Chapter 11
Cindy had felt it coming on all day Friday as she cut hair and tried to make conversation with customers while fighting the nausea that always accompanied a migraine. By the time she shut the door behind the last customer and flipped the Open sign to Closed, she was about to pass out from the pain.
Though she took a daily preventive medication, the migraines still struck out of nowhere, although not as frequently as they had before the daily meds.
She forced herself to sweep the floor, turn off the computer, lock the door and walk home as carefully as she could, trying not to jostle her throbbing head.
Thank God for sunglasses, she thought as the afternoon sun lit up the downtown area.
As she got closer to home, she feared she might vomit on the public sidewalk, so she picked up the pace.
That made everything hurt more than it already did.
Her preference when in the throes of a migraine was to move as little as possible.
She’d made it to her front yard when she lost her lunch in the bushes outside.
The act of vomiting was akin to a knife to the skull, and for a second, she feared she might faint. That’d happened before.
Above her, the front door opened, and then Jace was there, holding her hair back as she vomited.
“No, you don’t have to…”
“Shhh, it’s fine. What can I do?”
“Nothing,” she whispered because anything louder might’ve killed her.
“Let me help you inside.”
She wanted to tell him she could get herself inside, but his strong arms around her felt too good as she rested her splitting head on his chest.
He lifted her gently, seeming to get that she needed that.
Cindy closed her eyes, only for a second, and startled awake when he lowered her onto her bed. Then he closed the blinds, which was just what she needed. She wanted to ask him how he knew to do that but posing the question would take energy she didn’t have.
Jace left the room and returned a minute later with a tall glass of water, the cold compress she kept in the freezer for when the headaches struck, a plastic bowl/puke bucket and a throw blanket from the living room that he put over her. “What else do you need?” he asked in a whisper.
“Meds in the bathroom cabinet.” She told him the brand name of the drug, and he got the bottle for her.
“How many?”
“Two, please.”
He put the tablets in her palm and held the water for her to drink.
“Anything else?”
“There’s a Coke in the fridge. Would you mind getting that for me? Sometimes a little caffeine helps.
“Coming right up.” He returned a minute later with the mini-can of Coke and a straw that he held for her while she took a few sips.
“Thank you so much, Jace. I really appreciate this.”
“No problem. Can I get you anything else?
“No, thanks.”
“I have to go to work. Is there someone I should call?”
“No, that’s okay.”
“Will you be all right alone?”
“I’m fine as long as I don’t move.”
“Text if you want me to bring some food home.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“Sure.”
She could tell he didn’t want to go. “It’s okay. I deal with this by myself all the time. Don’t worry.”
“I will worry, and I’ll miss you at the bar tonight. You owe me a game of checkers when you’re feeling better.”
“Sounds good.” Cindy closed her eyes because she couldn’t bear to keep them open for another second. “See you later.”
That was the last thought she had until she heard the door open and close, which startled her, as she was accustomed to living alone.
Jace was back.
He knocked softly on her bedroom door. “How’re you feeling?” he asked in the same whisper as before.
It took her a couple of seconds to realize it was hours later and she felt much better. Thankfully, this headache wouldn’t be a multiday event. “Better, I think.” She needed to pee urgently but couldn’t tell him that. Rather, she sat up slowly, closing her eyes when the room spun.
“Let me help you.” He was there with an arm around her and a strong body to lean against as he helped her to the bathroom without having to be told what she needed.
After she took care of business, she stood at the sink and splashed cold water on her face, trying to shake off the sickening malaise the migraines always left behind after one of their attacks.
She ought to be used to the routine by now, but it was the usual shock to her system to be felled out of nowhere by one of the monster headaches.
“You okay in there?” Jace asked from outside the door.
“Yeah. I’m coming.”
“Take your time. Just checking.”
She brushed her hair and teeth, and when she felt presentable, she opened the door and found him leaning against a wall in the hallway, checking his phone. He put it in his back pocket and reached out a hand to her.
“I’m okay.”
“Let me help you anyway.”
Because he was so solid and smelled so good, she was more than happy to have him help her to the sofa. He disappeared for a second and returned with the throw blanket he’d brought into the bedroom earlier, as well as the unfinished Coke. “You want me to put this on ice for you?”
“Do you mind?”
“I’m a bartender. If there’s one thing I can do, it’s ice.”
She smiled at how cute and funny he was, not to mention thoughtful.
He returned with the icy glass of Coke. “Are you hungry? I picked up a pizza at Mario’s earlier, but I don’t want to heat it up if the smell will make you sick.”
“Pizza actually sounds good if you have a slice to spare.”
“I do. Coming right up.”
Bringing two plates, he handed her one and then sat on the sofa next to her. From under his arm, he retrieved two paper towels.
“Excellent service as usual. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
Cindy’s mouth watered at the smell of the pizza. She swallowed a small bite, hoping it would stay down. When the first bite landed without a problem, she took a second. “Now tell me how you know all the steps to take for a migraine.”
“My grandmother had them. She trained me on what to do at an early age. I’m so sorry you get them, too.”
“Thanks,” she said, sighing. “They’ve been the bane of my existence since I was about eight and got the first one. I was in school when it came on. I thought I was dying.”
“That must’ve been terrifying.”
“It was. My mom took me to the doctor. He diagnosed migraines and put me on medicine that didn’t always work that well. I started getting them a lot, like once or twice a month, and missed a ton of school. That was a problem for my dad. He made me go, even when I could barely function.”
“Why would he do that?” Jace asked, sounding appalled.
“Because he believed in bucking up and not giving in to weaknesses.”
“A migraine isn’t a weakness, but of course you know that. What the hell was wrong with him?”
“So many things it would take me all night to tell you.”
“Is it okay to say I already can’t stand him?”
She laughed and immediately regretted it when her head throbbed. “It’s okay. No one can stand him, least of all his ex-wife and children.” Cindy glanced at the beer bottle he was holding. “Are you allowed to have that?”
“It’s nonalcoholic, but alcohol was never my problem.”
“Is it okay that I asked that?”
“You can ask me anything you want. My life is an open book these days. It’s recommended that we stay away from all of it, not just our drug of choice.”
“Is that where you were this morning?”
Nodding, he said, “I go to the AA meeting at eight.” He raised his bottle in toast to the statement.
“They don’t have Narcotics Anonymous here, so AA keeps me working the program.
After that, I went to coffee with some friends from the meeting and then to the gym.
Before work, I went out to Seamus and Carolina’s and got to see my boys and picked up those boxes.
” He pointed to a corner of the living room.
Cindy hadn’t noticed them.
“They were with the stuff that came from my ex-wife’s house after she passed away. Seamus also showed me where she’s buried.”
“Was it hard to be there?”
He nodded. “Seeing her name on a stone was so final, you know?”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It wasn’t really my loss.”
“Wasn’t it, though? You were married to her when everything went wrong. Did you ever see her again?”
“Nope. The only contact I ever had with her was when I received divorce papers in prison that also gave her full custody of our kids. Since I was serving a ten-year sentence, I signed the papers.”
“What about you?”
“That didn’t matter. I wanted the best for them, and me being out of their lives was for the best.”
“You made a mistake, Jace. You shouldn’t have to pay for that for the rest of your life.”
“What I did was more than a mistake. I’ll pay for the choices I made back then for the rest of my life because my brother is dead, and I’ll always be a convicted felon.”
“That doesn’t have to define you, though. You can write a whole new chapter for yourself now that you’re out of prison and starting over.”
“Are you always this positive and optimistic?” he asked, smiling.
“Not always. That mindset took some work, but it’s how I try to look at things these days.”
“It’s a good way to look at things. Are you happy here on the island?”
“I love it. It’s my favorite place in the whole world. We looked forward to the summer here all year long. My grandmother would put us to work the minute we arrived, but we didn’t care. We were so damned glad to be here.”
“That sounds like a great way to spend a summer.”
“It was awesome. We’ve always loved Gansett. It’s great to have everyone here now, except for my brother Josh.”
“Where’s he?”
“In Virginia. We’re trying to get him to come to the island, but he’s dating someone there, and it’s going well.” She shrugged. “Six out of seven is pretty good.”
“I’d say so.” After he devoured three pieces of pizza to her one, he stretched his long legs out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles. “Tell me more about the others. I’ve met them, but I don’t know all the details.”
“Owen is the oldest. He’s married to Laura McCarthy. They have three kids, Holden, Jonathan and Joanna, and are now the owners of the Sand & Surf.”
“I love that place. The building is so unique.”