Beauty from Ashes

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 29

It’s evening, and we’re all sitting around the TV watching one of Patricia’s cooking competition shows. I hate to admit it, but I find the cutthroat challenges mildly entertaining. The host just made one of the contestants trade in all her spices for a five-pound chunk of sea salt and a cheese grater.

The funny thing is I bet her dish will still have more flavor than Patricia’s.

A commercial comes on, reminding us that it’s time to buy diamond jewelry for the ones we love. I wonder if Jake and I will ever get around to finding each other rings. It’s not like we sat down to actually plan our wedding. He asked me on a Monday morning, and we arrived at the courthouse with our paperwork that Thursday.

Just the kind of romance every girl dreams about, right?

I still don’t know why he did it. Asked me to marry him, I mean. We’d had this major fight the night before. A big one. He yelled, so you know it had to be huge.

It was a week after the G-tube surgery. He’d been in Seattle for nearly a month, and Roberto gave him an ultimatum. Either come home and get back to work or find another job.

For a little while, we talked about leaving the trailer and finding a place in Seattle. Jake was looking for work out there, not going from business to business or anything, but he was checking online to see if anything popped up.

I was all for the move. There wasn’t anything tying me down to Orchard Grove. I hated the trailer park. I’d fallen out of touch with all my co-workers from the assisted living home. I still got together sometimes with Jake’s friends from the store, but that was about the extent of our social lives. I hadn’t even met Dr. Bell yet.

But Jake’s a creature of habit, and even though Roberto treats him like a soiled diaper, Jake’s comfortable there. Knows the people, knows the job. Sometimes I wonder if that boy has an adventurous bone in his entire body.

Anyway, he needed to get back to work. Roberto had been bugging him for a couple weeks but said he’d wait until after the surgery. Now there were no other excuses. Of course, Jake didn’t tell me all this while it was happening. He waited until his mind was already made up.

“I think I need to head back home soon,” he said. We were out walking because I needed fresh air. I tried to force myself outside two or three times a week, take a little walk to unwind. Jake didn’t always come, but he wanted to this time. It was pouring rain, typical Seattle weather, so we were walking all the levels of one of the parking garages. Real romantic setting, as I’m sure you can imagine.

I thought Jake was just making small talk. He’d mentioned going back to Orchard Grove before, but I never thought much about it. Jake isn’t the proactive type if you haven’t figured that out yet. Doesn’t find the gumption to do much if it takes him out of his little comfort bubble.

And at that point, at least as far as I knew, his comfort bubble was with me and Natalie in Seattle. Not that I was going to get on my knees and beg him to stay or anything. But I didn’t think he was all that serious until he told me, “Roberto put me on the schedule for Tuesday.”

I had no idea if Tuesday was in one day or six, but he was obviously talking about a definite date sometime in the coming week.

“Really?” I tried not to sound upset. I didn’t want him to think I couldn’t handle being here with Natalie on my own. In fact, I figured it might be nice to hoard that thirty-four-dollar-a-day Medicaid meal voucher all to myself. “How are you going to get back there?”

“Marcos is in town visiting his sister. He’s driving back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.” The word fell flat on my lips. Would he come back? What if Natalie never made it to Orchard Grove? What if Jake never saw her again?

“Kind of sucks, doesn’t it?” He let out this little laugh, like he thought it was a stupid idea too, but Roberto said he had to so what choice did he have? Jake’s such a yes boy. I’m sure Patricia made sure of that when he was still in diapers.

“There’s one more thing,” he said quietly. Like he was scared of me. I hate it when he does that. Makes me feel like I’m some ogre he’s got to tiptoe around.

“What?” I knew it wouldn’t be good news from the tone of his voice.

“Charlene’s going to be driving with us, too.”