(It Was Almost) The First Time in Forever
By Ginny
Surprisingly, Charlie sleeps through the night. Me, not so much. I was up at 3:30 wandering around a little. Thankfully he never stirred.
It's now 11:00 he's holed up in his office attending a meeting via the camera on his laptop. He got up by 9:00, ate some oatmeal, showered and got to work. Only thing different from any other day was he had tea instead of coffee.
While he works I make a few notes of things to discuss with Dr. Matthews. I haven't quite mentioned it to Charlie but I have every intention of going with him to his appointment. It's scheduled for 10:00 and his office is in the city so we will just go in a little earlier than Charlie usually goes in, go to the appointment and I'll go back to the office with him. Mac and I have plans for lunch that day. I'm sure I can entertain myself between his appointment and our lunch date.
I do my best to try not to hover but by 1:00 I'm heading upstairs to check on him. I haven't heard a thing from him in over 2 hours, no yelling, no stomping, no throwing of things.
It's kind of refreshing actually.
He's sitting on the couch with his cell phone on speaker, legal pad propped on his knees, scribbling quickly in his neat precise handwriting. Flashing me a big smile he scoots over a little to give me room to sit. I press a kiss to his cheek. I can hear the sounds of the rundown coming through the phone. There's lively discussion and for a few minutes it sounds like the old ACN.
That is until Pruitt apparently wanders into the room. Charlie rolls his eyes, mouths a few choice words and holds up his middle finger in reaction to the arrival. I just shake my head.
"Come eat lunch when the rundown is over," I tell him as I push myself off the couch.
He appears in the kitchen half an hour later, looking pretty good. He's wearing a rather fetching outfit which brings a smile to my face. I guess I didn't notice when I went up earlier. He's wearing cargo shorts, a freshly ironed plaid shirt with a polka dot bow tie and his ratty slippers. I just shake my head and laugh.
"What, when I sit in front of the camera you don't see me from the waist down," he explains.
"True but I also don't think your staff would care if you showed up to a meeting in your pajamas."
"Staff, probably not. Pruitt, who the hell knows at this point?" he mutters as he opens the fridge to scan the contents. He grabs a can of Sprite and hunts through the fridge.
"Can I help you find something?" I offer as I gently move him to the side. He has the habit of just standing with the fridge door open, a trait he has passed on to a certain 6 year old who is not quite tall enough to even see the top shelf.
"I don't know what I want," he mutters as he closes the door again. I nudge him in the direction of the island.
"How about a turkey sandwich?" I offer. I'm not really sure what he feels like eating and at this point I doubt he does either.
"Yeah, sounds fine," he answers as he pulls the tab and the can of Sprite opens with a slight hiss.
"Cheese?" I ask over my shoulder as now I'm standing with my head in the fridge.
"Sure," he answers as he flicks on the television. The scans through CNN and Fox to see what their current coverage is about before landing back on ACN.
I hand him his sandwich which he takes with a grateful smile.
I decide to throw out my idea of going to his appointment when he has a mouthful of sandwich. Seems like a good idea.
"So on Thursday since I have plans to have lunch with Mac, I thought I would just go with you to your appointment," I say simply, from the other side of the kitchen.
Takes him about 30 seconds to stop choking and say something. "What? Why?"
"Because quite frankly I don't think you'll be as honest as you should," I declare, figuring brutally honest is the way to go right now.
He starts to say something a few times but doesn't exactly get anything out for a good minute or so.
"Fine. But can we talk about what things you don't trust me to tell him."
"Certainly. Honey, I'm not trying to hide anything from you. I'm worried about you. You know that."
"I do know that. How about we talk about it later?" he offers as he picks at his sandwich.
I cross the room to give him a hug. As I wrap him up in a big embrace his phone rings. We both groan until he looks at the screen, it's Beau.
He grabs his soda and heads outside to talk with our grandson. I watch him from the kitchen window. He looks happy to be talking on the phone for a change.
"What's up?" I ask as he comes back in the kitchen after hanging up the phone.
"Beau wanted to know if I was going to be around this weekend. Think he wants to hang out for a while, probably talk about his parents. Told him I was free tonight. He's coming over for dinner, if that's okay."
"Of course it's okay. I should probably go to the food store then," I mutter as I start opening cabinets deciding what to make for dinner.
"Nancy, pizza would be fine. You never did get your pizza over the weekend."
"Okay pizza," I agree. "But I do need to go to the store for a few things. Some salad would be nice. You haven't had enough green matter in the last few days," I point out with a smirk.
"Great, just add that to the list of things to discuss with the doctor," he teases right back. "I'm going back to work. He'll be here about 5:00."
Charlie kisses my cheek, grabs a banana, a bottle of water and heads back upstairs.
A few minutes before 5:00 I hear a car pull in the driveway. The front door opens and I hear the car pull back out. I guess Katie just dropped him off.
"I'm in the kitchen, Beau," I call.
"Hey Nana," he says as he comes in the room with a big smile on his face and a hug for me.
"Mom just drop you off?"
"Yeah. Ned was with her and if he came in he'd never leave," Beau teased. "And I wanted it to be just us three for a change," he admitted quietly.
"Well, we are glad you're here," I assure him. "Ned's had some time with us alone lately, now it's your turn."
"Poppy upstairs?" he asks as he opens the fridge for a drink. Unlike his brother and grandfather, he grabs what he needs quickly and closes the door.
"Yep," I answer as I glance at the clock over the sink. "He should be just about done the last rundown meeting. We're ordering pizza. Do you want pepperoni?"
"Yep. And brownies for dessert?" he asks hopefully.
"Of course," I smile as I turn towards the cabinet to get out the baking supplies.
Charlie and Beau come downstairs when the rundown is over. Charlie's taken off the tie and put on his sneakers. He and Beau head outside to shoot some hoops before dinner.
"Charlie, be careful," I call as they go out through the garage. He's not as athletic as he thinks he is, he's obviously also not as young as he used to be. A combination which doesn't always make for a happy ending. I take the brownies out of the oven and make sure we have ice cream, chocolate for Charlie and vanilla for Beau.
I order the pizza and go out the porch to wait for the delivery. I watch the "boys" playing basketball by the garage. Beau has a good sense of how competitive he should really be with his 70 something grandfather. Charlie's aim seems to be good but he just seems sluggish. I'm about to just write it off to him not sleeping well when he holds his hand up to let Beau know to stop for a minute. Charlie leans over, hands on his knees. I'm off the porch swing and at his side in an instant.
"Honey, you okay?" I ask as I crouch down next to him, my hand on his back.
"Not sure," he chokes out. He's breathing heavier than he should be and I can feel his heart racing.
"Take a deep breath, try to slow down your breathing," I coach. I look up to see Beau who is standing a few feet away, basketball clutched to his chest he looks like he's about to burst into tears. I hold out my other hand to him, he drops the ball and steps towards me.
"Go get Poppy a bottle of water."
He nods his head and runs into the house through the garage.
Charlie stands up carefully, his breathing has slowed a little and he's not quite so pale.
"You okay to walk to the porch?" I ask as I keep a firm grip on his arm.
He nods and I lead him to the swing. Beau meets us on the porch, sitting down next to his grandfather. He opens the water bottle and Charlie takes a sip.
"Okay, what happened?" I ask when it seems like we've all calmed down enough to actually have a conversation.
"I just lost my breath, I don't know," Charlie answers simply.
"Answer me honestly, any chest pain, anything like that?"
Before he can answer the pizza delivery guy pulls in the driveway. I hand Beau the money and send him to get our dinner. When he's out of earshot I repeat my question.
"Chest pain?"
"Weird feeling, not pain," Charlie admits, clearly not wanting to have this conversation while Beau is still here.
"We'll talk later," I agree and I press my fingers against the inside of his wrist. His pulse has slowed down to the point where I'm not going to freak out.
Beau takes the pizza inside and we follow him in with Charlie trying to act as natural as possible. He's actually doing a pretty good job. Which leads to wonder if he's been hiding any symptoms from me.
Charlie eats pretty well, finishing two slices and glass of iced tea. He started to head for the bourbon in the den but a glare from me nixed that idea quickly.
Beau is quiet during dinner, despite our best efforts to keep the conversation flowing. I know the whole incident scared him. Hell, it scared me too.
"Why don't you two go out on the deck? I'll bring out dessert in a little while."
Charlie and Beau talk outside for almost an hour. The brownies have long cooled but I don't really want to interrupt what looks like a serious and probably much needed conversation. Katie admitted to me that Michael, the boys' father, has started to see someone seriously and it's causing some issues with the boys.
A crash of thunder and flash of lightning bring them in about 7:30. They settle at the island and I dish out the ice cream while Beau cuts generous sized brownies.
We talk and joke for another hour or so. Beau seems to be in a good mood considering everything. We talk about his plans for the future. He's finishing his junior year of high school and is starting to think about college. When he was younger he always had grand plans of going far away to school. But now, I get the feeling he will probably stick closer to home. He's taken on more responsibility as "man of the house" than a 17 year old should take on. Charlie, Katie and I try to minimize this as best we can but he's mature and with a good head on his shoulders, leading him to take on more than a boy his age probably should.
He declines our offer to stay over but promises to come back to visit over the weekend, with Ned.
Charlie and Beau go upstairs to the office for a while after dessert. I'm not privy to the conversation and that's okay. We've always tried to spend one on one time with each of the boys.
Beau comes down alone a little after 9:00.
"Poppy asleep?" I ask and I hand him the dishtowel and point towards the dishes in the drainer. Beau laughs and picks up the brownie pan.
"He's awake, we watched the second half of News Night. On the phone now with Don I think."
"So how was Sloan?" I ask, teasing him a little. Both my grandsons seem to appreciate the beautiful Miss Sabbith.
"Nana," he whines as he tries to smack me with the towel. "Is Poppy really okay?" he asks, his tone turning serious.
"Well, honey you're old enough for me to tell you….I honestly don't know. He's having a hard time at work, you know about some of that. He has a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I hope we get some answers."
"I ask him if he ever thought about retiring," Beau mentions as he puts the plates in the cabinet.
"And what did he say?" I ask curiously.
"He used a few words he's not supposed to use in front of Ned," Beau laughs.
"Oh I'm sure he did," I smirk.
"He told me he was going to think about it. That would be nice. We could spend more time together," he says with a grin.
We finish cleaning up the kitchen and I show Beau the progress I've made on Ned's quilt. He even asks me to make him one when I'm finished Ned's.
A little before 10:00 I send him up to say goodnight to Charlie so I can drive him home.
By 11:30 Charlie's sound asleep thanks to an Ambien. Part of me thinks he eagerly took the Ambien in an effort to avoid a conversation about his earlier symptoms.
That's okay, we will be having a long conversation tomorrow, prior to his appointment on Thursday. Not sure when we'll be having this chat but we will find the time, we always do.