Worth Any Risk

Ch. 28 Drowning

*Cole

The house is the same as always, but there are some new flowers under the mailbox and a few bags of dirt next to the walkway. Roberta must be sprucing up the lawn. Good for her.

She and my uncle were lucky to have had each other. Guilt twinges my conscious. I'm also leaving her on her own. With me gone, she'll have no one. I shove my hands in my pockets, and cross the lawn for the door. I ring and it takes her several minutes to answer. I hear unhurried footsteps and then the door is thrown wide open. A red-head in her fifties, wearing a tiny negligée stands at the door, gaping at me.

"Who are you? Because you aren't Mary."

"No, I'm not Mary." I frown at her, trying to figure out who she is and why she's half naked in Roberta's house at eight in the morning, with her hair in a tussle and acting like she owns the place. Wait a minute...

"Sweet-heart, are you lost?" she asks. She puts a hand over her heart, worried.

"Is Roberta—"

"Cole! Baby!" Roberta cries. She arrives with her hair in curlers and wearing not much more than the redhead. She swats her guest. "This is Cole. I told you he was coming by."

Ginger blinks, confused.

"My nephew, boyfriend, person. Wait, that sounds really bad. Remember? He's Pete's nephew."

"Oh!" Her face lights up in understanding. She reaches out a hand. "I'm Sal. It's so nice to meet you. I'm sorry about your uncle. Come in, come in."

"No, I wouldn't want—" I'm pulled inside all the way to the kitchen despite my protests. Ginger plonks a cup of coffee down on the table and Roberta sets me in a chair. She sits opposite me.

"I'll just go shower and finish getting ready while you chat," Ginger says. She kisses Roberta's cheek and sashays off.

I blink. "She's your...this has caught me off guard."

"She's my new girlfriend. Yes, I knew her from before, but no, we never dated. She came by with a few friends last week, though, and never seemed to leave."

I don't know what else to say. It seems odd that my uncle was replaced so quickly, but I can't be angry at Roberta for needing company. "Good. I'm glad for you. I actually came by to say..."

"Goodbye?"

"Yes. I also want to give you the camper. I don't have time or energy to deal with it, and I think you should have it."

She pats my cheek, a sad smile on her face. "You really are a sweet, sweet boy. Pete talked about you all the time, and he was right about you. And how are things going with the lady you were trying to call?"

My voice won't come out right away. "It didn't work out. I'm still quite single."

"Really? I had heard that there were sparks between the two of you."

I groan. "People here need something more interesting to talk about than other people's relationships."

She laughs. "Honey, there is nothing in the world more interesting than other people's relationships. I'm sorry you're so single still. I had hoped this would work for you. I hoped some of my good luck in love had rubbed off on you."

It's time to change the subject, and she's given me an opening. "Roberta, I'm really glad you have someone. I was worried about leaving you here alone. Are you sure you'll be all right? Maybe we could arrange a visit for you in California."

"Oh, my, I would love to come and see you." She tilts her head, peering at me, and her curlers shift to the left. She shakes her head a bit. "Cole, let me ask you a question. When Pete put it in his will that you inherited me as your girlfriend, you don't think he was worried about me, do you?"

"Of course he was worried..." My mouth drops open. I know I look stupid, but my understanding of Pete, Roberta and myself has been completely flipped upside down.

"You did. Oh, baby." Her voice is motherly. I should have called her for advice the other day, when I wanted to. I'm kicking myself now. "Well, I can assure you, he was never worried about me being on my own in this world."

"You're right," I say. "He was right. I'm on my own here and I'm floundering. Hell, I'm sinking."

"We all flounder, and we all sink from time to time. You think you're drowning. So ask yourself, what would Pete do in your place?"

"I don't know."

"I bet you do, you just don't want to admit it. Whatever it is, you think you aren't ready or don't want to face it. He told me about your parents, and that man your mother married. Here's my next question for you—are you going to keep letting them ruin your life?"

Her words cut to the quick. Everything I've accused Jordan of, being weak, letting others control her from afar, I'm more than guilty of. I'm running because I don't want to have to look at my mother and the asshat she married when I'm walking around in town. That's it. That's the level of my courage and strength.

Rock bottom. Absolute zero.

"My work, my life is two states away now," I say, as if that's a good reason.

"In that case, goodness. You better get back to your life and your work. I'll be at the lake today with my new girlfriend and a dozen fifty to sixty-year-old babes, drinking wine from boxes and rubbing sunscreen on each other. But you have fun your way, Cole."

I drink my coffee in one gulp, to be polite and stand. "Call me if you need anything. Anything at all."

"If I call it will be to remind you to stay hydrated, keep yourself covered for sex, and to say that Uncle Pete loved you."

I can't answer. I walk to the door. There's something I'm missing, despite the way it feels like she's been hitting me over the head with a hammer.

She kisses my cheek and envelopes me in a big hug. I hug her back. Really hug her. The only family I seem to have left. I can almost picture Uncle Pete in his favorite chair, glaring at me over his reading glasses when I slunk in at five in the morning after partying.

Uncle Pete wouldn't tell me what to do, or tell me how he would act in my place.

He always told me that doing the right thing in any difficult situation is always harder than doing the wrong thing. Harder, and yet the only way that feels right and easy.

"Thanks, Roberta. I want you to be wild and crazy today on my behalf, but watch for those sunburns. It would be a shame for you to have to call the fire department to put out any fires, know what I mean?" I whisper.

She laughs and gives me a quick, final squeeze. "That is such a good idea. Pete always said you were a smart boy. I'll be around if you want to chat."

I tip my head. I haveto get back to my true work and life, no matter how hard it is. I head for town,and away from California.

*** Wait...so is he leaving Jordan or....? Hit the star and thanks for reading!!! ***