Good Enough(57)

Next message.

It’s Lily. Just drove by your house and saw your car there. I hope you’re safe in bed and getting sleep. Bevan said don’t forget to take aspirin for your hand. Call me tomorrow.

Next message.

Hillary, I love you. I hope you call me tomorrow after you’ve had some sleep.



Oh shit! They must be so pissed!





“You’re asking for it!”



July 12, 2002

I CALLED IN SICK TO WORK. I told my boss I hurt my hand but didn’t tell him how. I told him I might be out all week since I’m right handed and that is the hand that is currently all wrapped up in ace bandages and ice. I hang up and realize how lucky I am to have such an easygoing boss.

It’s time to call Jameson back. It’s 9:00 a.m. I know he’s still awake. Even if it was noon I know he would stay up until he heard back from me.

Here goes nothing. I dial his number, listen and wait.

“Hello?”

“Hi babe.”

“Jesus Christ Hillary! Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?” He shouts at me.

“I’m sorry. When I left Lily and Bevan at Dawn’s I wanted to sit down and clear my head. On my way driving to the dock I put my phone on silent. I forgot to turn it back up. I never heard my phone ringing. I swear. When I got home I took a hot shower, took some aspirin and went to bed. I’m sorry.”

“Babe, I’m just glad you’re okay. I talked to Bevan. He told me what happened. I talked to Lily and got her play by play. How’s your hand?” He asks in an exhausted breath.

“It still hurts.”

“Do you think you need to see a doctor?”

“I don’t know. I’m just trying to avoid my parents seeing it and finding out what happened. I told work I would probably be out all week.”

“Would you like me to come take care of you?” He asks.

“You would do that for me?”

“I would do anything for you.”

“Any normal day I would say “yes”, but I’m sure you are completely exhausted from working all night and need sleep.”

“I left work early, around 4:00 a.m. actually. I was worried about you. I almost drove straight to your house but I didn’t want to scare you or piss off your parents. I came home, took a nap for a couple of hours. And now that I know you’re off the rest of the week I’m going to do the same thing. I’m going to email my boss to make sure it’s all clear then I’m going to pick you up and get your hand x-rayed. Then we’ll go from there. Sound good?”

“Jameson, I can’t ask you to do that. Don’t use up all of your time. As much as I would love to have you take care of me I don’t want to stay at your apartment with your mom. I’m sorry.”

“First of all, you’re not asking me to do anything. I’m choosing to do this. Second of all I know you don’t want to stay here. That’s why I’m going to pack a bag and stay with you and your new big bed I haven’t tried out yet. I’ll see you soon.”

I can’t help the enormous smile on my face. I have that giddy school girl feeling as I hang up the phone. I think back to my conversation with Lily over dinner. Back to her asking if I could handle dealing with Marcie for the rest of my life. Will it get worse? Do I love Jameson enough to live frustrated with Marcie’s crap for the rest of my life? But I know that we can work through it. We have so far. Hope for the best and expect the worst right? That’s what the experts say, isn’t it?





JAMESON WAS THE PERFECT NURSE. He took me to the walk in clinic to have my hand checked out. The nurse took me in for an x-ray and nothing was fractured or broken. Doctor said I badly bruised my hand and two of my knuckles. He said I was doing everything right by keeping it propped up on a pillow with ice. He prescribed me some medicine for the pain and swelling.

My parents were cool, and kept their space. Jameson told them we were having an indoor camping vacation. They actually bought that story. He did a good job of keeping my hand hidden from them but they finally saw it. I told them I injured it goofing off at work in the warehouse. They believed it so I went with it. Jameson likes my parents and they like him so it wasn’t terrible hanging out with them at night watching television. I don’t know if it’s because it was my own house, or that I knew I didn’t have to worry about doing anything wrong like I do with Marcie, but I was relaxed for once. It was a nice change. Jameson seemed relaxed as well.

Thinking positive!





“You constantly disappoint me.”



November 14, 2002

IT’S A WEEK AWAY FROM THANKSGIVING and Marcie has been asking us about our plans for the day since October. A busy Thanksgiving day is a piece of cake to Jameson. His parents have been divorced for most of his life. He’s used to shuffling around all day long. I’m not used to this. This means we’ll have three different places to go. First, we’ll drive about seventy five minutes out to his mom’s side of the family, then about half an hour to go see his dad, and then just under an hour to finally be at my parents’. By then I’ll probably be ready for bed.