Second Chances Ch. 03

It was about a week later when I got a call on my cell while I was at work. It was the Shaker Heights Police. Caller ID's a great thing. After verifying who I was, the officer asked to speak with me about the police report on the theft of the two necklaces. Were they mine? Yes. Did you give them away or lose them, No. I told her the story of finding the hidden compartment of my jewelry box disturbed and that both necklaces were missing. They were custom made and I had pictures of the necklaces on me wearing them. I wore them at a Christmas party and a wedding. She asked and I started to describe the Christmas party dress and the officer completed the description. I realized that she had the pictures. Then she asked that I sign an affidavit to that effect and get it to her office ASAP. I used the lawyer at work to write up what I needed to say, had it notarized and fed-exed and scanned and emailed it in two hours. I never thought I would ever even hear of that jewelry again, these pieces were so beautiful.

The thing is, the call was a great break from what was going on. The day before I received a call from the doctor's office for the follow up visit. She pulled the appointment forward, two whole weeks earlier. That didn't sound good but no one was going to say anything. My appointment was for tomorrow, Wednesday, so I still have another day to sit and worry. That's a productive way to face it. A bowl of ice cream would have worked too. I thought about it and decided to wait it out. Tomorrow would be another day and when I had the facts to work with, I'd make my decisions then. Again, it wasn't going to be a good night's sleep.

I love doctors. The reason they say medicine an art was because they don't know everything. A couple of results came back skewed, the wrong way. It could be a fluke, it could be real. She wanted to do more extensive tests, and my right breast still did not feel the same after the mammogram. I thought that I may have felt a lump, but I wasn't sure and she wasn't sure either. That concerned me. Back to medicine being an art.

It wasn't the time to panic, that happened immediately after I walked out of her office. I sat down with a friend of mine, New York Cherry. I limited myself to one cone. Funny how you get a bit more calm after some comfort food.

On the way home I sent a text to my brother Dave to Google video chat after his kids went in bed. Later with him and Terry, I gave them a quick rundown of what happened today. The three of us talked for over an hour.

It helped that Terry had been through this before. For someone 2,500 miles away, being able to see them, hear them...they calmed me down. Terry offered to be available and would take time off of work if needed. She's such a good mother and sister-in-law. Dave said he'd be with me too. Because of the kids, they'd have to split their time. Being alone and going through health issues isn't good. I started missing everyone the past couple of weeks, and then Jerry showed up at my doorstep to add to it. That was good, but it only made it worse. I needed people more than ever, but I knew that for now, I'd hang in there. I'm my mother's daughter. I learned much from Mom's final journey those years ago. Hoped that I could be half as good as she was.

As expected, they confirmed a mass in my right breast. The thing to do now was to take a sample of the tissue, perform a biopsy. Terry warned me because of where it was exactly located, it could very well be painful. Think something like a cork screw RIPPING SOME OF YOU OUT OF YOU. For some reason they couldn't use much of a local. Don't ask me why. I was overwhelmed, I couldn't fight it. If this disease turns out to be more serious, it'll be back home to the Cleveland clinic. At least there I'd have a backup support system in place.

Outpatient and home and a day of rest after that. The three of us agreed that I could handle this alone. Anything more than this, someone would be there. It was scheduled for Monday morning. That gave me an entire weekend to worry about it. I was successful in keeping Cherry Garcia in the freezer.

Sunday at noon I was talking with Terry on Google video when the doorbell rang. I asked her to hold on, I wasn't expecting anyone. I opened the door and stopped. Jerry was there with a dozen roses and a small box in his hand. I was in total shock and my mind was racing a mile a minute. I had to be standing there for a minute with my mouth open.

"Well, could you at least invite me in?" That's when I grabbed him and gave him a hug. He presented the flowers to me, "I thought you'd like these."

"Jerry, what are you doing here? What is..." at that he put a finger to my lips and gave me the little box that he was carrying.

"This is yours. I thought that I'd deliver it to you personally. Let's go sit down." Walking to the couch, he moved the PC to sit down and started talking with Terry and Dave. "You guys have to make it up here. You wouldn't believe the weather. Just as much overcast as Cleveland." The three of them all laughed. That was true.

I started to get my bearings again. This wasn't random. This was planned. I grabbed the PC from Jerry and looked at both my brother and sister-in-law. "You guys set me up again. Didn't you?" While they started to mouth theatric denials I started talking over them loudly. "Thank you, thank you so much."

Dave started laughing. "It was all I could do to keep you away from the ice cream, honest. Besides, it was his turn to talk us into something now. Unfortunately, both of us are getting the flu, and that's not good for you. We'll see you guys later. Bye." And they disconnected.

Jerry sat on the couch looking at me. He's got a big smile on his face and he's holding out that small box to me. "I actually came here to deliver this to you. The roses were an add on. Don't worry, they're rainforest compliant or something like that."

I took the box and shook it slightly. We both laughed at the joke. It was something we both did as kids and never outgrew. Whenever either of us would give a gift, extra care was taken to either hide the rattle, or lay a false trail. Jerry's best was glass beads in a very small glass jar when we were not seriously dating in college. It hid tickets to see the Alkaline Trio.

He looked at me with a smile on his face, but he wasn't saying anything. I took the ribbon off, and then unpeeled the tape. But I did it slowly to see what reaction I was going to get out of him. I glanced at him and saw that he wasn't impatient.

The wrapping came off and there were two small boxes, neither of which rattled. We both laughed again. I repeated the process on the first box, taking off the ribbon, then the tape, and then found another box inside. He busted out laughing at the look on my face. I gave him a very fake scowl that barely covered my smile. Once again, the ribbon, the wrapping then a plain box that could be opened. It's my pendent necklace. He'd brought back my necklace. I looked at him then give him a big hug.

"Well, are you going to do the other one? I bring them from Ohio by covered wagon out west, over the plains and the Rockies. Fighting off the sun and thirst followed by the snow in the mountains. The least you could do is..." and I stopped him with a kiss, a real kiss. I immediately melted into his arms and begin sobbing quietly.

He wrapped his arms around me and gently held me. The stress and strains of the medical problems, the loneliness of having all the people in my life being 2,500 miles away. It all came out with my tears as he slowly rocked me back and forth and held me tight. This was the gift I needed. I think that he knew that. That damn brother of mine. He tried to take care of his little sister, like his little sister helped take care of Mom to the end, and years later, Terry till she recovered.

Jerry sat with me and held me. He held me. He held me till I decided to move. After what seemed like forever or only a few seconds, I slowly disentangled myself from his arms. Looking directly into his eyes while wiping the tears from mine, "Thank you for being here with me. You don't know how much it means to..." This is when he stopped me with a kiss to my cheek, and a hug that said so much more.

"I know you Sandy. You've always been one strong and resourceful woman. But I remember you telling me about being with your mother as she declined. By then, it was just you and your brother. Your Nonno Adriano had passed the year before. Last week, your brother called me and told me that because of the flu, they couldn't make it. I had to come for you to have someone to be around." He paused and then smiled.. "I bet you can't guess what's in the other box?"

"How did you get these back?" I was holding the pendent up for the light to shine upon it. "I was wondering when that Officer called from Shaker Heights and she wanted to verify that they were mine and they were missing. What happened?"

"Sandy, answering her right away helped, and emailing and fed-exing the rest was helpful. You gave her all she needed to nail Diana. Since Dan was fired, Jason is just gone and I was long gone, Diane started wearing those necklaces to work. Do you remember Janet from HR?" I nodded yes. The three of us had spent some time talking with one another at the last Christmas Party.

"She was the one I spoke with after you left. I told her everything. I was pretty upfront with her and asked that I not be in any contact with Diana. If that was at all possible. It wasn't. Because we weren't in the same department and I didn't do anything with Diane during work hours, I ended up being in the clear.

"Dan got canned right away and Jason was notified that he needed to start looking for another job. Nobody could touch Diana until the Police report for that necklace came into play. I got a deposition from the Artist that made the pieces, the receipt, my report to the police, Janet's pictures of Diane wearing both of them at work, your statements and the rest was history.

"In the end, I decided to not prosecute. She resigned, signed a waver against any taking any actions against the company for sexual harassment and returned your two necklaces. Dan's wife got back a bit of valuables from her house too.

"Oh, there's other thing. They were so happy that they were able to close this whole mess, they asked me what I wanted. I asked that Jason get his job back.

"I know that Jason made a big mistake, just like this idiot. He's not a bad guy and he's was doing all he could to get a job, but things were tight. His wife Loretta got pregnant right before his transgression. I asked that they hire him back, and hire her to fill Diana's place. I know his wife Loretta from high school. She's always been a hard worker. The director of personnel thought about it for a day and agreed. I'm sure that Janet helped. Jason made a mistake and his wife and kid shouldn't have to suffer because of it."

"One final thing. There's other reason that I decided to not to prosecute." He stopped talking and got a more serious look on his face. "Over the past couple of months I realized that Diana's a lost soul. I looked up her history. Growing up was so unstable for her. She really grew up damaged. Lots of inappropriate behavior, self-defeating too. When we were 'negotiating', I offered her that if she would return the stolen items and drop the threat of suit against the company. Then the company would pay cobra, including personal therapy for her for 18 months, then I'd drop all the charges. I got the company to pay for that last bit. They aren't really heartless bean counters, but they do have to protect themselves. Cutting the threat of being sued helped.

"Diana jumped at it. She saw that she was trapped, and I offered a 'get out of Jail Free' card. I think that it was the last thing she ever expected. I hope that she'll take advantage of it. I don't know if anybody else will ever give her a chance again."

We both remained quiet after this. I was thinking about his changes since we split. He'd grown, he'd grown up a lot.

It was getting to be later in the afternoon and I was a bit hungry. I had to stop eating solids by 7 PM and liquids by midnight. "Hey, have you eaten? I still have a few hours left before I have to fast. What do you think?" He started laughing. I looked at him and asked, "OK, what's so funny?"

"Oh, I was thinking the last fancy dinner we had in Ohio. I really deserved it, didn't I?" He shook his head in sorrow. "I almost told you about my cheating on you at dinner, but decided to wait until we got back to the condo. I'm so sorry for what I did."

Here is a man that has flown 2,500 miles unexpectedly to be with his ex-girlfriend before she gets a non-life threatening biopsy. "You know Jerry, I won't give you a 'what's done is done'. I can forgive, but I'll never forget. With that said, let's turn a page and move on. Can we go on from here? I'm sure we'll go back to it again together, but let's move on now?" I smiled and reached for his hand. We clasped our hands together in agreement and maybe something more.

Then I continued, "So if you don't want to go out, how about take in? There's a good Thai place three blocks down. I've got a menu and you can pick it up. That'll give me some time to clean me and this place up. I'm not the neatest person when I'm not expecting anyone." We both chuckled about that one. I'm Oscar and he's Feliks, the Odd Couple. If he wasn't Polish, he'd be Felix. I'd still be messy.

With that, we ordered enough for left-overs for two days. He helped me straighten the living room, then he took off telling me that he'd walk slowly both ways to give me some more time. A fast shower and I had set the table by the time he came back.

I planned on eating the more bland items so there wouldn't be any problems, and I did ok. The pot stickers were 'legal', and I had most of the very fresh spring rolls. They were safe. Jerry sampled the rest. I knew that I could have all this after the procedure.

It was heading on after 8 when I realized that Jerry arrived here only with flowers and the jewelry box. "Where's your luggage? I don't see any."

"It's back at the hotel. I checked in before I got here."

"Aren't you going to spend the night here?"

He face got an uncomfortable look on it. "I didn't want to make any assumptions with you. I came here to visit and support. I didn't want to imply or impose anything more on you. You weren't expecting me, it would have been a big assumption for anything else."

I thought about what he said, and then nodded in agreement. "Now that you're here, will you spend the night?"

"I don't know, it'll be..."

"Jerry, let me frank with you. I've been here alone going through this with the help of my brother and his wife by Google video. I can do it alone. I don't want to do it that way. You're here. I'd like you to stay with me tonight."

"To say that I'm not overjoyed to hear that from you would be a big fat lie. But there's another issue. You're in a tight space right now. I feel that if I stay, then I would be taking advantage of that. I don't want to do that. I can go back to the hotel late tonight and I'll be back here early in the morning to take you to and bring you home from the procedure. I'll stay with you afterwards until you feel ok about things. Is that OK?"

This isn't exactly the Jerry that I knew before. This is a more respectful one. "I can see your point. Let me tell you what it's like from this side." I straightened up in the chair and pushed the plates away from in front of me. Then I cleared my throat.

"I really want you to stay the night with me. You can sleep on the couch if you want, but I want to have someone else around me. I miss that. I miss that terribly. To be honest, that was the second most painful thing that's happened to me after you being unfaithful." He frowned and was about to say something, but I continued. "I'm not asking that we become lovers, but I need your warmth, caring and physical presence. That's all I'm asking for.

"And you're right, bringing more things out right now wouldn't be right. We can wait to make those decisions later. After this is hopefully all over."

"Sandy, I don't think I could I..."

Now I was going to nail him against the wall. "IF YOU DON'T SPEND THE NIGHT, I'M GOING TO CALL TWO OF MY MALE FRIENDS. THESE FRIENDS THAT HAVE NEVER LET ME DOWN. THEY'LL SPEND THE NIGHT WITH ME. IN MY BED."

The look of shock on his face stopped him cold. I was playing hardball with him.

"WWWWWHat are you talking about? I didn't think that you had ...I know you can do this. I can..."

"Want to know their names?" He nodded with a look of honest fear in his eyes. "First one is Ben. They don't travel apart." I paused, looking at his with steely eyes. "The other is Jerry. And they're bringing their buddy, Cherry Garcia to be specific." and I busted out laughing. He went from fear, to anger, to relief then ended up laughing with me within 2 seconds. He knew my weakness for ice cream, my go-to comfort food.

"Honest Jerry, keep your clothes on. I miss the human contact of somebody who cares for me. You can sleep on the couch if that works for you. Please?" He nodded yes much to my relief.

In 10 minutes he took my car to the hotel to get his things and check out. I made up a bed for him on the couch while he was gone. We spent the evening talking quietly, playing card games, even watching a chick flick together. He was keeping my mind off of what I was going to confront for the next several days. We went to sleep in our separate rooms at midnight.

I was awake at 2 AM and tossed and turned for an hour. There was no going back to sleep. My mind was racing with worry and horror stories. The real boogeyman was playing with my head. And he was winning. I entered the kitchen to get some water when I realized that I shouldn't take anything by mouth now.

As I walked back to the bedroom, I saw Jerry sleeping on the couch quietly, sleeping peacefully. I leaned over him and stroked his forehead, looking at his face. This man crossed two thirds of the continent to be with me, when I needed somebody important here. He knew. He is not just some body, he is somebody, somebody special. I stroked his hair and looked at him for some time. Then I made up my mind. I pulled the sheets away slightly and carefully lay next to him, spooning into him. I heard his breathing, felt his warmth. I felt at peace. The spiral in my head slowed down.

The next thing I knew was that the sun was up and Jerry greeted me with a warm wash cloth for my face. If you have to wake up on a day that eating or even coffee is not allowed, this is the best way to do it. He looked at me while I let the sleep leave my eyes and my brain slowly start to function again. He remembered that it took me a while to wake in the morning. Today was also going to be tough without coffee.

"Morning sleepy head. Did you get lost night getting back from the bathroom?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep. I nestled into you and immediately nodded off. You took away my worries. I hope you didn't mind."

"It was a shock when you were next to me this morning. After you settled, I put my arm around your shoulders to tell you it was OK. You moaned softly and you were still."

"Really, I didn't feel you move at all. I just felt safe again."

"Well, you better get your shower now. We've got 45 minutes to get out of here and grab a cab for the hospital. You ready for this?"

"Like I have a choice?"

It was great to have Jerry near. He looked out after me, he held my hand, gave me pep-talks. He let me cry on his shoulder when I saw no one was looking at me, saving me from embarrassment. I can honestly say, and I will say this to him, I can completely forgive him for his time with Diana. He was here when I needed him and he's been honest and truthful ever since. Even if we don't stay together because of the little issue of 2,500 miles, I know that he's redeemed himself in my eyes. I hoped that he has redeemed himself in his own eyes. Knowing Jerry, I think that'll be the harder sell.