Page 69 of Tart
I lowered myself to the seat and set my new crutches to the side on the floor. They had become lifesavers, and I was grateful to Bishop for ordering them. My arm didn’t hurt anymore, which made moving around less arduous and fatiguing. When she reappeared, she had two glasses filled with iced tea.
“Be careful,” she warned, “it’s spiked.”
“A woman after my own heart,” I chuckled, taking a sip. “Oh, yeah,” I moaned, loving the rich taste of spicy rum mixed into the sweet tea.
“I thought we deserved it,” she said, sipping her tea. “You more than any of us, though.”
“It’s almost surreal,” I admitted, leaning back in the chair. “New faces in the front are now bringing in new customers. Am I that ugly?” I asked, laughing at her face when she registered what I asked.
She gave me the har-har face. “No, you aren’t ugly, but you’re also not twenty-one. If you notice, the age of the new crowd is in that ballpark. Their friends are coming in to see them and staying for the cake. The new girls are professional, courteous, and helpful to all the customers, so I don’t have a problem with it.”
“Other than having to increase your cupcake tally every day.”
“Which is okay because now I have time to do it,” she said, tapping her glass on her leg. “Are you going to work the booth at the Strawberry Festival next week?”
I swallowed a large gulp of the iced tea and stared over her shoulder. If I met her eyes, I’d cry, and if I cried, I might never stop. “I don’t think so, Hay-Hay,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “I didn’t get good news at the doctor today. I don’t think I can handle all the sitting, standing, loading, and unloading that the event requires. I want to,” I said, my voice cracking, “but I can’t. Not this year.”
Haylee set her iced tea down and knelt in front of me, taking my hand. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry for even asking. Please, don’t stress about it, okay? I’ll have the girls do it. They need the experience, and I know they will love to work the booth since the bakery won’t be open.”
I nodded and swallowed back the tears in my voice. “I’ll make sure all the marketing information is ready, and I’ll go over all of it with them. I’ll be on-call for any questions, issues, or help they need. The uneven ground out there just makes it hard and a little dangerous right now for me, you know?”
She nodded and grasped my hands tightly. “I know. What happened at the doctor, Amber? What did he tell you?”
I stared down at our hands resting on my lap rather than her empathetic face. “Exactly what I already suspected,” I answered, my voice firm, which surprised me. “The nerves used to bend my knee and ankle, as well as give me any sensation in the leg, are denervated, which is a fancy word for no nerve supply or—”
“Paralyzed,” she whispered.
I nodded, a tear dripping onto my lap. “Dammit,” I whispered, angrily swiping at my face with my shoulder. “I said I wasn’t going to cry. It’s not like I didn’t already know.”
She wiped away a tear from my face. “Suspecting and getting confirmation are two different things, Amber. You get to cry. That’s allowed in my house.”
I chuckled and shook my head a little bit. “That’s what Bishop said, too, but I don’t want to be that person.”
She rubbed my shoulder tenderly and paused for a beat. “What treatment options did the doctor give you?”
My shoulder went up under her hand. “There aren’t many. The expensive brace would allow me to walk again, but that is the only thing that will. The brace I’m wearing now is just to keep the leg from flopping around. It’s not helping me walk anymore. If I don’t get the new brace, I’ll end up in a wheelchair.”
“But you’re going to get the new brace, right?”
“We have a meeting with them in a couple of weeks. The doctor wants the arthritis in the knee to heal more before we do it. He says they need to measure everything when it’s normal, which makes sense,” I said on a laugh. “As if anything is normal. Nothing will be normal again.”
Haylee pulled me over onto her shoulder to hug me. “Maybe not the normal you were used to, but there will be normal again. Will it look different from the last seventeen years? Yes, but that doesn’t mean it will be worse. You have so many people who love you and just want to see you happy again. Brady and I will do anything at the bakery so you can keep working with us. We miss you when you aren’t there, and we want you back. Bishop will move mountains to make sure you’re happy again. He loves you and doesn’t want to see you in pain.”
I nodded, tears falling faster now that I was in my best friend’s arms. I never had to be strong with her. She always let me fall apart so I could put myself back together again. “Thanks for always letting me cry on your shoulder,” I said over my tears.
“Bishop would let you cry on his shoulder, too, babe,” she whispered. “He’s not going to leave you just because you show a moment of weakness.”
“She’s right,” his deep voice said from behind us. I stiffened immediately, but there was no way to hide the tears. “Love is filled with little moments of weakness that are made strong again by the bond we share.”
His strong arms captured me, and he sat, holding me on his lap and letting me tuck my nose into his neck. “It honestly didn’t hit me how bad my leg had gotten until she asked me about the Strawberry Festival,” I said, my voice tiny. “Last year, I could do it all, and this year, I can’t do any of it.”
“That’s not true,” Hay-Hay said from where she sat by Brady. “I know you’ll have everything ready for those girls down to the most minute detail. What you have to learn to do is work smarter, not harder. You’re the business manager, not the grunt work. Turn your mindset around to that, and you’ll be a lot happier.”
“That’s our mindset,” Brady said. “We utilize everyone’s talents now where they are most effective. We don’t need you sitting behind a table taking money for cupcakes. We need you sitting behind the desk planning the marketing campaigns, doing the interviews, organizing the sales, managing the employees, and doing the books. I think that’s enough, don’t you? I know how hard Haylee works, but she doesn’t wear that many hats every day.”
I wiped my eyes and nodded. “It’s just...I guess I feel sad because I always look forward to Strawberry Fest. Maybe not all the work involved with it, but the atmosphere. I feel like it’s just another thing this shitshow has stolen from me.”
Bishop kissed my temple and wiped another tear from my face. “We can go and enjoy the atmosphere without you killing yourself with all the work. I bet I even know someone who would love to experience Strawberry Fest for the first time.”
