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A Life Less Ordinary

Page 29

by Bernadine, Victoria


  “But -”

  “Okay, okay,” Daisy interrupted. “Come on, Rebecca. Let’s give her some time. Call if you need us.”

  Manny shrugged. “Come back in an hour. I’m gonna take a bath – try to relax, get some perspective. And then...”

  “And then?” Daisy asked carefully.

  “And then I’m gonna murder the son-of-a-bitch, and I’ll need your help to hide the body.”

  “Sold,” Rebecca said with a decisive nod. “See you in an hour.”

  ~~~~~

  Manny leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed. She deliberately relaxed her shoulders in the hot, soapy water, but stubbornly refused to let out the tears that burned behind her closed lids.

  Are you gonna be okay? Harvey asked.

  Aren’t I always? Manny winced at her bitter tone. She opened her eyes and glanced at Harvey. His eyes were warm with sympathy.

  It’s gonna take a while, she sighed, and I need to figure out...

  Was any of it real? The friendship?

  Exactly. Or was everything as real as you are?

  I don’t know what to tell you -

  Of course not – you’re a figment of my imagination after all.

  - except you need to talk to him, and then cut your losses.

  Or cut him?

  Harvey slowly grinned. If I was real, I’d kill him for you. But you know you don’t really want him dead. Although Rebecca might do it.

  Manny reluctantly grinned back. Maybe. Probably. Most likely. She shook her head. Anyway. Cut my losses.

  Send him home with Rebecca and Daisy. Continue on your own. You don’t really need him, you know.

  Because I have you?

  Because you have yourself.

  ~~~~~

  Manny shifted slightly, her eyes firmly on her coffee cup rather than Zeke, who was sitting across from her, his hazel eyes never wavering from her face, his hands tight around his own cup. With an effort, Manny unhunched her shoulders and straightened. With a slow, deep breath she met his gaze.

  “We’ve been here before,” she murmured.

  Zeke frowned.

  “Sitting awkwardly in a coffee shop,” she clarified.

  A small smile curved Zeke’s lips. “I remember.”

  “Are you going to apologize?” Manny asked, an ironic lilt to her voice.

  “No.”

  Manny blinked, her eyes widening. “That’s it?” she demanded incredulously. “This is going to be a short coffee.”

  “I’m not going to apologize,” Zeke said. “This is what I do for a living.”

  “What? Travelling with pathetic middle-aged women in search of their lost youth? I believe that was the phrase? Where I come from, there’s a word for guys like you.”

  Zeke’s eyes narrowed, the faint smile gone now from his lips. “Blogging. Sharing my opinion about things and being a bastard about it. My role – especially on that site – is to stir up controversy. To get people talking and, more importantly, coming back.”

  “But you don’t think you should apologize for making my...my intensely personal journey a subject of public mockery? Without my knowledge or consent, by the way!”

  “No. I’m...more sorry than I can say that you were hurt by it – but no. And you should read all the blogs before you judge.”

  Manny barked out a hard strident sound that was almost laughter. “Oh, because it gets so much better!”

  “You should read them,” Zeke repeated. “All of them. And then we’ll talk.”

  Manny stared incredulously at him. “You are such a fucking jerk! I’m angry here! And hurt!”

  “This is you hurt and angry? You showed more emotion after I found out about Brett!”

  “Because you called me a slut!”

  The other patrons in the small store turned and stared. Manny flushed and met the eyes of one of the young women sitting at the table next to them, and who had been sliding appreciative glances Zeke’s way.

  “Trust me,” Manny snapped at her, “you don’t want what I’m having!”

  “Jesus, Manny!”

  She turned her glare on him. “Angry enough for you?” she asked coldly.

  Zeke raked a hand through his hair. “This still isn’t angry! You’re so repressed – no wonder you needed to run away in order to find yourself!”

  Manny gasped. “Fuck you! You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about – and you need to leave!”

  Zeke stood up, his chair scraping loudly across the floor. “Fine. We’ll talk about this later.”

  “No, you idiot!” Manny snarled, standing up just as violently. “I mean you need to leave me alone! You can go back with Daisy and Rebecca, or you can get back on your own, or you can go to hell – but we’re done! You can find somebody else to use as the butt of your blogs!”

  Zeke stared, his face stark as she stalked away.

  ~~~~~

  “So, that’s it, huh?” Leah asked sadly.

  “Apparently,” Zeke bit out.

  TJ began to cough, but managed to say, “What flight will you be on?”

  “That sounds really bad, TJ,” Zeke said.

  “Ignore me,” TJ rasped, still coughing. “What flight will you be on?” He took a sip of water, then leaned back on his pillows to catch his breath.

  “Leah? How bad is he?”

  Leah shot a look at TJ, who shook his head.

  “Bad,” Leah said, and stuck her tongue out at TJ, “but he’s holding his own. We have a new nurse coming at the end of the week. I’m hoping whoever it is will make him see sense.”

  “I’m fine; it’s just a bad cold,” TJ rasped.

  Leah rolled her eyes, then said, “What flight are you on, Zeke?”

  “I haven’t booked anything yet. I’ll let you know.”

  TJ said, “I’m sorry, Zeke. But you know – I didn’t expect you to actually grow to like the woman.”

  “Hey,” Zeke said with patently false cheer, “I like her, yeah. The Old Maiden Aunt thing, you know? But you know what? Screw her if she can’t take a joke.”

  “This is all my fault,” Leah sighed. “I should have let you tell her the truth when you wanted to. Or tell the truth right from the start.”

  “No, you were right. She would have been self-conscious – and she never would have shared the things she did with me. Knowing she was being observed – recorded? You know what I mean – it would have changed everything.”

  “But it changed everything anyway,” TJ said.

  Zeke swallowed, then said lightly, “Well. Too late now. I’ve gotta go. I need to get the rest of my stuff from the van and book a flight home – all without getting pulverized by Daisy or Rebecca.”

  “Not Manny?” Leah asked.

  “She’s made it clear she doesn’t want to see me again.”

  “Zeke -” Leah began.

  “Gotta go,” Zeke said, and disconnected the call. He tossed the phone down on the table and roughly rubbed his hands over his face.

  * * * * *

  Day 121

  Zeke was almost relieved to see just Rebecca waiting for him by the van, but then he frowned as he glanced around the rather seedy parking lot. At least it was aboveground he thought.

  “You haven’t been waiting out here by yourself, have you?” he demanded as he walked up to her.

  Rebecca rolled her eyes. “It’s broad daylight, Zeke! Plus you called me five minutes ago, to let me know you were on your way. Besides, there’s what? Fifty people in this town? I think I’m pretty safe hanging out in this open air parking lot.”

  Zeke scowled. “Regardless. Daisy should have waited with you,” he muttered.

  Rebecca cocked her head to one side and considered him thoughtfully. “You know, I just can’t figure you out.”

  Zeke raised an eyebrow.

  “How such a sweet man can be such an asshole,” she clarified.

  “Hey!”

  “I’m serious, Zeke. You’re this bizarre mix of – of ca
sual...cruelty is too harsh a word...” Rebecca paused, frowning furiously. Zeke shifted uncomfortably under her intense stare. She shook her head. “You’re sometimes so oblivious to just how much your words and actions can hurt someone – and yet you’re also such a good guy.” She tossed him the keys to the van. “I’m almost sorry you’re not going to be continuing on with Manny.”

  “Continuing on?” he asked sharply.

  Rebecca shrugged and nodded. “She says she still has to see Disneyworld, the Kennedy Space Centre and Key West before she starts to meander home.”

  “Meander?” Zeke asked as he yanked the van door open and clambered inside.

  Rebecca followed.

  “Manny says she’s not going to let this slow her down, or shorten her trip.”

  Zeke’s frown deepened as he began to search the van for any stray possessions he may have left there.

  “Good God,” he muttered, “the last time I left her alone for any length of time she almost jumped the first half-good-looking guy who smiled at her! I assumed she’d be going home with you and Daisy.”

  “She still has the van,” Rebecca reminded him mildly, “and honestly – why shouldn’t she jump the first half-good-looking guy who smiles at her? She’s free, female and over the age of twenty-one, and it’s not like she has some other guy waiting for her. And contrary to your blogs, she isn’t some dried up old maid who’s only purpose is to sit and watch the world go by.”

  “I never -” he stopped abruptly.

  Rebecca nodded. “Yeah. Better stop while you’re still only half a mile behind.”

  Zeke shook his head. “I’m amazed you haven’t knocked me over the head and used the van to hide my body somewhere.”

  “It crossed my mind. Believe me. But Manny needs the van, and clean-up would be a bitch.”

  Zeke reluctantly grinned then sobered. “I never meant to hurt her, Rebecca. I actually intended to tell her when I joined her at the park a few weeks ago – but there was Brett, and...well, it just didn’t seem to matter that much.”

  “So – what? You thought she’d never find out about the blog?” Rebecca asked skeptically.

  “I honestly thought she’d never find out. Or by the time she did, it’d be long after we got back home and gone our separate ways.”

  Rebecca sighed sadly and shook her head. “That was just stupid.”

  Zeke shrugged, not quite meeting her eyes. “I guess.” He glanced slowly around the van. “So, are you and/or Daisy going to travel with Manny now?”

  Rebecca snorted a laugh. “No. Neither of us can get away. Daisy’s in the middle of finalizing her divorce and has a meeting with her lawyer and the bank the day after we get back. I have my granddaughter staying with me, and I can’t take her out of school.”

  Zeke frowned again. “So Manny’s really continuing on alone?”

  “Yeah.”

  He slid a sideways glance towards her. “You actually don’t sound like you’re pleased about it.”

  “I’m not. She’ll end up bringing home every stray she finds.”

  Zeke smiled slightly. “True. How did she end up the way she did? I mean, how did she end up with just you and Daisy and her job as her life?”

  Rebecca narrowed her eyes. “Are you asking for your blog, or are you asking for you?”

  He calmly met her eyes. “I’m asking for me,” he said firmly.

  Rebecca stared hard at him. She seemed to like what she saw in his face, because she finally nodded, and said, “Manny’s a fixer. She wants to solve people’s problems, and she worries at them until she can fix them. Her workplace, when she started, had a lot of problems – business-related, people-related – you name it. It sucked her in and sucked her dry, and she simply didn’t have anything left to give at the end of day. Her friends just...drifted away. Most days, she barely found the energy for me and Daisy or our families. I’m worried she won’t be able to keep herself from spiralling back into the same situation again when she goes back to work.”

  Zeke nodded slowly.

  “So I’m torn,” Rebecca continued. “On the one hand, I want her to stay on holidays for as long as she possibly can. She’s rediscovering herself, and that can only be a good thing. On the other hand, she’s going to continue travelling on her own, and while I know she’s going to be just fine, I also know I’d sleep a lot better if I knew she was with somebody who would look out for her.”

  Zeke stared off into space, his dark brows low as he scowled.

  “Well,” Rebecca continued, deliberately nonchalant, “I guess we’ll just have to find room for all the strays she brings back when she does finally wander back home.”

  Zeke gave her a sliver of a smile as they climbed out of the van, and Rebecca chuckled as she locked and closed the door. “Who knows? Maybe she’ll finally break in that bed in there now that she’s on her own. I’m sure there’s at least one other Brett out there somewhere.” She slanted a glance at Zeke. “Another reason not to mess up the van.”

  Zeke’s scowl deepened.

  ~~~~~

  Late that afternoon, Manny padded out of the bathroom in her t-shirt and boxers, warm and rosy from another too-hot bath, her hair hanging damply around her face. She jumped as her cell phone rang, then hurried across the room to grab it off the dresser. She checked the caller ID, frowned, then cautiously answered the call.

  “Manny? This is Leah Huxley again.”

  Manny huffed a sigh. “What, exactly, do you want? I’ve already told your boy to go home.”

  “I know. And I don’t blame you. Look -”

  “Tell me – did you make a lot of money from Zeke’s blogs about me?”

  “Money? Not really – but our traffic’s increased dramatically. Listen -”

  “Why?” Manny asked bluntly.

  “Because – because – aren’t you curious about why I’m phoning?”

  “It’s not to apologize, is it.”

  “No, but I do want to explain a few things.”

  “Why bother?”

  “Because – I want to.”

  “What about what I want?”

  “Please, Manny. Let me have my say, and then you can hate me all you want, okay? I’ll just keep calling until you do listen to me, you know.”

  Manny growled a sigh. “Fine,” she snapped. “What do you need to tell me?”

  “Thank you,” Leah said gratefully. “Okay. Sending Zeke with you was my idea. Keeping the truth from you was also my idea. He wanted to come clean when he rejoined you at the park but I wouldn’t let him.”

  Manny paused, considering, then said, “That doesn’t make it all better.”

  “I’m not trying to make it all better. I just wanted you to know Zeke wanted to do – well, what you think would have been the right thing.”

  “You disagree.”

  “It was an awesome story! It’s still an awesome story! And my subscribers love it – they love you! And they love Zeke’s reactions to you! Which brings me to the real point of my call. How would you like to write a blog of your own for What Women Want? Your first one can be in response to Zeke.”

  ~~~~~

  “What did you say?” Rebecca breathed, wide-eyed. She was sitting with Manny and Daisy in a small restaurant, the remnant of their suppers in front of them.

  Manny shrugged as she sipped her coffee. “I told her I’d think about it,” she said, putting the cup down.

  “For God’s sake – why?” Daisy demanded.

  “Because she offered me a lot of money for just one blog post. I mean, outrageously a lot. But...”

  “But?” Daisy prompted when Manny simply stared off into space, frowning.

  “But then I’d actually have to read his posts. And I’m not ready for that. Not yet, anyway.”

  “Have you talked to him since you told him to leave?” Rebecca asked casually. A little too casually.

  Manny shot her a suspicious look. “No,” she said slowly, “and I don’t expect I will, either.”
r />   “Well,” Daisy said, delicately wiping her lips with her napkin, “he’d just better not be flying home with us – or if he is, he’d better not talk to us, anyway.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Rebecca murmured and smiled as she sipped her coffee.

  ~~~~~

  As he packed, Zeke kept up a steady stream of curses and mutterings about stubborn, mule-headed, unforgiving women and what the hell did he care anyway – wait until they got to the blog he was going to write after this.

  He crammed the last of his clothes into his travel bag, then stood back and scowled at it, hands on his lean hips, and thought about what Rebecca had told him about Manny continuing on alone. After a moment, he shook his head, stomped to the desk and threw himself into his chair.

  He’d rent a car, book the first flight home he could find, and see how Little Miss Prissy liked travelling by herself from now on.

  By the time he finished booking the car, he’d remembered Las Vegas.

  By the time he found a flight, he was thinking of Brett from the park and shuddered at the thought of her coming across another ladykiller with a weakness for repressed, naive older women with no sense of self-preservation. Sanity had prevailed in that instance for Manny, but what if next time she wasn’t so smart? Or the guy wasn’t as understanding?

  He thought about the Misfit Toys, and the dance contest; the way her ass looked in that little blue dress and those shoes that were most likely illegal in some states. What if she broke a leg in those things?

  He thought of Dixie, and the women before her, and how easy it had been for him to walk away from all of them – well. Except the first. He shook off the momentary pang. This should be even easier, he told himself staunchly. Hell, she was just his Auntie Em! No, not his. Just Auntie Em, trying to pretend she wasn’t as prudish as she truly was.

  Nobody important.

  He stopped and stared sightlessly at the computer screen feeling cold and hollow, his stomach churning.

  He’d walked away from so many things. He’d walked away from his father, from his home, and from more women than he could truly – or wanted to – remember.

  He didn’t want to walk away from her – his Ma – Auntie Em. He didn’t want to walk away from her fondness for Misfit Toys, her rather subdued demeanour that she’d suddenly throw off when he least expected it. Her ability to talk to anyone and her willingness to try anything – and the way she always seemed to be having an inner dialogue about just about everything.

 

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