Chapter Seven
Neva
After Angie had jumped up from her chair to run after some person she might or might not know and didn’t return for minutes, Neva formed a decision. She called in a favor, and Monday morning, they sat together in the waiting room of Dr. McEwen’s practice.
Angie didn’t look happy, but Neva had not seen an alternative. The twins were at school, and she would have time to stay until she had to pick them up, and Angie would go to her job.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, even though they were alone in the room. “I think this is important.”
Angie gave her a faint smile. “It’s okay. I might have overdone it in the last few weeks. I’ll follow doctor’s orders, whatever they are. I want us to enjoy the holidays.”
Neva wanted to say something, but the doctor arrived to greet them.
“Good morning. How are you?”
“Great,” they almost said in unison.
“That’s good to hear.” Ignoring the awkward moment, Dr. McEwen, “Dr. Holly,” as her youngest patients, including the twins, called her affectionately, showed nothing but warmth and compassion. They’d been with her since she had opened her practice, and they could trust her.
Neva could breathe a little easier.
“Angie, you can come with me.”
When she was alone, Neva pulled out her tablet to do some work, but she couldn’t concentrate. How was it that Angie couldn’t seem to remember a big part of their lives…Worse, she had apparently imagined a whole other life? Was she miserable? Were they? Or was this about something even worse?
They had made compromises, sure, but only to give their children the best possible opportunities, and for themselves, to benefit from their hard work. They had made those decisions early on, to make their careers fit their family lives.
It scared Neva that it might all fall apart. She wished they could fast forward to Christmas, past the lunch, straight to the nice quiet Christmas Day evening that Angie loved so much. She couldn’t lose her.
Instead of getting anything done, she worked herself in a state of near panic with worst case scenarios, until Angie returned, looking pensive, though not scared or shocked. That had to be a good sign.
Neva jumped to her feet and pulled her close.
“What did she say?”
Angie shrugged but made no move to get out of her embrace. “We’ll have to wait for the blood test, but it looks like there’s nothing wrong with me.” She gave a wry laugh. “She asked about stress. What can I say? It’s that time of the year, right?”
Neva wasn’t sure what to answer to that. Getting stressed out of one’s mind was not the point of Advent.
“I still have time to drive you to work,” she offered eventually.
“That would be nice. Let’s go get a coffee somewhere first. There are some things we should talk about.”
“But you said…”
Angie stepped back, making a dismissive gesture.
“Not about me. About next year.”
That didn’t feel reassuring either.
They found themselves a small café that offered a variety of breakfasts. Angie went with a pastry.
Neva wasn’t that hungry, but she had toast with coffee.
“I want to make some changes,” Angie declared once a server had brought their orders. “All this overtime, it doesn’t add up to a lot. I’ll talk to Marina later.”
Not that Neva minded Angie taking it easy, especially now, though the announcement surprised her.
“You’re sure you’ll be okay with that? You love that job.”
“I love you and the kids more. And we could have your and my parents over for dinner this Christmas.”
Neva nearly dropped her knife. The doctor might not have found anything, but Neva knew something was off if Angie wanted a full house for Christmas.
“But…That’s on short notice. And you know my parents live too far away to just drop by.”
“That’s all right. We have a guest room, and a few more days to prepare. Everything else is done for the holidays.”
“I suppose I could ask them. They were going to my sister’s for Christmas Eve, but they might come over for Christmas Day if the weather allows.”
“It’s supposed to be sunny, no snow. Call them.”
“Now?”
Angie laughed, and the sound made her hopeful and happy, even if the context was still off.
“I think you can wait until you’re home. I’m sure they’d like to see the girls, right? And something else, what were we thinking sending Christina off to Caron? Let’s talk to her about transferring, at the latest once the schoolyear is finished, but perhaps we can do it before Spring Break.”
“We can’t do that!” Angie’s face fell, and Neva wasn’t sure whether to hug her again, or shake her.
They hadn’t taken this decision lightly.
There had been tears, and serious decisions to be made regarding the financing of their venture.
“Christina is happy at Caron. She’s thriving, and all her friends are there. Why would we take her out now?”
Her tone might have been a bit harsh, but she’d been living in constant worry since Angie started acting so strange.
Come to think of it, this had started when she invited the jeweler, Nadine, to dinner.
There was another explanation Neva couldn’t bring herself to think of. No. Angie would never do such a thing.
“I’m sorry. It’s just…I miss her.”
“I understand. I miss her too, but this is good for her. She’s been coming into her own, her grades are phenomenal, and she has good friends.”
Neva, too, would have loved to have her closer, but it wasn’t always about what they wanted, was it?
“Can we just sit down and talk about this? With her? If she really does want to stay…” Angie took a deep breath. “Then, okay, she’ll stay. I just want to be sure she’s happy. That all of you are.”
“She is. We are. I promise you.” Are you? “I’ll call Mom and Dad after I pick up Fiona and Elsa.”
“Yes, please. We’ll have a great Christmas, and please, stop worrying. Dr. McEwen is pretty sure they aren’t going to find anything in that blood test. I just need to cut down on work a bit, and perhaps you should too.”
People could change their mind, Neva reasoned. She didn’t know Angie harbored so many doubts about Caron, or the way they did things in their day-to-day life.
They would have to make time to talk, beyond the holiday schedule.
As far as that was concerned, she thought they had made good progress.
Her parents would be thrilled to see their grandchildren.
She, too, was thrilled, and perhaps a house full of joy and laughter was exactly what she and Angie needed.
As long as they were both still in this, they would manage.
She had to believe it.