Chapter 2 #2
There was something in Sophia’s voice that told Kelly she was in the dark, but again, she did not ask. She was neither an ol’ lady nor the girlfriend of a club member. It wasn’t her place to inquire. But she did hope that Becks and Ghost were okay.
“What about Ranger?” Kelly asked, recalling he’d also been admitted.
Sophia was a good liar, but she had a tell.
As someone who’d been playing the card game of Bullshit with her mom and Bubbe since she was in diapers, Kelly was very good at reading people.
Not to mention waitressing for twenty-plus years.
As Sophia licked her lip, Kelly knew she was about to be lied to.
“He’s doing good, better. He’ll be back home in a few more days. ”
Kelly didn’t know Ranger’s injuries or why he needed a few more days before he could go home, but from the way Sophia had answered, she guessed it wasn’t something the club wanted to talk about. So many secrets. Maybe Kelly didn’t want to be a part of Grumpy’s large family after all.
“If you see him, wish him well for me,” Kelly answered, not willing to pry any more. “I’m going to go sit with Grumpy.”
“Will do,” Sophia said softly. There was something in her dark eyes, a pain, that Kelly didn’t understand. Didn’t want to understand.
Even just on the outskirts of the club, Kelly felt like she was walking a tightrope without a net.
If she kept walking forward, if she didn’t look down, she’d be safe.
But if she took that leap, if she looked down, she’d fall.
She could feel it. The ease of falling, not just for Grumpy but for these people.
To care and treasure them like her own family.
Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews… She’d be one of them.
But she’d also be consumed by the darkness. The secrets, the lies, and the dangers of club life. Was a relationship with Grumpy worth those risks? Feeling wobbly on her feet, Kelly kept walking forward.
* * *
Four Days Later
The club was taking Ranger home. From the brief glimpse of the man that Kelly had seen, he looked terrible.
Old bruises, lines under his eyes, and just worn.
Kelly tried not to stare, but there was no denying his poor state.
She didn’t know what had happened to him.
She knew that neither Becks nor Ranger had been inside the bar at the time of the explosion, and yet both of them had been injured to the point of needing hospitalization.
Grumpy had started waking up more. He didn’t seem to recognize her during those quick minutes, but he was awake. That was all that mattered. The doctors were very encouraging, while also reminding daily that his road to recovery would not be an easy one.
Feeling bad that she’d left the diner hanging as she had, Kelly had picked up the breakfast shift that morning—where she’d discovered that Sophia and Tally were still paying her despite not having worked in nearly two weeks.
Kelly was going to have some words with her bosses when she saw them again.
The diner paid her well, and she appreciated their support, but she couldn’t take money for time she hadn’t worked. That wouldn’t be right.
Heading down the hall, Kelly dropped off coffee and pastries to the nurses’ station.
She’d gotten to know a number of them, and did not envy any of them their jobs.
She’d keep to waiting tables, where the measure of her day was not counted by how many patients died in her care.
Kelly got more than an eye-full of what healthcare workers went through over the past two weeks.
She hoped the coffee and pastries made their day just a little bit better.
Kelly was torn going into work that morning, but she felt better now. Grumpy wasn’t alone, and she needed to figure out a new normal of being at the hospital with him without compromising her job.
She spotted Margery in the hall, further down than Grumpy’s room.
It took Kelly a moment to realize that she wasn’t alone.
Grumpy’s mom stood there with a young woman, neither of them looking particularly happy.
Margery was very good at putting on the sweet motherly smile when she needed to, but even with her failure to mask her animosity towards Kelly, she’d never looked at Kelly as she was looking at this young woman now.
Like Margery hated her. Like she was someone who had harmed Margery or her son.
Kelly stood frozen outside Grumpy’s room.
She wasn’t sure if she should interrupt, but at the same time, the younger woman was visibly upset, openly crying as Margery sneered down at her.
Was it Kelly’s place to step between them?
What if this was a family member? What if this woman had harmed Grumpy?
One thing that Kelly did not doubt was Margery’s love for her son.
Maybe that love was a bit too tight at times, but it was undeniable.
It was the young woman’s tears that made up Kelly’s mind, though.
They weren’t angry tears, but sad tears.
Kelly didn’t place her as a hospital staff member, dressed in yoga pants and a tank top instead of scrubs.
Regardless, Kelly wasn’t just going to stand by while Margery talked down to the crying woman.
She was maybe twenty, college-age. With black hair pulled up in a pony, she was too far away for Kelly to make out the color of her eyes or any other features.
Margery was a tall, lean woman, reminding Kelly of the actress Wendie Malick.
The other woman was shorter, maybe around Kelly’s own height of five-five.
But that might also be how she held herself, curled in and low.
Kelly hurried down the hallway, but just as she reached the other two women, the younger one took off.
“Hey, wait!” Kelly called after her, but she didn’t pause.
She was fast, too—faster than Kelly had a hope of catching up to her.
Cursing her lack of speed, Kelly rounded on Margery.
“Who was that? Why was she crying? What did you say to her?”
Margery’s sweet smile was back. The one that Kelly very much wanted to slap off the older woman’s face.
It was so fake that it might as well have been a clown mask with makeup.
“Oh, nothing, dear. Did you hear? My Jesse woke up this morning and squeezed my hand. It was a good thing I was alone in the room, or he might have been too overwhelmed.”
Kelly’s jaw twitched. Did the woman not hear herself? “I want to know who that woman was. Is she related to Grumpy?”
Margery tsked her tongue at the road name. “Jesse really doesn’t like that name. If you knew him at all, you’d know that.”
Kelly didn’t budge when Margery made to move past. “Who was she?”
Margery looked around, like she didn’t want to cause a scene in the hallway.
Kelly’s eyes narrowed as her suspicions rose.
Margery was not shy in front of audiences.
In fact, the louder she was, the happier she seemed to be.
The shy act was no more real than that smile.
“Look, Kelly, you seem like a sweet woman. Truly. I don’t know what sort of relationship you’re hoping to have with my Jesse, but you need to understand what it is you’re getting yourself into with him. ”
Kelly’s back stiffened. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I love my son, but he is very much like his father.” Margery’s face fell, and Kelly got a tingling feeling at the base of her skull. For the first time, she wondered if this was the true Margery. The cranky, bitter woman was the facade that protected the brittle, lonely woman beneath.
To Kelly’s knowledge, Grumpy never spoke about his father. She knew nothing about him, even though Kelly had poured her heart out to Grumpy on the anniversary of her own father’s death. Still, Kelly had gotten to know Margery over the past week and a half. It was hard to trust this sad persona.
“I don’t know what that means either.”
Margery glanced up from her study of the floor. “That makes sense. He wouldn’t confide that to you when it might hint at his own transgressions.”
Kelly was beyond confused, but she still picked up on the backhanded jab Margery had just handed her. Even if this sadness was real, it didn’t stop this woman’s cruelty. Or maybe it was too much of a habit. “What transgressions?”
“I love my son,” Margery repeated. “I want nothing but the best for him. But,” she added pointedly, “he’s unable to remain faithful to a woman. Monogamy was not in his father’s blood either.”
Kelly literally just stared up at the older woman in complete bafflement. “I’m sorry—what?” Had she really just said what Kelly thought she’d said? That Grumpy was a serial adulterer?
Margery, though, just nodded. Maybe if she’d added tears, Kelly wouldn’t be tempted to believe her, but there was something in her gaze, something sincere, that made Kelly pause. “Did he tell you about his ex-wife?”
Kelly swallowed hard. “He said he was divorced, happened before he came to Mount Grove.”
“Did he say why they got divorced?”
Kelly shook her head. She wasn’t really listening to this…was she?
“He cheated on her,” Margery confessed in a low voice. “Numerous times. She had evidence, though I never saw it. I didn’t want to. Didn’t need to. It was the same story as it was with his ex-fiancée.”
Fiancée? As in a different woman than his ex-wife?