Raineytsked.After the Grammys, Jacques had been home for most of March, but then Heroine had set off on their fifty-show, four-month North America tour on April first. Since the page on Rainey’s calendar had just flipped to June, the end of August seemed eonsaway.
Rainey:Two months is notsoon.
She sether phone face down so she wouldn’t be tempted to read Jacques’s text until she plarned another twobags.
She’d learned how to make the sleeping mats from Dawn Phillips, a pastor’s wife from Conroe, Texas, as the two of them sat in the waiting room on the eighth floor in M.D. Anderson’s Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Center. Holi had been a patient at the center for eight weeks. And even though Holi was a married woman now, Ash was starting the last year in his MBA program, and she refused to let him defer for a semester to sit by her side while she had chemo and radiation to wipe out her immune system before her body would take Ray’s stem cells to rebuild it. So, Rainey had volunteered for thejob.
And given the fact that while Holi was undergoing treatment, Rainey was either worried about her, missing Jacques, or bored out of her mind, she was grateful for theproject.
The one boon of being in Houston for weeks on end was that she had been able to catch Heroine’s show when they’d opened for The Chainsmokers at The Woodlands Pavilion in late July. At the time, Heroine’s self-titled debut album had been number 64, and their summer releaseLightning in a Bottlehad debuted on iTunes, between Twenty One PilotsBlurryfaceand Halsley’sBadlands.It eventually made it to number 6, and the pride Rainey felt was nearly enough to cause a stroke. At the show, Rainey had screamed herself hoarse as Heroine played to an electrified crowd. Then she’d watched The Chainsmokers from the comfort of Jacques’s embrace, and she’d spent the night in his hotel room, their first time alone in nearly amonth.
That one night, by far, was the highlight of her time inHouston.
The easiest phase of a stem cell transplant, Rainey had learned earlier, was for the donor. And even that part was pretty harrowing. Ray, the hero that he was, hadn’t balked at all at the sight of the infusion chair where he had to sit for three hours while an IV in one arm took blood from his body and sent it to a machine that separated out his stem cells and then sent the blood back to his body through an IV in his otherarm.
Rainey knew this because she, Jacques, and Gloria had gone with him. Rainey went for moral support, but Jacques went by invitation. In the short time the Lopez-Craines had been in town, Ray had developed just a small case of hero worship for her boyfriend — which only got bigger after he heard Jacques play his guitar. But Rainey noticed, too, that the admiration was far from one-sided. Jacques genuinely laughed at all of Ray’s clever observations, and when her little brother launched into any topic — from wormholes to driver ants — Jacques gave him his fullattention.
She loved him all the more forthat.
Once it was determined that Ray was a perfect match for Holi, he and Gloria had stayed in town another two weeks while Cliff had to return home to work. Ray needed five days of drug treatment to stimulate the production of stem cells, and then he had to have a couple of days to recover from the ordeal. Thankfully, when Cliff went back home, Gloria finally accepted their invitation to stay at thehouse.
For Rainey and Holi, having Ray in the house — horsing around, complaining when his mother told him to take a bath, and coming down in the mornings sleepy-eyed and in stocking feet — brought John Lee to mind in so many ways. And when Ray stirred those memories, Rainey and Holi made a point to share them. John Lee was Ray’s brother, too, afterall.
The day Ray and Gloria flew back to Bowling Green, Rainey, Holi, and even Gloria had all cried. Rainey was pretty sure her little brother would have shed a tear too if he hadn’t needed so desperately to appear strong and stoic in front ofJacques.
But they’d made plans to visit soon. This time, Holi, Ash, Rainey, and Jacques were to go to Bowling Green for Thanksgiving. Jacques had even reserved rooms at Copper House, but when the time came, Holi had been suffering with acute graft-versus-host-disease. Jaundiced and covered in skin rashes — even inside her mouth and on her tongue — Holi was miserable and had lost an alarming amount of weight. Even with all that, Dr. Lambert described her GVHD symptoms asmild.
Rainey had shuddered to imagine a severe case. As it was, Holi had only turned the corner in May, and she was finally starting to look and feel human again. Shaking off the unpleasant memory of her sister’s long illness, Rainey flipped over herphone.
Jacques:It won’t seem like two months. Are you working on your matsnow?
She quickly typed herreply.
Rainey:Yep. Making plarn. I have classtomorrow.
Since July,when Rainey wasn’t driving Holi to and from Houston or to and from doctors’ appointments in town, she was crocheting sleeping mats and delivering them to shelters. In February, when Paulette Parker, one of the ladies from St. Joseph’s Shelter, asked her if she would teach a sleeping-mat-crochet lesson to her church’s youth group, Rainey accepted. And, to her surprise, she’d enjoyed it. Even more surprising, the kids had enjoyed it,too.
So, she started teaching a class on Wednesday afternoons at The Boys & Girls Club of Acadiana, and although mostly girls showed up, some boys joined in occasionally. Everyone had to make a sleeping mat first, but then Rainey would introduce them to simple patterns for scarves, reusable grocery sacks, and beanies. The girls who came every week progressed quickly and were able to move onto more challenging projects. And Rainey soon grew addicted to the look of empowerment in their eyes as they realized what they could create with their own hands. And seeing those kids every Wednesday was certainly the high point of the week while Heroine was touringagain.
Another weekly routine Rainey had come to appreciate was the phone call from her father. After Ray’s surprise visit, Rainey had felt a little guilty —but just a little — for blocking her father’s number. And now when he called, which he did every Sunday, she answered. Dylan Reeves was still Dylan Reeves. Their conversations didn’t really delve beyond the surface of things, but he was the one making the effort, and his devoted weekly call made it clear to her that he wanted the relationship. If nothing else, Rainey told herself, it wasprogress.
And it was one more hour when she wasn’t actively missing Jacques. She was only passively missinghim.
Rainey:And you’re wrong. Two months away from you feels liketen!
As she had before,Rainey flipped over her phone and worked her way through two more bags even though she heard her phone buzztwice.
Jacques:I agree. Let’s do something about it. Pack abag.
Rainey smirked at his joke.Mentally scrolling through the band’s tour schedule, she knew they’d played a show in Portland, Maine, the night before and were heading to Boston and then to New York City for back-to-back shows at Madison Square Garden. Both New York shows had sold out weeksago.
But whatever fantasy Jacques wanted to tease her with, she’d playalong.
Rainey:Sure. I’ll hop on a plane and meet you in Bostontomorrow.
His reply camethrough before she could turn her phone overagain.
Jacques:Not soon enough. I have to see youtoday.
