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Chapter
Twenty-One
Bea pulled thenew pillbox from the plastic sack.“All right, Mama,” she said.“Let’s go over how to fill this.”
Her mama looked exhausted, much the same way Bea felt.Everything tugged at her, from texts from Meredith about some decisions she still needed to make, to Curtis saying he could come home to help, to Grant wanting to know how everything was going in Texas.
She hadn’t spoken to him in a day, maybe two, and Bea’s throat constricted when she thought about the beautiful South Carolina coast, the carefree afternoon on the beach, and the phoenix kite she’d left in Grant’s care.
She shook her head, trying to get her emotions out of her thoughts.She couldn’t go back to Hilton Head Island right now.Her father had fallen and broken his hip, and since he’d had problems with it for years, they’d done a full hip replacement.
He’d be in a walker for at least six weeks.He couldn’t drive—and he was the one who went to town and got the groceries, picked up dog food, prescriptions, and Mama’s favorite coconut chocolate dream ice cream every week.
A sob wrenched its way through her chest, but she managed to swallow it back before it came out.“Mama.”She turned around, as her mother had been right behind her coming in from the car.She bent over Daddy in the living room, helping him with a blanket and pillow around his injured side.
She turned, the emotion plain on her face, and Bea knew she’d be staying here for another night.Probably more than one.She’d already been sleeping in the guest room since Wednesday night, when she’d arrived back in Sweet Water Falls.
Four days had passed, and while today was the Sabbath, she didn’t feel the usual peace and comfort she did on Sundays.She took a deep breath and removed the plastic around the pill box so she could open the little squares.
“All right.”Mama slid onto the barstool at the counter.It could only accommodate two stools, which hadn’t been a problem for the past decade.Bea had called Tori and Dallin, her sister and brother, and they’d both come to help too.
At the moment, Dallin should be getting dinner and bringing it here, and Tori had stopped at the grocery store after Daddy had been discharged from the hospital to get the groceries their parents needed that week.She had to go home tomorrow, as she worked a busy job with a back surgeon in Dallas, and they had operations scheduled this week.
Dallin would stay for another few days, and he only lived a couple of hours away, in San Antonio.Bea was the only one who’d stayed near her parents, and as part of her new adventure in life, she’d really been looking forward to leaving the same small town where she’d grown up.
She sort of had, as she lived north of Sweet Water Falls, and her folks still lived within the town boundaries.Technically, Bea lived between Short Tail and White Pines, about forty minutes from her parents.
“He has to eat with all of these,” Bea said, flipping the pages.“Tori’s getting little things like applesauce and string cheese so he can just have a few bites.”
“I’m not hungry,” her dad called from the living room.
Bea didn’t even turn and look in his direction.She sank onto the second barstool and rubbed her forehead.The old fluorescent lights here made her eyes burn and her head ache.She felt like she’d gone back in time thirty years, to a place where she couldn’t have an opinion, and she had to do everything Mama and Daddy said.
She thought of the kite-flying, and how Daddy had stressed her so completely she couldn’t enjoy herself.There wasn’t anything to enjoy about a hip replacement and taking care of a stubborn old man, and she didn’t need him adding to that.
She met Mama’s eyes.“He has to take them, Mama.On time.Every day.All day long.”
“He’s not going to do it.”
“Yes, he is,” Bea said fiercely.“If you want him to get better, and he wants to get better, he’s taking them.Every time.”She reached for one of the pill bottles and peered at the label.Twice a day.
She’d purchased a pill box that had four available boxes for each day of the week, and she put one pill in the top spot and the bottom one.One by one, she opened the bottles and put the pills where they went.
“All right,” she said.“They’re different, see, Mama?”She pushed the box in front of her mom.“Dallin put all of them on automatic renewal, so they’ll be ready at the pharmacy without you having to call.You just have to go pick them up when you get the call that says they’re ready.”
Her mama met her eyes, and Bea nodded, a silent acknowledgement that this was going to be really hard.She didn’t vocalize to her mother that she could do this, but the understanding lingered between them.
“Take a picture with your phone,” Bea said.“Then you don’t have to try to read all the bottles.They’re all different colors and sizes.I can come help you every Sunday.”Those last words put a nail in any ideas she might have of leaving Texas.She’d just pinned herself to Sweet Water Falls, at least for the next several weeks.
And what would be left for her and Grant then?
Summer would arrive, and with it, his daughter.He worked his rentals a lot in the summer, according to him, which Bea believed.He’d said millions of people came to Hilton Head in the summer, and she’d seen the pictures.
He wouldn’t be able to come here; she wouldn’t be able to go there.While her mother took a picture of the daily pill box and then started to fill the other boxes with the right pills, Bea turned away.She needed to breathe for a moment, and she stepped onto the back deck at the same time Dallin called, “Hey-ho!I’ve got barbecue sandwiches.”
He sounded so upbeat and cheerful, which Bea appreciated.Her brother had always seen the sunny side of life, and while he’d realized the seriousness of the situation, he’d brought the positivity this past weekend.
Bea’s stomach rumbled for the want of food, but she wouldn’t be able to eat until she figured out a few things.She took a deep breath of the evening air, focused, and lifted her phone to dial Cass.
