TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(41)
But I didn’t have time to respond to my sister’s concerns. “Dad’s symptoms,” I said. “When did you say they started?”
“Roughly a week ago…”
The same time she saw Trey and bought that stuff. I was angry at Jackie but more than that I was angry at Trey. “What kind of symptoms?”
“Unexplained headaches, dizziness, disorientation, vision disturbances… some digestive trouble,” Jackie said, and then seemed to remember something. “It’s kind of strange when you think about it…”
“What is?”
“He’s having the same symptoms that Ryan had before he…”
My rage knew no bounds. Someone was going to have to pay for all this. Jackie was suddenly looking at me like I was the suspect in a murder investigation. “You loved Ryan, didn’t you?”
“Are you seriously asking me that?”
“I just don’t understand how he had the same symptoms as Dad…”
It was my turn to perspire. But before Jackie could grill me further Dad started shaking and we watched the shaking turn to full on convulsions and Jackie rang for the nurse which gave me the chance to escape the room.
I got a glimpse of my father before I left the hallway and I knew that he would make it. This time. But I also knew something else.
There was a countdown on my father’s life, and it had started about a week ago and if I didn’t act now his grandkids would be incredibly sad for a very long time.
I don’t know how but I had to stop it.
I had to direct to future, make it my bitch. But sometimes, to fix the future you must visit the past.
And sometimes, you must face your demons.
And my biggest demon was Ryan Thomas, six feet under and still ruining my life. Maybe because he wasn’t truly dead. He would be alive if Trey was alive and that did not serve me well.
I had to fix it.
I had to fix Trey.
TREY
ONE WEEK AGO
Standing outside the Chinese Hut brought back a lot of memories. Some good some that should have been bad but weren’t because Aubrey was too stubborn to let stuff like cancer dictate her attitude. The whiff of her perfume hit me and brought back even more memories and this time I didn’t know how to react. "I was wondering when you'd come by," she said. I uselessly tried to hide the tears from her. "I forgot you knew."
"Of course, I knew, " she said. "We were best friends at one time. I know your likes and dislikes more than I know my own family's."
Crippling silence followed that I tried to end. "She's gone, Jackie.”
She said nothing just listened. "I'm sorry, Trey."
"I was with her. It happened and I thought after all I've seen her go through I'd be less sad but I feel devastated."
"It's never easy to let go of the people we love."
"The last time we ever got out was when I brought her here," I said, "and the only reason we could get away in the first place was because it was close to the hospital and the only distance they'd allow."
“Dad’s in the hospital,” Jackie told me. “I keep trying to wrap my head around it.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Is hope so.”
Another silence and this time Jackie launched into a new line of questioning. “Trey, what happened between you and Trey? You used to be friends.”
The words were telling a truth but the reality had happened so far back into the past my brain was having a hard time remembering. Or maybe those were things that I’d tried so damn hard to conceal that they were locked up in some faraway cave. “That was a lifetime ago, Jackie.”
“Trey…was it because of me?”
That was the truth but I couldn’t bear to have her feel the brunt of it. “It was a little more complicated than that.”
“Yes, but it did contribute?”
I didn’t know why she was looking for answers now or if she wanted the truth or just to be told it wasn’t her fault. Knowing Jackie, it was probably the latter. The Huntington family wasn’t known for their fondness for truths and Weldon wasn’t the only one living a lie. But I didn’t have the heart to break it to her. “It’s Weldon we’re talking about. The shoes he was wearing that day probably contributed.”
Jackie laughed like a person who wanted to believe a falsehood. “He does have a knack for blaming everyone but himself.”
I didn’t want to discuss this anymore. I might have ended up saying things I didn’t want to reveal to her. I might have let on how I truly felt about her brother.
“How’s Jake doing?” the question came out of nowhere, baffling me.
“You know about Jake?”
“Weldon brought him to the hospital this one time,” she said and I couldn’t believe my ears. Was that why the reason Jake seemed to trust Weldon for a while? Because Weldon had supposedly shown him a human side of him? I had to know more but I couldn’t risk alerting Jackie to my motives.
“Weldon loves him, Trey.”
I came so close to laughing. “I don’t think Weldon loves anyone but Weldon.”
Jackie was suddenly looking at him in the strangest way. “You…like Jake?”