Author's Notes:
My apologies for anyone who expected chapter 10 to be sexy. I was really hoping for it to be, but chapter 9 ran a little longer than intended. I've already written a sexy scene, so it is definitely coming up. At this point, it might be in chapter 11, but might not be until chapter 12. Please try to be patient.
The theme song for this chapter is:
"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Boyz II Men
~-~
Michael told me, "Because he's about to die. You need to say your goodbyes. And neither of you will want to do it while you're looking at each other."
"Tact, Michael! Honestly, we talked about this!" Marie scolded, smacking him on the back of the head like she might a brother, "I don't know why I thought your skills would help here today."
Michael smirked at Marie and told her, "Because you know I'm right. Baby, it's what she needed to hear to get her to make the call. None of this namby-pamby wading her into it shit. You and I both know that if we had waded her into it, it would be too late by the time she had agreed to call."
Michael's calling Marie 'Baby' like that was anything but sibling-like, but I was too entrenched in my own emotions right now to deal with wondering whatever was going on between the two of them.
"What?" I sputtered, both confused and horrified at what was going on around me, "What's going on here?"
Michael looked into my eyes and I suddenly felt a surge of unprovoked adrenaline welling up inside me. In his thick Italian accent, Michael urged, "Violet, you need to call your husband. Don't ask us to explain this right now."
I nodded, but instead of taking the desk phone receiver Marie offered me, I picked up my cell phone and chose the video call. Michael clucked his tongue, but neither of them stopped me.
The cell phone let out the video call ring to let me know it was ringing on Andrew's end, but he didn't pick up. I hung up and tried again. He still didn't answer. I tried a third time and finally, Andrew picked up the call. What I saw when he answered made my jaw drop.
There, on the hospice bed, was Andrew, wired up to an IV that hadn't been there before, a tube running into his nose, his breathing far more labored than he had ever seemed in my presence. Somewhere in the background, I heard the sound of what I could only assume was a heart monitor, sounding in a steady rhythm of beeps.
"Andrew?" I nearly whispered, staring at him in complete awe at the deterioration of his condition.
"Babe," Andrew wheezed and puffed, "I didn't ... I didn't ... I didn't ... want you to see me like this." Tears were welling at the corners of his eyes.
"What happened?" I asked him, "You were doing so great this morning. I was sure we had at least another month."
"I've been ... I've been hiding it from you. I've had the nurses take off the oxygen and the IV when you were on your way here."
Had he really been this sick already?
"But you seemed so great! You were fine!" I adamantly protested.
Andrew gave me a sad smile. "Was I, Vi? When was the last time you saw me eating? Or drinking anything but water?"
Looking down at my feet, I thought back. "But you always told me that you ate. And the food I made for you was always gone."
Andrew chuckled lightly, which led to a couple of weak coughs. He took a few more moments to end the coughing and let himself catch his breath before he replied, "The neighbors' dog has been eating really well the past few weeks, Vi. Once I was moved to hospice, the nurses ate the food you brought me."
"But if you're having so much trouble breathing, how come I never noticed?" I argued. He just couldn't be as bad off as he seemed right now. It didn't make any sense.
"I know you well, Violet. I have been asking you questions about things that I knew would keep you talking, or asking you to tell me stories. Once I got the shortest sentence I could come up with out, and you started talking, I would take my time to catch my breath while you talked."
"But you're fine!" I cried, a tear trickling down my cheek.
"Vi, Babe, look at me. I'm not fine. I'm dying. Today. And somehow Marie knew it."
I looked at Marie again, confused at how this seemingly simple accountant knew so much.
"Babe," Andrew continued, "Please, let's not do this over video call. I don't want you to see me right now like this and I don't want to see the pain it's causing you. Please."
I closed my eyes and swallowed deeply. "Really?" I asked him.
"Really, Violet. I don't want you to see me like this. I don't want you to remember me like this."
"Okay," I breathed, barely loud enough to hear.
"I love you so much," Andrew told me, "Call me on the phone as soon as we hang up."
"I love you, too, Andrew. More than you'll ever know," I whispered, more tears starting to flow.
"I'll talk to you in a few moments," he said, his fingers coming towards the camera so that he could push the end button on his phone. Andrew's end of the call went black with 'Call Ended' spread across my screen.
"Now you can tell her," Michael said, looking at Marie.
I didn't know what Michael was referring to, but I was starting to feel mad at both of them. They knew more than I did; even more than Andrew knew, somehow. And they were helping to keep it from me. I scowled at Marie.
"My best friend from high school died when we were close to your age," Marie told me, giving me a kind smile despite my scowl, "I won't go into the details because today's not about me at all, but it wasn't natural causes and I didn't have a lot of notice. Back then, we both had cell phones, but there weren't video calls. Sheryl made her final goodbye to me on her cell phone. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done, even more than saying goodbye to my dad, because I didn't see it coming. Andrew insisted to keep this from you and I urged him not to, but today's your last chance to say goodbye. He wanted you far away from him when it happened, but he wasn't going to keep you from your farewells. You'll feel a hundred times worse if you don't get that chance, Violet. He loves you and just wants to keep you from suffering any more than you have to. Now, I know you're mad at me, but you only have a few more minutes, and I know you'd rather spend them with Andrew while you can."
I nodded, sniffed away my remaining sob that was ready to heave, and clicked the call button to make a voice call with Andrew's phone go through.
Andrew picked up on the second ring. "Hi, Babe," he told me.
I could almost picture him at his full health before all of this started two months ago, except for the continuous beeping sound of the heart monitor in the background. He sounded so strong.
"Hi," I told him, smiling at the comfort his voice brought me.
"I missed you already, Babe," Andrew told me. I could just picture, and almost feel, his arms circling me and his hands rubbing soothing circles in my back.
"I missed you, too. Does it really have to be today?" I asked, begging him, and the universe, to just give me more time.
As if Marie could hear my thoughts, she gasped. I looked up to her and saw that her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Michael gently patted her knee and she swatted his hand away.
"Yes," Andrew said, "the doctor was surprised I lasted this long after I went into hospice, but Marie was certain today was the day and she already - somehow - I don't understand it myself - seemed to know more about this illness than anyone else has. I trust her, Vi. You should, too. Please."
I nodded, but, of course, he couldn't see that over the phone. "Vi?" he asked.
"Okay," I replied, weakly.
"Violet, before either of us says anything else, let me say something for a few moments. I just want to get it out." He paused for a moment and then when I said nothing further, Andrew continued, "Violet, you're the love of my life. I've never been happier with anyone else and I'm grateful for every second we have had together. I'm sorry that I couldn't give you children and a future together. I'm sorry that I couldn't give you that chance to grow old with each other. I'm sorry - "
I interrupted, "No! Don't be sorry! This isn't your fault!"
"Violet, it doesn't matter if it's my fault or not. When we got married, I promised you all of those things. And then I couldn't deliver. Even if it wasn't my fault, I'll always regret that. And so will you. Violet, I wanted to provide for you and that's the only thing I can give you. If I could, I would give you so much more, Violet. I love you forever, even after I die. I want the best for you. I want you to be happy. Violet, I know this is goodbye. I just can't tell you that I love you enough right now. Because of how much I love you. Before we say anything else, I want to say it and I want you to say it, while we still have time, Babe."
"Want to say what?" I asked, dread filling me.
In a quiet voice, Andrew breathed, "Goodbye, Violet. I love you. Goodbye."
"Goodbye," I said, "And I love you." More tears fell down my cheeks, but I kept the sadness out of my voice as much as I could.
"There," Andrew said, "Now that wasn't so hard; was it?" I could practically the smug, cocky grin on his face and smiled.
"No," I told him, feigning agreement with him.
"See? I'm dying. We both knew it. We've had time to prepare. It won't be so bad, eventually."
"Eventually," I repeated half-heartedly.
"So Violet, this is goodbye for us, but you have a lot of life left to live. I want you to be happy."
"I know."
"I want you to tell me the story of our first date together," he said.
"Okay ... We had agreed to meet at the gym, and when I got there, you still had to change into your workout clothes. While you were changing, I started to do some warmup stretches, and I was laying on my back with my feet facing the door. You walked in and saw me there and said," I made a bad attempt at a fake masculine voice to sound like him, "'I can hardly believe this was all it would take to get you on your back, Ms. Myers. I should've asked you to work out a lot sooner.'"
"That wasn't what I said," Andrew told me, "It was more like, 'I never asked you to get on your back for me, I can't say that I mind you there, but we should probably get to know each other better first.'"
I chuckled at his selective memory of his forwardness. "And then, you asked if you could help me stretch. I nodded and you took my leg and helped push it up to my stomach," knowing what I was about to say, I blushed and looked at Marie, but she just smiled encouragingly and nodded. Michael had a smirk on his face that told he already knew what I was about to say. "I could practically feel your erection against my leg as you pushed into me with your body. It definitely would've been way too soon, but I wanted you, too, and was just about to say so. And then Todd came in the gym."
"Ah, yes, Todd," he replied, "He was such a good wingman sometimes, but he's always been one hell of a cock-blocker when it came to you."
"'Andy,' he said, 'surprised to see you here!' but it looked like it was anything but a surprise. He motioned for you to come closer and mumbled something too quiet for me to hear, and then he nodded at me. I didn't actually know what he said to you, though."
Andrew laughed, "He asked me who the hot chick was - and then asked if he could have a go with you after I struck out."
"He did not!" I laughed.
"He did! Swear to God!"
"So you and Todd talked for another few minutes and then you made a couple of quick introductions and Todd left again. What did you tell him to make him leave, anyways?"
"I told him we were on a date and offered him fifty bucks if he would leave. Later on, he claimed I'd said a hundred and I ended up paying him the full amount. It was so worth it, though, Vi."
I smiled. "So you finished helping me stretch, and then we began our workout routines together. We combined our plans so easily and we just talked all afternoon. Every chance you got, you would touch me, not in a sleazy way, but just like a hand on my forearm or something. It was really nice. You were so sweet. And we talked about everything. I've never felt such an instant connection with anyone before. And you were turning me on the whole time, without even trying to. I think that's the most time I've ever spent in the gym, but I just didn't want to leave. Everything with you just flowed so effortlessly. We didn't say the words yet - I mean, we barely even knew each other - but I think that somewhere deep inside, I already knew that I was just a little bit in love with you, Andrew."
"It was the most time I've ever spent in a gym, too, Violet. But it was perfect. It was wonderful. And I loved you so much, even then."
"And then, when it was time to say goodbye, you kissed me, right there in the doorway of the gym. It was such a sweet, slow kiss. I loved kissing you. I still do."
"I loved kissing you, too. And the kiss was perfect, too. But then I knew that the date couldn't last anymore, and I said goodbye. And I left. Goodbye, Violet. I love you."
"Goodbye," I murmured, barely audible, "I love you."
Suddenly, the continuous beeping of the heart monitor that I'd heard in the background became one steady tone; beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. And I knew. It was over. I hung up the phone. Marie handed me a tissue and I began crying.
He was gone. Andrew was really gone.
~-~
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the buzz kill there, but I promise it won't all be this sad and emotional death stuff. I promise.
Andrew hid the severity of his illness from Violet pretty extensively. Has anyone ever hidden something major from you like that?
Comments (💬) or votes(⭐) are always welcome!
Special thanks to Alice-Roza for taking the time to proofread this chapter for me.