Page 84 of Roll With The Punches
When they returned home, Brandon sent Emma to her room. Her phone had been confiscated and would sit in their room overnight.
But since Bill and Faith had confiscated Grace’s, chances were there wouldn’t be any trouble.
The girls could still ride together to and from school, but Brandon would be using a tracking app on Emma’s phone to verify where she was driving and keep tabs on the timeframe. With Jeff out of work, he’d take point on that for now.
“Are you really going to keep the restrictions up the whole time?” Jeff asked him.
“Yep. She needs to learn this now. I can’t let her skate. I won’t do her any favors if I do that.”
“I’m glad they weren’t upset about them dating,” Stuart said. “That could have been really bad.”
Brandon and Jeff held him. “I know, buddy. It’s okay. Not everyone’s an asshole.”
* * * *
Jeff returned to work two weeks after he was released from the hospital. He had seen some improvement while on the medications, but…he wasn’t “better.”
The problem was, he knew he had to work and try a course of the oral meds. If he had the PICC line for IV meds—which was what the doctor wanted to do—he wasn’t going to be able to work. Not as a mechanic. They’d warned him there was a chance of him getting it infected, especially with the hot summer, being sweaty, or pulling it loose, catching it on something while working on a car, or getting it messed up from oil, solvents, or other chemicals he frequently came into contact with in his job.
Maybe if he worked doing something else, or in an office somewhere, sure. But not with that job.
So he slogged along and did his best to try to get through it.
Four weeks after his collapse, Jeff stood in the garage that Sunday afternoon and stared at the Edsel. There were still so many things he wanted to do to it—shouldbe doing to it—and yet what had been a fun, relaxing hobby before now felt like a chore. He hadn’t touched it since the day he and Emma had been working on it.
He’d opened the large door and spotted Emma pulling into the driveway, Grace in the passenger seat. Her parents were going to be at a lunch, followed by an evening social event, for Bill’s work. Her parents had gotten the okay from Brandon to send her there, since the girls had completely adhered to their restrictions so far, and would pick her up on their way home later. The girls walked in through the open garage door.
“Hey,” Emma said. “Whatcha doin’?”
He sighed. “Not enough.”
“You need to take it easy. The doctor warned you about that.”
“Ihavebeen taking it easy and I still feel like crud.”
“Can we help, at least?”
He had to think for a moment to realize what she’d asked. “Help me work on the Edsel?”
“Yeah. I’d like to learn more about it. We kind of got interrupted the last time.” But her playful smirk told the true tale.
She wanted to keep an eye on him when he was supposed to be resting.
“I’d like to learn more, too,” Grace said.
He nodded. “Sure. Okay.”
“Let us go dump our stuff and change clothes and we’ll be right back out.” They headed inside and he stood there for a moment, staring after them.
Lately, not only was he in a lot of pain despite the medications, but he noticed he was having trouble keeping his mind on track. Especially after a day at work. He sometimes had trouble making his hands or feet work the way he wanted them to.
He was always exhausted, woke up feeling that way, even after a full night’s sleep.
It didn’t feel like he was getting better. He felt like he wasn’t in control of his life any longer.
And it sucked. Big time.
He’d always prided himself on pulling his own weight, and now it felt like he was barely functioning.
