“It’s not like they’re babies,” Daisy protested.
Rebecca gave her an exasperated look. “Would you want to go through the teenage years again?” she demanded.
Daisy grinned. “Personally? Or with my kids?”
Rebecca groaned and waved the question away. “Forget it! You managed to raise two little saints. You need to bottle your secret and sell it – you’d make a fortune.”
Daisy laughed.
“Enough about me,” Rebecca said firmly, “let’s talk about you.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow as she picked up her cup of tea. “Me? What about me?”
“I’ve called you three times this week.”
“You did?”
“Yes. And every time you’ve been out at the casino.” Rebecca looked steadily at her. “Are you in trouble, Daisy?”
“Trouble?” Daisy repeated blankly. “What kind of trouble?”
“You can’t be winning all the time! And how can you afford to be at the casino every night?”
Daisy dropped her eyes to her teacup. “I’m fine. I’m not bankrupt or anything.”
“How are you paying for it?”
Daisy snorted. “With my paycheque, of course. Don’t worry about me, Rebecca. Everything’s fine. It just gives me something to do, and I’d rather not sit here either waiting for Hub to come home, or simply staring at him when he is home.” Daisy squarely met Rebecca’s concerned gaze. “Everything’s fine,” she repeated firmly.
Rebecca frowned, only half-convinced, but she sat back and allowed Daisy to change the subject.
* * * * *
Day 32
Daisy sat at her desk, typing Max’s latest case report, and thought once again that she really needed to encourage him to learn how to use a computer. After all, if she ever won the jackpot at the casino, he’d be out one office manager and then what would he do?
She shook her head as she continued typing then glanced up as the door opened and the man himself walked into the office. He looked unusually grim, even for him, a frown on his craggily attractive face. He carried one of the plain brown envelopes he used to deliver reports to his clients.
He stopped in front of her desk and she felt her heart plummet into her stomach as he fidgeted uncomfortably with the envelope in his hands.
Finally, he took a deep breath, said, “Daisy –” and held the envelope out to her. She stared at it like she’d never seen one before.
She swallowed.
“Oh,” she said. “Oh.”
She didn’t have to ask Max what, exactly, he’d found; his face told her everything she needed to know.
“I’m sorry,” he said in his deceptively gentle voice.
Daisy stared sightlessly over his shoulder and made no move to take the envelope from his hand.
“You know,” she said numbly, “I didn’t actually believe you’d find anything. At least not that. I mean, how...cliché...” To her horror, she suddenly began to cry, great, wracking sobs, interrupted only by gasping breaths. Max carelessly dropped the envelope on the desk, and pulled her out of her chair and into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, and felt something inside her break as she cried.
The sobs finally slowed, then stopped. For a few moments, she allowed herself to lean into Max’s shoulder and let him comfort her. Then with a determined sniff, she pulled away.
“Thank you,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes as she turned and pulled some tissue from the box she always kept on her desk. She turned her back, blowing her nose and wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. Max watched silently, his face creased with worry as she turned back towards him with one last swipe with the tissue.
She nodded at the envelope sitting on her desk.
“Is the usual evidence in there?”
“Yeah.”
Daisy nodded, her gaze distant as she stared at the envelope.
“Okay. Okay. Okay.” She gave herself a shake and added, “Thanks, Max.”
She jumped as the phone rang. She took a deep breath and answered, “Springfield Investigations, Daisy speaking...Speaking.” She listened intently, paling even further as she did so. She reached out and clutched Max’s sleeve. Finally, she said, “Thank you; I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Max.
“There was an accident during Jakob’s phys ed class today. He’s been taken to the hospital; they think he broke his leg.”
“I’ll drive,” Max said.
~~~~~
Hub walked into his darkened house and hung up his coat and keys without turning on any lights. He wandered into the living room and stopped short when he saw Daisy sitting in the dark.
“What the -”
“I called your office this afternoon,” Daisy said, her voice eerily quiet in the dimness. “Late this afternoon. Jakob was injured during phys ed; broke his leg.”
“My God -” Hub began and took a step towards her.
“He’s okay. He’s in the hospital right now, and I sent Janika over to Rebecca’s to spend the night with Tris.”
“Was that wise? Her brother just broke his leg! I would think she’d want to be with her mother!”
“You weren’t here. In fact, you also weren’t at work. You’d left around one-thirty. No one knew where you were, and you weren’t answering your cell phone.”
“I was at a meeting,” Hub snapped.
Daisy gave a watery chuckle. “Really? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
She turned on the lamp beside her chair. Hub blinked in the sudden flood of light, then blinked again as Daisy pushed an envelope across the coffee table and nodded at it.
“I think you can guess what’s in there,” she said.
Hub stared at the envelope, then his shoulders slumped. He slowly, almost painfully sat on the edge of the couch. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands loosely clasped together.
He nodded. “Yes. I know what’s in there.”
Daisy swallowed hard, her throat clicking.
“I think it’s time for this farce of a marriage to be over. A neglectful husband and father I could...tolerate. A cheating one? Never.”
“Daisy...it just -”
“If you tell me it just ‘happened’, I swear to God, I will punch your lights out!” Daisy snarled, suddenly enraged. “Stubbing your toe ‘just happens’. Breaking your leg ‘just happens’! That -” she stabbed a finger towards the damning envelope, “that takes planning and a conscious decision!”
She jerked to her feet. “Whenever you can find a place, you can go.”
Hub stared up at her. “What about the kids?”
Daisy snorted. “Maybe they’ll see you more often when you only have visitation rights.”
“Daisy -”
“I’ve set up the guest room. I’ll tell the kids tomorrow. Somehow, I don’t think they’ll be surprised.”
She gestured carelessly at the envelope.
“You can keep those,” she sniffed, “I have the originals.”
* * * * *
Day 33
“I’m so, so sorry, Daisy,” Manny said, appalled.
“You want to know the sad part? I’m not even surprised. I think I suspected for a long time – otherwise I wouldn’t have asked Max to follow him in the first place.”
“Do you want me to come home? Just say the word, and I’ll be there.”
“I know. But while I could use you here – no. No. There’s really nothing for you to do, except listen to me bitch, and you can do that from anywhere. Besides – and this is going to sound awful, but...I’m almost...relieved.”
“Well, as Mom used to say: you can’t solve a problem -”
“You can’t define,” Daisy finished with her.
They laughed.
Daisy sighed sadly. “I could use her and Dad right now.”
“Yeah. Daisy, really, I can come home.”
“No, I’m okay – and if I�
�m not -”
“Then I’ll come home.”
~~~~~
Zeke sat in his motel room and stared off into space.
He thought about the things TJ and Manny had said to him. He thought about the people he’d left behind long before, most without a single backwards glance.
He thought about Dixie.
And for the first time, he allowed himself to wonder if he’d be on this trip if he’d just tried to call her. Tried to explain. Tried to make things right again.
He bit his lip before he took out his phone and dialed Dixie’s number. He felt a cold sweat break out on his skin as he listened to the ringing of the phone on the other end of the line.
“Why are you calling?”
Zeke jerked, taken aback. “Well, hello to you, too, Dixie.”
“It’s been over a month and no word from you until now,” she snapped. “What do you want?”
Zeke hesitated for a long, silent moment, wondering what the hell he was going to say.
“Zeke?”
He started, and refocused on the conversation. “I – I don’t want anything. I just called to say...I’m sorry. And to tell you – I wasn’t cheating. I was doing an interview. If you’d read my blog, you’d know it was strictly business.”
Now it was Dixie’s turn to be silent. Zeke sat quietly and waited for her to speak.
Finally she said, “Well. I guess...thank you for the apology. And, I guess...I appreciate the attempt at a cover story.”
Zeke said softly, sincerely, “It’s the truth.”
“Maybe. But I don’t dare take the chance and believe you.”
Zeke closed his eyes and wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t expect you to do anything. I just wanted you to know. I thought you deserved to know. And maybe, if I had talked to you then, instead of...well...maybe things would be different right now.”
Dixie hesitated then said, “I guess we’ll never know.”
Zeke slumped down in his chair. “I guess not,” he said quietly. “Good-bye, Dixie.”
“Good-bye, Zeke.”
He continued to hold the phone to his ear long after she ended the call.
~~~~~
Manny lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. Harvey was beside her, his hands resting on his flat stomach.
So, Daisy and Hub have split.
Yes.
And Jackson told Rebecca he wants more from her.
He has.
Zeke’s looking for some way to mend his broken heart, even if he won’t admit it.
That’s true.
And I’m here. With you. Like always.
Yes.
I’m the one who wanted change...this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
Episode 4
Day 39
Zeke stared at Manny in consternation. She’d bounced into his room with a broad grin, a glossy brochure clutched in her hands, and excitedly announced her plans for the next week.
“You want to go where?” he asked, hoping his ears had deceived him.
“To the Classic Movies Film Festival, being held in this town in Arizona. Oh, God – it’s going to be awesome! Four full days – five venues – and every year they showcase a different actor or actress. Last year it was John Wayne. This year – this year it’s Cary Grant!”
Zeke’s lips twitched at the way she almost squealed the name.
“Girly kinda fella?” he asked drily, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, ha ha!” Manny rolled her eyes then turned her attention back to the brochure she held in her hand, her face lit up with enthusiasm.
“They’re showing the only three Cary Grant movies I’ve never seen! Oh, my God – Cary Grant! On the big screen!”
Zeke couldn’t help himself. He burst out laughing at her awed and excited demeanour. He plucked the brochure out of her hand, ignoring her startled and indignant yelp.
“Is there anything else playing or is it All-Cary-Grant-All-the-Time?”
“There’s lots playing – I’m going to have a tough time deciding which movies to see and which ones I’ll have to miss.”
Zeke’s eyebrows rose as he read the brochure. He hated to admit it, but he was actually impressed. With five venues playing movies simultaneously, there was literally something for everyone.
“When does this thing start?” he asked, turning the brochure over.
“Friday,” Manny said, then quickly lunged and snatched back the brochure. He gave her an exasperated glare that turned into a grin as she turned her back, engrossed in reading the lineup.
“Oooh,” she crooned, “All my favourites! Humphrey Bogart! Clark Gable! Oh my God – William Powell and Myrna Loy! Oh, hell,” she moaned as she turned towards him again, “I think I’ve died and gone to movie heaven!”
Zeke shook his head as he doubled over with laughter even as he resigned himself to suffering through four days of endless romantic comedies.
If nothing else, he thought ruefully, he should end up with lots of material for his blog.
~~~~~
Manny had a fairly accurate suspicion about Zeke’s feelings, but she was too excited to care.
Cary Grant, she thought giddily, twelve feet high.
She almost wished she could swoon. Or squeal like a little girl.
Oh, God, Harvey groaned.
What?
I see lots of tuxedos in my future.
Manny glanced up and blinked at him. He was, as predicted, in an impeccably tailored tuxedo complete with bow tie, his crisp white shirt in sharp contrast to his salt-and-pepper hair, golden skin and deep brown eyes.
You look so good in them, though.
True. But I’m no Cary Grant.
Who is? Even Cary Grant wished he were Cary Grant.
Are we going to have romantic candlelit dinners now?
Maybe. But that’s better than the pirates, right?
Harvey smiled at her. Sometimes the pirates can be fun, too.
Glad to hear it – there are some Errol Flynn movies, too.
Harvey groaned, and Manny laughed.
She refocused on Zeke.
“You don’t have to see the movies with me,” she told him. “You can do whatever you like.”
“It’s no fun watching movies by yourself,” he shrugged. “Besides,” he plucked the brochure out of her hands once more, “I’ll bet there’s nothing else to do in this town.”
“You’ll never know until we get there,” she tutted.
Zeke heaved an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh as he threw himself down in his chair in front of his desk. He glanced at his laptop sitting on the desk and his eyes widened as he realized he’d left the blog he was writing up on the screen. He quickly glanced at Manny and was relieved to see she was still focused on the brochure in her hands, her excited smile firmly in place.
“And to think, we still have almost five months to go...” he teased as he reached over and quietly closed the computer.
She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him.
“Cary Grant, twelve feet high,” she sighed, and wandered out of his room.
~~~~~
Zeke sighed as he picked up the thick program booklet. “Four days of classic movies, twelve hours a day, isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”
“Oh, come on,” TJ urged, “there has to be something you’ll enjoy watching.”
“Oh, sure,” Zeke replied sarcastically, switching his glower from the program to his cell phone, even though TJ couldn’t see it, “but it’s not like I’m going to get Auntie Em to watch any of them!”
“It does sound like she’s planning on dying from multiple Cary Or-grant-asms.”
Zeke stalled, blinking, then said with great feeling, “Ew!”
“Ew? What ‘ew’? I’m sure she thinks that wouldn’t be a bad way to go.”
“That’s disgusting for many reasons – not least of which is thinking of Manny with any kind of sex drive!”
“Well, I’ll bet you
anything she’s not going to those movies for the plots!”
“She has been going on about seeing Cary Grant twelve feet high,” Zeke admitted thoughtfully.
“Anyway, is she insisting you go to every movie with her?”
“Well...no.”
“Okay then. What else is playing?”
Zeke heaved a long-suffering sigh and flipped through the program.
“Well, besides romantic comedies, there are thrillers, mysteries, sci-fi and horror.”
“That’s quite the combo. Mostly geared towards the male audience, huh?”
“Probably to make up for all the Cary Grant,” Zeke replied drily.
TJ laughed. “So? Go to a couple of movies with her, then go to a few you want to see – or don’t go to any of them. She seems pretty laid back.”
“Oh, she’ll agree, but then she’ll give me her disappointed maiden aunt look, and I’ll cave.”
TJ laughed. “How’s it going otherwise? You don’t seem quite so – uh -”
“Vitriolic?”
“That’s a good way of putting it,” TJ agreed.
“She’s a nice person,” Zeke conceded, “and while I want to make fun of her actions and words, I don’t want to make fun of her. She’s pretty funny sometimes.”
“And fun?”
“Yeah,” Zeke agreed grudgingly, “and fun. When she relaxes and forgets herself.”
He grinned at the sudden memory of the card games at Leila’s bed and breakfast in San Francisco. He shook off the memory.
“What about you, TJ? How are you and Leah doing?”
“We’re good – although it’s beginning to feel like we’ve spent every minute of every day for the last month talking about fertility treatments and options and what steps we need to take in order to have a baby.”
“Have you guys made some decisions about that?”
“Yeah, we’ve decided on a course of action. I’m just waiting to hear back from my doctor – I went for a second opinion and a full physical a couple weeks ago; they should be getting the results of all my tests any day now.”
A Life Less Ordinary Page 11
