by Linda Wisdom
She ignored him. “I’d understand if it happened. After all, you’ll be back to your magazine column and I’ll be back doing hair.” She didn’t mention that they lived only two cities apart in Southern California, which was considered almost the same as living next door to each other.
“I have to say the more you put it that way—” Zach suddenly yelped. “Hey! That hurt!” He rubbed his chest where she’d pulled a hair.
“Don’t be so agreeable when you should be arguing with me,” she told him. “Or I’ll really make you suffer.”
“Sadistic woman,” he said without heat. He suddenly froze. “Ginna, what are you doing?”
She reached up and kissed his chin. “Oh, my darling, if you don’t know, I must not be doing it right.”
“Oh, I think you’re doing it right,” he groaned as he thought his head was going to spin into outer space, “but I guess a refresher course wouldn’t hurt.”
Chapter Six
“Where’re the pictures? Do not tell us you went all the way out there and didn’t take any pictures!”
“Did you meet anyone?”
“Do you realize how many harmful UV rays you endured to get that tan? And I hate you for tanning so beautifully!”
“Let’s get back to, Did Ginna meet anyone?”
“I’ve only been back for three days! I haven’t picked up the pictures yet. I met a teenager named Tad. I used plenty of sunscreen when I was outside.” Ginna dutifully replied to every question as she studied her appointment book.
“She met someone and not just someone named Tad. And I’m sorry, Ginna, but a guy named Tad sounds as if he’s six years old,” Nora announced. “And she’s not sharing!”
Ginna turned around to face the staff of Steppin’ Out.
“No, it’s more than that,” Cheryl announced. “Oh, my God, Ginna had sex! Really great sex. Mind-blowing sex. The kind of sex that makes a woman cry.”
“What is with you women? Are you the sex police or something?” Ginna felt the damning heat rise in her neck.
“You did have sex!” Phoebe shrieked, pointing to her face. “What was he like? Does he live anywhere near here? Are you going to see him again, or was it one of those vacation flings you said you’d have?”
“Tell me it was the kind of hot raw sweaty sex we claim we wouldn’t have. Of course, if the right man came along, we’d go for it,” Nora said thoughtfully as if she was reliving a memory of her own.
“I don’t know if I’ll see him again.” Ginna thought of Zach’s phone number burning a hole in her bag.
“Just tell me you had incredible sex,” Phoebe begged.
“Don’t you have a facial to give?” she asked desperately as she looked toward the front door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spied a familiar figure walk into the salon. “Sorry, ladies,” she lied without a qualm, “my first appointment is here.”
They drifted away to their own stations, but she knew her reprieve was a short one.
She wasn’t ready to share Zach yet. She still missed him too much. Each night she went home and hoped to find a message from him on her answering machine. So far, the only messages were from friends and family. For now, she would settle for her memories.
“WE MISSED YOU, Daddy.” Emma wrapped her arms around Zach’s neck. Her lips smacked him on the cheek.
“I missed you, too, Peanut,” he said, using his pet name for her. She smelled of milk and peanut butter from her morning toast.
“You should have taken Snooky with you,” she told him, referring to the much beloved and battered bunny rabbit she slept with. “That way you wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night and be scared. You could hug Snooky and you’d feel better.”
Zach thought of what he had hugged in the middle of the night. He’d felt good then. Better than good.
“That’s a nice thought, sweetie, but I think Snooky was happier staying here with you.” He patted her on the bottom. “Do you have everything for your day at preschool? Did you brush your teeth?”
“Uh-huh.” Her head bobbed. “Trey called Nick a bad name when we stayed at Aunt Lucie’s,” she confided.
Zach thought of a few names he could call his nephew, too, but he wasn’t about to repeat them in front of his daughter. Nothing obscene. Miniature con artist was probably one of the worst.
“What did your Aunt Lucie say?” he asked.
“She laughed and said Nick’s been called worse, but she made Trey sit in Time-Out.”
“Good.” He’d have to ask his sister what Trey said. Must have been a doozy if Lucie laughed. She was well-known for her insane sense of humor.
Zach always felt it was Lucie’s sense of humor that kept her going.
He smiled at some of the memories of single men chasing after Lucie in the past few years. Sadly, most of them had run the other way when Nick revealed his Machiavellian side.
Zach would like to see his sister happy with a man. She deserved it after the bastard she’d married took off before Nick was born.
Both of them lost spouses before their children could have known their respective parents, but Zach knew Lucie got the raw end of the deal. He’d always regretted that Tony Donner hadn’t been run over by a large truck.
Which was another reason why brother and sister remained so close over the years. He’d comforted Lucie when Tony left her high and dry. She’d been there to help him with the twins after they were born. He couldn’t have asked for a better sister.
“Do we have to go to preschool today?” she asked, hugging him even tighter.
“It’s Monday, so yes, you do.” He had to get to work on his column. Time to earn his living again.
Emma’s lower lip stuck out. “My tummy hurts,” she whined.
“But Miss Mary reads Mrs. Piggle Wiggle on Mondays,” he reminded her. “And you love Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.”
Emma laid her head against his shoulder. “Can I stay home?”
“You’ll be fine once you get to school.” He knew she was making the excuse because he’d been gone. Once they were at school, she’d forget all about her sore tummy.
“Daddy.”
He turned to his son who stood in the hallway. Trey’s mournful expression, green-tinged skin and the pungent mess on his clothing told the story.
“I throwed up.” Trey’s eyes were glassy with tears.
In keeping with the story that twins have to do everything together, Emma cried out once, then threw up all over Zach’s shirtfront.
He was back in real life with a vengeance.
By that afternoon, Zach felt as if he’d been run over by a steamroller.
The twins’ upset stomachs intensified. Luckily he was able to get them to their pediatrician that afternoon.
“Congratulations, Zach, they have the chicken pox,” Dr. Gail Walker announced after examining each miserable child. “Put them in a warm bath when you get home and the spots will finish popping out.”
Zach, who was seated next to the examination table, slumped.
“Both of them?” Now he felt like whining.
Real life, Zach.
“In a way, it’s better both of them have it at the same time,” she explained. “Do you really want to go through it one at a time when you can get it over with at once?”
He groaned.
“Dr. Gail,” Trey moaned, clutching his stomach.
Gail was fast with a pan. Afterward she soothed him with a few words and gave him a hug.
“Don’t let them scratch,” she instructed. “Calamine lotion is still the best thing to use on the scabs, and you just have to let the disease run its course.”
“Isn’t there a shot you can give them?” Zach asked hopefully.
He hated himself when he saw the pity on her face.
“I realize two at once isn’t going to be easy for you,” she said. “Can Lucie help you out? Nick’s already had the chicken pox, so there wouldn’t be any problems there.”
He shook his head. “No, I�
�ve got to be the adult here. Besides, she has enough going on in her life. I had the chicken pox and I was outside playing with the neighbor kids. Actually,” he said thoughtfully, “the other mothers wanted me to infect their kids, so they could get it out of the way.”
“That’s how it’s done,” she said matter-of-factly. “If their temp goes up, or if anything out of the ordinary happens, give me a call. Otherwise, keep them comfortable, give them plenty of fluids and no scratching.” She scribbled across a prescription pad. “If their nausea doesn’t go away by tomorrow, try this.” She handed the scrip to him.
“Isn’t there something you can give me?” Zach asked as he picked Emma up in his arms while Trey hung on to his pants leg. “I love them. I really do. I guess I didn’t think it would happen times two.”
Gail laughed. “I hate to tell you this, Zach, but you aren’t the first single parent to go through this and you won’t be the last.”
“Daddy, I wanna go to bed,” Emma whined in his ear.
“Okay, Peanut, we’re going home and then it’s to bed with both of you.”
Just as the doctor predicted, by nighttime, courtesy of a warm bath, the twins were covered with pink and red spots. And they were both thoroughly miserable.
They didn’t want to sleep in their own room. They wanted to be with him. Their ears hurt. They seemed to throw up every hour on the hour, and Trey ran a low fever around midnight.
Zach shared his bed with an overly warm small body on either side of him. He thought of another warm body he’d rather have in his bed. Instead of indulging himself in some nice X-rated fantasies, he cuddled two fractious children, read to them, brought them drinks of water and forgot all about getting any sleep.
For two children who’d slept the night through as babies, never got colic or anything else babies got, they were now making up for it big time, demanding their share of attention.
Zach had no time to shave, managed to shower in two minutes, poached eggs to put on toast and read stories until he was hoarse. Sleep was something he indulged in when the twins allowed it.
When one was asleep, the other was awake and whined for Daddy to make things better. He slid his socks on their hands so they couldn’t scratch their scabs. He joked that they could play connect the dots, but they didn’t find it funny.
He mentally wrote his column on how Dad survived twins having the chicken pox at the same time.
Real life, Zach.
ONE STEP IN FRONT of the other. Keep your breathing even.
Don’t think about him.
“Damn!”
Casper barked and looked up at Ginna as if scolding her.
“Don’t look at me that way. You’ve heard worse,” she said grimly, and quickened her pace.
The white German shepherd easily kept up with her. There was nothing he liked better in the mornings than to take one of the jogging paths in the nearby park. He wasn’t sure why his mistress was taking longer runs in the morning, but he wasn’t complaining.
“Men are scum, Casp,” Ginna told him. “I should have known better than to believe his speech about how he doesn’t love them and leave them. You, I can trust. You won’t abandon me even if you meet a perky little poodle.” The dog’s eyes were pleading when they looked up at her. “Say all you want. That surgery was in your best interests. That way we don’t have to worry about paternity suits.”
By the time they returned to the house, Ginna was dripping with sweat and Casper was panting. The dog immediately headed for his water bowl while she dropped onto a kitchen chair.
Since this was her late day, she didn’t have to worry about the time. She could sit in the chair and feel sorry for herself all morning if she wanted to.
But if she was truly honest with herself, that wasn’t what she wanted.
She wanted to pick up the phone and call Zach. No, she wanted Zach to pick up the damn phone and call her!
Ginna was a woman of the new millennium, but there were things she still liked to think men should do.
He’d probably forgotten her the minute they parted at the airport. He’d told her he’d call her, and so far, there hadn’t even been a Dear Jane phone call.
Zach had obviously returned to his old life, and she was nothing more than a vacation memory that would fade with time.
Denny had left her because she couldn’t give him a child. Zach left her because…She had no idea why he left her. That hurt even more than Denny’s betrayal, because she hadn’t been told what her defect was where Zach was concerned.
On second thought, she wanted him to suffer. A lot. Viciously.
She wasn’t sure how, but given time, she knew she could come up with something good.
As if sensing his mistress’s sorrow, Casper got up and walked over to her, laying his head in her lap. He whined to catch her attention. She looked down and smiled. She put her hands on either side of his face and leaned down, rubbing her cheek against his soft fur.
“At least you don’t snore,” she murmured.
If she wasn’t allowed to sit here and feel sorry for herself, she’d do the next-best thing. She knew the ingredients were on hand, and there was nothing better than just-out-of-the-oven chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies.
“They’re healthy,” she reminded her co-workers as she set the platter on a table in the back of the salon a few hours later. “Oatmeal lowers cholesterol.”
“It’s the chocolate chips that make them good.” Nora swiped a cookie on her way out of the room. She stopped and looked at Ginna. “Are you okay?”
“Three-mile run with Casper,” she said brightly.
“It’s just that you’ve been back for more than two weeks and, well…” She paused, unsure whether or not to forge ahead. “Well…” She stopped again.
“I had my vacation fling,” Ginna told her. “I said I was going out there to have fun and I did.”
Nora looked unconvinced by her words, but knowing she wouldn’t hear anything more, she left.
Ginna checked her appointment book and frowned.
“Darcy, why did you book an appointment at this time?” she asked the receptionist. “That’s later than I normally work tonight.”
“He said he really needed a haircut and you had been recommended,” she explained.
Ginna looked at the name penciled in. Zachary.
It didn’t mean he was her Zachary. It was probably someone’s last name.
“Did he say who recommended me?”
“No.”
“Okay,” she said finally. “But please, next time, call me first.” She returned to her station. She picked up a few pins and with a well-practiced twist, pinned her hair on top of her head. “Nora?” The hairdresser next to her looked over. “Would you have time this afternoon to do something with my hair?”
“Sure, about three.”
Ginna checked her book. “Sounds good to me.”
It was time for a change.
IT WAS THE FIRST DAY Zach had been out of the house for almost two weeks.
The twins were back in preschool, Mrs. Clover, his cleaning woman, had come in for the first time in fourteen days, lamented over the state of the house and set to work. He’d shut himself up in his office to work. But instead of working on his column, he sat there daydreaming about Ginna.
He thought about just calling her. And say what? That he hadn’t been able to call her earlier because he’d been nursing two children through the chicken pox?
He decided to take the coward’s way out. He called the salon and managed to charm a haircut appointment out of the receptionist, even though she told him Ginna normally didn’t take appointments that late.
He spent a long time in the shower, gloried in the clean clothes Mrs. Clover had hung in his closet and waited until it was time to head for the Steppin’ Out Salon.
Considering he normally had his hair cut at Rupert’s Barbershop, the salon was a new experience for him. At least he wasn’t the only male client in there, he noticed with
relief upon his arrival.
He studied the interior after he’d given his name to the receptionist and was told to be seated. Ginna would be with him in a few moments. Black-and-white-tile floor, music that inspired dancing and an energy in the air that was infectious.
He saw Ginna before she saw him.
What the hell did she do to her hair?
She was dressed in a white lacy sleeveless top and a short black skirt that displayed those legs he fondly remembered wrapped around him. Sheer black hose and high heels. Damn, she was wearing those high heels that made her legs go on forever.
But what he really noticed was the lack of shoulder-length curls he’d played with many a time when they’d been together.
Inches had been cut off and the curls were replaced with a smooth curve that swung against her cheek. One side was clipped back behind her ear.
He knew to the second when she saw him. She stopped short and just looked at him. For a moment he was positive those beautiful blue eyes were going to turn him into an icicle.
“Mr. Zachary?” she drawled with a faint hint of sarcasm.
“I was afraid if you knew it was me, you’d refuse the appointment,” he said candidly.
“You’re probably right,” she said just as candidly. “Come on back.” She sat him in a chair and wrapped a cloth around his neck. “Just a haircut?” Her fingers combed through his hair, but he felt it was more clinical than the other times she’d done it.
“Something else you’d suggest?”
“It’s pretty dry. A good conditioning treatment wouldn’t hurt,” she said crisply, sounding as if she was talking to a perfect stranger. “I’ll take you back for a shampoo, then we’ll go from there. Kim,” she called out, “would you shampoo Mr. Stone please, then put on a conditioning pack?”
The shampoo girl nodded and directed Zach to follow her.
Ginna decided if she could get through this next hour, she could get through anything.
Why was he here?
She looked down at her hands. They were shaking.
She could do this. She could treat him as if he was nothing more than a casual acquaintance. So what if he’d seen her naked and she’d seen him naked. Oh, my God! The man made her feel as if the Fourth of July had gone off inside her body, and she was determined to stand here and cut his hair as if nothing had happened?
