Page 15 of Locke

“My god, you’re a sap.” They both laughed as they finished off two slices of pie each and then ate the carrots. “Are you eating the carrots last so you don’t have pie breath?”

“What the hell is pie breath? And yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing. However, I want to point out that she’s at a dinner meeting with the board of directors of the library where they’re going to try to get us to part with our money and build a new wing in the library. I don’t know when the last time it was that I was in the library. Even this one, I’m sure that I’ve never checked out a book or anything.” Dusty told him that he didn’t think any of them had either. “I wonder if there are many people that use the place anymore. It’s a shame. I know that Martha loved the library.”

“That’s what you should do.” He looked confused, so Dusty explained. “You should donate some money to the library. All of us will have a new wing put in, which is the Martha Grable rooms. Have a stipulation on it that says that it’s for new computers, which we’ll provide so that people can go there that might not have access to the internet at home.”

“You think they’ll do that?” Dusty said that he wouldn’t know unless he asked. “I’ll call Alex now. See if she is game to bring it up.”

While Locke spoke to Alex, he got up to put their dishes in the bin. There was a woman sitting all by herself, and he made his way to her to see if she was all right. He could hear her crying the closer he got to her. Asking her if he could join her, she looked up at him with the saddest face he’d ever seen.

“Whatever it is, it can be fixed.” She asked him how did he know what she was upset about. “I don’t, but I don’t like seeing a pretty lady cry.”

He handed her some napkins that were on the table. She didn’t seem to mind that he sat with her, and he waited for her to finish blowing her nose to talk to him. Looking at his brother when he said his name, he said that Alex wanted him to come to the meeting too and did he mind.

“No, go ahead. I’m just having a talk with…” He looked at the woman. “You’re name is?”

“Amanda Landry. I know who you two are. You’d have to be dead—never mind. I know who you are. My husband is Fred Landry. He’s here.”

Nodding, she watched Locke as he left them there. He waited for her to speak, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was. When she started talking without any prompt from him, his heart broke for her.

“My husband is going to die. It’s not like we didn’t expect it. He’s had cancer several times since we’ve been married. But he always beat it back. This time, the doctor said that it’s in his bloodstream and is all over his body. I’m not ready to be a widow just yet. I have three growing children that are going to need their father. What am I supposed to do?” He asked her what she wanted to do. She looked at him oddly. “I mean, do you want to prolong his living with cancer? I’m sure that the doctor gave you options. Is this something that the two of you need to talk about? Like end of life arrangements.”

“I don’t really want to think about it.” He just nodded. “You think that I’m not dealing with this well and should be willing to do what you tell me. While in my head I know that’s what I’m supposed to do, I’m not ready to give up on him right now.”

“Understandable. I wouldn’t either. But you have time to do what he wants, and that’s important.” She told him that her husband wanted her to just let him go. “Then you should do everything in your power to make that happen for him. At least, that’s what I would do. For him.”

“That means that I’m admitting that the end is near, as you put it.” Dusty asked how long the doctors gave her husband. “A month, but he said he’d expect him to go sooner. He’s given up, I think.”

“Yes, I can see that as well. Can he have a conversation with you? Do you, and this is what I do for a living, do you have all his paperwork lined up? Do you have things in your name so that there isn’t any trouble with it when he does pass? Who’s name is the house in? Will you be able to make the payment until the insurance pays? Is there insurance?” She just stared at him. “I’m sorry. I’m overstepping myself here. I’ll leave you to grief. And I’m extremely sorry that I—”

“I didn’t think about any of that. I think that we should have done some of this sooner. Is there a way that I can get this done? And he is able to have a conversation with me. He just tires easily.” Pulling out his notepad, he handed it to her with his pen. She started writing things down as he asked her to look into them. “Does he have a will?”

“Yes, we both do. After the first scare, we decided to get one drawn up. But it’s old. Our kids weren’t here yet, and we didn’t go in and change things around afterwards. Also, we’ve made arrangements to have his body cremated so that when I pass, I can be with him. Does that sound stupid?” He asked her if it made her happy, and when she agreed with him, Dusty told her then it wasn’t stupid. “Thank you for this. My mother-in-law thinks that by us talking about this, it means I’ve given up on him. It’s not that, but every time I bring it up to him, she butts in. He’s going to die. I know that. I knew it before, but it’s better—I can’t thank you enough for your help. I know that I have things that I have to do, and I will. Whether his mom wants me to or not.”

“You have the authority to have her put out of the room if you wish. Being his wife, you have more say over things than she does now. I would do that. Not only to show her that you’re in charge, but it might help you when he’s gone to establish that you have a backbone, and she’d better realize that.” She said that she’s hated her since the first time that he took her to meet the family. “Like I said, you need to establish who’s in charge and how much you’re going to allow her say in things. That will be about the children too. You’ll want to make sure that they’re well cared for, even if you leave the kids with a relative you can trust. I don’t know whether she’d do this or not, but you want to make sure that she has no reason to take them from you.”

“I have thought of that. She’s been making comments about the fact that I’m going to need someone to help with them and that I should allow her to move in with us. That’s not going to happen.” He asked her if she’d told her that. “No. But I will now.”

After sitting with her for an hour, Dusty could tell that she was feeling a good deal stronger than she’d been before. Telling her which forms she had to have and a notary to validate things, he told her the name of a good attorney that she could use. He didn’t tell her about his brothers, making sure that if anyone had seen them together, they’d not make it out to be more sinister than it really was.

Going back to his room, Dusty felt better than he had in a long time. Even before Martha had passed away. He felt useful again. A feeling that he liked a great deal more than he had feeling like a useless fifth wheel. He wrote down some of the things that he wanted to take care of, and he heard from his brother almost as soon as he was going to sleep.

“They didn’t go for it. At least not today. And Alex told them off when they tried to pressure her into being on the board. Likely, they thought that if she was there, they could con her to turn over money. So thank you for that.” Dusty asked Locke if he thought that she was ever going to be on the board. “No. I don’t think she wants that. Even the hospital is asking her to join. They never bothered us about that sort of thing. Why her?”

“They figure that she’s a woman, and it will be easier to tap into her maternal instincts.” He laughed with Locke after begging him not to say a word to Alex about what he’d said. “I would hate to get to feeling better only to have her coming into the hospital and knocking me around. She’d do it, too.”

“No doubt about it. How did it go with that young woman you were talking to?” Dusty told him everything that was going on with her. “That really sucks. I’m really glad that you were able to help her out. I have some of those forms here, but I think you should let her get them from the guy that you recommended. She’s going to need a good attorney if her mother-in-law gets nasty.”

“Yeah, I think that you’re right on that. But she does have a backbone. She just has to remember that when talking to her.” After getting off the phone with his brother, he laid in the bed.

It just occurred to him that he was exhausted. And a real kind of exhaustion that he’d gotten from working. Tomorrow, he was going home, and he was going to continue to walk and take things easy. He never wanted to hurt as badly as he did when he’d hurt himself. Going to sleep, he knew that he had a big day tomorrow and couldn’t wait to get his life in gear.

~*~

As soon as he had his brother in the car, they were headed to his office. Locke thought that his brother should rest a bit before assuming work because he felt duty-bound to help Amanda, but he needed to care for himself more.

“I know that you’re somewhat disappointed that I’m not going to be staying with you and Alex, but this is something that I have to do. The thing is, for the first time in a while, I’m glad to be an attorney.” Locke asked Dusty why now. “I don’t know. It’s just that I feel like, and not just helping Amanda, but I could make a living or not doing this for people with an imminent dying spouse or loved one. Can you imagine how much peace of mind that would be to someone? I know that you and Martha had things all set up for when she passed. This is much the same thing. Only in larger form. I loved helping her.”

“Then I’m not upset and worried about you.” He knew that Dusty was staring at him. Just knowing that he was under scrutiny by his younger brother had him a little uneasy. “I have a wife now. And I can’t even begin to explain to you how much more I worry about what I’m doing and how it will affect Alex. I feel less…well, I feel less foolish. I find that I don’t want to take chances like I used to do. Understand?”

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