Love Me ~ Like That (25 page)

I’m not sure what just passed between Cash and Hendrix, but that macho garbage needs to stop. I don’t have time for that shit in my life. I peek at Papa’s ankle beneath the ice pack. It’s swelling. I’ll ask Margie what we should do when she gets over here. Granny is sitting in a chair reading, “I thought you were tired.”

She grins and nods, but never looks up from her book. “Margie is coming over?” she asks.

She knows Margie is coming because she and Margie have become great friends. She is trying to change the subject. I learned from the master, after all.

“Yes, ma’am, she should be here any minute. But I’m not sure we should go with Papa’s ankle swelling.”

Granny puts her book away. “Bailey, don’t be silly. Margie can handle everything and if he gets worse, she can call you.”

“Can I ask you a question, Granny?”

“Of course, baby, you can always ask me anything.” She gives me a sweet smile.

“Why were you being so mean to Hendrix? He brought you flowers. And you know he is paying for all this stuff for you guys, too. I think he has changed or at the very least he is trying.”

“Bailey, have you lost your mind? That boy isn’t paying for anything but that goop he puts in his hair. You need to stay away from him. He is up to no good. I can see it in his eyes.”

“Granny, who else would be paying for all of this? No one we know has that kind of money. None of us suddenly won Publisher’s Clearing House. You’re holding a grudge against him because of how he was before. Besides, we’re only friends now. It won’t hurt to cut him a little slack.”

“Hey,” Margie calls out.

Since Margie is here, I drop the subject.

“How are you, Granny? Papa?” Margie asks, looking between the two.

If Granny likes you, she wants you to call her Granny. Papa doesn’t care. Whatever makes Granny happy has always made him happy.

“My goodness, what happened to your foot?” Margie goes over to Papa.

“That boy jerked me down.”

Papa’s dementia has been bad since Granny’s heart attack. He makes up stories about things happening to him, he is losing control of his bodily functions, and his memory is getting worse. Margie looks over at me in horror. I shake my head a little to let her know it’s not true.

“Do you need something for pain? Does it hurt?” She lifts the ice pack to examine it and he nods.

I get him some ibuprofen and water while she pets him like he is her baby.

He eats it up.

“Bailey, y’all have fun,” Granny says. “Don’t worry, Margie will take care of us.”

If I didn’t know better, I would think she was trying to get rid of me. I give them all a hug and tell them when they can expect us back.

Cash and I have a wonderful day, and I love spending time with him. We laugh and joke around with each other. He has become my best friend and the love of my life. I feel true intensity every time I’m with him. Even when he kisses me on my forehead, I feel love from him. I never knew love until Cash, I only thought I was in love.

Then when we make love, he fucking rocks my world. He is constantly coming up with new stuff for us to try. He lets my kink flag fly and loves it. We have been to Hedrovibes By Kissin’ Karen several times and Karen loves him. He thinks we need to open our own store up around here. He’s crazy. My family would die of embarrassment. Maybe if we opened one up over by where he owned his business and didn’t tell anyone, that might work. Though, I don’t have time for a job away from home right now.

He is the most understanding guy I’ve ever met. He will come over and watch TV with us until Granny and Papa go to bed. He refuses to have sex with me when they are in the house. Believe me, I’ve tried.

Cash is everything to me. I no longer want to leave this little town. I want to stay here. I want to raise a family and work hard. He has changed my way of thinking. Money makes very little difference in the grand scheme of things. And why should I be any different than my grandparents? They are the best, most loving people I know, and if I turn out to be half the woman Granny is, I’ll be happy.

Bailey and I had a late night last night because Mom called about two hours into our date and told us Papa’s ankle was the size of a cantaloupe and he wouldn’t stay off of it.

We took him to the emergency room. The doctor said it was a bad sprain and he needed to stay off of it. With his dementia, he didn’t understand any of this and became agitated. He didn’t like being told he had to sit down. At times, he would push Bailey out of his way so he could get up.

Over the last three months he has gone downhill. Bailey thinks his deterioration happened because he wasn’t around Granny all during her sickness. I think we’re close to needing someone here to help full time. I can stay overnight, and Mom said she would stay during the day, but Bailey won’t admit she needs help. She is determined to take care of them by herself.

She has grown up a lot in the past three months and has quit letting people run over her. I wish she could see through Hendrix, though. She thinks he has changed, has had some kind of spiritual awakening. I think he is full of shit. She and I had a conversation with him, letting him know that all they ever would be is friends. He seemed to take it all in stride, but I know how guys like him operate. He will use every play in the book to get her back. I should personally thank him for being such an ass because Bailey now knows a good man when she sees one.

He called this morning to see if he could do anything for her, and she is letting him pick up the Jacksons’ prescriptions. I would have done that, but she said that would give us an extra hour together before I leave for work. Maybe I can head him off at the door and get the medicines so he can be on his way.

Hendrix arrives with balloons, an oxygen tank, and a huge bag of medicine. He looks prissy with his pressed khakis and button down long sleeved shirt.

“Hello, Henry, thank you for bringing the medicine, I can take it from here. You have a good day.” I reach for the bag, and he uses his arm to push past me.

“Get out of my way, redneck.” He glares at me.

I’m not sure what the oxygen tank is for. Neither one of the Jacksons have been prescribed one as far as I know.

“Bailey, I have everything you needed,” he calls out.

She walks out of the bedroom where she was changing Papa. He is in adult diapers now.

“Thanks, Hendrix, how much was it? I can write you a check. Who is getting the oxygen? I don’t remember any of the doctors telling me anything about either one of them needing oxygen.”

He gives her a smile and tries to hug her, but she shrugs away from him.

“You don’t owe me anything, Bailey. Really, I would do anything for them. There is a new study for dementia patients that is top secret, that more oxygen to the brain is linked to calming situations,” he says. “I’ve been researching alternative treatments for dementia.”

This is a lie if I have ever heard one in my life. I’m not sure what his angle is on this one, but he isn’t going to get away with this. “That’s the biggest load of crap, Bailey, you’re not falling for this are you?” This guy’s a piece of work.

“It couldn’t hurt, could it? I mean, it’s just oxygen, right? I’ll call his doctor in a little bit to make sure though. Thank you, Hendrix, for being so thoughtful.”

You have to be fucking kidding me right now.

“Are those balloons for Papa?”

She gives him a sweet look. I hate this prick.

“Yes, I thought maybe they would cheer him up.” he says.

He’s a little too gleeful for my taste.

“Can I take them in to him?” he asks.

“Please, go on in. I need to go help Granny out of the shower,” she says.

I wait right outside the door so I can hear what is being said between Papa and Hendrix. I decide I don’t like Hendrix being left alone with him so I go on in, and I find Hendrix leaning over the bed with his face down close to Papa’s ear and a snarl on his face. He starts to raise up when I walk in, and Papa reaches up and knocks the shit out of him. I bust out laughing and Hendrix covers his nose which is gushing blood. His fancy button down shirt with a guy on a horse now has blood droplets on it. I hope it’s ruined.

“You fucking bastard, I’ll kill you,” he tells Papa.

That’s it. He’s out of here. I grab him by his collar. I’m dragging his ass toward the bedroom door, and Bailey comes running in.

“What’s going on in here?” she asks.

Hendrix looks at me and shakes his head. “Bailey, I’m not sure what is wrong with Cash today, but he just hit me for no reason.”

Now it is on. We have a serious problem. “He is lying to you, Sweet Cheeks. I came in and he was leaning over Papa whispering in his ear. When he raised up, Papa hit him in his nose.”

Her mouth drops open and she looks at Papa, then back to me. “How dare you blame this on a poor defenseless man, Cash.”

“Bailey, I’ll leave.” Hendrix raises his hands. “I don’t want to upset your grandfather any more than he has already been upset.”

Hendrix looks over at me with a sneer on his face.

“You better be glad I respect the Jacksons or I’d kick your ass.”

I act like I’m about to hit him and he jumps three feet in the air. Kick my ass, I bet. “Yeah, you need to leave, pretty boy. You’re not fooling anyone with your lies. Bailey sees through you, don’t you, Sweet Cheeks?” I reach for her, and she shrugs away from me this time.

“Both of you need to leave, I don’t need any drama in my life. I have real problems.” She points toward the door.

He has had it now. Little fucker. He leaves the bedroom and I take a few moments with her. She needs to understand what happened. “Bailey, I didn’t do anything. That really was Papa that knocked the shit out of him.”

We both look over at Papa and he nods his head. He is more lucid than she gives him credit sometime.

“Cash, when I came in the room you were the one with your hands on Hendrix and he was the one with a bloody nose. All I know is what I saw with my own two eyes.”

She believes him over me? This hurts me, tears at me.

“I guess that is what you would see, Bailey.” I leave the bedroom and walk out of the house. Good thing that little fucker is already gone because I would have lost my self-control and beat him until he was nothing but a bloody mess.

I keep replaying everything in my mind to see where it went wrong. No wonder the little fucker is going to be a lawyer. He is good at lying. How can he look Bailey in the eye and flat out lie?

Something bothers me about that oxygen tank. I want to do my own research. I’m going to figure out what that fucking prick is up to and then I’m going to shut him down, but right now I have to cool down. I don’t want to do something while I’m angry, something I’ll end up regretting. Being angry doesn’t solve anything, and could potentially ruin everything that Bailey and I have built together. These are the things I have to keep telling myself. I keep my mantra going and start doing pull ups.