The Healer

  Shari looked at the ball and then back at her fiancé. “I’m not getting it,” Marcus assured her. Shari took off for first base with a delighted hop and a run.

  Cole looked at the ball, then at Shari, and decided it was better not to move.

  A glance around and Gage decided it was time to dust off third base. When Shari rounded first and the bleacher seats were screaming for her to keep going, Jack playing right field loped in from the outfield to get the ball. A tag-team race ensued between home plate and third as he tried to tag Shari out. He finally caught her in a hug and a fit of laughter. “Out. That’s the inning.” He picked her up to carry her toward home plate. “I caught a Shari.”

  “Toss her back,” Marcus called.

  Shari blew him a kiss over Jack’s shoulder. “I nearly stole home.”

  “Nearly.”

  “I’m hungry, guys, let’s call the game and go eat,” Jennifer called. The guys made a production of showing their disappointment, but they turned their attention to packing up gear.

  The pizza shop was busy on a Saturday afternoon, crowded with families and kids. Cole slid in beside Rachel on the bench. She was toying with her straw while watching Tom and Jennifer play an arcade game together. He replaced her empty glass with a full one. “I like your family.”

  “The guys made you pitcher. You should feel honored.”

  “They didn’t want to strike out their girlfriends.”

  “I noticed I was on base more often today than ever before.” Rachel gave a small nod toward Jennifer. “She’s happy.”

  Cole looked at Jennifer, leaning back in her wheelchair to share a laugh with her husband. “She’s getting rest and a lot of laughter. Without the medicinal side effects her body is getting a chance to rally. This is a good week for her.”

  Rachel tucked her straw into his pocket. “Got any change? I want to play some pinball.”

  “I’ve got a pocketful of quarters just for us. Couple play, a flipper each?”

  “How are your reflexes?”

  “Better than yours.”

  She grinned at him. “Your age tends to regress around my family.”

  The carefree morning had lifted a burden from her. Rae was happy. Cole leaned over and kissed her, capturing the moment.

  “What was that for?” Rae whispered.

  “Because you make me happy.” And he wanted to make a memory of this day for both of them.

  “Half my family was watching.”

  “Only half? Remind me later to make up for that lapse.”

  She laughed softly. “I’ll do that.”

  “I still owe you dinner out; Chinese I think it was. Want to go out this Friday?” he asked. “Just the two of us? Good food, movie, take Hank for a walk to end the evening?”

  “I would love to.”

  He slid off the end of the bench and caught her hand. “Let’s beat Jack and Cassie’s score.”

  “It’s impossible. I watched them play for four hours one afternoon on one quarter.”

  Cole rested his arm around her shoulders and steered her around the kids. They joined Jennifer and Tom. With her wheelchair angled to the side of the game she was handling the spinner and timing it perfectly. “The points are racking up.”

  “A lot of practice with video games in the hospital,” Jen mentioned. “You should see me slaughter Pac-man.”

  “They still make that game?” Rachel asked.

  “The version I play is the one they have on the children’s ward. It has cancer cells and big, happy red blood cells eating them up.”

  “I hope you maxed out the counter.”

  “Twice,” Jen replied, amused.

  Rachel took the quarter Cole offered. “That one,” she pointed out an open game.

  Twelve

  Rachel met Marissa Tuesday at the ice cream shop down the street from the high school. Arriving a few minutes early, she chose an outside table and worked on a chocolate malt. The Franklin High School complex was new and had over seven hundred students. When the bell sounded and the exodus began, the teens merged into a sea of backpacks, jeans, and small groups of friends holding together in the moving crowd.

  Minutes later, bells rang at Quincy Middle School across the street. Parents were lined up along the sidewalk and the edge of the parking lot to meet the younger kids. Adam was somewhere over there with his friends. Rachel had plans to meet him after soccer practice.

  Marissa appeared from the crowds of high school students, walking with a rocking gait as her prosthesis threw off her stride. Her friend Janie carried her backpack for her.

  “Hi, M.”

  “I knew you’d be early.”

  “An excuse to sit and remember my own high school days. Hi, Janie.”

  “Miss O’Malley.”

  “Would you like to stay and join us for a soda?”

  “I have to get home. I watch my brother in the afternoons.” Janie glanced inside toward the counter. “Greg is working today.”

  Marissa pulled the chair out and carefully sat down. “I saw him.” Rachel saw the hint of a blush along with the fact that Marissa did not turn to look for herself. Without having to turn more than a fraction, Rachel took a glance at the boy now moving behind the counter, talking with the manager who had made her malt. A nice-looking young man, a senior from what Marissa had said. They’d make a good couple at the prom.

  “I’ll meet you in the morning at the corner?” Janie asked Marissa.

  “Early? I’ve got a council committee meeting.”

  “Early. Bye, Miss O’Malley.”

  “Bye, Janie.”

  Marissa’s friend headed home. Marissa tucked her backpack under the table.

  “I love your earrings,” Rachel mentioned.

  “I made them.”

  “Really?”

  Marissa slipped one off and offered it to Rachel.

  “I’m impressed. You could go into jewelry making if you wanted to.”

  “It’s a hobby Janie is teaching me.”

  Rachel handed it back. “You should make your mom a pair for her birthday.”

  “Really?”

  “Trust me, she’s still young at heart.” Rachel picked up her heavy glass. “I’m going to get another malt. I forgot how much I love these. What’s your pleasure?”

  “A cherry Coke with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.”

  “Coming up.”

  The ice cream shop was a popular stopping point after school. Rachel took a place in line. She watched Marissa as she waited. The girl called a couple hellos to friends passing by, picked up and absently twirled the paper from a straw. Twice teens left the sidewalk to cross over and talk. Rachel smiled when she heard Marissa’s laughter. If there were problems at school, they were not the major ones of not being accepted.

  Rachel reached the counter.

  “Yes, ma’am. What can I get you?”

  Greg had blue eyes. He was lanky, tall, and had a smile that compelled a smile back. “Another chocolate malt, and for my friend, a cherry Coke with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.” He glanced outside to where she nodded.

  She caught the smile when he saw Marissa. “Coming up.”

  He was fast, efficient, and generous with the ice cream for both of them. Greg told her the total with tax before he rang it up, and she wasn’t surprised to see it ring up to the penny he quoted. She paid with exact change.

  Rachel nodded her thanks, took the drinks, and saw Greg’s attention get caught by someone behind her.

  “I got a gold star.”

  “Good for you, squirt. Grab your stool and I’ll fix your reward.” His smile told her it was family.

  The girl was maybe six. “I want a swirly today.”

  “Do you?” Greg nodded his thanks to the lady who had walked the child to the shop.

  The girl rounded the counter and climbed up on the stool by the small counter with the phone and the order pad. “Mom said she’d pick me up at four.”

  “I get you for almost
an hour?” Greg asked in mock horror. “Guess I’ll have to put you to work then.”

  Rachel said a quiet thanks to the teen who held the door for her and carried the glasses outside. She could see why Marissa blushed when Greg was mentioned. The choice of the ice cream shop on Marissa’s part had not been an accident.

  Rachel set down the glasses and took her seat. “I like him, M. How did you two meet?”

  “I baby-sit for his sister sometimes.”

  “She’s cute too.”

  “Clare is a gem.” Marissa ate the cherry atop her ice cream. “It’s sad. Their parents split up last year. Clare lives with their mom, and Greg and his younger brother live with their dad two blocks away. Greg’s been kind of the go-between, looking out for Clare and Tim.”

  “It must be hard on Greg, thinking about leaving them in order to go to the academy.”

  Marissa nodded and dropped her eyes.

  Rachel worked on her malt.

  “Mom wants me to go to college for a music degree.”

  “I know.”

  “But I don’t want to.”

  Rachel hadn’t seen that coming. “Go to college or major in music?”

  “Both. Mom won’t understand.”

  “She knows your singing could take you places. She knows that’s been your dream for most of your life.”

  “I can’t walk across a stage like I used to. People feel pity before they even hear the singing.”

  Rachel wished she had been at the concert, wished she had asked Marissa’s mom more questions when they had spoken. Something had been said, done, that had touched a raw memory for the girl. “It’s not an obstacle to your dream of recording music.” She knew that was the real dream Marissa had, to make records of her songs.

  Marissa nodded. “I know.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “If I leave town, it’s going to be very hard on Mom. And Dad might leave town entirely if I’m not around. I know he keeps this job because it lets him provide health insurance for me.”

  Rachel nodded.

  “I’m known at the high school. No one asks what happened to me because everyone knows. I don’t want to go to a four-year college and start over.”

  “It’s not easy to go into new territory, to face people who don’t know you, who notice your leg first.”

  “I’m not afraid of that.”

  “M, I would be more surprised if you weren’t scared.”

  “I’m just not ready to go away to college yet.”

  “That’s a good place to know you’re at.”

  “I want to help people like you do. Only in my own way. I could get a job at the medical clinic as a receptionist and go to the local college here for two years to get my basic course work.”

  “Have you talked to your mom about doing that?”

  “She’ll be disappointed with me.”

  Rachel smiled. “Trust me; she’s working hard to be able to send you to college in another year without crying all over you when she sees you leave. If you want to stay local for two years of college, maybe you could transition to your own apartment after you graduate. You could get in the habit of going home for dinner twice a week and calling her early on Saturday mornings to wake her up and say let’s go shopping. I can tell how you’re going to make your mom miserable by staying here.”

  “That sounds fun. That’s what I want. A couple years of not having to push so hard. I just want to relax after the last two years before I dive into something huge like a competitive college music degree. I’d have to start the scholarship work this summer, and I’m just not ready.”

  Rachel would have been concerned had Marissa been changing a long-term dream without that kind of thought behind the decision. But what she was hearing was an honest assessment of what Marissa wanted and why. She’d had two years dealing with the amputation, her dad’s grief, and a struggle to catch up on schooling to be able to still graduate with her class. Deciding she wanted a couple years without major life changes was a very grown-up decision. “That sounds reasonable.” Rachel turned her glass, thinking about it. “Most of your friends will be going away to college.”

  “I’m okay with that.”

  “Marissa—” The door to the ice cream shop pushed open. Clare struggled to hold it. “Can I show you my drawing?”

  Marissa turned in her seat. “May I. Sure, Clare.” She waved at Greg, he nodded, and Clare came out to join them.

  “Mom’s hair curls at the bottom. I don’t think I got it right.” The child automatically came around to Marissa’s good side and climbed up on her lap with an ease that said she had done it many times in the past. “I’m doing the picture for Greg so he has one of Mom at Dad’s house.”

  “It’s a good picture. I can help with her hair.” Marissa took the brown crayon.

  The child leaned across the table. “Hi, I’m Clare.”

  Rachel took the offered hand. “Hi, Miss Clare. I’m Rachel.”

  “You’re pretty.”

  “Thank you.”

  The child smiled back. “Welcome.” Clare leaned back against Marissa. “I wanted to draw your picture for Greg, but he said he already had your picture.”

  “Did he?”

  “He showed me. You were at his football game. With Janie.”

  “Oh.”

  Rachel relaxed. Marissa had a pretty full life back. A boyfriend. Her own ideas of what she wanted for the future. The progress was good. And if in another couple years her father got past his own sense of guilt—the hope was there. It was good to see. Marissa was nearing the end of her process of healing.

  Rachel finished her malt as she watched Clare and Marissa. From one case nearing its end she’d change to one still in process. Adam was still working through the losses he’d suffered in the flood.

  When Clare took the picture to show Greg, Rachel shifted the conversation. “Marissa, would you happen to have some earrings I could borrow that would go with a jade dress for Friday night?” Cole was taking her out to the dinner. She needed something to make a better impression than the jeans and sweatshirt she’d been wearing the last few times she’d seen him.

  “Spinners or maybe hoops?”

  “I was thinking I’d pull back my hair and have wisps around my face.”

  “Something long, gold, with a hint of jade. I’ve got just the thing. You could use a matching hair barrette with a fine ribbon woven into it. Do I get to hear details of your date?”

  Rachel smiled. “Maybe. You don’t know him.” “Your reporter friend?”

  She shook her head. “Cole—he’s with the fire department.” Marissa rested her chin on her fist. “A nice guy?” “Very nice guy.” “You’ll have a good time.” “I hope so.”

  Marissa grinned. “You’re nervous.”

  Rachel laughed. She was, for she’d never set out to turn Cole’s head as she hoped to for this date. “Absolutely.”

  “Kate, if I knew you were going to stress out over this, I would never have mentioned it.” Rachel shifted the towel over her wet hair to look back at her sister. Her sister’s bathroom was small, and the exhaust fan in the ceiling was out of balance and whining. Rachel shifted her feet carefully. Kate’s cat was rubbing her ankles and making her sneeze, had already sunk its claws in her socks twice trying to force attention to his desire to be fed.

  “You are going on a date,” Kate replied. “We’re doing this.”

  “It’s hair color. You put on those plastic gloves and use the stuff.”

  “Quiet. I’m reading.”

  “I’m getting tired of staring at sink fixtures that have toothpaste specks on them.”

  “That’s soap specks, thank you, I cleaned in your honor. Okay, we’re going to try this. Close your eyes.”

  Rachel squeezed them tight. “Did you turn off your pager? You get paged in the middle of this and we’ve got a problem.”

  “We’ve already got a problem. The directions look like Greek to me.”

  ??
?I trust you.”

  Kate gently pushed Rachel’s head farther forward. “Loyalty was never a problem. Common sense, yes. Tell me about this date. Have you chosen the dress?”

  “The jade one,” Rachel mumbled through the towel, trying not to breathe in the awful smell.

  “It’s gorgeous. Want to borrow my bracelet and pearls?”

  “Just the pearls. Marissa had the perfect earrings.” Rachel wiped liquid away from her forehead with the corner of the towel. She turned her attention to the real reason for this visit. “How did Jennifer seem to you?”

  Kate’s movements didn’t slow, but her words were sad. “She’ll be bedridden soon.”

  “Is there anything we can do for her we’re not already doing?”

  “I can’t figure out what it might be.”

  “It feels awful.”

  “I know. We do whatever we can to make her happy. She needs time with Tom—that’s the most important thing now.”

  Rachel jerked as Kate’s cat tried to bite her toe. “Marvel, I’m going to bring Cole’s dog with me next time I come. Kate, you feed the cat too much; he weighs a ton. What’s his problem?”

  “You’re in his bed. He’s taken to curling up in a ball inside the sink for some strange reason.”

  “Your cat is dumber than a rock.”

  “About as hardheaded as one too.”

  “Then you’d better get married and let Dave teach him some manners.”

  “Soon.”

  “You’ve been saying that for months.”

  “Hold your breath. I have to do your bangs.”

  Rachel held her breath. If she didn’t know Kate loved Dave an incredible amount, she would suspect that her sister had cold feet about getting married. Kate wanted to be married; she just didn’t want to go through the headache of getting married. She figured if she stalled long enough for Marcus to marry Shari and Lisa to marry Quinn, she could talk Dave into eloping. It would never happen. But Kate was as stubborn as her cat.

  Thirteen

  It had been a hot house fire. Even the caulking around the windowpanes had coiled up. The windowsill wood gave under the force of the crowbar. Cole jolted back as a cooked cockroach tumbled out. Arson and bugs. It made for a memorable Friday.