Despite being in the path of Elizabeth’s wrath, Cathy
and Anna’s dad, Ted Chambers, didn’t live too far from
them. Always an active man, he’d played a major role in
raising his grandsons and with the boys in school, at 64 he
was making up for lost time traveling. He still maintained
a CPA office and a roster of clients but he made time for
charity events, political fundraisers and appropriately-aged
ladies. Anna and Cathy had friends whose fathers and
mothers pranced around with younger men and women.
They were really pleased that their Dad stuck to appropriately-aged ladies.
Cathy’s dad made it to Dr. Adams’s office in 20
minutes. It was a light late morning so they took her into
the examining room immediately. The nurse took her
blood pressure and temperature before Dr. Adams came in
and did a full examination. Still not crazy about being
naked in front of anyone, Cathy was happy to get dressed
again.
“Knock, knock?” Dr. Adams was his jovial self as
always.
“Hey, Dr. Adams.”
He sat down on the stool.” I’m only going to confirm
what you already know. You’re having intermittent back
trouble.” He put on his serious doctor face. “I read the
paper and I know you’ve been under a lot of stress
recently.”
God, even my doctor reads the gossip page. Cathy
groaned. “Basically I’m falling apart and I need to get back
on track.”
“So all of the symptoms seem to correspond to the
upheaval in your life.”
“Yes.”
“The back problem might seem sudden but your back
has probably bothered you for a while.”
She thought for a moment. “I think you might be right
about that. So what can I do? I’m planning to go away this
coming weekend and I need this to go away.”
“I know you are not one for the steroid course, so that
will always be a last resort.”
“Good.”
“You’re going to take pills. I think the medications
combined with a lighter schedule this week might do the
trick. I’ll write the prescriptions but I want to see you back
here on Thursday before you go away. Is that clear, young
lady?”
“Crystal clear. I promise I’ll follow doctor’s orders.” “That’s my girl.”
He wrote three prescriptions and sent her home. Cathy
had been with Dr. Adams since her accident and felt confidence in him. After leaving the office, they filled the
prescriptions and went straight home.
While Cathy settled herself on the downstairs living
room sofa for a while, her dad started pacing.
Cathy watched. She knew he was leading up to something.
“So what’s going on, Cathy?”
“A whole lot, Dad. What do you want to hear about
first?”
“You can start with what led to this emergency doctor’s
visit.”
Her dad was a firm believer in the connection between
the body and mind. Cathy decided it would be way too
much information to talk about sleeping with Marcus. She
simply answered, “Basically, Dad, I’m dating Marcus Fox.” “When did this happen?” He was taken aback. When
he left for Virginia Cathy had been dating her computer. “A couple of weeks ago.”
“So far that doesn’t sound all that bad to me.” “Not until the gossip columnists entered the picture.
They got a quote from his ex who called him a chubby
chaser. I’m not exactly the type of woman Marcus Fox
usually dates.”
“He can’t date who he wants? He has to please the
public?”
“I know, Dad, but that wasn’t the worst of it.” She took
a deep breath. “The gossip column reported an incident
that supposedly took place in the ladies’ room of Club Z
between two women and me. They accused me of verbally
accosting them and chasing them from the bathroom.” He looked completely baffled. “Wait a minute. They
accused you of what?”
“You heard it right, Dad. My name was dragged
through the mud Sunday morning.”
He was alarmed. “Did you get it straightened out?” “Actually Marcus did. There’s a retraction in today’s
paper.”
“Good. And that’s what got you all stressed out?” “That and a lot of other things.”
“Like what?”
“It brought back a lot of stuff about growing up in
Mom’s religion and how I feel about myself in general.” “What does that mean?” He was perplexed. Cathy’s experience with the paper emboldened her to
say what was on her mind. “Listen, Dad, I know you didn’t
want to have anything to do with her church so you got
out. Anna and I didn’t, we couldn’t.”
Her father’s countenance changed. “I told your mother
she was raising you two to live in a box.”
“The box might as well have been a coffin. Any chance
for a real life went out the window. We didn’t have a
choice. We had to conform or face the fallout.” “I’ve always said I take 99.9% of the blame for what
happened between your mother and me. I shouldn’t have
done what I did.”
“Once you left, Mom needed to be right more than
ever. “
“I never knew any of this before. Why didn’t you tell
me how you felt?” Her father looked confused. “I wanted to be a good daughter to both parents. I put
on a happy face and got on with it until I couldn’t take it
anymore. Once I was an adult the decision was mine but by then I was afraid to leave. Alex and Andrew are the reasons I broke out of the box; I never wanted them to feel out of place like I do.” Tears poured down her face. ”God,
I don’t think I’ve cried this much in my life.”
Her father hugged her even though they’d never been a
touchy feely family.
“I’m sorry. This dating stuff must be bringing the past
to the surface.” She wiped her eyes. “Suddenly I have to
confront things I’ve kept bottled up.”
“I see what you mean. You have to come to terms with
yourself. Dating these high profile types you can’t afford to
wear your heart or your insecurities on your sleeve.” “I have to be a Teflon bombshell.” She laughed a little. Her father laughed. “That’s true.” He paused. “I don’t
know Marcus apart from his baseball stats. Is he a stand up
guy?”
Cathy smiled. “He is, Dad. He’s really good to me.” “Good enough to seat you in a luxury suite?” “Twice.”
Her father laughed. “Now you know how the other
half lives. All the big muckity mucks sit there.” “You know who I met there, Dad? Jerry La Fontaine
and his wife Phyllis.”
He was impressed. “Third baseman for the Kansas City
Royals.”
“They were really nice. I exchanged numbers with Fil.
She’s a Southern pistol.”
“That’s great.” He nodded. “So you’re really dating
again.”
“Yes, I am actually dating again after a two-year
hiatus.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“I’m also going to Tampa for the series at Tropicana
&
nbsp; Field.”
“Good. You know, Cathy, you kicked the walls of the
box down a long time ago. Now all you have to do is let go
of the guilt trip you feel for actually living your own life.” “I know, Dad.”
“Maybe this weekend getaway is just what you need.” “I can’t wait. Anna, Roger and Madison are coming
too.”
He stood up. “You’ll have a good time.”
“I think so too. It’s the main reason I asked you to take
me to Dr. Adams. I wanted to get checked out before the
trip.”
“You have to follow the doctor’s orders.”
“I will, Dad.”
“Good. Oh, I almost forgot. I might need you to book
a flight online for me.”
“All right, Dad, whenever you’re ready.”
“Thanks. I’ll give you the details either before the
weekend or early next week.”
He kissed her forehead. “Feel better. Love you.” “Love you, too.”
Unlike Marcus, Cathy had never expected to live life in
the spotlight. As his talent for baseball grew, the talent
scouts began showing up in junior high and with them
came the media. He went into the Yankee farm system
with a star’s aura everyone could see.
Things had been quite different for Cathy. She’d had a
few friends in high school but was more focused on school
work; it was a convenient cover for her lack of social life.
Once she became a parent she hid behind Alex and
Andrew, staying as involved in their activities as much and
as often as possible. As a writer she hid behind her words.
E.D. had practically had to force her to take a head shot
for the book. Then she’d become an agent. Being a parent
and agent had given her an invisible cloak of sorts. Now her sons had gone off to college and out of
nowhere she’d fallen in love with a superstar. She was no
longer invisible. She had to learn to deal with it.
v
A short time later Cathy awoke to the sounds of someone calling her name and banging on the front door. The banging got louder. She got up slowly. ”Wait a minute! I’ll be right there!” she shouted. “Who is it?”
“It’s me Cathy, E.D.”
She opened the door. “E.D., what are you doing here?” He walked in. “Sorry for the banging but when I
couldn’t get you on the phone I decided to come out here and see how you were doing for myself.” “Thanks, hon, I appreciate your concern but I’m doing fine. Come on in. Have a seat.”
She went back to the living room sofa.
He took his jacket off. “So what’s shaking?”
“I went to the doctor this morning for a check up.”
He sat down. “So what’s the verdict?”
“He gave me medication to deal with my back flare up and told me to take it easy for a few days.”
“But you’re okay, right?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m used to it. Now what’s going on that you left the office to come out here?”
He looked uncomfortable.
She had a lump in her throat. “Just spit it out, E.D. What is it? Are the authors upset with the publicity stuff?”
“Oh no. Nothing like that. If anything they were pissed about how the press treated you.”
“Then what has you so tense?”
“We have a situation with the celebrity cookbook project.”
Cathy was alarmed. “I thought that was under control. I just spoke to Jennifer a few days ago.”
“She’s having a little trouble getting some of the releases and the deadline is fast approaching.”
“The releases or the recipes? She should have the photo and recipe releases along with the permission forms.”
“Are you sure she has them?”
“Do me a favor. Go upstairs into my office and get her files out. I have copies of everything she’s received so far. Thanks.”
Within a couple of minutes E.D. was back downstairs with three thick files.
E.D. leafed through two of the files. “Cathy, it looks like we have everything we need as far as the releases and permission forms go.”
“So we’re covered. Check the recipe file. I have a list of every contributor and their representative. Whoever isn’t checked off needs another friendly but firm call.”
“Are you sure you’re up to tackling this?”
“As long as we tackle it together it isn’t a problem.” She pointed towards the kitchen. “By the way there’s a thermal carafe with fresh coffee in the kitchen if you want.”
“Coffee always sounds good to me.”
“Knock yourself out.”
E.D. and Cathy spent the next couple of hours gently twisting arms. Normally these were the kinds of details they left to the author, but they made an exception for Jennifer since her project was much more complicated. Jennifer had to coordinate all the legal documentation and she had the added task of testing the recipes. E.D. and Cathy set about doing what they could to help make things easier as the deadline approached.
Cathy and E.D. were really in the groove when the doorbell rang.
“Are you expecting anyone?”
“No. But it could be a medical supply delivery for my sister.”
“I’ll get it.” He got up.
The doorbell rang again. “Just a minute!” she shouted.
E.D. answered the door. Two minutes later he came in with a beautiful floral arrangement.
“This is all yours, Ms. Chambers.”
She was tickled pink. “For me? Oh, how lovely.”
E.D. handed the flowers to her.
“Don’t forget to read the card.”
She looked like a kid opening a birthday present. The card read: “Just wanted to you to know I’m thinking about you. I hope you enjoy the flowers. The flowers represent every day since I met you and every day to come until we’re together again. Love, Marcus.”
“It was so sweet of him to send me flowers.”
“Ahem! The florist isn’t finished,” E.D. said.
“What?”
Bouquet upon bouquet filed through the front door. An astonished Cathy had to get up to direct the floral flow of traffic. By the time they were finished she had a total of 10 very large floral arrangements.
E.D. looked around. “It looks like a floral shop in here.”
“I just can’t believe it. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten as many flowers in my whole life.” She beamed.
E.D. smiled. “Then it’s about time.”
“Oh E.D., I think I left my bag in the kitchen. Could you please get it for me so I can give our delivery guy here a tip?”
“Sure.”
“I appreciate that, miss, but it’s been covered. Have a great day.”
E.D. turned around. “And the man covers tipping the driver too. I’d better not let my girlfriend hear about this.”
She laughed. ”How much is it worth to you?”
“Oh now you’re going to blackmail me, huh?”
“I said how much is it worth to you? Maybe a three day weekend pass from the office?”
“Hallelujah! It’s about time you started to enjoy the weekends like the rest of us working people.”
She threw a pillow at him. ”I enjoy weekends.”
“No, you don’t. You hate weekends. You’re a workaholic.”
Cathy knew it was the truth and backed down. “Maybe there’s a little truth to that statement. This weekend is different. This weekend I want to go on a little trip to Tampa.”
“The Yankees are in Tampa this weekend.”
“How did you know?”
“I saw it marked on your Yankee calendar. You have every game marked down.”
“Oh. Anyway, do we have a deal?”
“Done.”<
br />
“That also means no phone calls, emails or anything office related for three whole days.”
“Fine with me. Are you sure you won’t be tempted?”
“I’m sure I can find something to distract me.”
“More like someone.”
Cathy took in a big whiff of the flowers. “It smells so nice in here. How many more calls do we need to make?”
“Four. Tell you what, I’ll get to them while you call and thank your guy.”
“Thank you.”
She dialed Marcus and got his voice mail.
“Hey, Marcus. It’s Cathy. I just wanted to thank you for all the flowers. They are just beautiful. It really made my day, week, month and maybe even year. You’re a sweetheart. Hopefully we’ll have the chance to talk later but if we don’t, good luck tonight. I’ll be watching.”
“It’s so nice to see you happy,” E.D. said when she disconnected.
“I like it too. Still, I’ll be happier once we get this stuff out of the way.”
“You’re a real slave driver,” E.D. joked.
“Hey, if it gets our clients where they need to be…”
v
Whether it was the coffee or the intoxicating smell of the flowers, by mid afternoon E.D. and Cathy had secured all the missing recipes for Jennifer. Mission accomplished. E.D. put his coat on. “Well, that was productive.”
“Good thing. Now Jennifer can concentrate on testing the recipes and has enough time to address any changes the recipes might need.”
“I had them fax copies to this office as well as Manhattan.”
“With the hard copies going to Jennifer, right?” “Right. I’ll have one of the assistants fax over the information to Jennifer.”
“Good. She’ll be so relieved.” “Anyway, partner, we got the job done and I still have time to catch the off-peak ticket into the city.”
“Okay. Thanks for helping me with my flowers.”
“Enjoy them. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Cool. See ya.”
v
With some time to spare before heading over to Camden Yards, Marcus, John, Mark, Juan and Tim decided to have an early dinner at Bo Brooks’s Crab House. The men weren’t shy; they enjoyed all the seafood delights Maryland is known for, along with light liquid refreshment.
Although they were in enemy territory, people were excited to see the Yankee players in person. After signing a few autographs they decided to head back to the hotel. As Marcus and the gang walked out, there was another bit of celebrity commotion outside.
Not His Type Page 25
