Coworkers greeted me as I passed them. One made a wisecrack about not having seen me in so long that he though I'd quit or got canned. We laughed and I turned and rolled my eyes as I went into my office. I plowed through some technical information on a new plane that one of the aircraft makers was designing for the mid-size private jet market and I was looking over the options they were offering versus what our clients were in the market for. I went over the specifications that Scott had sent me for their purchase. He was looking for something in this range, and the current exchange rates made this one a good buy. I was going to Montreal the following week to look at the prototype in person.
Having kept busy for the first few days of the week hadn't let my mind wander much before Wednesday rolled around. Scott had asked me to pick him up rather than meet at the country club. I pulled into his driveway and parked the car.
"Hey Bobby!" Jo answered the door with her usual bright smile. She kissed me skipping my cheek and laid it on my lips. "Scott, Bobby is here!" She hollered as if announcing a childhood friend had arrived for a play date. I smiled realizing that this was the adult version of exactly that. Scott came out of his office dressed for the links. I noticed he wasn't moving very fast and seemed a little off. He stopped to kiss Jo goodbye and said that he'd have his cell on in case she needed anything.
"Hey Bob, let's get your clubs and take my ride, it's a little more roomy. I nodded and waved to Jo as we went out to the driveway. We got my clubs and bag stowed and he yelled, "shotgun!"
"It's your car Scott." I said laughing. He tossed the keys to me and they went wide but I was able to reach out for them just in time. We started off towards the club in silence. I had no idea how to start or even where. "Gee Scott, your wife came after me like a nymphomaniac last week and when she called you for permission to blow me you gave it to her. Seem odd to you?" I thought to myself.
"How was the trip to Houston?" I asked in an effort to cut the thick atmosphere that had developed. I glanced over and Scott's face had gone from a pensive stare to a rough laugh.
"Of all the things I expected out of you once we were alone, that was not it." His laugh faded away but he didn't respond to the question. Instead he nodded as if he'd made a decision. He took a deep breath and let it out slow and began to talk. "A few years ago I wasn't feeling so hot. After a week or so of what I thought was the flu, Jo prodded me to go to the doctor." He glanced over at me then back out the window. "It wasn't the flu. When they ask for more tests, you start to get worried. I know I did. It was a few days after that I got a call, they wanted both Jo and I to come into the office to talk. It was cancer."
"Oh shit." I said looking over at Scott.
He laughed again. "My thoughts exactly. Here I was at thirty-eight, like you now I think, and I had just been kicked in the nuts by mother nature. They caught it early enough, the doctor said, scheduled all the treatments recommended at that stage. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, you know, the works. Jo bawled her eyes out at first, but then she kicked into guerrilla mode. Suddenly bacon was off the menu, everything in the fridge was organic. She even made me get up and exercise with her! You know me in the mornings. I'm a give me coffee, and shut the hell up until it's gone, kind of guy."
Some things started to click into place. For the prior few years after Scott and Jo were married, he and I were both pretty busy, only seeing each other a few times each year. Then about a year ago he contacted me and asked if I still played golf and if I was able to join him for his regular game. It had become a regular thing every time we were both in town. We had spent more time together in the past couple years than we had in the previous five and I glanced over at him. "What's the prognosis?"
"After about six months the chemo and radiation were done and I was in remission. Success, or so we thought." He let out a little snort. "A check up a few months later I learned what the term metastasized meant. Things had seemed okay but it had actually silently spread. They started the chemo and radiation again and six months later things seemed to be getting better. I felt like shit. The problem is that if the cancer doesn't kill you then the cure will. We waited a month and it had only stalled during the treatments but hadn't gone away. I finally said enough was enough. If I'm going to go then I want to do it under my own power. I told the doctors that I'd had enough. Joanna and I had a lot of very long talks." He reached up and wiped his eyes as I pulled into the parking lot of the club.
I stopped the car. "Scott, we don't have to play if you don't feel up to it."
"Like hell. I kicked your ass last week and I'm going to do it again. When I do you're buying lunch, again." He said smiling as he opened his door to get out. I shook my head and got out too.
I took both bags and got an evil glare for it but he didn't make a scene in the parking lot. When we signed in I found that he'd requested a cart this week. We usually walked the course, though never in a hurry, letting others play through if they overtook us. We made our way out to the first tee and started playing.
"Jo said that the two of you had a nice evening last week."
I sliced my shot half way back to the clubhouse.
"So is that how you're going to win by messing with my head the whole game?" I said causing us both to laugh.
"Well it worked last week. You know that old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill." We played up to the green, he made a long putt and I double bogeyed before we moved onto the next tee.
"Okay Scott," I was ready for more information, "you've started putting the puzzle pieces together, but I still have no idea what the whole picture is yet."
"We'll get there. There are going to be parts that seem unrelated but they're going to come together. Bear with me as I explain how things went on from there." He went on to explain that Jo had been talking about starting a family about the time he was diagnosed. As soon as he was off the treatments they tried. "Boy oh boy did we try. There's something to be said for not succeeding the first time, because the trying is fun as hell." He smiled and gave me a bit of a knowing look. I wondered just how much Jo told him about our dinner and subsequent antics. He put his head down and lined up his shot and made a nice drive down the center of the fairway. "Thing is, the therapy had done me in, I was firing blanks. We both shed tears over that. Jo had her heart set on having my child. She said she wanted to hold on to a part of me."
The enormity of what he was talking about in such a calm, off-hand manner washed over me. "Jesus." I whispered. "How long do you have left Scott? Did the doctors give you a timeline?"
He looked down the fairway and nodded. "We'll get to that." He took a practice swing before stepped up to his ball and put it at the edge of the green on his next shot. "Do you remember that holiday party we had last winter?"
I did, it was the one that I recalled in the dream. Their home was done up like a Christmas showcase. "That was pretty amazing. I just had an odd dream about that party and I couldn't pinpoint why. I brought Amy as I remember, we had a good time." I'd been with Amy at the time though things had already begun to go down hill with us. We were humoring each other by going to parties together so neither of us would appear to be alone for the holiday.
"Don't bullshit me, you were fucking miserable with that girl. It was plain as the nose on your face, even Jo mentioned it to me, several times. She was pretty upset about it, she wants you to be happy. 'As happy as we are,' she'd said." He turned back towards the cart so we could move down the fairway. "She's always had a soft spot for you." We drove down the fairway and I began to wonder where this conversation was headed. He looked over at me and added, "It's mutual. I know that." He put his hand on my forearm and gave it a squeeze. "Fact is I've known it since soon after I brought her home and the two of you met. Can't say as I blame you. I was completely gobsmacked by that girl, still am to be honest. It's hard not to fall for a woman like her." We got out and he took his wedge to chip up onto the green. He'd stopped talking and the topic was making me uncomfortable all over again. He lined up his shot and hit the ball within a yard of the hole. I nodded to him to play it out and he switched to his putter and made the par. He made a weak little cheer and grinned broadly. I chipped high catching more of the grass than the ball and it curved onto the sand trap, I ended up with a six for the hole. We moved onto the next tee without a word.
