Page 37 of One Golden Ring
When Darcy pulls out the sack of peanut M&Ms and three envelopes of extra-butter microwave popcorn J.B. squeals with excitement.
“Can we do a movie night right now?” she asks.
“I think we’re all tired,” I tell her, not wanting Darcy to be the bad guy. “And we want to be up early to visit with Grandpa.”
“He’ll be working,” J.B. says, shrugging. “He won’t care if we sleep in.”
It hits me in the gut that she doesn’t know how serious all this is, and that I’m going to have to tell her right now.
“Sit with me,” I say lightly, pulling out a dining room chair.
“What’s going on?” J.B. asks, eyeing me suspiciously without taking a seat.
“You know your great-grandfather is sick,” I remind her.
“Yeah, but he loves his job,” she says. “He’s just staying at the lodge so he doesn’t have to drive.”
“Is that what he told you?” I ask.
“Pretty much,” she says, shrugging.
I’ve been wondering how much they might havetalked about it over their chess games while Darcy and I were in town. I guess it wasn’t a whole lot.
“He doesn’t want you to worry,” I tell her, steeling myself. “But I don’t ever want to lie to you. He passed out this morning while he was working. The owners of the lodge gave him that room so he can spend the rest of his time among the people who love him. He can’t work anymore, Judi-Bloom.”
I brace myself for her to correct me for calling her Judi-Bloom.
“The rest of his time?” she echoes instead, looking haunted.
“He doesn’t want to go to the city for surgery, remember?” I tell her. “He wants to be with his friends here on Angel Mountain.”
“He doesn’twantit?” she asks me in the saddest voice.
I know I told her this before, but it’s clear now that she didn’t realize what it really meant.
“I’ve tried to convince him,” I tell her honestly. “More than once. But the odds of it working are low. And at the end of the day it’s his decision.”
“Can’t you justmakehim?” she yells at me. “You make everyone else do stuff they don’t want to do.”
That accusation sounds almost personal and oddly specific. But I don’t think I could make Judi-Bloom Lockwood do anything if I tried. Maybe it’s just that she’s angry and emotional. I was too when I really took in what was happening.
Before I can question J.B., I catch Darcy heading quietly into the bedroom they will be sharing with thebag of stuff she got at the store. I guess she wants to give us space.
Oddly, I think maybe Darcy could help us through this. She always stays so calm, and J.B. and I can both get a little heated. We once got into a full-on shouting match over whether a shirt of hers was blue or green.
“I know you’re upset,” I tell her, forcing myself to stay as steady as I can. “I’m really sad too. This is hard.”
“It doesn’t have to be hard,” she cries. “He can come live with us. I’ll go to the hospital with him. You won’t have to doanything.”
“You have school,” I tell her automatically. “He wouldn’t want you to leave your school and your friends.”
I wait for her to unload on me. But instead of yelling, she marches off to join Darcy.
In their shared room Darcy has already made up the bottom bunk with the stuff we got in town, and now she’s hanging those extra sheets around it like a fort.
I feel a piece of my heart break off and dissolve. Darcy knows J.B. likes her privacy and needs an escape more than most people. She was planning to create a safe space for my daughter before I even put together that she would need one.
I’m about to follow her in, but J.B. slams the door in my face before I have a chance.
