A Life Less Ordinary (29 page)

“They
didn’t know they’d hit that black ice and...” Daisy trailed off.  Even after
all this time, the loss of her parents still ached.

Rebecca’s
voice gentled as she said, “I know, and I didn’t mean that as a criticism in
any way.  They gave us things that are far more valuable than money.”

Daisy
nodded.  “That they did.”

She
chewed her bottom lip, staring at nothing.

“I
really loved him, you know,” she finally said softly, sadly.  “Once upon a
time.”

Rebecca
moved to sit beside Daisy and leaned back on the couch, her head nestled on the
cushions, her legs stretched out in front of her.

“I
know you did,” she said.  “A part of you still does.”

“Yeah? 
Which part?”

“The
part of you that’s always twenty-three, when you first fell in love.  The part
of you that’s always twenty-six, when you walked down the aisle towards him. 
Those parts of you will likely love him forever.”

Daisy
thought about that for a moment, then she too slid down on the couch, her head
level with Rebecca’s, and asked, “Is there a part of you still in love with
Devon?”

Rebecca
slowly shook her head.  “I was never in love with Devon.  I never had the
chance, really.  And, of course, with adult hindsight, he had a lot of issues. 
Then again, so did I.”

“Good
point.”

“Hey,
now,” Rebecca mock-protested.

Daisy
glanced slyly at her and they both laughed.

“Feel
better?” Rebecca asked.

“Not
really.”

They
stared at the ceiling in silence.

“Could
be worse,” Rebecca finally said.

Daisy
raised an eyebrow.  “Oh?”

“Could
have been a total stranger.  Or your best friend’s husband.  Or your sister’s
husband.”

“You
and Manny aren’t married.”

“I
do have Jackson.”

Daisy
brightened.  “Ooh, Jackson!  Never thought of him!  He would definitely be
tempting, especially with those puzzled puppy eyes.”

Rebecca
shook her head in mock disgust as she said, “Mental note:  Keep Jackson far,
far away from Daisy for a while.”

They
laughed.

“Okay,”
Daisy agreed, “a stranger or Jackson would have been worse.”

“Or
a good male friend.”

“That
would be worse?”

“If
you’re not both on the same page.  And you know, once you cross that line, you
can never go back.”

“
Speaking from
experience?”

“
Oh, yeah.”

“
So, an unsuspecting
male friend would have been worse.  Got it.”

“
Keep that in mind,”
Rebecca said, patting Daisy’s knee and heaving herself to her feet. 
“Especially when you’re working late with Max.”

Daisy
frowned.  “I never work late with...oh.”

Rebecca
winked.  “Come on – I think we need something stronger than tea.”

“God,
yes.”

Rebecca
pulled open the liquor cabinet and showed Daisy the tequila bottle, her brows
raised in question.

Daisy
nodded fervently and joined her at the bar.

Rebecca
poured them each a shot, and they raised their glasses.

“Here’s
to forgiving ourselves for our mistakes,” Rebecca said, “because we’re going to
make more of them in the future.”

“Hear,
hear,” Daisy muttered and tossed back the drink.

* * * * *

Zeke
sat relaxed behind the wheel as they headed out of Ringo.  He almost didn’t
even care they were heading to California – again.  He glanced at Manny, who
was slumped against the door, her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open.

Zeke
shook his head, amused. 

“Don’t
tell me you’re still hungover from Saturday?” he said, grinning.

“No,”
Manny groaned.  “While you were – um – entertaining Babe last night, Rosa and
the rest of Friday’s Slammers took me out for a few – well, tequila slammers.” 
She groaned.  “Please try not to hit every damn pothole between here and L.A.”

Zeke’s
grin abruptly disappeared. 

“Was
there dancing involved?” he asked with a frown.

“A
little, yeah.  Mikey was there, too.  You know, he’s actually not a bad dancer
when he’s doing the two-step.”

Zeke’s
hands tightened on the wheel before he forced himself to relax and said, “You
seem to be leaving a trail of friends behind you.”

“That’s
a bit of an exaggeration,” she mumbled, once more slumped against the door, her
eyes closed.

“No? 
How many of them are going to friend you on Facebook?”

“All
of them – but people friend on Facebook like I change my socks.”

Zeke
laughed.  “Don’t sell yourself short,” he urged.

“Right
now I just want my head to stop pounding.”

“There’s
Tylenol in the glove compartment,” Zeke reminded her.

“That’s
right,” Manny groaned happily.  “You’re a good, good man, Zeke,” she added as
she scrabbled in the glove compartment, then downed two of the pills with her
coffee.

“Go
to sleep,” Zeke smirked and chuckled quietly when she did just that.

~~~~~

TJ
and Leah sat in Dr. Valesquez’ office in tense silence, holding hands as they
waited for the doctor to arrive.  TJ stared off into the distance, his jaw set,
his face carefully expressionless except for the muscles flexing in his jaw. 
Leah watched him worriedly as the silence quivered between them.  Her grip on
TJ’s hand tightened and tightened again.

“Careful,
or he’ll have to fix my hand, too,” TJ said suddenly, causing Leah to jump and
squeak in surprise.

She
looked down at where their hands were linked and laughed a little.  “I’m
sorry,” she said and loosened her grip slightly.

TJ
lifted her hand to his lips and half-smiled at her as the doctor strode in.

Valesquez
pulled a chair close beside them and sat down.  He put the folder he carried on
his lap and calmly met their gazes.

“I’m
sorry, TJ.  We found a tumor in your colon.”

Manny
frowned as her phone trilled that she had received a text.

Again.

Zeke
raised a questioning eyebrow as Manny pulled her phone out of her purse and
they slowed to a stop out of the path of the crowd on the sidewalk behind
them.  They were in Los Angeles, taking in the sights, and Manny’s phone had
been buzzing with texts for most of the day.

Manny
made a disgusted noise as she read the text.

“Trouble?”
he asked.

Manny
shook her head as she laboriously punched in a reply and hit send.  She tucked
the phone away again as they continued walking and said, “It’s Roxie.”

Zeke
frowned, trying to remember which of the many people they’d met during the last
few months was Roxie.

“She
was my admin support,” Manny explained, laughing slightly at his confused
expression.  “You know.  At my job.  My previous job, I mean.”

“Ah,”
Zeke said as light dawned.  “She’s just saying hi?”

Manny
shrugged.  “Sort of.  Apparently my old unit is having a hell of a time.  Steph’s
basically set unachievable quotas, given their current state of technology and
equipment.  The unit has also been reorganized three times since I left, and
they’re living in complete chaos, which slows everyone down even more.”

She
shook her head, biting her lip with an anxious frown.

“They
won’t be able to meet their quarterly targets if this keeps up,” she muttered.

“Manny,”
Zeke said firmly.

She
glanced at him, still frowning.

“You
don’t work there anymore,” he reminded her gently.

Manny’s
expression didn’t change for a long moment, then she shook herself and nodded. 
“I know,” she said, “I know.  It’s just...old habits are hard to break.”

“You
haven’t mentioned them at all since we’ve been on the road.”

Manny
walked silently beside him then said, “I dreamt about work every night for
about six weeks or so after I quit.  It was my entire life for so long – both
the work itself and the people there.  I have absolutely no regrets about
walking away, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to turn my back on the people I
left behind.”

Zeke
shrugged.  “I wouldn’t know,” he said lightly.  “For me, it’s most often a case
of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.”

Manny
gave him such a long, thoughtful look he began to fidget slightly.

“What?”
he finally demanded.

“I
can’t decide if you’re telling the truth or if you’re so used to putting on an
act you honestly don’t even realize you’re doing it.”

“Then
it’s not an act anymore, is it?” Zeke replied smoothly.  “I think we’re here –
wherever ‘here’ is.”

They
stopped and looked at the sedate two-storey brick house.  Manny pulled a piece
of paper out of her pocket and checked it as she said, “A lady named Carina. 
She’s a friend of Simon-Simone’s, and she apparently has a vast collection of
Cary Grant memorabilia.  Simon-Simone said she’d talked to her and she was
looking forward to showing it to us.”

Zeke
groaned.  “You just love not telling me anything until it’s too late, don’t
you?  Then I’m stuck!”

Manny
laughed up at him.  “You love it,” she assured him.

Zeke
shook his head as he opened the gate and bowed her towards the front door.

~~~~~

“You
enjoyed it in spite of yourself, huh?” Leah said absently.

“Carina
was very charming,” Zeke admitted grudgingly, “and Manny’s love for all things
Cary Grant seems never-ending.”

“We
all have our little obsessions.”

Zeke
paused, frowning.  “Are you all right?” he asked.

“What? 
Yes!  Why?”

“You
seem distracted.  Are you and TJ running into more problems?  With having a
baby, I mean.”

Leah
paused.  “We’ve...decided to put that on hold for a little while,” she said
carefully.

Zeke’s
frown deepened.  “Okay,” he said slowly.  “That...doesn’t sound good.  Is there
something going on I should know about?”

“I
think you should talk to TJ about that,” Leah said.

Zeke
hesitated, nonplussed.  “You’re worrying me, Leah,” he said sharply.

“I’m
sorry – I don’t mean to worry you.  Listen, Zeke, I have to go.  Send me the
text for your next three blogs and I’ll review them tonight.  Okay?”

“Okay,”
Zeke agreed grudgingly and thoughtfully disconnected the call.

~~~~~

“Hey,
Zeke,” TJ said cheerfully.

“Okay,
you sound better than Leah,” Zeke said.

“Leah? 
What?”

“Leah
said you guys were putting having a baby on hold right now?” Zeke couldn’t hide
the concern in his voice.

TJ
chuckled.  “Okay, I have to say I never in a million years thought you’d be
concerned because someone
wasn’t
having a baby.”

“You’re
avoiding the question,” Zeke snapped.

“Yes,
we’ve decided to put things on hold for a little while. 
What Women Want
is
starting to get some really great buzz on the Internet, thanks in large part to
your blog.  Not to mention my company’s in the middle of negotiating a
multi-million dollar project, and that’s going to take up a lot of time for the
next few weeks.”

Zeke’s
frown didn’t lighten. “Why do I get the impression there’s something you’re not
telling me?”

“I
don’t know, Zeke,” TJ said patiently, “I’m not living in your head.  Thank
God.”

“Hey!”

TJ
chuckled.  “Don’t worry.  Have fun and keep writing those blogs!  The traffic
is increasing daily, you know.”

“I
know.”  Zeke paused.  “You’d tell me if you and Leah were having problems,
right?  You wouldn’t hide anything from me just because I work for her, would
you?”

TJ
paused, then said, “I’m sorry if we’re worrying you, Zeke.  Really.  Everything
between me and Leah is fine.  Better than fine.  We just decided that, with
everything else that’s currently going on in our lives, we just don’t have the
time to focus on having a baby.  But we’re more solid than ever.  I wouldn’t
lie to you about that, Zeke.”

Zeke
let out a long breath.  “All right,” he said.  “Sorry if I came across rather
strong.  It must be all this time I’ve spent with Manny.”

“She’s
a worry-wart, is she?”

Zeke
laughed.  “Sometimes.  Other times, not so much.  Okay.  I just wanted to make
sure things were okay with you and Leah.  I’d better go; I have blogs to
write.”