesterday,” she pointed out, with a frown. “How come you didn’t correct me?”
“Because we’re not divorced yet,” she clarified and looked over at the two of them, as they both stared expectantly.
“So …” Eva added, with an exaggerated sigh.
Keisha shrugged. “I guess it’s really my sister I don’t know what to do with.”
The two of them looked at each other, then at her. “That’s a tough one.”
“It’s more than a tough one,” Keisha acknowledged, with a nod. “I found out something last night, after having dinner with my ex, my husband, … Jesus, I don’t even know what to call him.”
“What did you find out?” Tania asked.
“In the course of having dinner with Jaxon,” she began, “I found out that I had missed a text from him telling me that his dad had died.”
Both of them just stared at her.
“I know, not exactly something that you miss. But he had texted follow-up messages after that, and I read those but I didn’t scroll up, so I missed the real context,” she shared.
“He hadn’t called because he was deployed overseas with no phone available, and, then when he did phone, he left a message with Kelly. ”
“Right, well, that was probably his next-best option.”
“She didn’t tell me about his message.”
Silence.
That bombshell had both of them staring at her in shock.
Keisha nodded. “So, last night I casually asked him about his family. His mother died of cancer some time ago, which I remembered, but his dad apparently died while he had been on his last tour overseas, which I should have already known about. … So you can imagine how that went over.”
“Oh, God.”
“Jesus.”
They both stole a glance at each other and then refocused on her. “Why did your sister not tell you?” Eva asked.
“For one thing, at the time, she’d had multiple falls, and things were not great. Plus, she apparently hated him. She hated him back then and hates him even more now.”
“And she didn’t tell you that his dad had died?”
“No, she deliberately didn’t tell me,” she repeated.
“She left me to find out all on my own. So, I apologize for running you ragged today. I’m honestly still in a bit of shock.
Not only is that screw-up definitely on me, but I hadn’t realized the inattention I’ve shown Jaxon during our marriage while he wasn’t here.
And, while I knew Kelly wasn’t a fan, I had no idea the level of disregard or hate she’s had for him all this time. ”
“That’s a tough one,” Tania noted, visible shaking. “My God, to not tell you that his father had died, leaving you to completely miss showing any support for him? … What a mess.”
“I know. Believe me that I know. Jaxon told me that he’s over it and that he did text me to say that he was staying to handle the issues that needed to be handled, and then he was deployed again. He did say it was one of the things that he really struggled with.”
They just stared at her. Eva nodded. “Of course he did. The loss of a parent is hard. You know that, and so does Kelly. How can that be something that anybody doesn’t confirm until it’s clear?”