Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
The lab technician removed the needle from the vein in Georgie’s arm and pressed a gauze pad into the crook of her elbow.
Georgie looked up at Nathan.
He offered an encouraging smile.
“Four to six weeks,” the tech said, reading from the orders her mother’s doctor had faxed over. “It says here he’ll call you if any further treatment is warranted. And you checked the box for mail notification of negative results. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any questions?”
She had so many questions, her head spun with them. She wanted to ask the tech, what would you do? If the result is positive, would you have your breasts removed? “No. Thank you.”
With a curt nod, the tech took the vials of blood and left the small room.
Nathan helped Georgie up. “That wasn’t so bad, huh?”
“I guess not.” She glanced down at the bandage holding the gauze in place. “Four to six weeks. That’s a long time to wait.”
“It’ll go by faster than you think.”
“What do we do now?”
Slipping an arm around her shoulder, he led her to the clinic’s main door. “We put it out of our minds and live our lives.”
It sounded like a good plan. Georgie just hoped she could do it.
Georgie woke up alone early on Friday morning and was sad to realize Nathan had never made it there the night before.
Realizing she had grown accustomed to waking up with him, she sat for a long time on the edge of her bed trying to decide when she’d started encouraging what was happening between them.
Right around the time you accosted him in the hospital parking lot and invited him to come sleep with you.
Suddenly, the idea of going back to Atlanta held zero appeal.
What if I stayed here? It was the first time she allowed herself to seriously consider the possibility.
I could think of something to do here for work, couldn’t I?
I mean, it wouldn’t be Davidson’s, but maybe at one of the department stores in Providence.
How about what I owe my employees in Atlanta?
They’re counting on me. I have to go back long enough to clean up the mess there. After that, I can do whatever I want.
Still pondering her options, she showered and headed to the center early.
By nine thirty, she had done six months’ worth of filing that cleared the huge pile of paper she had inherited from her mother, paid the bills, balanced the checkbook, and sorted through a stack of correspondence.
At the very bottom of the pile, she found a copy of the application for the recycling Dumpster and was reminded of the day she met Nathan. So much had happened since then.
She picked up the phone and called the city’s public works director.
“This is Georgie Quinn over at the senior center,” she said when Charlie Foster answered his extension.
“Nancy’s daughter?”
“That’s me.”
“I’m sorry about your mom. She was a character.”
“Thank you. The reason for my call is a copy of an application I have here that shows my mother requested a recycling Dumpster almost a year ago, and we still don’t have it.”
“Well, now, Georgie, these things take time—”
“Do you know about Styrofoam, Charlie? Do you know that when your grandkids have grandkids, the stuff we use today will still be sitting in the landfill?” Nathan would be so proud.
“It doesn’t break down. Ever. We need that Dumpster.
I don’t have the staff to clean more than a hundred trays a day.
If I’m going to provide a hot lunch for the city’s seniors, I need my Styrofoam trays. Can you see the pickle I’m in?”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts, Charlie. I’ve been trucking smelly recycling trash over to the Rec Center for weeks now. I could charge the city to get the stench of liver and onions out of my car. So what do you say? Get a Dumpster over here?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“You are so your mother’s daughter,” he said with a chuckle.
The statement stopped her heart. “Thank you, Charlie,” she said softly. How could he know there was no higher compliment he could pay her?
She finished cleaning up the small office and even straightened the pictures on the wall, most of which were of her mother with her constituency throughout the years. Georgie smiled as she righted the one of her mom with the dirty old men from last year’s Christmas party.
At ten o’clock, she unlocked the front door. Walter came bounding in, lifted her right off her feet, and swung her around. She wouldn’t have thought he had it in him! “What’s gotten into you?” she asked when he set her down.
“Gus is awake!”
“Oh!” She hugged Walter. “Oh, thank God.”
“He still has a long road ahead of him, but he’s going to make it, Georgie. He’s already talking to everyone like nothing ever happened.”
“Does he know about Roger yet?”
Walter shook his head. “Dawn decided to keep that from him until he’s stronger.”
“Probably not a bad idea.”
“I’ve got to get back over there, but we wanted to make sure you heard the news. Will you tell everyone here?”
“Of course. I’ll come by after lunch.”
He kissed her cheek and bounced out the door.
Georgie stood there for a long time, her hand over her heart, thanking God for what surely had to be a miracle. Her cell phone rang, and she tugged it out of her pocket.
“Georgie, it’s Tara,” her assistant from Atlanta whispered. “Something’s going on here today. I can’t really talk, but all the muckety-mucks’ doors are closed, and that bitch Nina is screaming at Lorraine!”
“Wow,” Georgie said, sucked right into the drama. “Nobody screams at Lorraine and lives to tell.”
“I know! Someone’s coming. I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later if I can. Hurry up and get back here.”
The line went dead just as the center’s phone rang. Her head began to spin from what was shaping up to be a crazy day. Georgie ran to answer the phone.
“Georgie, Richard Andrews here,” the city’s recreation director said. “Have I caught you at a bad time?”
“Not at all. What’s up?”
“We’ve found her!” he said, his voice ebullient.
“Found who?”
“The perfect replacement for your mother—not that your mother can ever be replaced, but someone who can pick up the torch and carry it forward. She’s got a degree in gerontology and just moved here with her husband, a naval officer who’ll be teaching at the War College for the next few years.
She’s ideal, Georgie, and she really wants the job. ”
“Oh,” was all that Georgie seemed able to say. She looked around at the center, the place she had once seen as a prison, and her heart began to ache.
“I’m going to send her over after lunch. Around one thirty? I’ll just need your okay after you see her with the folks, and it’s a done deal. Georgie? Are you still there?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m here.”
“Her name is Barbara Samuels. I’ll fax over her résumé. Give me a call after you meet her?”
“I’ll do that.”
“Fingers crossed, Georgie. This is what you’ve been waiting for. I can’t thank you enough for pitching in over there the way you have. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”
“No problem,” Georgie said, in what had to be the understatement of the decade.
After lunch, Georgie ran home to shower off the stench of beef stroganoff before her interview with Barbara, all the while telling herself it was good that they had found this woman.
It was what Georgie had been waiting weeks for.
Except, for some reason, it didn’t feel good.
It felt like everything was coming to an end, and as much as she had once yearned to get home to Atlanta, now she wanted to stay here.
If only she could have the same type of career here that she’d had in Atlanta.
As she was leaving the house to go back to the center, the mailman came down the hill.
“Afternoon,” he said, handing her the day’s mail.
“Thank you.”
“Lovely day,” he said before continuing on with a whistle.
“Yes,” Georgie agreed. She flipped absently through the stack of catalogs and bills and stopped short at the sight of her father’s familiar handwriting. “Oh my God! Oh God. Finally.”
Throwing the rest of the mail onto the wicker table, Georgie sat on the porch sofa and tore open the envelope.
Dear Ali and Georgie,
I received a shocking phone call from Georgie’s friend Nathan Caldwell yesterday. Girls, I had no idea your mother was even sick, and the news of her death has left me speechless. Nancy was always such a life force. I can’t believe she’s gone, and I’m so very sorry for your loss.
I want to apologize for being out of touch the last few months.
I’ve been through a rough patch lately, including the end of my marriage and some significant financial problems. I hate to think that my failure to meet my obligations to your mother might have caused her any dismay during her final days.
We closed recently on the sale of our house, and I’ve enclosed a check to cover the outstanding alimony I owed your mother.
Please keep the money and use it for anything you need.
I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you girls when you needed me, but I want you to know I’m here anytime you need me in the future. I’ve enclosed my card with my contact information. I hope to hear from you both. I love you very much.
Dad
P.S. Despite the dressing down I received from him, Nathan seems like a nice young man who cares a great deal about you, Georgie.
Georgie wasn’t sure if she wanted to strangle Nathan or hug him for getting involved without her knowledge. She would have to think about that later, once she’d had time to process her father’s letter and share it with Ali.