The long-term care facility that Nate had been sent to was immaculate. The staff carried themselves with a tranquil disposition. An air of professionalism elevated an individual's hope to assume that their loved one will come back. All this, however, did not comfort Jena or Gus as they looked on at Nate while he lay in his bed. As per usual, Ivy-Mae and Jett were in the vicinity waiting like spiders seeking prey more than ready to offer emotional support for whomever was unfortunate enough to cross their path. Gus stared at his son in disbelief. Jen couldn't stand to do so. She had to move, it was the way she coped. Making an excuse to leave the room, she immediately went to ask the doctor on call to see if Nate's prognosis had improved.
As Jena entered the hallway she could not help but notice Ivy-Mae following behind her with quick, heavy steps until she stood in her way asking, "Where have you been all week? Just like last week I guess. Too busy to see your husband?" Jett was nowhere in sight. Jena had a hunch that Ivy-Mae had been hyping herself into confronting her. Jena realized she had walked into an argument that Ivy-Mae had been playing out in her mind for a while, probably. Ivy-Mae liked to make scenes in which she placed herself in the light of a righteous victim when she was acting self-righteous in reality. Jena expected as much out of her mother-in-law. Ivy-Mae seemed to always be on a mission to instigate conflict with her, going back as far as when they had first met. If she weren't complaining about their elopement, she was sending Nate referrals for divorce lawyers or trying to set him up on dates with young women she thought he'd be a good match with. Jena learned to run for cover when she was in one of her moods, which was the obvious case today.
"Hi, Ivy-Mae. It's good to see you. How are you?" Jena answered, intentionally skirting the question while wondering if Ivy-Mae was trying to chase her off from the care facility entirely. "Well? I've been here all this time taking care of my son and you've been nowhere to be found. What do you have to say for yourself?" Jena wanted to say that her son was the lead person of interest in a possible murder that took place in her very bed. Or that she has had to take on more work to cover his bills because her son was too much a self-centered narcissist to put her on a single shared account even though she had been nothing but loyal and helpful to him in every way a person could in such a toxic relationship. That she had been fielding lawyers, and protecting her son's business interests all while avoiding arousing suspicion of the police of her son's ongoing inability to follow even the most basic of social and legal constructs. Instead, Jena responded, "Ivy-Mae, things have been hard all around. You know that I have to maintain things back home so that when Nate gets better he's going to be able to be in an environment free of stress. I'm working and doing right by him, just like I always have."
This only infuriated Ivy-Mae more. She retorted back, "You?! You think you've done right by my son?! Look at him! Is that doing right by him?!" Jena was taken aback by that statement. In one respect she could see this was certainly Ivy-Mae acting out a performance for any passersby in which she was trying to blame Jena for Nate using hard drugs in her absence. In another regard, she felt like it was time to address Ivy-Mae's long-standing attitude of disrespect toward her.
Letting Ivy-Mae's tantrum get the best of her, Jena snidely replied, "Maybe Nate is responsible for what Nate does, and blaming me is a bullshit way to avoid facing the fact that he is not the golden child you try to convince the world he is. I'm his wife, not his warden. I can not force anyone to do anything they do not want to do and have no right to try to force such a thing even if I could, which no one can. You're taking your problems out on the wrong person. Ivy-Mae, I don't have time for you and your hystics. See a counselor if you are unable to accept what is happening, but I have serious affairs to handle. And by the way, you are not taking care of Nate, the medical staff are. What you are doing is waiting for him to wake up, which is more for your own conscious than his physical needs. Now, if you don't mind moving aside, I've got to deal with something other than your emotional outburst. Where's the doctor?" A few nurses were starting to hover around them. Realizing her high horse was not taking her to the smug victory over her daughter-in-law she had envisioned, Ivy-Mae, ever indignant mumbled, "Go to hell" as she walked away.
Jena after some poking around learned that the doctor had left for the weekend, but she was able to speak with the head nurse, who told her in so many words that Nate was not improving. In a hushed tone, Jena asked if the nurse had personally ever witnessed a patient in Nate's condition pull through throughout her career. The nurse an older, no-nonsense type of woman who had aged prematurely for her years especially when Jena looked her in the eye, took in a deep breath and answered, "I've never seen a case like his be transferred from the hospital at all. In most cases, he would have been taken off life support when he was still in the intensive care unit. Someone must have called in some big favors because just between you and me, he's a hollow body. I believe in miracles, but he is a few blips on the monitor away from being fully brain-dead." The nurse must have felt bad for disclosing the news so harshly, and followed up with, "But that's my opinion the doctor is the real expert, not me. Excuse me." She briskly exited going back to the nurse's station out of sight. Jena's suspicions were all but confirmed. She felt Nate was gone on that first night. Maybe that was why it was so intolerable to be there to her now because she knew they were cruelly ignoring what fate had already laid down. It all saddened and disgusted Jena. She wanted to believe the denial that Ivy-Mae lived in, however, to do so would be to embrace a falsehood.
Thankfully, Ivy-Mae and her shadow Jett went to their rental by the time it was getting dark outside, which was early during this time of year. Jena pulled up a chair by Nate's side, knowing she was essentially visiting a corpse. She talked to Nate as if he could hear her ask his advice on what to do. She told him that Thallea was the worst and that she was sad that he was not at the house anymore. Gus had already fallen asleep on the front lobby sofa. Jena decided she'd rather use the time there to try to be the best company she could for Nate.
She put on his favorite show in his room, Hell on Wheels, and then his close second, Mad Men. His hand was always cold when she brushed it, not frozen, just chilly. Jena avoided touching him for that reason. It made her shudder. She never brought up Amber Coats, Nate didn't need to worry about that if there was some part of him that was still in there. She didn't say it, but Turner had already told her the end of that nightmare. Roman was able to pull his weight around with the investigators and had them categorize the death as a self-administered overdose. Then they had the insurance company pay a fraction of an allotment to the family with the stipulation that they did not bring a wrongful death civil suit in the future against KT Construction or Nate. Turner said that they took the check so fast out of Roman's hand and signed the paper that they could have offered anything and they would have accepted it. Jena didn't like it though. Simply because her own family didn't value her, didn't mean that the Coats girl was valueless, it was a concept someone like Roman would never understand and that Turner was too eager to stand behind.
In the morning when she saw Ivy-Mae and Jett making their trek toward Nate's room, she decided it was best to head home. Gus stayed on. His nephew was going to pick him up on his way back to Utah the following day. Gus had a large extended family. It made it easier for him to network his way through life. For the most part, Gus would stop in and visit Nate every few weeks. Ivy-Mae and Jett had much more money and free time at their disposal and were able to rent a nearby Airbnb. Jett had done well for himself as a construction manager during his career. As for Ivy-Mae, she had her hands in whatever had the most benefit for her when she was working. There had of course been rumors that in his first marriage, Jett had not taken care of his then-wife, Beth, who was cancer-stricken for a long portion of her adulthood. At one point Gus had told Jena that Jett treated Beth, who was once a prominent member of the Meadows Parting community, criminally bad. This all came to pass before Jena was old enough to have known better. She only was aware that Jett was a widower when he married Ivy-Mae. Many though, had said they were a couple long before Beth's death and that Ivy-Mae was a driving force in poor Beth's final decline of health.
Jena snuck out via a side exit intending to dodge the couple. On her way out to the parking lot, Ivy-Mae ran after her. "Jena, I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday." Ivy-Mae began. Jena had a passing thought that she was only sorry that she was put in her place when others were watching and that her little dramatic blame-shifting tactic backfired. Ivy-Mae went on, "I know you have a lot on your plate with you going back and forth all the time. But can you do me a favor?" Jena cringed at whatever Ivy-Mae might ask her next. The woman's mood swings were giving her whiplash, but she also wanted to smooth over whatever conflict Ivy-Mae had conjured in her mind between them. She answered, "Sure, Ivy-Mae, what can I do for you?" Ivy-Mae smiled as she said, "Could you bring Nate's Super Bowl ring the next time you are out here? Maybe if he has it on, it'll remind him of all the good times and he'll come to." Jena had to stop herself from outright laughing at such a silly request.
Nate did not own a Super Bowl ring, he owned a Super Bowl replica ring from a few years prior when KT Construction was doing particularly well after being awarded the first of many state contracts. Nate himself had only worn the ring twice that Jena was aware of. The ugly thing was both comically flashy and quite expensive. As with anything Nate did, he custom ordered it to be unlike a typical replica that contained artificial stones. Nate had to have the real deal and the finest of it. The ring cost upwards of sixty thousand dollars, which was why Nate wore it once at a political fundraiser dinner and the other time when he had ringside seats to a highly publicized boxing match in Las Vegas. When the ring wasn't on Nate's finger, which was most of the time, it was in a hidden safe he had built into their wine cellar. Jena only knew the combination because Nate put his backup keys to his sports car in it and wanted her to be able to pick him up at the drop of a hat, as Nate considered her to be his valet.
Jena agreed to Ivy-Mae's request if for no other reason than to end their interaction and then went on her way, assuming that Ivy-Mae was planning to keep the thing for herself to wear, because it could be of no benefit to Nate. Had Ivy-Mae asked for home videos of Nate or anything he used regularly, Jena would have been less likely to look down on the request, but going against her better judgment, she decided to help the crank that Ivy-Mae was. Jena did try to make good-faith efforts toward her in-laws, whether those efforts were acknowledged by her in-laws was another matter, though.
The trip was long to get home, with half of the way having little to no radio or cell phone reception. To pass the time, Jena would listen to old CDs and podcasts. Nonetheless, by about her fifth hour in with two more to go, she surprisingly found herself wondering about Thallea's first few days at her new job. Jena hoped that with Thallea being busy she would be less of a bother to deal with at the house. God knows if nothing else at least the woman would have less time during the day or night to make the types of mess she had a habit of. The closest Jena ever had to having to live with such an untidy roommate was in college when the room next door to her in the dormitory was a party center. That didn't last as long though, because the two who occupied the space were expelled together after a fight broke out and the police found only underaged drinkers being supplied by the two much older inhabitants. Jena was aware that Thallea was the order taker at a ghost kitchen Turner had a controlling stake in, all the other details were unknown to her.
She must have been getting closer to town because her Bluetooth was able to receive a call from none other than Beau just then. "Hey, how's it going?" Jena answered excitedly to hear from her brother. Beau in a flat tone answered, "Oh, you know, I'm just working and calling to check up on things." Jena instantly knew that it was not a casual call. "Really? What's up?" Jena asked worrying the boys or their mother might need her. Beau continued, "Well Jena, I appreciate you letting Thallea stay with you, but I'm hearing that you've been hard on her and I'm worried that's not good for her or the babies." Jena was glad the conversation wasn't with Beau in person because he would have seen her roll her eyes. Jena had been doing anything but address Thallea's poor manners as a house guest. Thinking about what to say to her brother, she decided to let the cat out of the bag since she was alone. "Beau, I'm not sure what you're hearing from her, but I think you should know she's been smoking like a chimney and drinking like a fish."
Just then Thallea's voice came over the line as she whined, "See what I've been dealing with, Beau?! She never stops badgering me about every little thing." Jena felt ambushed. Thallea must have put him up to this, Jena reasoned internally. Beau was neither as immature nor as petty as Thallea was. Jena audibly exhaled at the audaciousness of the situation. She was at her limit of things she could process, this was like adding fuel to a burning fire of frustrations she had mounting within. After some silence, in which Jena thought about hanging up, Beau said, "Hold on, Thallea, I've got this. Look, Jena, she said you've been micromanaging her and that you've criticized her since she got there. I'm not taking sides, but I do know you and you do have a habit of being too 'Type A' and not accepting people who are a little more relaxed than you are." Jena considered throwing out Thallea when she got back to the house, but couldn't bring herself to unleash Beau's overly pampered darling on her mother, the person Thallea would run to next.
Jena now completely dreaded going back to her own house, and asked her brother in an attempt to placate him, "Okay, Beau, what do you think I should do?" Thallea answered for him, "You could treat me like the adult that I am, maybe." Thallea emphasized with the sarcastic tone of a spoiled teenager speaking to an authority figure. Jena answered, wanting to move on, "Sure Thallea. I hear your message loud and clear." Beau still on the line said, "See baby, she's not so bad, you two have nothing to fight over. Thanks, Jena. I'll catch up with you later, I'm still on the road right now." Jena said her goodbyes with indifference and hung up. She was starting to lose all respect for her brother, whom she once idolized.
When she pulled up to her house, she thought about getting Tiki from Mrs. Flossie and going to sleep, but the conversation with Beau gave her pause. She had dozed off a few times the night before by Nate's bedside but was too unsettled to fully slip away into a deep slumber. Regardless, as much as she needed rest, she knew she would get none at her home that night. Instead, she went in to find Thallea standing on the other side of the house's double entryway doors waiting for her. "Well?" Thallea said upon seeing her as if there was a specific response she was expecting from Jena. Jena too tired to engage followed through on her impulse to say, "Yip, you got me. I know, but let me make it up to you with a little present. Here, go into the kitchen and close your eyes and I'll be right back." Jena said in the same voice she used with difficult children at the daycare. Thallea, remained true to her character wanted her gift and immediately complied.
Once she was sure that Thallea was not in eyesight, Jena went down to the wine cellar to quietly open the safe and slip Nate's replica ring into her pocket. Then she grabbed a bottle of their cheapest wine and went back upstairs to her kitchen. Of course, she double-checked to be sure that the safe was still obscured from view behind the false wall between the wine racks. Jena had no intention of ever revealing they even had a safe to Thallea. Jena was ill at ease with sharing her home with such a rough individual as her brother's partner. Needless to say, she wasn't keen on a safe full of cocaine bricks and unregistered guns being something she ever wanted Thallea to be aware of when Jena already was out of the house as much as she was. There had already been one overdose too many. Not that Jena was particularly concerned, after all, if the police didn't find the safe when they searched the house when Coats died, she knew that all thumbs Thallea wasn't likely to stumble across it anytime soon.
Jena all smiles, handed Thallea the large bottle of wine. Thallea squealed in glee at the seeming gesture of acceptance of her unacceptable habits. "Here let me get the corkscrew for you." Jena turned to open a drawer to get one. Thallea thanked her. Jena then pretended to get a message on her phone. She faked distress saying, "Oh no, something's up with Nate, I've gotta go." But not before turning back to Thallea to ask, "You're okay here, right?" Jena said knowing the answer without having to wait. Thallea, grabbed the corkscrew from her to finish opening the bottle herself and replied, "Of course, you go. I'm good here. Take all the time you need." Jena did not even risk the opportunity to stop in her room to grab anything. She said as she walked to the door, "Thanks Thallea, I knew you'd understand."
Outside, Jena's car hood was still hot from the seven-hour drive she had just completed only for her to revive her engine and head back from the way she came. Ivy-Mae would get Nate's ring and with that maybe give Jena some space. Jena decided she would sleep in a hotel in Colorado that night. She missed her old life, too bad it didn't seem to exist anymore.
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