Page 111 of Something Unexpected

“Actually…would you mind if I had lunch with Louise alone?”

Beck’s face fell.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you. But I want to check in on her, and she’ll be more open with me without you there. She wants to protect you.”

Beck pursed his lips. “Of course. Whatever you want.”

“I’ll bring you back something for lunch.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine. I’ll order something from room service. I have work to do anyway.”

I pressed my lips to his. “Thank you for understanding. I won’t be too long.”

Downstairs at the hotel restaurant, Louise was already waiting. She smiled wide and stood as I walked toward the table.

“Finally, I can get a real hug. All those damn wires and monitors got in the way.”

I embraced my friend. At this point, neither of us knew when a hug could be the last, and I wanted to make it a good one.

Louise’s eyes were damp when we finally let go.

“Well, we did it again, lady,” I said. “Defied the odds.”

She nodded. “Can’t keep a good bitch down.”

I chuckled as we sat.

Louise lifted the cloth napkin from the table and laid it across her lap. “I thought Beck was joining us?”

“He wanted to. But I asked him if we could have lunch alone.”

“Getting on your nerves already? He was always a bossy boy.”

I smiled. His bossy side was one of the things I liked about him. “I wanted to check in on you. When you were in the hospital, it hit home for me. When we’re out doing our shenanigans, it’s easy to pretend we’re not living on borrowed time. But when you see your friend in the hospital, hooked up to all kinds of machines, it makes us face our future in a really alarming way.”

“I know what you mean. It wasn’t easy seeing such a vibrant young woman with her whole life ahead of her lying there and knowing how sick she is…” Louise shook her head. “It was far more difficult than I’d imagined. If anything, the experience gave me a better understanding of how my grandson feels. Because I’m not so certain that if I wasn’t going through the same thing as you, at the same time, that I wouldn’t think you should fight for more time. It just doesn’t seem fair that this is all you get. Even I got almost eighty years.”

I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “That’s why we need to make the best of our time left. I should feel up to going to see Charles by tomorrow.”

“I don’t need to see Charles right now. I already told him we could Zoom in a few days when I get back to New York. EvenIthink you need more rest than a day.”

“No, I can go…”

“It’s already canceled. My heart isn’t in it anymore anyway.”

“I’m sorry.” I looked into her eyes. “My time is coming, Louise. The heart attack was a warning. I’m going to go back home to California sooner than planned, to be with William for the end. It’s the only thing he’s asked, to let him take care of me when it’s time.” I swallowed. “It’s almost time.”

“Oh, sweetheart…” Louise got up from her chair and hugged me again. We were both crying when she sat back down. “This sucks,” she declared.

The way she said it made me laugh. I wiped tears from my cheeks. “You are the only person in the world who could make me laugh while I’m telling you I don’t think I have long to live.”

“I consider it an honor to be that person for you, Eleanor.”

The waiter came over to take our order, and the interruption brought some much-needed levity. We had barely looked at the menu, so I ordered a salad, mostly out of habit.

Louise stopped me. “Do you actually like that rabbit food better than baby back ribs or baked macaroni and cheese?”

I shrugged. “No. But I try to keep balanced and have a healthy meal for lunch and whatever I want for dinner.”

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