Hope Springs - 05 - Wedding Cake Read Online Free PDF Page B

better news than what you get up in Baltimore.”
    “I started taking it when Roxie moved here,” he said. “You know, just to feel connected, I guess. I never canceled the subscription.”
    Louise nodded. She had never known that he had any interest in what had been going on in the town where his wife had died.
    There was a pause.
    “What are you doing here, George?” she finally asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
    George shook his head. “That’s what I always liked about you, Louise. Straight and to the point.”
    Louise grinned. “Well, to the point, at least.”
    George looked confused at first and then figured out her bit of “gay humor.” He nodded.
    “I’m in trouble,” he confessed.
    “Oh?” she asked. “And what brand of trouble do you seem to be in? Your girlfriend take you to the cleaner’s?”
    George looked away. “I deserve that,” he said.
    Louise nodded.
    “We broke up a long time ago,” he said. “We broke up not long after Roxie died,” he added.
    Louise was surprised to hear that bit of news since George had never mentioned it before. She always assumed he was glad to get ridof his first wife so that he could carry on with his lover. She just assumed that he had gotten married to the woman she had never met, the woman he had taken up with when Roxie got sick. “How come you never told me?” she asked.
    He shrugged. “Didn’t really think you were interested in my love life,” he replied.
    “Well, that’s true,” she noted. She took a sip of her tea. “I’m still mad at you for the affair.”
    George looked down. “I know you are,” he responded. “I was wrong to do that to Roxie, but I was stupid and”—he shrugged—“I have to live with that. I just think I couldn’t bear losing Roxie, watching her leave me a little every day.”
    “So you left her first?” Louise asked.
    George nodded. “You took much better care of her than I would have,” he confessed. “And I really think she wanted to be with you in her last days, not me.”
    Louise looked closely at George. In spite of how it happened, she was glad that she had been the one to care for Roxie. She suddenly realized that in some small way, she had been glad for George’s affair since it did give her those final months with his wife. The realization surprised her. She decided to change the subject.
    “So, if that’s not your trouble, then what is?” she asked, recalling his reason for his visit. She took another swallow of her tea.
    “I’m sick,” he responded. “And when I die, my money, Roxie’s money, will go to the girls.”
    Louise nodded. “I think that’s the appropriate line of things,” she said. “What’s wrong with you?”
    “Lung cancer,” he answered. “I have about a year maybe,” he added. “I’ve been through the surgery and chemo. I even had about of radiation. But it’s come back and it’s terminal this time.” He stopped for a second. This certainly explained his shortness of breath that Louise had noticed when he arrived.
    Louise waited. “I’m sorry about your diagnosis,” she responded, and she actually meant it.
    “Thanks,” he replied. “There’s more. I don’t want to leave all my money to the girls. The two of them getting everything would be the appropriate line of things except Ruby married a complete loser.”
    Louise listened. She had known Ruby’s husband and was not particularly thrilled with him, but she certainly wouldn’t have called him a loser exactly. She had always thought Ruby and her husband made a nice couple.
    “He’s got real problems. He gambles and he refuses to get help. Ruby is in a major state of denial about it. I don’t want him to get any of our money. Ted has already been nosing around about how much he would inherit, and Ruby doesn’t seem to care that he’ll take it all and blow it on booze and horses. Frankly, I think she may be drinking herself. And Laura’s got so much money she doesn’t need any of it.