Chapter Thirteen

Dre's phone buzzed, waking him from a dead sleep. He'd driven to Katy last night after having played a Thursday night game in Dallas and hadn't gotten in until six this morning. He'd talked with Jamaal and his mom before they left for the day then crashed, hoping to catch up on sleep. He planned to spend the evening with Quinn and finally get some alone time with her.

The phone rang again, and he checked it, seeing Quinn's name under the time, 4:30 pm.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Dre, my grandmother's missing." Quinn sounded panicked. "We just realized it. Grandpa hasn't seen her since lunch. When I got home from school, he thought she was in their room, but when I went to check on her, she wasn't there. We can't find her anywhere."

He sat up. "Stay at the apartment building in case she returns. I'll drive around the surrounding streets."

"Your mom and some of the residents are looking for her."

"We'll find her, honey. She couldn't have gotten far."

"Thank you," she said.

"Talk soon." He hopped out of bed and grabbed some clothes out of his bag. He dressed quickly and drove straight to the front gate. The security guards said a woman fitting Estelle's description had walked through the gate a couple of hours ago. They pointed left, indicating which way she'd gone.

He drove slowly through the first subdivision. Luckily, it was a nice day with mild temps. The late afternoon sun was bright, the sky pale blue. He craned his neck every which way as he hunted for Estelle. Many of the streets were cul de sacs. Children rode bicycles, kids played basketball, and a few people mowed their yards. He stopped and talked to Bobby Gee, who was also driving around searching.

Dre decided to try the next subdivision. As he drove through, he began to feel discouraged. At the last street, he took a left on the dead end.

At the very end of the street, a woman with blonde curls sat on the curb in a velour jogging suit. She looked up. Estelle.

He parked on the side of the road, sent a quick text to Quinn, and slid from his truck, not sure what to say or of Estelle's state of mind. As he approached, she sadly smiled.

"I'm glad to see you. I got so tired I had to sit down, and then I remembered I can't get up. I'm afraid you're going to have to help me off the ground again."

He sat on the curb beside her. "Everyone is worried about you."

"I am too." She swallowed before tears began falling from her eyes. "I-I-I-"

"You don't owe me an explanation."

She weakly tilted her head to rest it on his shoulder as she wept. "Can you take me to the doctor before I see Ivan and Quinn? Please?"

"I'll take you anywhere you wish to go."

~

Once Quinn and Grandpamade it to the tiny medical center, Dre opened the door and held it as they approached the building. He clasped her hand and led them to an office with three chairs facing a desk. He knocked on the open doorframe. Grandma spun toward them and stood. Then she covered her face in her hands and let out a sob.

Grandpa rushed over to hug her. "Are you all right?"

"I panicked when I woke up from my nap alone and didn't recognize anything. I left the building in hopes of finding something familiar. When I didn't, I thought I'd walk until I did. When I became exhausted I sat down. We all know what a terrible decision that was." She tapped her temple and rolled her eyes.

Her gesture and comment caused them to let out nervous laughs.

Quinn sniffed, trying in every way to staunch her tears. Dre's warm hand rubbed in soothing circles on her back.

"I was stuck there until Dre found me. If not for him, I'd still be there." Grandma looked at him, her eyes sorrowful. "I've treated you rather badly since the tornado. Please forgive me."

"No apology is necessary."

"You don't know what I've said behind your back."

He smiled. "My mother always told me, what someone says about me is none of my business."

"Smart woman." Grandma glanced at Quinn, then Ivan. "Home is the only place I've felt comfortable for a while now. I've known my memory is not ... what it used to be. I didn't want either of you to know, so I hid it. Since being at Chasing Time, I've been as ugly as possible in hopes you'd leave me alone, and I could keep my forgetfulness a secret. I thought if you realized what was happening to me you might look at me differently, so I channeled my mean girl."

"I'm not a fan of your mean girl," Grandpa said. "She's a bitch."

Grandma laughed. "You can't deny she kept my problem a secret."

"Darling, I took a vow for better or worse."

"What if I forget who you are, who we both are?"

"I'll be here. I'll remember for both of us." He turned toward Quinn. "And when neither of us remembers, we'll rely on Quinn."

Eyes blurry, Quinn bobbed her head, unable to speak.

A young woman with honey-colored hair and deep brown eyes entered the room. Her hands were in the pockets of her white lab coat. "I'm Dr. Wise. Mrs. Weldon explained her symptoms, and we're planning to run a series of tests over the next few weeks to get some answers. Right now we need to start your bloodwork. If you'll just come with me."

Grandma walked out of the room behind Dr. Wise.

Grandpa rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I ignored the signs."

Quinn patted his arm. "I'm sure you didn't ignore them, you just didn't think they were serious."

"I can't remember the last time she drove a car. I knew she forgot things. Hell, I forget things."

"I should've known too," she replied. "Before the tornado, she refused to go shopping or to church, using her knees as an excuse. And as you know, she refused to go anywhere besides the house since we've been living at Chasing Time. Weeks ago, I offered to buy her a wheelchair so she could go places."

"I can only imagine how well that went." Grandpa sighed.

"She yelled, ‘I'm not an invalid,' and didn't speak to me for days."

"I hoped she'd become accustomed to Chasing Time. I love it and all the people. But we won't be able to stay if she's got Alzheimer's or dementia. They aren't equipped for those types of patients."

"Wait, slow down," Dre interjected. "Until the doctor gives you a diagnosis, don't jump to conclusions."

He was right. She and Grandpa were headed down a dark rabbit hole before they truly understood what was wrong. She stepped closer to Dre, loving having him near, loving his calming influence in this turbulent sea of uncertainty.

"You're right, Dre," Grandpa said. "We need to figure out what we're dealing with."

When Grandma finished with the doctor, Dre followed Quinn and her grandparents to the apartment building and they ate in the cafeteria. The other residents stopped by the table telling Grandma how happy they were to see her.

Once done eating, they got her grandparents settled in their room, and Dre grabbed Quinn's hand. Numb, she allowed him to lead her out of the facility, trusting him implicitly. After a while, they came upon the lake. Dusk splashed the sky with streaming streaks of sun beams bursting through the clouds in yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple.

Dre sat on the bench, pulled her across his lap, and wrapped his strong arms around her. His comfort, his care, his understanding was everything she needed. She turned her head and cried into his shirt.

He didn't try to cheer her up and didn't attempt to fill the silence. He let her be herself, her heap-of-a-mess self. By the time her tears stopped, the sky had darkened and lampposts lit the trail back to the facility. The light reached them barely enough for her to make out his tender expression before his lips touched hers in a sweet, tender kiss.

Never underestimate what it takes to watch someone you love in pain ~ Erma Bombeck