Heavy: A Contemporary Romance (10 page)

“To new beginnings,” Tony and Zak chanted back
, wine glasses in hand.

“Only
, don’t lose all the bad girl side of you,” Zak stage-whispered. “Then, you wouldn’t be quite so much fun.”

The night progressed pleasantly onwards from there.

After Hayley was put to bed, I sat up chatting with my new friends until way after ten.

Tony was a
pediatric doctor with his own private practice and Zak was a stay-at-home dad, who apparently participated in so many community events and was on so many boards for them, it was like having a full-time job.

They
met back in L.A. at a LGBT fundraiser and the rest, as they say, is history. Zak moved to Vegas to live with Tony three months after they started long-distance dating and they never looked back.

Tony looked one hundred percent Italian, with thick, jet-black hair and olive skin
. He was tall, broad and fit, and obviously spent some of his time in a gym.

In contrast, Zak was a little on the chubby side,
had strawberry-blond hair, and was dimpled. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know what a gym was.

Their daughter, Hayley, was a gorgeous blend of African-American and Italian, with lar
ge dark eyes and milk chocolate-colored skin. She’d inherited Tony’s thick, black hair and in terms of mannerisms and expressions, was a dead-ringer for Zak.

By the end of the night
, I think I was in love with all of them.

The charming couple had a way of getting me to share information with them I had no intention of doing originally
. In my position as a Huntington, I’d been taught to keep certain things very close to my chest. You never knew who was planning on sharing juicy gossip over social media or calling
TMZ
with a promise of the next big scoop. Zak and Tony Solano I sensed I could trust.

Let’s face it, I wasn’t quite on the same level as a Kardashian or Paris Hilton – I could still go out in public and
was only recognized on rare occasions. Put me on a red carpet with my father, or next to Lake stumbling out a club at four in the morning, and people knew who I was. Throw me in regular clothes and a pair of good sunglasses, and I wouldn’t get a second glance.

I’m not going to lie; I
lived a spoiled and privileged life. Zak was right – I’d never shopped in a regular mall in my life. The jeans I now wore cost five hundred dollars and the shirt, three hundred. I’d also never been happy. It’s so true that there are some things that just can’t be purchased with an American Express Black Card.

“So what’s your big plan then, Cali?” Zak asked
. “Are you going to pull a Sophia Loren from
Houseboat
and mix it up with the working class for a bit?”

I laughed at this
. “Maybe. I haven’t quite thought it all through yet.”

“There has to be a reason you came to Vegas of all places to work on your sobriety and get away from your family back in L. A.”
Tony passed me another glass of iced tea and settled down on the couch next to me. We’d moved into their living room after dinner.

“It’s about a boy, isn’t it?” Zak exclaimed
. “It’s always about a boy,” he added, lifting his eyebrows at me in a way that was obviously his trademark look.

“Okay,” Tony interjected before I could reply, “so more Audrey Hepburn in
Roman Holiday
then. Who is your Gregory Peck, missy?”

“I can’t keep anything from you two, can I?” I chuckled
. I also inwardly thanked the Center for introducing me to classic movies. The Turner Classic Movies station had always been on and I’d actually seen both of the movies they referenced.

So I told them
. Well, I sort of told them. I gave them the PG-rated version of how I’d met Thatch and how we’d left things unfinished.

“So I’m here to say sorry, that’s all,” I said as I concluded my story.

“Bull. Shit,” Zak said knowingly. “You’re here to see if the sparks still fly even when you’re sober. I can’t wait to tune into
Ultimate Ninja Athlete
tomorrow night and check this stud out!”

“Me either,” I agreed.

“See! I told you!” Zak said triumphantly. “So, what’s your next move? Heading over to the tattoo shop tomorrow?”

“I guess…or I might take a couple of days to settle in…”

“Oh, don’t you chicken out now, girly.” Tony frowned at me before adding: “Even if the guy wants nothing more to do with you, at least you can say you tried.”

“Though he would be completely crazy if he didn’t!”
Zak interjected vehemently.

“Thank you both, but look at it from his point of view for a second
. I don’t exactly have the best reputation in the world. He has a father in AA and a five-year-old son. He knows firsthand about addictions
and
he has responsibilities. Add to that all the crazy shit that went down last year…” I paused, not meaning to bring up last year, but it had just slipped out.

“You’re referring to the ‘Girl Who Cried Wolf’ scandal, aren’t you?” Zak asked.

“That’s personal, Zakary. Don’t answer him, Cali, if you don’t want to. It’s really none of our business.” Tony was definitely the more tactful one of the pair.

“That’s okay, Tony
. I won’t go into too much detail, if you guys don’t mind. The trauma surrounding the kidnapping is something I’m still dealing with. Just another log for my food disorder fire. I had food issues before it happened, but they got worse as a result of it.”

“So
, you really were kidnapped then?” Zak asked, ignoring his husband’s disapproving look.

I looked down at my hands to collect my thoughts for a brief moment before I answered him.

“Yes, I was kidnapped. I was chained in a basement for three days in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. I managed to get away though. If you’re wondering why I don’t have bodyguards or an entourage or anything, I tried to… but just can’t go on living my life like that. If I just stay away from the limelight, I shouldn’t need twenty-four hour protection. Anyway, besides all that, no one – including my family – believed me. That should give you more than enough background information as to why I want to move away from Los Angeles. That’s really all I want to say on the subject.”

“Oh, you poor girl
. I’m sorry that happened to you. We won’t bring it up again,
will we Zakary
?” Tony glared at his partner again.

“We said it earlier,” Zak said, nodding to Tony before looking at me, “but it’s worth repeating again
. To new beginnings.”

“Agreed,” I smiled back.

Thatch

“I miss you, Daddy.”
Hearing Thaddeus’s voice through the telephone in my motel room made my chest clench.

“I miss you too, little man
. Only seven more sleeps and I’ll be home again, okay? How was school today? Did you do anything fun?”

Thaddeus had recently started attending pre-school
part time. Leaving him there had been so damn hard in the beginning. Harder for me than for him, I think. That experience paled in comparison to being separated from him for two weeks to attend the mandatory
Ultimate Ninja Athlete
boot camp, now that I’d made it to the Las Vegas Finals.

“I showed Miss Wade my ninja flip and she told me not to do it at school anymore,” he said sadly.

“Well, you can get hurt, little man. It’s okay to do it at the gym with me – where there are mats and things to protect you. You might fall and hurt yourself at school.”

“Okay
. I won’t do it anymore.”

Damn, my kid was so melancholy all the time
. It fucking killed me.

“What else did you do, Thaddeus?”

“We did singing. Bobby singed really loud and it hurt all our ears.”

I smiled into the phone, just so completely in love with the sound of my son’s voice.

“How’s Pop-Pop? He taking good care of you while I’m gone?”

“Yeah, Daddy
. He’s making vegetables and everything. Today, he let me come down and watch him do a tattoo on a hairy man with shiny pants on.” Of course ‘hairy’ came out as ‘haiwy.’ So damn adorable.

“Shiny pants, eh
? Like leather, you mean?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Did Pop-Pop tell you I’m going to be on T.V. tonight?” I completed the Dallas Regional Finals course a month ago, but it was only being televised tonight.

“Oh
, yes!” Thaddeus’ voice got animated for the first time since our conversation had started. “He says I can stay up and watch, but only until you’re on. Then I have to go to bed.”

“Make sure you pay attention when I get to the Wall, okay Thaddeus
? I wave to you, little man. The wave is only for you.”

“And Pop-Pop too, right?”

“Yeah, and Pop-Pop. But no one else, got it?”

“Okay, Daddy
. I’ll pay extwa attention then.”

“I love you, Thaddeus.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

Cali

The next day, after my night spent with my neighbors, I didn’t get up until noon. Even with a nightmare-free, restful night’s sleep, some old habits die hard.

Then it hit me that I was alone for the first time
in my life. Alone, alone, that is. No servants, no room service, no orderlies – just me, all on my lonesome.

It was a pretty great feeling.

I took another naked dip in the pool, ate an energy bar, got showered and dressed, and decided to take a stab at going grocery shopping.

It
sunk in that I’d never been grocery shopping before, either.

Well, shit.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve been into gas stations and drugstores to raid the junk food aisles before, but actual food shopping?

Using the kitchen phone,
I called Zak.

“Hey, Zak, it’s Cali
. You doing anything right now?”

“Hi Cali
. I was just thinking about you! I was wondering if you’d headed over to see your hunka-hunka burning love yet. And, in answer to your question: nothing. Just puttering about the house while Hayles is at school.”

“No, I haven’t gone to look for him yet
. I’m psyching myself up to it. Maybe I’ll go tomorrow. In the meantime, want to come grocery shopping with me?”

“You’ve never been grocery shopping, have you?” Zak chuckled.

“Not once in my entire life.”

“Meet you out
front in ten then, girlfriend.”

We decided that Zak should drive
.

“I’m going to start you out small, but with quality, for your first venture into the
daunting world of provisions acquisitions,” Zak said as we drove along Sahara Avenue. “Up ahead on the right you’ll see Smith’s. Smith’s is where you’ll go once you’ve got a little experience under your belt. Consider today as the warm-up to Smith’s.”

“Is it weird that I’m curiously excited about going into a grocery store right now
? Maybe even a little aroused?” I laughed at Zak as I spoke.

“Ooh, too much info, girlfriend
. Save it for Tattoo Guy,” he joked back.

Zak finally pulled into a parking lot and we both got out of the car.

“Here we have Fresh & Easy. If the name alone doesn’t make you want to shop here, the quality product will. They’re a much smaller store when compared to some of the other chains, but they have good, fresh produce, as well as some great, easy-to-warm-up, homemade packaged meals. I’m going to assume you haven’t done too much in the cooking department either?”

“
I’ve had to fend for myself in the past before. I’m not
that
helpless.”

“By ‘fend for yourself’ you probably mean you had to heat up something made by someone else, right?”
Zak rolled his eyes at me.

“Maybe…
all right… God damn it, yes. You got me. I’ve made sandwiches. Oh, oh, oh… and popcorn in the microwave.” I puffed out my chest with pride.

“Oh dear
. It’s worse than I imagined,” Zak mocked. “You know you filthy rich bitches can have gourmet meals delivered fresh to your door every day, right?”

“But where’s the challenge in that, Zakary
? This is the new, more independent me, remember? Oh, can I push the cart?” I asked as soon as we crossed the threshold into the store.

“God
, help me now,” Zak said laughing and rolling his eyes up to the heavens again.

“Just don’t let me buy any junk food
. You know, things like cake, or cookies, or potato chips,” I said changing my playful tone to a more serious one. “Purging empty calories is how I started my bad habits in the first place. I’m so close to getting my green chip. If I have a weak moment and have things like that in the house….”

“Say no more, girlfriend
. I’ve got your back,” Zak replied.

An hour later and we were loading bags upon bags of groceries into the back of Zak’s SUV
. I thought I was going to be nervous being around all that food, but with Zak keeping me clear of the bakery and snack sections, I really had a blast. Grocery shopping just made number three on my top three list of favorite things to do – just one below spending time with Zak. Sex with Thatch Reston was still holding out at number one. Go figure. Could be worse. Getting high and numbing my body to not feel any guilt used to be up there at the top of that list a few months ago.

“That was so fulfilling,” I finally said as Zak negotiated his way through the traffic as we head
ed home. “Doing something so simple as stocking your kitchen pantry gives such a feeling of accomplishment. I’ve never had that before. I want more.”

“Please don’t tell me you want to do more grocery shopping
. After what I just witnessed back there, you are far from ready for Smith’s yet.”

I laughed at him and fake-punched
him lightly in the arm.

“No, silly, I mean I want to
do something else normal. Like go to a baseball game, or to the movies… or maybe even get a job, or something.”

“Whoa there,
Norma Rae. Put on the brakes and shut the front door. What do you mean, a job?”

“I mean getting up every day and having a purpose
. Filling my time with a series of small, everyday accomplishments. Oh, and who’s Norma Rae?”

Zak gave another sigh
. “Google her. Sally Field won an Oscar playing her. You never wanted to pursue acting like your father?”

“Are you kidding
? I’m already a professional actor,” I laughed dryly. “I spent my entire life acting and playing the role of someone I really wasn’t. I certainly don’t want to do it as a career.”

“You know
, I did a little stint as an actor back in my younger years. I have to say, I was quite the thespian, as it turned out.”

“Oh yeah
? What were you in and who did you play?”

“My cousin Harry has a little photography studio back home and also does short ads and commercials and things like that
. YouTube type stuff,” Zak said.

“Yes?”

“I filled in on a dog food commercial. I think I captured the role of a warm and caring dog owner to absolute perfection,” Zak smiled proudly.

“Gosh, I wish I had even half of your talents, Zak,” I said
, trying to suppress a giggle.

“Well, what is it you want to do
? What are you interested in? What are you good at?” We had stopped at traffic lights and Zak turned to face me as he asked his questions.

My face fell
. “I’m not good at anything. As my stepmother delights in telling me often, I’m just an overweight lump of uselessness with no ambition to speak of. I barely made it through high school, and I didn’t even go to college. The last year has been a never-ending sea of partying with my stepsister or attending fundraisers with my stepmother.” Each one of them using me and the fact I was Brock Huntington’s daughter for their own, sort of similar, reasons.

“First of all,” Zak replied as he moved the car forward again, “you are most certainly
not
overweight. You may be heavier than an emaciated stickpin of a model, but being overweight is
not
one of your problems. Trust me on that, as I know.” Here he gestured down to his rotund physique squeezed in tight behind the steering wheel. “Secondly, you’re only twenty-years-old. If you want to go to college, then go to college. Maybe you’ll find an interest in something there? I’m going to assume that funding is not going to be a problem for you.”

“I’m a trust fund baby, Zak,” I said rolling my eyes at him jokingly
. “I don’t actually need to work to survive, especially since I came into my money last year. It would be great if I did something with that money – something other than squander it on an excessively privileged lifestyle. The college idea is a good one. I might look into that. I don’t have the grades to get into anything prestigious, although my name might help me where that’s concerned. Maybe I’ll think about community college or something.”

“California Huntington going to community college
. The earth just tilted on its axis at the thought,” Zak laughed.

“You know what I mean – like a regular college and not a fancy one like my father would expect.”

“You sure have an axe to grind with him, don’t you?”

“You have no idea, my friend.”

***

It wasn’t until I was sitting down to watch
Ultimate Ninja Athlete
later that night that I realized my phone had been dead for the last eighteen hours or so. I wasn’t used to having it over the last few months, so keeping it charged had been low on the priority list.

Once I plugged it in
, I found there were at least a dozen messages and texts from Lake, as was to be expected. It felt quite satisfying deleting them without reading them.

There was also a message from my therapist to check in with me
. She wanted to make sure I looked into ABA – Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous – groups in my area. I guess my area was Las Vegas now. Did they even have ABA groups in Las Vegas? I’d look into it first thing tomorrow.

Earlier on in the evening, when I was looking for a blank CD so I
could record Thatch in action, I discovered Eric’s not-so-secret stash of gay porn and homemade sex tapes. With no shame whatsoever, I watched a couple of them out of curiosity about the man who, so generously, lent me his house to stay in.

Needless to say, porn is porn
, whether it’s girl on girl, guy on guy, or just normal straight out heterosexual fucking – it all gets me hot and bothered, just as it’s intended to.

By the time Thatch
appeared on the T.V. screen, I was squirming in my seat, hornier than a brass band on Memorial Day.

Bernie had already given me the spoiler alert that Thatch had made it through this round, so I
didn’t have that butterflies-in-your-stomach-edge-of-your-seat nervousness thing going on as I watched him traverse the complex course of obstacles.

Instead, I focused on the taut muscles in his arms as he clung to the cargo net, or the straining of his thighs as he jumped off the mini-tramp
oline, his hair falling messily across his brow as he paused between obstacles, and the heaving of his chest from all his exertions. Fuck me, he was hot. And damn, I wished he were here with me now to do just exactly that.

With one ha
nd on the remote to replay Thatch’s run over and over again, and the other moving vigorously through the slippery wetness between my legs, I came – twice. California Huntington: depraved and wanton woman. I had nothing to be ashamed about.

As I
lay there on the couch, flushed and panting, recovering from my little self-love session, the house phone started ringing. It could only be either Bernie or the neighbors; no one else knew I was here.

It was Zak.

“Okay, Tony and I just watched the show and if you don’t get your cute little tushie to that tattoo studio first thing tomorrow, we are dragging you there ourselves.”

“Don’t worry,” I answered with a smile
. “I was just thinking the exact same thing myself.