Feel Like Makin' Love (Rock and Roll Trilogy #3) Page 11

  Saying nothing, Matthew lovingly spread the quilt over the bed and then began unloading the bags without saying a word. He watched; her anxiousness at his choice pleased him. He opened boxes and put food on china plates that he’d taken from the bag - china that Carlee recognized from Six, and she smiled. He pulled a vase from the bag and opened a paper wrapper that contained daisies. Filling the vase with water, he placed the flowers in the vase. Next he removed two wine glasses and a bottle of sparkling water and poured. He placed his phone on the table with soft classical music playing. With all that in place, he crawled beside her on the bed.

  Carlee folded herself into his arms and whispered in his ear. “Thank you, but what’s the occasion?”

  “Just figured we needed another first date,” he smiled, placing a kiss on her lips that left fire behind. She reached to run her fingers over them to feel the heat.

  “Hatchet put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door. We can eat and cuddle without interruption until it’s time for them to check your vitals again. But we can’t get too far gone,” he laughed, “just cuddling. Hatchet said so.”

  Carlee pulled the tray forward, looking over the meal – roasted chicken with pasta and a light Alfredo sauce with small, diced bits of zucchini.

  “Hatchet and Doc T told me what they thought you could handle, and Cook took over.”

  She inhaled and said the two words that Matthew had hoped for. “I’m starving!”

  “There’s my girl!”

  They enjoyed the meal, pushed the table aside and enjoyed some cuddling, much like on their first dates in the past. Matthew’s fingers found their way under the gown she wore and explored, touching the soft skin of a body that he knew like the back of his hand. He’d missed the feel of her.

  Carlee did the same and whispered in his ear, “I love you so much, Matthew. I can’t wait to go home so I can explore the rest of you,” she said breathlessly.

  “Carlee,” he said in a voice that made her tremble. “I love you, more than words.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Later, Danni Matchett knocked; when there was no reply, she peeked in and found them asleep, spooned together as though they belonged just that way. The quilt pulled over them as they slept, the flameless candles still casting a soft glow in the room. She decided that the vitals update could wait just a while longer.

  ~ ~ ~

  Sunday morning, the alarm on Andy’s watch went off at 3:45; Geni turned in his arms to face him. “I gotta get ready.”

  He pulled her closer, wrapping her in his arms. He nuzzled her neck, leaving a blaze of kisses down to her lips. Finally, she slipped from his arms to go shower.

  When she came out he was already showered and dressed, and smelling like heaven, she thought.

  “Thank you,” he said easing her into his arms.

  “For?”

  “Last night. I can’t wait to do that naked.” He chuckled and turned away to grab his keys and wallet, leaving her mind to wander. He heard the sound she made when she sucked in to catch her breath, and he smiled.

  The drive to the airport was quiet. Andy didn’t initiate conversation because he wanted her to think about what he’d said. He was ready for the next step in their relationship, but he wasn’t quite sure where she was in her personal ‘take it slow’ scheme of things.

  He dropped her off at the terminal and went to park the car. When he reached security, she was waiting for him. She stepped into his arms and he leaned to whisper in her ear, “Think about me, Geni. Think about last night and the kisses we shared.”

  “How the hell could I forget?” she laughed.

  “Miss me, Geni,” he said as she turned to go through security.

  I will, she thought, but she didn’t look back.

  ~ ~ ~

  When Andy arrived at the hospital later that morning, Tamara was in the room. “Good morning! You’re here early this morning. I was just getting ready to share a few things with Carlee and Matthew, so I’m glad you’ve joined us.”

  “Got your mom off and came straight here,” he said turning to Matthew.

  “Carlee is doing very well, but I’ve decided that she will stay in the hospital a little longer. I want to avoid her having to come back and forth for the tests and preliminary things we need to do to ready her for the radiotherapy. Riding in a car may not be the most pleasant experience for a while,” she told them. “There’s still a lot of swelling, and movement might not be so pleasant, we’re keeping her on steroids a bit longer. But I promised her she’d be home in time for the holiday.”

  She looked around the room as Hatchet entered. “We need to get a good look at this,” she said, motioning to the bandage. Dr. Lincoln should be along in a moment. We’ll need you to step out a moment when he arrives.”

  “Good morning all,” he said as he entered. Matthew and Andy stepped out to get a cup of coffee.

  Dr. Lincoln slowly, tenderly unwrapped the bandage on Carlee’s head. “It looks good. Want to see?” he asked, bending down so that he could see Carlee’s face.

  “Nope,” Carlee replied quickly. “I’d just as soon move forward without ever seeing it.”

  “It looks good,” Tamara said as Hatchet cleaned the wound and replaced the bandage. “After it heals another day or so we’ll take you for the markings for the radiotherapy. It’s the first step.”

  “Tao said, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,’” Carlee replied.

  I love her attitude, Tamara thought.

  ~ ~ ~

  Geni arrived in Orlando at ten Sunday morning, and made the hour-and-a-half drive to Andy’s house. Kimmy was there waiting with a fresh pot of coffee. The two women sat at the kitchen table to share a cup, and Geni filled her in on all that had been going on with Carlee. Kimmy had talked to Carlee several times, so she had an idea of what was ahead. She and Geni had talked a few times as well, but as they talked now, they both cried.

  “Jenna and Nanny are having the hardest time,” Kimmy said. “Since no cancer was found, I’m going to believe that all of this is going to turn out OK, but they can’t get past Beth. Pops won’t even look at anyone who’s talking about Carlee.” She smiled, remembering him - his love and struggles with Beth’s diagnosis and passing.

  “She’s so poised and strong,” Geni said. “She just amazes me. Andy sits on the edge of his seat to listen, process every single word any of the doctors say, and she knows his fear and asks something crazy like what color the ink is that they will use for her radiation markings.”

  “They have this special relationship. When she was younger, she would stay with me if John was away, and she would ask to call him to make sure he was OK.”

  “Their grief…”

  “Made her the beautiful old soul she is today,” Kimmy interrupted. “John loved her so much before Beth got sick. He doted on her, but when Beth asked for Andy, I think John knew what was ahead, and after she was gone, he took Carlee home with him, but it was never the same. None of us ever really understood; it was like something just turned off and turned him away. It was so sad; she was only four when Beth passed away. She needed him, but he couldn’t be there for her. He tried. I saw it, but he was so bitter over Andy, he just couldn’t do it.”

  Kimmy sat quietly to gather her thoughts, tears streaming down her cheeks. “We should get things going so that you can head home; you still have a drive ahead of you.”

  They went to Andy’s room, found a suitcase, and she and Geni gathered up what Andy asked her to bring back - clothing, personal items, and his mail. Geni went to the spare room and gathered what she had left. As they did, Kimmy noticed that both Andy’s bed and the bed in the spare room had been slept in. She wondered…

  “I’ll come back and tidy up. You need to get going,” Kimmy told her. Geni loaded the car, hugged Kimmy, and was on the road.

  ~ ~ ~

  Thomas and Brian met her at home with dinner. That evening was a short visit; she was exhausted from the flight, the time
difference, and her emotions. Andy called later and filled her in on the day and his unsuccessful attempts to get Matthew to go home.

  “Dan’s covering his classes ‘til the first of the year; I just can’t get him to leave. He wants to sleep right there in that bed with her.” Andy told her, but Geni noticed the smile in his voice as he did. “I miss you.”

  She thought about that a moment before she responded. This would be the first night in over a week that she wouldn’t sleep in his arms… “I miss you too,” she said finally.

  “Did you have to think about that?” he said noting her hesitation.

  “No, I had to shake the thought of those last kisses away,” she laughed.

  ~ ~ ~

  Monday morning, Thomas, his wife, Angela, and their daughters, Percy and Megs, came to visit early. The girls were out of school for the holiday and were excited to see Mimi G. Angela fixed breakfast while Geni was gathering things and packing. Brian and his wife, Malia, were there by ten. Geni was returning to London early Thursday morning and had much to accomplish in a short amount of time.

  “They have a long road ahead of them. I don’t know if Andy will leave the whole time she’s going through this,” Geni told them. “I gather from what they indicate that radiation will be rough. That will begin in another two weeks or so. Obviously they won’t be home for Christmas. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I want to be there to help, but I don’t want to be in the way.”

  “We already knew that, Mom,” Thomas said.

  “What can we do?” Angela asked.

  “I’ll let you know; keep things in order around here,” she said. “Like I said, right now I don’t know what I’m gonna do. When they finally send her home, Andy indicates maybe on Wednesday, there isn’t room at the flat for both of us to stay for an extended period without being in the way. They’re gonna need their time,” she said. “White’s maybe; I just don’t know.”

  “I’ve cried so many times thinking about them. All of this, it would be a lot for anyone, but for Carlee… she’s been through so much in such a young life. Andy is a mess with worry. The Oncologist indicated that because of the radiation, infertility could be an issue.” Geni said, and cried once more.

  “And she will handle it all with dignity and grace,” Brian’s wife, Malia, said, and added, “and her quirky sense of life.”

  “Brian - Mr. Gadget,” Geni smiled, changing the subject. Percy and Megs had come into the kitchen and heard her and giggled.

  “Great,” he joked, “no more ‘Uncle Brian’ for me; now it’ll be ‘Mr. Gadget’ from these two, he said picking Megs up and holding her on his lap as both girls giggled.

  “Before I go back Thursday morning, I need one of those tablet things. Internet, email, book reader, all that in one thing…” she said. “Can you help me with that?”

  Brian looked at Malia, and then Thomas and Angela. Malia rose to go to the other room. When she returned she handed Geni a package. “Merry Christmas from us,” she smiled and hugged Geni.

  She tore the package open to find a tablet.

  “Mind-readers,” Geni laughed.

  “We’ll do the rest of Christmas when things settle down. We knew you’d be going back. We all decided that with this you could call us with the video application. That way you can see the girls, and we can see Carlee and Matthew,” Thomas said.

  Thomas and Brian spent a few hours loading things onto the device, showing her how to use it, while Angela and Malia cooked dinner. She was at the kitchen table with the guys, sorting through mail as they talked.

  “Brian,” Geni said. “You need to call Matthew; he’ll listen to you.”

  Brian and Matthew were closest in age. The two of them shared a special bond, and everyone knew it. “Tell him she’s going to be fine and that he needs to get some rest. He has Dan covering his classes, but school lets out in a week; he doesn’t care whether he sleeps or not. He just wants to be with her. It will be easier once she’s home.”

  She stopped a minute. “If the schedule for the radiation, radiotherapy - whatever the heck it is - is what the doctor indicated, there will be a lot of juggling to do to make the appointments. She won’t be able to drive for at least a year. It’s just gonna be rough.” She remembered the conversation with the counselor, Jen, after the session she sat in on at camp the previous summer. I have never personally been through anything like this before, Geni had told her.

  “Treatment will be every day, Monday through Friday, for maybe six weeks.”

  She was handing bills to Thomas to take care of for her, and she came across an envelope with a child’s handwriting on it. It was addressed To Miss Geni Davis, at the Cancer Foundation in Orlando. That had been scratched out, and Geni’s address added with a red ‘FORWARD’ stamp on it. She tore into the envelope. It was a hand-drawn Christmas card, and as she read, she started to cry. She pulled a picture out and put it on the table for them to see.

  “This is Ronnie. The little girl I told you about from camp last summer.”

  Megs looked at the picture and asked, “Where’s her hair?”

  Angela started to explain, and Geni cried harder.

  “They said Carlee will probably lose her hair too; she’s already cut off a long ponytail of hair and sent it to Wigs For Kids before the surgery.”

  Finally, she read the card aloud.

  Hi Miss Geni!

  Merry Christmas. I told my mom about the cookies and the fun time we had at camp. And guess what! We’re making cookies for Christmas; it’s the first time ever!

  She is doing much better. I am too.

  Geni thought of the irony in that. SHE is doing much better…

  I hope I get to see you at camp!

  Love, Ronnie

  The picture was of her and Ronnie the last day at camp. Ronnie was hugging Geni. Her mom and dad had come to the closing ceremonies, and the photo was taken, as the kids were getting ready to leave. She added her address to the note. Geni slipped it in her bag – she knew she would be writing back.

  Chapter Eight

  Andy spent every moment possible with Carlee, but tried to give her and Matthew the space and time they needed as well. He would beg Matthew to go home to sleep, shower, rest – anything…

  “I’ll stay with her,” he would say, but Matthew wouldn’t leave. He would go home, shower, nap, and come right back.

  Andy would go to the flat in the evening, and he felt alone. He spent hours on the phone with family keeping them informed about Carlee, wishing someone was there to ease his mind, bring him some kind of peace - Geni… but she’d had to go home, and he realized how very much he missed her companionship. He spent hours on the phone with her early in the morning and late in the night in the U.S.

  He tried to busy himself, doing laundry, making sure Matthew had clean clothes, but mostly he just thought. There was far too much going on in his head. I need an off-switch on my brain. He thought about Beth and how she declined any treatment because the cancer was so far along and she wanted what precious time she had left to be ‘quality, not quantity’ She’d said those words many times. ‘I want to be whole for Carlee.’

  He thought about Carlee’s response to all that was happening, heard her ask what color the ink would be that they would mark her head with, and he smiled. He knew that quirky humor was to hide her own fears as well as her attempt to make it comfortable for everyone else. And then he thought, worried about the road ahead.

  His head filled with words and melodies, and he wrote. He’d located a music store and had a portable keyboard on reserve. He hadn’t heard music in his head in a while, but the circumstances – both Carlee and Geni – seemed to bring that back.

  When Andy and Carlee were alone, they talked about her going home. They talked about Beth. They talked about Geni. They talked about the treatment she would go through, and they talked about her biggest fear – not getting back to the U.S. to see Nanny and Pops.

  “Marco,” Andy said when he answered,
“trying to keep the time difference straight in my head. I didn’t wake you did I?” It was two in the morning on Tuesday in London.

  “No,” he replied. “It’s just after eight here. Why the hell are you awake?”

  “Are you alone?” Andy laughed.

  “Not tellin’,” he replied with that big laugh of his. “Actually, on my way home from the studio; Addy’s in town. Glad to hear from you. How’s things?”

  “My head is full…”

  “I bet,” Marco replied quickly.

  “Not just Carlee.” Or Geni, he thought. “Music.”

  “Well that’s some good news! Haven’t heard those words from you in a long time.” Andy heard pleasure in his voice as they talked.

  “I found a music store; going to pick up a keyboard tomorrow. I’ll send you some WAV files as I get started, for your thoughts and ideas,” he added.

  “Sounds great. I’ve been thinking about coming over, but I don’t want to be in the way.”

  “Are you kidding me? She’d kill for a Marco hug,” Andy laughed.

  “OK, I’ll look into it! I miss her; give her my love!”

  “Will do. Thanks for the chat. I was feeling a little lonesome, Matthew’s with Carlee. Stays there all night, and Geni had to go home for a few days.”

  “Are you ever gonna admit to me that you’re a couple?” Marco laughed.

  “I’m not really sure we are,” Andy said and paused. “Marco, I haven’t felt these feelings since Beth came back into my life. Just gotta figure out where Geni is.”

  “Well hell, Andy, did you ask her? Did you frigging tell her how you feel? Did she?” he asked.

  “Yeah, kinda. No, not really…”