Chapter 22
Skye
The day after Mom’s surgery, Tess and I had planned to stop by to see her in the evening.
Mick had told us yesterday that the procedure had gone well, but it didn’t make sense to visit her because she was medicated and would probably sleep the rest of the day.
Today they’d gone back to the doctor for a checkup, so when Mick called us at eleven o’clock, I grabbed Tess so we could talk with him together.
“Let’s go in the back room,” I said.
Jane was here today, so we had more flexibility than usual.
We closed the door to the office, putting the call on speakerphone.
“Hey, Mick. We’re both here. How did it go?” I asked.
“There’s signs of an infection,” Mick said. Every muscle in my upper body stiffened. A weight pressed on my chest. I couldn’t inhale deeply, but I drew in small, conscious breaths.
“What does that mean?” Tess asked.
“Her eyesight is blurred for now.”
“Is she in pain?” I asked.
“No, not at all.”
“That’s not so bad, then,” I said.
“Well, no, but the doctor ordered for her to stay in for the next two weeks. She needs to wear blackout glasses to keep her eyes safe from light. She’s not even worried about the recovery, just pissed about all the things she can’t do because she won’t be able to see.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, because it was a testament to just how well Mick knew Mom.
“Mick, does something else worry you?” Tess asked. “You sound on edge.”
“Yeah… I’m supposed to be on the road this next month. Already asked my boss for time off, but he said no.”
Tess and I exchanged a glance, coming to the same conclusion.
“The gang’s large enough that we can work this out amongst us, Mick. Don’t worry.”
“Yeah, but I don’t love the idea of being away when she’s like this.”
“We’ll take good care of her,” Tess assured him. “We’re going to drop by in a few hours.” Then she paused and corrected herself. “Actually, wait… Skye, we could drop by now, right? Jane can take care of the store on her own for a while.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Okay, we’ll be there in about forty minutes. Want us to bring something to eat?”
“We’re good for today. I’d stopped by and picked up some carryout stuff for us on the way home.”
“Did you talk to the whole gang already?” I asked.
“No, I called you girls first.”
“Thank you, Mick. Okay, we’ll tell everyone else,” Tess said.
We spread the news efficiently, so by the time we jumped on the train to head to Mom’s, we’d already informed the rest of the family.
Despite Mick’s assurances that they didn’t need food, we bought some delicious pralines. Whenever Mom was on edge, they always helped calm her.
The second we entered their apartment, it became clear the pralines weren’t going to cut it. Mom’s eyesight wasn’t just blurry—she couldn’t even move around the house by herself.
“Holy shit,” Tess exclaimed.
“Mick, have you been taking a page out of Mom’s book? Where you don’t tell us the extent of the situation at hand so we don’t worry?” I threw my hands up in the air. We needed to know everything in order to figure out what to do. Mom was going to need round-the-clock care for a few days at least.
Mick looked between the two of us hopelessly. Tess glared at me. Shit, poor Mick didn’t need my venting.
“Sorry,” I said. He was just doing his best, after all.
Tess and I sat with Mom in her room while Mick heated up lunch for everyone.
“How are you feeling?” Tess asked her.
“Very pissed. I was supposed to be on my feet by now, not bumping into my own damn walls.”
“Just give it some time, Mom. What did the doctor say?” Tess asked.
“They have me on some pills, antibiotics I guess, and a ton of eye drops, and we’re supposed to go in for checkups every third day. They said it should pass in about two weeks.”
“See, it’s not even that long,” I added, trying to appease her. It didn’t really work though. Her mood further darkened during lunch, when she needed help with every spoonful.
It was mid-August now, and school was starting in two weeks, so Mom had plenty of work to do before term began. Tess and I had assumed that watching Mom would mean visiting her after work, shopping for her, and so on, but it was obviously going to be more involved.
After we finished eating, while Mick helped Mom back to bed, Tess and I went into the room they’d converted into a reading room. It was cozy and comfy, with leather armchairs, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and an enviable bar. The perfect getaway for a drink and a good book.
Tess and I sat opposite each other, calling Cole, Hunter, and Ryker for a conference.
“We can take shifts spending time with her,” Hunter suggested.
“Yeah. We’re flexible, working for ourselves and all that,” Cole answered.
“I can schedule my face-to-face meetings all in the morning and stay with Mom in the afternoon,” Ryker said immediately, but I knew that wasn’t really smart. The fund he worked at on Wall Street wasn’t going to appreciate him working remotely.
“Mom needs a lot of distraction,” Cole said. “I vote we reveal all the shit we did that we kept from her.”
Ryker laughed. “We want her to get better, not give her a heart attack, bro. Though we probably can select a few harmless events.”
“Boys, why don’t we keep things as they are? Mom is convinced we were on our best behavior when we moved to New York. Let’s not mess with that. Anyway, Tess and I should take turns sleeping here,” I said.
“Yeah, I think Mom will feel better with one of us here at night,” Tess added.
“Wait, Josie says she can also spend the night there.” I could hear my cousin-in-law’s voice in the background as Hunter spoke.
“And Heather says that she’s flexible on the days she doesn’t have interviews,” Ryker added.
Heather was a journalist, and when she wasn’t doing field work, she usually worked from home.
Her daughter Avery was seven years old and in school until midafternoon, so I knew Heather could stop by before lunch only.
It warmed me all over that Josie and Heather wanted to help.
My cousin and my brother had found good women. I was happy for them.
“Does everyone have their calendars on hand?” I asked.
After a chorus of “yes” and “wait a second,” we all had the app open.
The call took well over an hour, but we had a schedule at the end of it.
Heather and Josie were going to take morning shifts, Hunter and Cole the afternoon ones, and we all convinced Ryker that there was no need for him to take time off.
Tess and I were spending the evenings and nights here. Even though Josie offered to sleep over, Tess and I figured Mom would prefer one of her daughters to help her shower and so on.
“Damn, we’re so productive when we put our minds to it,” Tess said on a smile.
I grinned. “True.”
We tiptoed out of the room and then out of the apartment, because based on how quiet it now was, it was obvious both Mom and Mick had fallen asleep. Even though it was early in the day, we didn’t want to wake them up after the busy morning they’d had.
Rob
Something was off with Skye. She’d texted me that she wanted to talk to me.
That was a few hours ago. I called her as soon as I saw the message, but it went to voice mail.
I assumed her phone’s battery was dead. As a result, I just wanted to get this day over with and head to Soho.
I was certain I’d find her at the store.
But before that, I needed to finalize this meeting. I was at our restaurant in the West Village. It had the lowest rating in our customer satisfaction survey.
“We’re going to up our game and take every complaint seriously.” I was speaking to the entire staff of this restaurant.
Lionel, the manager, just stared at the ground. I had enough authority that they did what I asked even though they may not agree.
“Among the most frequent complaints are long waiting times as well as unfriendly responses when they ask about their order.”
“You should hear how some of these people talk to us,” one of the servers said.
“Customer is king.” As always, I kept my voice calm but cold. “I’ve instructed my assistant to send me online reviews weekly.”
Lionel’s eyebrows shot up. Most business owners in my position would consider this micromanaging, but years of observing my grandfather and parents and how they ran the show taught me one or two things.
“Unless anyone wants to add anything else, you can return to your tasks.”
The second I dismissed the team, I left and ordered an Uber, heading straight to Soho.
It had been a fucking long week, and I just wanted to take my woman out to dinner or back home and spend time with her.
Skye and I had had dinner with Anne and Lindsay every evening for the past week, but tonight I wanted her all to myself.
Soho was buzzing with people, even more than usual.
A few big stores were running sales, which seemed to be the reason for the extra foot traffic.
Once I reached Tess and Skye’s store, it was obvious why Skye hadn’t picked up.
They were overrun with customers. They still had ten minutes until closing time, so I sat in a chair at the ice cream shop.
Just watching her had a calming effect on me. As the minutes ticked by, I grew impatient. I wasn’t satisfied with simply watching her anymore. Even after nine o’clock came around and the store emptied out, Skye and Tess didn’t show signs of slowing down and closing for the night. I headed inside.
“I’ll be right with you,” Skye said automatically. She had her back to me, not realizing I wasn’t a customer.
“I know.”
She whirled around, eyes wide. “Hi! What are you doing here?”
“Came to see you. I got your text.”
“Crap, did you call? My phone was out of battery, and the afternoon was so crazy that I didn’t even have time to charge it. I don’t know why there were so many people here.”
“I passed Zara and H&M just now, and they had huge sales.”
“Oh, that explains it.”
I walked straight to her just as Tess came from the back.