Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
ROXANNE STOPPED short at the door of Lindy’s room. The BCNU was empty. She turned on her heel and called for the nurse. Her heart pounded. She struggled to keep the shrillness of panic from her voice.
“Nurse, where’s Lindy Dennis?”
“Oh, you must be Ms. Monet. We tried to phone you earlier when we moved Lindy to another room.”
Roxanne took a deep breath and blew it out. She felt like hugging this young woman for the good news. “Thank you for that news.” She dug in her bag and checked her cell phone to find that she had two messages waiting. She didn’t bother listening now.
“Mr. Paris told us you’d be concerned and to let you know she was being moved.”
“How thoughtful. I’ll have to give Paul a call and thank him.” She cringed at the thought that it was Paul and not Brian who seemed to be in control of the situation.
“I suppose I shouldn’t say, but I heard talk that Lindy’s real father, Brian Dennis, hasn’t been to visit in a week.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I haven’t seen him and believe me, I’ve watched for him.
I know he’s busy and all, with all the traveling, but it seems a shame. ” The nurse’s frown was genuine.
Roxanne could see the young woman torn between concern for her patient and the excitement of a good juicy piece of gossip.
She sped to Lindy’s new room as soon as she found out where it was, bursting through the door to greet the child.
Lindy looked up with her small features cast in a smile, causing tears to form in Roxanne’s eyes.
The moment she realized she might cry, Roxanne forced a smile in return and tightened the grip on her emotions.
They ran entirely too free for her welfare lately.
“Roxy! I’m so glad you found me. I was so worried you wouldn’t know where I was when they moved me. I made Daddy promise to tell you.” Lindy reached out for her.
Roxanne moved toward the child. She cringed again with the knowledge that it was Paul Paris that Lindy referred to as her Daddy.
“Don’t worry. I would have found you no matter what.” Even the nurse looked up at the gravity in Roxanne’s voice. She forced herself to speak in a lighter tone.
“I went to Washington D.C. yesterday and I brought you a surprise.” Lindy’s eyes lit up when she saw the Martha Washington doll Roxanne pulled from behind her back. She’d searched the shops for anything that might interest a little girl until she’d finally spotted the doll.
“It’s so pretty. Daddy’s right. He says you’re too good to me.”
Roxanne wasn’t sure which daddy she was referring to now. Lindy seemed to be constantly quoting one of them. She thought of her own girlhood, but when the cold picture of her distant book-minded father came into her head, she decided that was a bad idea.
“When is Daddy Brian coming to see me? Did you see him? Did you ask?” Lindy blurted out.
The question froze her blood. “Yes. I saw him.” She didn’t know what else to say.
She chewed her lip and thought she could taste blood this time.
“He’ll be in. Very soon. You know Lindy, your father has a very busy schedule during basketball season—like Paul does during baseball.
He has to juggle things and he’s not used to that.
You have to be patient with him. I know he loves you very much… ”
“He does? Did he tell you that?”
“Yes, he did.” She gritted her teeth with the white lie.
He would pay for this. She then pushed him from her mind and concentrated on not crying in front of this little angel.
She stayed only a short while to tell all about her trip and when it was time to go, she promised to return the next day as usual.
The first message Roxanne found on her cell phone when she finally had a chance to check after a quick meeting with Harry was from Laura. She listened.
“Rox, I’ve been talking to the TV people to get us air time and they seem to be very interested in who the spokesperson is before they make a commitment to the ad campaign. You’re going to have to lock in Brian Dennis now so we can proceed.”
Roxanne grimaced, not at the message, but at herself for not asking Brian that morning when she had the chance.
Somehow the time hadn’t seemed right. Now she’d have to suck it up and call him back.
The thought caused a queasy feeling in her gut.
Her hands felt clammy. She had a lot she’d like to say to the man.
She puzzled over that as she tapped in his number.
It was none of her business how he handled his daughter.
She kept forgetting that. She didn’t feel like Lindy was none of her business.
She didn’t feel like anything about Brian was none of her business.
That made no sense. She must be losing her mind.
Getting his voice mail as she expected, she left the message to call her back without saying why.
After spending the rest of the afternoon making phone calls for the CMH league and studying the material the research people at channel seven had come up with on the talent for her interview the next day, she still had to read the book the guy wrote.
She ended her day at home, settled down to read at the kitchen while she ate her solitary late supper. It was Bonnie’s night out.
The knock on her back door startled her, but when she looked up she saw Laura through the window.
“What gives? Something important drag you this far away from home or are you bored?” Roxanne let her friend in and went back to her chair and her book, gesturing for Laura to take a seat. Her plate was still full and had cooled to an unappetizing jelled mass. Laura grimaced at it.
“Hello to you too. I’m wondering what the story is with Brian Dennis being the spokesperson?”
Roxanne snapped the book shut and lifted her chin. “He never did call me back.”
“So what. You never called me back,” Laura complained. “What are you doing anyway?” Laura took a seat at the table and glanced at the book.
“Homework for tomorrow’s show,” Roxanne explained. “I wonder why he hasn’t returned my call yet?” She chewed her bottom lip, placed her elbow on the table, her chin in her hands. Laura laughed at her and sat back.
“Well, let’s see now. Retrace your steps. What did you do or say to him when you last saw him? Knowing you, the man could be destroyed by now.”
She remembered their parting that morning and what she did and said to him was far from devastating. “If Brian Dennis is not returning my call because of what I did and said to him this morning, then he’s not the man I thought he was and I don’t want anymore to do with him.”
“So it was that kind of meeting was it? That can scare men away too you know, for different reasons. Don’t be too hard on him. He’s a different kind of man.”
“How’s that?”
“He’s on another level. He leads a different kind of life.” Laura shook her head as if she were an expert.
“You shouldn’t let yourself be so impressed with his superstar status, Laura. I don’t think that makes him different.”
“No, but whatever made him a superstar, that’s what makes him different.”
“Oh and what’s that?” Roxanne asked although she had her own theories.
“I don’t know, but I imagine it took hard work, determination and dedication like we couldn’t even dream of. He doesn’t even let his own daughter being in the hospital distract him. Maybe you’re just another threat to his career.” Laura pointed at Roxanne.
“Oh, that’s good.” Roxanne smiled, but she was disturbed by her memory of Brian’s description of himself as a basketball robot. Then she decided it didn’t matter. The bottom line was that he was human and he was a man and that’s the way she was going to continue to treat him.
“Roxy, I’m serious.” Laura looked concerned. Roxanne shook her head at her friend as her cell phone rang.
“That’s probably him now.” She felt confident as she picked up the phone, clicked it on and said hello. She expected to hear Brian’s familiar New York accent.
Instead, the man’s voice was unfamiliar. “Roxanne, this is Kevin Moroni, sports writer with the Globe. We met briefly at a charity golf tourney a while back…”
“I remember. What can I do for you?” There was a pause on the other end while Roxanne wondered what he wanted and how he’d gotten her number. But she supposed reporters had their ways.
“Brian Dennis gave me your number. I hope you don’t mind. I was wondering if we could get together. Maybe have dinner …”
She cut him off. “Of course I mind. The only one I want giving out my number is me.” Roxanne stabbed the end button and tossed the phone down.
“What’s the matter? Your good humor seems to have left in a hurry,” Laura asked.
“I don’t think Brian is going to return my call. He’s given away my phone number.” Roxanne compressed her mouth, stood and paced around the kitchen. Laura didn’t speak.
Why on earth would he give her number away like that?
She was truly puzzled. She didn’t expect his undying loyalty, but they had definitely left on good terms. Then she decided it didn’t matter.
She had said before that their relationship would have no bearing on getting him to be the spokesperson for the Dr. Oki Fund and she meant it. She only hoped it was true.
She finally stopped pacing and let out a sigh.
“What if we can’t get him for spokesperson?” Laura asked the obvious question.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do it. Today’s Friday? We’ll have him by Monday morning. You’ll be back in business next week.”
“But what if you can’t?”
“I’ll think of something.” Roxanne felt she was pushing it with all the Scarlett O’Hara channeling she’d been doing of late.
But it couldn’t be helped. She swept her plate from the table and dumped its contents down the garbage disposal.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here. Let’s go to a party,” Roxanne said and walked toward the back door.
“A party? Were you invited or are we crashing?” Laura rose from her chair.