Before moving to Chicago, Valentine had thought of all “old folk's home” as just that – a retirement home for old people. But it turned out there were all sorts of different kinds, with different classifications. A skilled nursing facility was almost like a miniature hospital, and it was built to house patients with intense medical conditions, and many were also equipped to house patients with memory problems.
Gam-Gam was all of the above.
“Hello?” Valentine drummed her fingers against the counter as she walked up to the first floor nurse's station.
A nurse finally popped up, and Val informed her that she was there to see Eugenia Parker – her grandmother. She wasn't allowed to see her unsupervised. It humiliated her, killed her, to have to ask permission to see the person she'd been taking care of for the last six months. The person she'd loved since she'd been born.
But getting angry didn't make things any easier. So she did what she always did – she gritted her teeth and she played by the rules. She was kind and polite, and she turned in every piece of evidence she could find to prove she'd never abused her grandmother. She showed up to every meeting, returned every phone call, and always walked on egg shells, paranoid one of the social workers would find out about her jobs.
Is it like with this children? Can a person be an escort and still be allowed take care of their sickly grandmother? Better to keep it quiet, just in case.
She followed the short nurse down another hall. They chatted as they went, saying hi to other patients along the way, then they both fell silent as they approached Gam-Gam's room.
“She's been doing well today,” the nurse said, leading the way into the dimly lit room.
“She has?” Valentine replied, folllowing close behind.
There was a tv mounted on the wall, a reclining chair under it, a small sink and cabinet built into the wall next to her, and in the middle of it all, a narrow hospital bed. Laying in the center of it was her grandmother, looking sickly and frail. She was breathing heavy in her sleep, her eyes squeezed together tightly.
“Yes,” the nurse continued as she walked across the room and opened the blinds. “She talked about you and your sister and your mother, and she remembered which table was hers for lunch.”
“That's awesome. I wish ...” Valentine sighed as she sank into the recliner. “I used to spend afternoons with her, at home. We'd talk about my mom and sister, too.”
The nurse smiled sweetly at her. Everyone knew Valentine's situation, and thankfully, they all seemed to be on her side. If only IDHS would hurry up with their investigation. Gam-Gam's insurance only covered so many days in a nursing facility, and she'd already used up a lot of them. In the not too distant future, Valentine would have to start paying out of pocket, and as good as she was doing at the club, she didn't think she could manage an additional $9,000 a month on top of everything else she already had to pay for.
“Would you like me to wake her?”
Val glanced back at the nurse, then shook her head before looking at her grandma again.
“No, let's let her sleep. I'll come tomorrow and -”
“Is that you, Patricia?”
Once upon a time, Eugenia Parker'd had a deep, somewhat booming voice. Loud, bawdy. Always laughing, always directing the conversation. Now it was frail sounding, and scratchy. Val stood up and hurried to the chair at the side of the bed, smiling as her grandmother slowly blinked her eyes.
“Hi, Gam-Gam, it's me, Valentine,” she said. “Patricia” was Valentine's mother's name, and Gam-Gam often mistook her for her anymore. She'd struggled with her memory before being hospitalized, but afterwards, it had gotten so much worse. Valentine was still hoping there'd be improvements.
“I was waiting for you,” her grandma said through a yawn.
“You were? I was waiting for you!” Val teased. The nurse winked at her, then quietly shuffled into the hall. She was supposed to wait in the room, technically, but most of them didn't bother anymore. It was obvious to anyone that Val would never hurt her grandmother.
“Were you? I'm sorry I'm late,” her grandma said, struggling to sit up in bed. Valentine helped her get into a more comfortable position, then they both sat back.
“What were you waiting for me for?” Val asked. Her grandma thought hard for a second.
“We were going to go on a walk,” she said, shocking Valentine.
“You want to go for a walk? That's awesome, I'll see if we can find a chair,” Val said excitedly, and she started to stand up.
“Yes, with you and your boyfriend.”
Valentine froze mid-stand.
“Me and ... who?”
“I like tall men,” Gam-Gam sighed. “I'm tall, so I'm glad he's tall.”
Valentine stared at her grandmother. Ari was tall, over six foot.
“You want to go on a walk with Ari?” she double-checked, though she'd be surprised if her grandmother recognized the name.
“I'm too old to walk,” Gam-Gam grumbled. Valentine smiled and sat back down.
“We don't have to.”
“Good. I'll tell him when he comes.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Tell him when ... who? Who comes?” she asked. Her grandmother yawned again, then snuggled deeper into the pillows behind her.
“The boyfriend,” she sighed. “The tall one. I'll tell him when he comes that we don't want to walk. He's a nice young man.”
“He's ...” Valentine struggled for a moment, but couldn't bring herself to agree.
The only time she ever met Ari, we were out on a walk. She must be just remembering that time, for some reason, and thinking it happened recently. At least she's remembering, though.
“I like him. You know who else I like? My granddaughter, Valentine. She's very smart.”
Val held onto her smile, but she couldn't stop her eyes from swimming with tears.
“You think so?” she asked in a shaky voice. “Sometimes I wonder.”
“Not me,” her grandmother was fading back into sleep, but her voice still held tinges of pride in it. “I know so. My sweet Valentine, so smart. So pretty. She's a good girl. I'm glad she found a nice boy. I wish she'd visit me.”
And then she was asleep, and Valentine was crying, and she had the sudden realization that there was a very distinct possibility that it might never, ever get better for the two of them.
Story of my life.
2
Ari Sharapov wasn't addicted to the gym, like some men he knew. Being a lawyer could be a very stressful job, so a lot of his friends took out their stress on their bodies, or on punching bags. Not him.
He did like to stay in shape, though, and he was a Sharapov, so he had a membership to an exclusive country club. He didn't golf, and he only played tennis occasionally, but he did make use of the gym a couple times a week.
Though since blowing things up with Valentine, and then finding himself unable to get in touch with her, “a couple times a week” had turned into almost every day.
One, two, three, four ...
He counted push-ups in the back of his head while his mind wandered. Where was she, what was she doing. He'd been banned from her club, and he'd yet to be able to catch her outside her house. The one time he'd gone banging on her door in the middle of the night, her roommate had threatened to call the cops on him. Valentine's school would tell him that she was attending classes regularly, but wouldn't tell him which classes she was taking. He was completely frozen out of her life, and Ari was not a man accustomed to being kept out of anything.