Left Behind Read Free

cooking my special home-made seafood jambalaya. I was doing the dishes I had used while cooking, when Jordan walked in with grocery bags hanging off his arms.
    “Sis, I smelled your cookin’ from out in the driveway.” He said. “You are an angel from heaven. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I am sooooo hungry.”
    I went to help him put the bag s down then turned and signed, ‘ You are not supposed to skip meals William Jordan . ’ I crossed my arms over my chest, and gave him my best ‘you know better’ look.
    “Don’t look at me like that, Marti. I bet you didn’t eat either.” He looked pointedly at me. “You never stop to eat when you’re writing . Even when you’re not writing, you don’t take care of yourself so don’t lecture me. I was trying to hurry so I could get home to your cookin’ . ”
    I started to tear up realizing how much of his freedom he’d given up to come home to watch out for me.
    ‘ I’m sorry J. I know I don’t have room to talk . ’ I said He came and gave me a big bear hug. “Please don’t cry. I wasn’t fussin’. I just worry about you. ”
    I pulled away fro m him so I could sign to him. ‘ I know you worry. I worry about you, too. You used to go out. You used to have girlfri ends , but you stopped doing all of that . You gave everything up to come take care of me. I feel like I’ve messed things up for you. ’
    “No, Marti. I wanted to come here. If I had been here…”
    ‘ No! That happened because I was stupid! ’ I signed with rapid, jagged movements to emphasize I meant it. ‘ Don’t you dare play the ‘what if’ game. No one is to blame except for me and that phycho. I knew better than to… ’ I couldn’t finish. I couldn’t think about it anymore or I’d break down again, so I turned and started put ting the groceries up. Jordan helped me, knowing me well enough to drop it, and then he fixed drinks while I fixed us each a bowl.
    “Did you make good progress on your book today?”
    ‘ No. I only got one chapter done and didn’t even get to the editing of that . ’ I usually edited as I went along since I was my own editor for this first book. I had decided to publish it as an e-book if I couldn’t get a publisher interested. That way I could establish myself as an author and it would be easier to gain the attention of the publishers if my name was already out there.
    “What happened? You usually get more than that done. You had all day.”
    ‘ I fell asleep . ’ I knew I didn’t have to explain beyond that. He knew about my nightmares and virtual fear of sleep because of it.
    “Oh. Hey! Did James call you?” He asked. I knew he was trying to change the subject and get my mind off the topic.
    Just then the phone rang. “Get that. It must be him calling now.”
    I have a phone with a keyboard attached so I could type what I wanted to say. I looked at the caller ID and sure enough it was James.
    I picked it up and typed ‘ Hello ’.
    “Hey Sissy! Has Jordan told you my good news yet?” His voice was deep, but it was as bubbly as ever. He always was hyped up and chipper. Not much could ever get him down.
    ‘ Yep. He told me at breakfast, so what took y ou so long to call and tell me ?’
    He waited for me to type and for the voice machine to talk. It was kind of a slow process to have a phone conversation, but he and Jordan never had a problem waiting. They were happy to have a way to talk to me when they weren’t there.
    “Sorry, please don’t be mad, but I was just getting everything ready for the move. I even found rental space in Fort Mill to use as an office, AND I already have a job offer to design the new Town Hall there, SOOO I’ll be there tomorrow if that’s ok ay .” He said. I could tell how excited he was.
    ‘ Of course it’s ok ay ! I can’t wait for you to get here. I’ve missed you so much .’ I typed. ‘ And you need to go ahead and bring Shelby, too. She can live here with you until you build your