took me aside and told me about bad dreams he was having, about me not
making it, or it being one of his kids. I don’t complain anymore when he holds
me a little too tight when he hugs me, or he’s a little overprotective. I gave
him an up close and personal vision of his nightmare.”
“How long were you in hospital?”
“Not long, I was in rehab for a while though, learning how
to walk again. I had bruising on my spine, that’s why I couldn’t feel my legs.
It takes a while to get over that.”
“You had heaps of support though right”
“With my family, you better believe it. I had my parents of
course and my brother and sister, but there were also grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins always on hand to help out.”
“Anyone special there for you?”
My smile dimmed a bit. “My fiancé couldn’t cope with my
injuries. He left me after the accident.”
“Gutless” Lee commented.
“No, he just didn’t love me enough to take care of me if I
ended up in a wheelchair.”
“Must have hurt” Lee said gently.
“Like you would not believe. I thought I was totally
destroyed but one day I’m lying in the hospital bed, with my Grandma Rita
sitting in a chair beside me knitting away. I felt some pain in my leg, told my
grandmother and promptly burst into tears and wailed something stupid about
Paul and how he should be there. My grandmother basically told me that I had
two choices, I could be sad or angry. If I was sad I should just give up
because I wasn’t going anywhere, anger would get me back on my feet. She told
me to hold onto that anger.”
“Would you take him back if he wanted you?”
“No” I said, relieved to know I meant it.
“Good to know.” Lee stared straight ahead at the road.
I threw him a sideways glance. “I’m serious Lee, you cannot
be matchmaking.”
“But I like you and I think you would be good for Jake” Lee
said.
My head dropped. “Flattering as that is to hear, you cannot
start manipulating your son’s love life just because you are feeling a bit
clucky.”
“Did you just call me clucky?” Lee sounded affronted.
“Yes, and if you’re not careful you’re going to become like
one of those Italian mothers, constantly complaining that their kids haven’t
given them any grandchildren yet.”
Lee looked insulted as he pulled up outside my building.
“It was good to meet you Lee” I said as I got out of the
car.
“You too” he said.
I waved as he pulled out of the driveway. Turning to head up
to my apartment I had Sean come running up to me, following me as I walked.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine” I said, “but I think you and I are going to need
to have a little talk.”
Sean hung his head and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for
him. Opening the door to the apartment I motioned him towards the couch.
“So, are you going to tell my why you called Griffin this
morning?” I asked gently.
Sean seemed to be having trouble meeting my eyes. “I came
over early this morning to see you, before you went to work. You didn’t answer
the door so I opened it with my key and could see that you weren’t here. I got
worried and so I called Griffin.”
I shook my head. “Okay we’re going to start with the
beginning of that explanation because it raises a bunch of questions. First of
all, why do you have a key to my place?”
“I do some work in the apartments at times. Miss Betsy gave
me the master keys yesterday to do some work and I need to finish it today.
Your key is on that group.”
“Alright, though for future reference, could you at least
please try to call me before entering my house next time? How did you know that
I hadn’t just left for work early?”
“Car was still in the parking area.”
“Smart” I said. “Now for the next big question. Why on earth
would you call Griffin? Your better bet would have been Miss Betsy, Crystal or
Edwin or maybe anyone other than Griffin. Believe me having Griffin yelling at
me