One for Me

Chapter Seven

Violet definitely enjoyed her weekend, she'd had a great weekend even. She and Rocky had spent all day Saturday at the dog park and on Sunday, she got to do some self-care to decompress. Violet got her hair washed and deep conditioned, she even got it straightened for the first time in over a year. She got her favorite French tips on her nails and toes and her eyebrows waxed to perfection.

Now that the week was in full swing, Violet was just starting to feel a little more comfortable at her new job. Brenda was giving her assignments that her last supervisor would never let her touch and her team was nice. They'd invited her out to their weekly Tuesday lunch which she attended. Normally she liked her lunch alone to relax. Spending her one free hour with people she would see for eight hours of her day wasn't usually her preference,  but new beginnings meant new habits. Spending every Tuesday with them was a little much so she decided two out of four weeks wasn't bad.

"Do you hear that?" Violet asked Eboney. They were standing in the break room, Eboney sipping her second cup of coffee while Violet prepared her own.

"I don't hear anything." Eboney shrugged.

"Exactly." It was quiet, too quiet. The usual chatter of the intern bullpen was nonexistent. It was completely silent aside from Violet. Violet poked her head out of the doorway to see what was or wasn't going on.

Everyone was frozen where they stood. The only movement in the space was a nurse pushing a wheelchair and a nurse's assistant pulling an IV pole along with them. Violet couldn't make out the person in the wheelchair but judging by the shocked faces around her, she would guess it was someone important.

"What are you all standing around for? Get to work!" Though the voice was frail, everyone moved as if Grant Bass himself had made demands.

Moments later, they heard the same voice. Only she wasn't speaking to the employees, she was speaking to her son. "Grant Wyatt Bass!" Grant looked up from his computer screen as if he'd seen a ghost. All of the color flushed from his face and paled in comparison to his ghastly mother's.

"M-mom," he stammered then stood from his feet to rush to her side. His eyes hardened and he glared at her nurse as he spoke, "what are you doing out of bed?"

"I'm not a child." She brushed his arms away from her reach. "What am I doing out of bed?! Well surely I didn't want the next time you see me to be over my grave."

At that, Grant's eyes softened and he looked away in guilt. "No," he whispered. "I was going to come."

"When, Grant? When? Even as a child it was always about what you were going to do? What you have done is leave your mother in a hospital to die."

"You know I hate seeing you like this, I hate what this is doing to you." Grant was holding back the tears welling behind his eyes and threatening to pool at the brim. When it came to his mother, his hard exterior was non existent.

"Hating me and my sickness is one in the same at this point, Grant. I wish you could get that through your head." Marie Bass was being hard and when she saw the hurt in his eyes, her voice softened. "Grant, I just want you to understand, I didn't have anymore fight left in me." Marie reached out for his hand. "I miss your father." She added with her lips pressed into a thin line. "And they're doing a wonderful job at making me comfortable." Grant grabbed her hand in his, then bent to give her a hug. It was the most heartfelt hug she'd gotten from him in years.

"I've been selfish." Grant said to his mother who nodded her head while combing her fingers over his dark hair.

"You'll always be my baby boy." Marie Bass didn't cry so neither did Grant.