“I know this may not make you feel better right now,” Dr. Yamamoto spoke in a calm, reassuring voice. “But your grandmother was a very sick woman. Even if we had been able to revive her, she would have been on a ventilator, at best. Her heart would've been weakened further, and her mental state would have declined even quicker. She went peacefully, in her sleep, after spending a nice morning with her granddaughter.”
“Thank you, we understand,” Ari said, his voice low and serious. Valentine had come to think of it as his “lawyer voice”, when he was all business. When he was Aaron Sharapov, esquire. “Thank you for taking such good care of her.”
“If you have any questions,” the doctor sighed and handed over his card. “This is for my office here. Again, I'm sorry for your loss, Ms. O'Dell.”
Ari and the doctor shook hands. Valentine stood still and just watched as the doctor disappeared down the hallway.
“Are you ready to go home?” Ari asked.
Valentine glanced around. All the necessary paperwork had been filled out and signed. The hospital had alerted her grandmother's care facility, they would be packing up her meager belongings. She hadn't had anything at the hospital, itself.
There's nothing left for me here. Not in this hospital, not at my house. Not in this town.
“I'm ready to go.”
They went to her home, and it was Ari who broke the news to Bailey. It was a surreal moment, seeing him standing in her sparse living room. Valentine couldn't even remember, had Ari ever actually been inside the house before?
Briefly, one time, when he helped Gam-Gam up to her room after a walk. She'd been half in love with him by the end of it. So had I.
Bailey cried, and the two girls hugged while Ari stood by the front door, giving them their privacy. They sat and talked for a bit, reminiscing about Gam-gam, sharing fun memories. Forgetting the sad ones. When Bailey disappeared upstairs to call her own grandmother, Ari came back into the living room.
“C'mon,” he said, grabbing Valentine's hand and pulling her up.
She didn't have the energy to argue. Didn't even want to, didn't even ask. Just followed him out the front door and back into his car and eventually all the way back to his apartment. Just stood there as he stripped her naked and laid her down in his bed.
Just like this morning. Maybe this has all be a nightmare and I'm just now waking up?
“Is this real?” Valentine whispered while he turned out the lights.
“Yes,” he whispered back, joining her under the covers. He was still wearing his suit, the fabric cool against her skin as he pressed himself to her side.
“How did this happen?” she asked, staring at the ceiling.
“She was very old, Valentine,” he sighed, his arm wrapping around her waist. “And she was very sick. I'm sorry.”
“Me, too,” she sniffled. “Me, too.”
They were silent for a long time after that, her trying to stop crying. When she felt like she could speak again without breaking in half, she heaved a deep sigh and opened her mouth.
“Thank you for answering the phone.”
It was simply said, but it had a lot of weight. He paused for a moment, and she knew he understood. He squeezed her tightly.
“Thank you for calling me.”
11
The next few days were a whirlwind, and a lesson in what a great support network Valentine actually had – she'd always thought of herself as somewhat on her own, but that had really never been true. She'd thought it before, but now she knew it for a fact.
Charice practically moved into Val's house, cooking for her and Bailey, making lots of casseroles and easy to store dishes. Val pointed out that her grandmother hadn't been the one cooking their meals, but Charice had just told her sit down and she'd served her another piece of apple pie.
Del paid for all the funeral arrangements, the cremation and the service. It was a small affair; any of Gam-Gam's remaining friends were either too old or too far away to attend. Valentine's sister Janette also couldn't make it in from New York, though she did thoughtfully ask if she'd be receiving any kind of inheritance.
Bitch.
Del came to the memorial, though, as did Charice, Serge, Gary, and even surprisingly Angel. Valentine had actually never seen the other girl out of her angel get-up and almost hadn't recognized her. Evans also made a surprise appearance, sitting next to Bailey, his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.
It's a weird little family, but it's also a pretty amazing one.
Ari stayed by her side through everything, not going back to work for the rest of the week, telling his client's that someone close to him had just passed away, so he would be unavailable. It meant a lot, it really did, knowing he was willing to do that for her.
He was also willing to do other things. He offered to hire movers to bring her stuff over to the empty apartment. He offered for her to move in with him, letting Bailey live in the apartment by herself. He drove her everywhere, took care of her, slept next to her at night. It was almost overwhelming, and undeniably comforting.
And confusing as fuck. We went from sleeping together, to me hating him, to practically living together, with hardly any conversation.
And a conversation needed to happen.
Valentine did very little speaking throughout that week, which gave her plenty of time to think, something she was realizing she hadn't done enough of in her life.
She'd been solely focused on taking care of Gam-Gam. Working at Caché so she could take care of Gam-Gam. Running herself ragged to take care of Gam-Gam. Getting through school, so she could get a good job, so she could take care of Gam-Gam later on.
Ridiculous, really, that she'd never really indepth thought of what she would do when Gam-Gam died. Her grandmother had, after all, been a sickly elderly woman. Death had been sure to happen sooner rather later.
When taking care of a person is pretty much your sole purpose in life, what do you do when that person is gone? So much of her life revolved around a person that wasn't there anymore.
Did she need to work at Caché still? She liked the club, and she loved the people, and she had a lot of fond memories there – but if she never had to flirt with or makeout with someone for money ever again, it would be too soon. The club had been a means to an end. That end was gone.
I could get a real job. An easier job. A job that I'm not ashamed to tell people about.
And what about Bailey? The girl had been brought in as a roommate solely as a sort of babysitter for Gam-Gam. Gam-Gam no longer needed a babysitter, and they were losing their house in less than three weeks. Valentine loved Bailey, felt like she was family, but ultimately, the girl wasn't her responsibility.
She could keep coming out of her shell. Go to school in New York. Meet Devlin Daniels.
Which all led her to Ari.
They'd been brought together out of her need for money, and kept together by that same need, and brought back together by it this last time. Now there were no more medical bills to pay. No more ambulance rides, no more care facility, no more hospitals. She didn't need Ari's money. She didn't need his legal help. She didn't need to his protection.
When it boiled down to it, she didn't need him.
God, she wanted him, though. He'd blossomed into a whole new man right before her eyes. He still had his rough edge, his authoritarian manner that she found so sexy. He still took control in that way she loved so much.