Forgive for Joy's Sake (Part 15)

Three days in and we all had fallen into a workable routine. To make things easier for both Mel and me, my parents paid to have her physical therapist come to the house.  Her strength was slowly building, but her slurring didn’t seem to be improving.  Thursday was the only day I had to take off work, so I could take her to her follow-up appointment with Dr. Adonis.

The car ride to the appointment was filled with the awkwardness that had now become our relationship. There was no familiar chit-chat or reminiscing about the past. I had the sense that she wanted to say something to me and was waiting for some sign that it would be okay to say it and I was careful not to give her any indications that it was okay to say it.  At the doctor’s appointment I waited with her in the waiting room and when they called her name I rolled her to the exam room, turned her over to the nurse and quickly made my way back to the waiting room.

I was sitting there ten minutes, when the nurse called me back to the exam room explaining. “Dr. Adonis asked that you join them.” I followed her back feeling annoyed and bothered. Why did he want to talk to me?  Mel could speak for herself.

He was sitting on a stool in front of Mel when I entered the room.  He stood and was about to shake my hand, then stopped. “You don’t plan to break it, if I offer it for a hand shake?” His smiled his best lady charmer smile which I ignored and shook his hand hard saying. “Not at the moment.”

He pointed to a guest chair in the corner of the room, “Have a seat.”  He waited until I took a seat and then sat back on the stool and swiveled in my direction. “I wanted to get your take on how Mel is doing.”

“You’re asking me. Isn’t that why we brought her in to see you, so that you can check her out and tell her how she’s doing?” Okay so I was being difficult, but he knew that question was too general.

“True, but I need a little more information to make that determination. Let me ask pointed questions.  How has her appetite been?”

“She doesn’t eat breakfast, but she never been one for breakfast. She eats decent at lunch and dinner though.” I looked over at Mel. Didn’t she tell him this?

“What about her speech? Have you noticed any improvements?” He rolled his stool a little closer to me.

“In the last three days? No, I haven’t, but that’s not saying much is it?” Strangely I felt uncomfortable, like I was telling her secrets, which I know was not the case. Still, I was uncomfortable. He rolled his stool back towards Mel, looking at me all the while as if he was trying to figure out what ailed me.

“Alright, thanks. You can head back to the waiting room. I’m going to finish up with Mel and then she’ll be right out. Oh one thing. I need Mel to stop relying on people wheeling her around in this chair. She has to start getting around on her own if she wants to regain her strength faster.”

When he said that it all became clear. I cut my eyes over at Mel for confirmation and she looked away. I stood and tried not to let my irritation show. She had this man convinced that I was the reason she was rolling around in the wheelchair.  “Fine, I’ll just take this with me.” I said through a tight smile and left the room rolling an empty wheelchair.

After her appointment and a slow walk back to the car, we road home in an elevated, awkward silence. When we pulled in the driveway, Mel turned to me, “I’m sorry, Joy. I think Dr. Adonis misunderstood me.”

I gave her my best sarcastic look and said, “I’m sure he did. Now you go in while I get the heavy wheelchair that apparently, I like to lug around and force you to ride in, out the back of the car.” I climbed out of the car and went around to the trunk and opened it, nearly jumping out of my skin when a familiar deep voice said, “I’ll get that Joy.” I spun around.

“Wes, what are you doing here?” I looked over at Mel who was standing next to the car.

“Why are you looking at her. Maybe if you’d answered any of my calls or listened to my messages you wouldn’t have been surprised to see me.” He pulled the wheelchair out the trunk and closed it. Both he and Mel made their way to the house.

I called after him, “Okay, but still, why are you here?”

“Check your messages woman.” He said as he walked into the house.

I locked the car and pulled out my phone. Yes, I stopped taking his calls and decided I wouldn’t listen to his messages. Why? I just wanted to go back to my secure bubble that I’d created once Mel, Jackson and I broke up. I was already way outside it dealing with Mel and Wes was another whole can of worms I just wasn’t ready to tackle. Playing his last message I learned that he arrived today so that he could take Mel and Joi to the lab tomorrow for the paternity test.  He wanted to be there to give Mel emotional support and to make sure they didn’t run into Lamar. He would be staying until Sunday evening. Suddenly I was happy to see him.  Now that he was there that meant I was free to go home until Sunday.  With long strides I made my way into the house and straight to my room to grab a few of my things.  Chelsea and Joi were in the family room and Wes and Mel must have been in her room. 

After I grabbed my things I knocked on the door and stuck my head in.  They were sitting on her bed talking. “I’m going to head home now.  Ma has an easy menu plan on the refrigerator and Chelsea will be here tomorrow and Saturday.  I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon, before you leave to take over again.”  I quickly shut the door, not giving either one time to react.

I stopped by the family room to say a quick good-bye to Chelsea and Joi.  That’s where Wes caught up to me. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

“If I say no, would you accept my answer?” I already knew the answer, “Never mind, walk me outside and we’ll talk a quick minute.” He followed me outside to my car and I sat my bag in the car and turned to face him.

“Why are you running?” He asked me.

“I’m not running. I’m going home to enjoy a quiet couple of days to myself.” I stood my ground when he stepped closer.

“Did you give any thought to what I said in my messages?  Is this you taking time to think about it or is this you saying no?” He places a hand gently on each of my upper arms and rubbed up and down slightly as he looked directly into my eyes.  The fact that I had no idea what he was talking about must have shown in my eyes because he dropped his hands, stepped back and crossed his arms. Still looking directly in my eyes, he said, “You didn’t listen to all my messages, did you? You probably only listened to the last one.”

“True, but I figured the other three were the same as the last.” 

“They weren’t so, let me break it down for you. I’m coming for you Joy and I need to know if you have gotten over whatever you felt for Jackson. I also need to know if you are ready to forgive Mel? With the way things are going I’m going to be helping her get back on her feet and I need to know that won’t be a problem for us. Depending on how this paternity test goes she may need even more support than before.”

I looked at him for what seemed like a long time, though it was seconds at best trying to process what he just said. Coming for me? Did he mean for a relationship? Why now after years of me making it known that I wanted him to come for me. Now that I just wanted to be comfortably single, he wanted us to get involved.

“Wes, I am honestly at a lost for words. I do need to take some time to process what you said and think about my answers.” I walked around to the driver’s side of my car and looked at him over the hood. “Good luck tomorrow.  I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“Let’s have dinner on Saturday.  You can either come here or I can see if Chelsea could stay longer and I’ll come over to your place.”

I opened my mouth to say no, but my mouth went rogue and said “I’ll come here for dinner.” He smiled and shamefully I went all mushy inside. “See you tomorrow.” I said and hopped in my car to make my get away.

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