took the packages from Tammie Lee's hands, kissing his wife on the cheek. "How'd the shopping go?"
"Great. This is Alix, your mother's friend and now mine."
"Hello, Alix." Paul gave her the once-over, as if he wasn't sure she was for real. "You and my mother are friends?"
"Yeah, we met in the knitting class."
"Oh, right." He nodded. "I remember...."
"I'm going to do Alix's hair. She's got a hot date tonight."
"Sure, go ahead." His attention had already drifted back to the baseball game.
Tammie Lee was as good as her word. By the time she'd finished, Alix felt like a candidate for Homecoming Queen. Staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, Alix had to blink in order to believe the image was her own.
"What do you think?" Tammie Lee asked.
"I...you made me pretty."
Tammie Lee slowly shook her head. "You're already lovely, Alix, but I have a feeling your Jordan knows that."
Her heart did a little flip-flop at the way Tammie Lee said your Jordan, as if it was understood that the two of them were a couple.
Before long, Jacqueline arrived to give Alix her nod of approval. While Alix suspected she fell far short of the designer dress and fancy hairdo her friend would've preferred, she seemed to pass muster. Tammie Lee hadn't used anything more than a curling iron and mousse, but she'd managed to arrange Alix's plain straight hair in a natural wavy style that suited her better than anything she'd ever imagined.
After a moment, Jacqueline smiled.
"Do you think Jordan will like it?"
Jacqueline laughed delightedly. "My dear, he's in for a real surprise."
That evening while she waited for Jordan to pick her up at the apartment, Alix nervously paced the living room.
"Would you stop pacing," Laurel snapped. She was parked in front of the television with a pint of cookie-dough ice cream, which she ate directly from the container.
The knock on the door nearly sent Alix into a panic. She closed her eyes and although she wasn't a person who'd prayed a lot in recent years, she found a prayer on her lips now. More than anything, she wanted Jordan to see her as beautiful.
Holding her breath, she opened the door.
Jordan stood there holding a wrist corsage in a clear plastic box. His eyes widened as he stood staring at her.
"Say something," she pleaded. "Anything."
"Wow," he breathed. "Wow, Alix, is that really you?"
"It's me." Holding back a smile would have been impossible. "You like it?"
"I like you," he said and handed her the corsage.
This was the first time in her life anyone had given her flowers and nothing in the world could have pleased her more.
CHAPTER 40
"Whether I am knitting for myself or someone else, my passion for knitting enables me to express my creativity and produces a feeling of accomplishment."
- Rita E. Greenfeder, Editor, Knit 'N Style Magazine
LYDIA HOFFMAN
M argaret decided to go with me to the meeting with Dr. Wilson at his office. He had all the test results and medical reports back now, and there seemed to be some confusion about the diagnosis.
Notoriously closemouthed, he did mention casually when I was released from the hospital that he'd asked a colleague to review the biopsy. That news, I suspect, was meant to encourage me. But in my heart, I knew the tumor was cancerous.
"Don't be such a pessimist," Margaret mumbled as we sat in the waiting area. It was the last appointment of the day, another sure sign of my prognosis, but I didn't say any of this to Margaret.
Instead I leaned back and closed my eyes, wanting to block out the world. It was easy for my sister to suggest optimism. This wasn't her life, her illness, her impending death. I couldn't help wondering what her thoughts would've been had our situations been reversed. I bit back the words to remind her that she'd come running to me with her own recent scare. I was in that kind of mood right now. I could hardly keep from lashing out at the world and everyone close to me. The person who'd received the brunt of my anger, sadly, was Brad, and he was the last person who deserved it. But I refused to dwell on him or the regrets I felt whenever he crossed my mind. I'd done what I had for his own good. He would never know what it had cost me to send him away; I would carry the weight of that for the rest of my life, however short that might be.