Color Blind(45)

“I’m sorry Kimberly,” I wish there was more that I could do.



Tears began welling up in my eyes, “You already do so much for me! You babysit for free, you come to my house at the drop of a dime anytime I ask you to and you help me out in so many ways. Don’t ever think that you should or could do more. I don’t know where we’d be without you.”



“I know, but I love you guys so much. We’ve been like sisters since the day we became friends. Do you remember that? Back in middle school when I was the new kid and you saved me from that fat pimply dork on the bus who always tried to hit on me?” Lorraine said.



We both had a good laugh. “I remember. You told me to sit with you,” I said.



“Yeah, I told you that you could come sit with me. I’ll never forget. Every day after school, he’d pat his seat and say that you could come sit with him. You rolled your eyes every time,” Lorraine laughed.



“Yep, I sure did. You saved me big time,” I agreed.



“You came and sat with me that day when I asked you to,” Lorraine said.



“I know! I remembered that you were the cool kid, and you were asking me to come sit with you. I was so shocked.” I said.



“But he tried to hit on all the girls. He was such a dork. Nobody ever wanted to sit with him. And ever since that day, we’d go riding bikes together or walk to 7-11 for a snack or go roller skating,” she said, reminiscing down memory lane. “What happened to those days? What happened to us being young and carefree? When did life get so complicated?”



“I don’t know. Somewhere along the lines of when I had a kid.” I said.



“Yeah, I’d say that’s about right.”



“No shit. I’m almost home so I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I told her.



After Nevaeh was neatly tucked into bed and fast asleep, I called Dale to fill him in on what was going on. During our conversation, he—once again—offered to help pay for Nevaeh’s medical bills.



“Dale, I can’t take your money. You understand that right?” I said, too proud to take his money.



“I know, I know. You’ve given me the speech before. Let me see, how does it go? Something like you’ve always worked for everything you’ve ever had and you’re not about to take handouts? Is that how it goes?” he half-heartedly teased me.



“Right, that’s exactly how it goes. Dale, you’ve got to realize something. I’m very proud of everything I’ve accomplished. I’m a hard-working mom who does things on her own. I’ve never relied on someone before so I don’t want to do it now. My mom always taught me that if you want things in life, you’ll work for them.”



After hanging up with him, I began to think that maybe I should take him up on his offer. I really could use the help, and it’s not like he couldn’t afford it. He’s a billionaire! But still, it wouldn’t be right to take his money. I’d hate to feel indebted to him. What if we didn’t work out? Would he expect me to pay him back? With my credit card maxed and single digits in my bank account, I counted the meager amount of cash from today’s shift, knowing it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the large stack of bills on my kitchen table. Geez, when will things get better?





Chapter Ten



“Rachel, I was wondering if you could trade shifts with me next week. Nevaeh’s symptoms have flared up again and I have to take her to see the specialist two days before Christmas, but I can’t miss any more work.”



“I’ll have to check, but if I can, I will.”



This is going to drive me crazy. I can’t keep asking everyone to trade with me, come to my house and bend over backward. Things have to get better, right? Oh, please, Nevaeh get better.



The next morning when I returned to work, Rachel agreed to switch shifts with me on the twenty-third. Nevaeh’s condition hadn’t improved a bit, despite the NSAIDS and methotrexate. I hopelessly scanned information on the internet to see what the next steps were. Dr. Herber said that these medications were only the beginning and had hoped to keep her symptoms at bay for quite a while. Overwhelmed by the wealth of information provided by my searches, I developed a pounding headache.



On the eve of the appointment, Dale offered to go with us.



“No, you have to work,” I reasoned with him.



“I own my company, I can take off whenever I want,” he explained.



“It’s just that I don’t want our problem to become your problem. Know what I’m saying?”