Chapter 15: Then Go (part 2)
Rhoda stood there over her open suitcase. Today she was going to see Mary and Phyllis. Mary she was excited about, Phyllis she was dreading. She didn't know how often Mary had talked to her and how much she knew about the current situation that she was in. Lou didn't know about the fact that she had been pregnant and didn't ask about Joe, so she knew that Mary hadn't been running around telling everyone. That was never her nature, but there were just some things that seemed to get around no matter what.
"You almost ready?"
Rhoda turned and saw Joe standing there in the doorway. "Yeah, Brenda here yet?"
"Yeah, she just walked in," Joe said motioning behind him.
"All right," Rhoda said turning back to her suitcase. "Tell her I'll be ready in a moment."
Joe sighed. This was his chance and he knew that he would regret it if he didn't take it. "Actually, can I talk to you a minute?"
Rhoda lowered her head. It was bad, it just had to be. It wasn't like there was much to be said that would completely throw her for a loop. "Yeah?" she asked turning back to him.
Joe closed the door behind him and sat down on the edge of the bed. Rhoda's eyes followed him the entire way. His once strong, beautiful eyes, now worn and weak caught her's. "We can't do this anymore." He waited for Rhoda to say something, but she didn't. Instead, she just waited. "The first month worked out and last month just steadily got worse. I'm sick and there's no avoiding that. It doesn't mean that I have to drag you down with me."
Rhoda nervously laughed. "What are you talking about? This dragging me down stuff?"
Joe reached over and grabbed her hand. "Have you looked at yourself lately?"
Rhoda sighed as she slightly turned and looked at her reflection in the mirror. "I see a married pregnant women who has gained a few pounds."
Joe glanced at the mirror and then back at her. "Look at your face. You're worn out. You don't sleep, you're worried. You should be taking better care of yourself. This should be one of the more exciting times in your life and I'm ruining it for you."
"Is it really such a bad thing for me to worry about you?" Rhoda looked down to him. "I mean really. I care about my husband. That makes me a bad person?"
"I never said that. I feel guilty because of what I'm doing to you. That's all I said."
Rhoda sat down next to him. "Okay. You feel guilty. Now what?"
Joe sighed as he lowered his head. "I got a friend that I can stay with. He's willing to let me stay there rent free. That way you can take care of yourself and do what ever you need to do."
Rhoda couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tears started to form in her eyes. "You're really leaving huh?" she asked looking to him.
"Yeah," he responded.
"I can't stop you. But can you do me one favor?"
"What?"
"Call someone when you're settled. I just wanna know that you're alright."
"I can do that."
"Goodbye," Rhoda said.
Rhoda and Joe leaned in and kissed each other for what would be their final time. Neither of them knew this, but Rhoda did seem to have a feeling it would be. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Nothing would make her happier than to have just let it last, but that was not going ot happen. Joe grabbed her arms and removed them. "You got a plane to catch."
"Right," Rhoda said as she stood up. She closed her suitcase before grabbing it and heading for the door. "See ya," she said pausing at the door and turning back.
Joe smiled and waved to her. "Goodbye. I'll call you tonight."
"You better," she said and then left the room.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Rhoda walked into the airport to see Lou sitting in the wating area. "Hey Lou!"
Lou stood up and turned to see her. "Hey Rhoda. How are you doing?"
Rhoda set her suitcase down and hugged him as well as she could. "I'm okay. You?"
"What kind of question is that? I just lost my job."
"Yeah, why is that?"
Lou shrugged. "New guy. Thinks he's got all the best ideas in the world."
"I see. They're gonna be sorry though when they find out they have to work with Ted."
Lou laughed. "Anyways, how's Joe doing?"
Rhoda stopped for a minute. "Well, not good actually. He's pretty sick."
Lou's face dropped. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"You didn't know," Rhoda said. "Besides, not much you can do about it."
The moment was silent up until Phyllis showed up. "Hi hi everyone!"
Rhoda rolled her eyes to the cheerful greeting, but turned and smiled anyways. "Phylllis!" she said.
Walked over and stopped to look Rhoda over. "Yes Phyllis, I'm pregnant."
"Congratulations," Phyllis said. "So I take it things are pretty good between you and Joe?"
"Yeah," she lied.
"All right, reunion's over. Let's get you to your rooms and then over to Mary's," Lou said. He was excited to surprise Mary and wanted to get there as quickly as possible.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Mary sat at her type writer. The only thought on her mind was the fact that she was about to be jobless. The only thing that helped was the fact that she knew she was able to start over. She had done it before, so she could be able to do it again.
The phone rang. "I'm coming," she said as she got up to answer it. "Hello?"
"Mary? Its Joe." He knew that Rhoda's arrival was supposed to be a surprise, so he figured that unless she said anything, he should act like he wasn't calling to talk to Rhoda. "Has Rhoda called you yet and told you about us?"
Mary leaned against the table. "No, no she hasn't. What happened?"
Joe sighed. "I decided to go and stay somewhere else. She was a little upset with me, but I really do think its for the best. I was taking a toll on her and she really doesn't need that. You think I'm doing the right thing?"
Mary shrugged. "Well, I mean, I don't think she deserves to be hurt again, but I do think she needs to be able to relax."
"I explained to her that it was all for her. You should have seen her though. She's all worn out. I couldn't imagine staying there for another week and putting her through any more."
There was a knock at the door. "Hey Joe? You mind if calling back later? There's someone at the door."
"Sure," he answered.
"And Joe, don't punish yourself over this."
"I'll try not to," he said.
With that they said goodbye and Mary hung up to go answer the door.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Mary, Rhoda and Phyllis all had decided to go out to dinner. After Mary's little mini break down at her apartment, Phyllis and Rhoda wanted to take her out and pay for her dinner.
"So kid, you having fun yet?" Rhoda asked.
Mary laughed. "Yeah, I guess so." It was hard for her to say no. Both her and Rhoda were having just what they needed. A night out to forget about the problems that they had. Mary was there to get away from the fact that she had been fired and Rhoda was there to get away from her husband.
"Just try to enjoy yourself as much as possible." Phyllis glared across the table to Rhoda. "I'm not sure about her, but I came out here to make sure that you get cheered up."
Mary laughed as she looked over to her. "Now Phyllis that's not fair, Rhoda's helping too."
"Yeah Phyllis. Look how amazing she looks compared to me. I might be the one that gets her a date with a rich guy tonight."
Phyllis rolled her eyes. "I can't argue with the first part."
As annoying as Phyllis could be, there was one thing that Rhoda wanted to talk to her about. Back at Mary's apartment, she had found out about Lars's death. By this time it was inevitable that Joe was going to die. There was no way around it, and she wanted to know how to deal with it. Phyllis was never considered one of those people that she would go to for advice, that was always Mary's department. This however was something Mary had never been through. She also thought this was a bad time to start unloading more of her problems on her.
Phyllis sighed. "Could you two please excuse me? I need to go use the powder room."
Mary was waiting for a moment alone with Rhoda. She hadn't yet told her about the phone call and felt that she needed to. As soon as Phyllis was out of sight, she scooted her chair a bit closer to Rhoda.
"Yes?" Rhoda asked noticing that Mary was getting closer to her.
"Joe called me today and told me what had happened."
"Oh, did he?" Rhoda asked looking down. She pretended to be interested in something that was left over on her plate. This was not something that she wanted to talk about right now.
"Rhoda. I'm insulted. I thought I was supposed to be your best friend."
Rhoda looked up to her. "You know you are Mare. I just didn't think that today was a good day to start airing out all my problems again. Besides, this really isn't that big of a deal okay?"
Mary didn't quite believe her, but she didn't want to upset her. "All right. And Rhoda?"
"Yeah?"
"Before Phyllis gets back, I think I would like to take you up on that offer to stay with you in New York for a little bit."
Rhoda smiled. "Sounds good."
"Thank you," Mary said. The two hugged each other.
Phyllis walked back to the table and saw them hugging. Instantly, she felt left out. "So. What did I miss?"
The two pulled apart. Rhoda knew that this was her chance to make Phyllis feel a little more "included".
"Actaully Phyllis, there's something I need to talk to you about. Mary doesn't know anything about what I'm going to tell you. I figured that you could help me the best," Rhoda said as she looked over to Mary.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. I think you're the best choice for this."
"Well, thank you. You don't know how much that means to me.I mean, to know that you value my opinion like that."
Rhoda stepped in to interupt her. "Do you think we can move on to my problem now?"
"Oh, of course. What is it?"
"Well, about three months ago, Joe was diagnosed with cancer and he's not doing too well. I was wondering how you dealt with things after Lars had died."
"I'm so sorry." Phyllis then shrugged. "I don't know really. I moved in with family and started over in a new city. Of course, thats coming from a normal person, I don't know what you would do. But I would certainly suggest starting over some place new."
"Doesn't sound liek a bad idea. I gotta get a better place for the baby anyways." She sat back and seriously thought about that. There were a few places that she could check out. There had to be somewhere out there besides that apartment that her and Joe shared. She never thought about it, but it would be hard to live there after he died. A constant reminder of what once was.
There's one more chapter to go after this. Let me know what you think. I would like to wish everyone a happy Easter. I would also like to thank a few people for helping me with this chapter. My little sister Danielle and my three cousins Taylor, Rhoda and Elise. It was fun and VERY interesting working with you four.