Page 5 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
“You’re trying to charm me.” She bit down hard on her bottom lip. “And it’s not going to work.”
Then why is your peaches-and-cream complexion currently a brighter shade of red than a certain reindeer’s nose on Christmas Eve?
Jace swallowed a smile. “Duly noted.”
She adjusted her grip on her dog, whose big, soft eyes were once again glued to Jace in silent adoration. At least someone around here liked him. “We’re leaving now.”
“Be my guest.” He stepped aside, did a little bow and waved her on her way.
Fuzzy peered at Jace over her shoulder with the corners of his mouth turned up in a sweet doggy grin as she stalked toward the lobby. For reasons he couldn’t begin to fathom, Jace stood with arms crossed and watched until she rounded a corner, out of sight. Even then, it took him a few seconds before he managed to drag himself away to tap his knuckles lightly on the door to room 212.
“I told you to go away,” Uncle Gus hollered.
Jace pushed the door open and strode inside. “That wasn’t me.”
His uncle looked him up and down and huffed. “I thought you were the woman who comes round here twice a week with her skinny mongrel.”
“Pretty sure that dog was a purebred Cavalier King Charles spaniel,” Jace said as he refilled the cup on his uncle’s bedside table with fresh water from a pink plastic hospital pitcher.
Uncle Gus scowled. “Your point?”
“Fuzzy is hardly a mongrel.” Jace handed him the cup of water. “And you should be nicer to Adaline. She’s a volunteer, and her puppy is training to be a therapy dog. It’s nice that they come here.”
Gus frowned into the cup. “Would it kill you to sneak me some beer?”
“No.” Jace took in his uncle’s brittle form, so slight beneath the pile of blankets on the adjustable hospital bed. It was hard seeing him like this. There was a time when Gus had seemed larger than life. “But it might killyou.”
Finally, a smile. Gallows humor never failed to get a laugh out of him these days.
“Seriously, Uncle Gus. The next time Adaline and Fuzzy come here for a visit, I want you to be on your best behavior. Capisce?”
Jace couldn’t remember the last time he’d used that word. It was a Gus-ism he’d learned back in fifth grade. When his parents had been ready for him to come home after that strange, disorienting year, Jace had still used it for a time. Eventually, it fell away from his vocabulary. Funny how being back in Bluebonnet was making him feel like that awkward eleven-year-old kid again.
Uncle Gus waved a bony, dismissive hand without bothering to tear his gaze from the grainy re-run ofColumboplaying on the television mounted on the wall opposite the bed.
“I’m serious.” Jace moved to block Gus’s view of the TV and planted his hands on hips. “Do it for me, okay?”
Uncle Gus’s red-rimmed eyes shifted to meet his. Jace could see the fight as it drained out of him. The nurse on duty had mentioned he’d had a rough night, and it showed. Soon, he’d be too tired to cause any more trouble.
“Fine,” he mumbled.
“Thank you.” Jace grinned at him. “Now how about you let me beat you in a game of chess?”
“In your dreams, kid. I’m not dead yet, you know.” Gus pushed himself up further against his pillows and pointed a shaky finger at the over-bed table anchored to the bedrails. “Go ahead, then. Get the board set up.”
Jace grabbed the checkered board from the narrow bookcase on the side wall and went to work lining up the pieces just like Gus had taught him on his first day in Bluebonnet as a boy. First the pawns, then the rooks and so on. Some things never changed.
“Why is it so important for me to be nice to the dog woman?” Gus moved the king’s pawn forward two spaces, his typical opening move. “Do you two know each other or something?”
Jace started to nod, but then thought better of it. He didn’t really know Adaline Bishop anymore. If he did, maybe he’d have some idea why she seemed so angry at him.
He pushed his chess piece in place, the wooden figure smooth beneath his fingertips, worn by years and years of handling. Things were so different here in Bluebonnet. It was like stepping into yesterday, and Jace had yet to get his footing.
It’s only been a day, he told himself.Give it time.
But the luxury of time was the very thing his uncle no longer had. It was the whole reason Jace was here. No one deserved to die alone.Nobody.
The knot of grief that had settled in Jace’s chest a few days ago when Gus had finally told him about his condition burrowed further behind his sternum. He pushed it down and concentrated on the neat squares of the chessboard.
