Ordinary is Perfect

by D. Jackson Leigh

  He was instantly serious. “Autumn, I already told—”

  She put her hand up again. “Just listen.”

  He nodded and sat back in his chair.

  “I know you want to work for a nonprofit, but I’d like to make you a full associate retroactive to last Monday.”

  “You didn’t hire Rachel?”

  “Yes, I did. But that’s another story, and I still need you. I talked with my attorney, and he’ll have a one-year contract for you to review by Wednesday. The salary and commission package I want to offer is negotiable, but I think you’ll find it generous. After a year, you’ll have the option to go out on your own or renegotiate your financial package. It will have the normal noncompete clause, of course, if you should decide to strike out on your own in the private sector.”

  He was already shaking his head. “Money isn’t the issue, Autumn. I thought you understood that.”

  “I do. But I also want to put you in charge of finding and coordinating two or three pro bono projects each year for AA Swan.” She leaned toward him and clasped his hand. “We’re on our way up, Jay, and I want you with me. If you stay only a year or a few years, you’ll raise your profile in the business community working with me. That could land you the nonprofit job of your dreams or give you the cred to start your own. What do you say? Are you with me?” She could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

  Despite his seeming reluctance, she could see he was very interested. “I’ll need to talk it over with Evan.”

  “Fair enough.” She released his hand and scrubbed her face. The sugar and caffeine she’d been running on was fading. “I’m going to have other demands on my time besides work.”

  “You still haven’t told me about your week in the country, the kid who’s coming to live with you, and this Catherine woman you plan to raise a child with.”

  The memory of Catherine’s smile, of her hug when Autumn left warmed her. When had she stopped seeing a tall, too-butch woman with ordinary features and started remembering her as a handsome, athletic gentlewoman with a smooth, sexy voice? Sexy? Yeah. Okay. Catherine wasn’t her type, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t sexy…especially that tight ass in the dark jeans she wore at the memorial. Oh, yeah.

  “It’s a long story, and I’m not sure where to begin, but I’ll try. Tonight. I’ll tell all tonight.” She grabbed her purse and fished out her wallet to hand him a credit card. “Call Evan and tell him we need a Thai-and-tell night. Then go online, order everything we like, and put it on my card. Do you mind going to pick it up? Around seven? I really need a power nap.”

  “I love Thai-and-tell nights.” Jay punched a speed-dial number on his phone. “You go nap. I’ll call Evan, and he can pick up the food on his way over. Should I invite Rachel? I don’t know if she told you, but she’s staying with us.”

  “Absolutely. She’s going to be part of the family now.” Autumn stood and hugged him again. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  ***

  “You’re like a mom now?” Evan and Jay stared at Autumn as if she were growing a second head.

  “You sound like that’s the most ridiculous thing in the world.” She scowled at them. “I’m very responsible, more than financially stable with the tidy sum my cousin left me. So is Catherine. Besides, Gabriella comes with her own trust to cover her expenses.”

  Evan waved off her indignation. “You are well situated financially, and you’ve been taking care of yourself since you were a kid. But that’s just it.”

  Jay nodded his agreement to what Evan had left unspoken.

  “What’s just it?” Her defenses were rising. They were supposed to be her two best friends. They were supposed to support her, not drag her down.

  “Autumn, hon, you’re good at taking care of yourself, but not someone else. Kids demand a lot of time—teacher conferences, soccer practice, music recitals, and shopping for clothes. Well, on second thought, you’ll be a natural at shopping.”

  “That’s true,” Jay said. “But kids need a regular schedule so they get enough sleep, do their homework, and make it to school on time.” He waved his arm over the cardboard and Styrofoam containers that were the remnants of their Thai dinner. “They can’t live on takeout. It’s not healthy. You’ll have to learn to shop for groceries and cook like normal people.”

  “I grocery shop.”

  “For real food,” Jay said. “Not just coffee, soda, snacks, and a few frozen lean dinners.”

  “I grew up on hot dogs, ramen noodles, and cheap boxes of mac and cheese. It didn’t hurt me. Besides, she’ll get lots of healthy food when she’s with Catherine.”

  “Hold on there, guys.” Rachel waved her chopsticks between them and Autumn to interrupt their back-and-forth. “Nobody has a track record as a parent until they are one.”

  But Autumn knew Jay was right about some points. Warming things in the microwave was the extent of her cooking abilities. “I’ll take cooking lessons. I bet Catherine can cook. I’ll ask her to teach me when I go back. Or she can probably tell me who I can hire there to give me a crash course. I bet I can be a great cook.”

  Jay and Evan shared a “when pigs fly” look that deflated her defense, and she wanted to shake her head. They were perfect together, almost finishing each other’s thoughts. Would she ever meet someone like that? The yang to her yin?

  “Don’t listen to them, Autumn. Kids are easy. Didn’t you say this one is almost twelve years old? They’re nearly self-sufficient at that point. They have their own friends and busy schedules with school and after-school activities.” Rachel gave Autumn a thumbs-up. “Jay and Evan are projecting their own parenting insecurities onto you. I had two younger brothers that I practically raised because my parents worked all the time. You’ve got this.”

  Evan shook his head. “I love you, Rachel, but you don’t know Autumn as well as we do. Routine isn’t even in her vocabulary. She eats and sleeps only when her body demands food and rest. She’s a workaholic. She never stops, even when she’s supposed to be relaxing.”

  “I do not.”

  “Tell her, Jay.”

  Jay nodded. “Remember last month when Evan hooked you up with his friend’s sister, and we even made it a double date so you’d feel more comfortable?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “We ended up taking her to the theater with us because you turned dinner into a sales meeting when the restaurant’s owner visited our table to say hello.”

  “Stop it.” Rachel, who was more Catherine’s age than theirs, used her big-sister voice, which was really close to a mommy voice. “Why don’t you tell us about your new charge?”

  Autumn nodded, taking note of how Rachel’s tone shut the guys up. Catherine had a similar commanding tone, but hers sounded more like a drill sergeant’s, and she rarely used it. Clearly, she needed to develop a voice like theirs for her arsenal. She’d practice later. What was Rachel’s question? Gabe. Right.

  “Okay.” How should she describe Gabe? Damn. She wished she’d taken a photo. “Gabriella—she prefers to be called Gabe—isn’t what I’d have expected. Becki, my cousin, was beautiful, blond and feminine in a girl-next-door kind of way. She was artistic and creative, open and gregarious.” She shook her head. “Gabe is so different.”

  “How do you mean?” Jay picked up another spring roll and took a big bite. “I love these things.”

  “She might be artistic like Becki, but she leans more toward brainy. She’s…she’s…I don’t know how to explain this, but she feels like an old soul one minute and an eleven-year-old kid the next. She’s curious about everything, mostly how things work—technology, science, that sort of stuff. I met with her counselor at school.” She paused, because she could hardly believe it herself. “Gabe’s IQ has tested to be about one-forty.”

  “Wow.” Evan’s eyes were big. “That’s really smart.”

  Autumn nodded. “I need to find a school here that can challenge her. Her trust can pay for private scho
ol, but she’s not going to any boarding-school situation. Catherine and I agree on that. Kids need family. They’re not animals you send off to be trained.”

  Rachel cocked her head. “Who’s Catherine? You’ve mentioned her a lot.”

  Autumn flashed on Catherine in jeans and a crisp white shirt. Jay nudged Evan, who nodded. What was that about? She frowned at them. “Um, Catherine is the neighbor, the farmer next door to Becki, who arranged before her death for the two of us to be co-guardians. Gabe worships Catherine and tags along after her all the time. In fact, Gabe is more like Catherine than Becki in a lot of ways.”

  “In what way?” Jay had been fishing at every chance for more about Catherine, and she couldn’t imagine why.

  “Gabe’s tall and…outdoorsy.” She didn’t want to use “tomboyish” because she believed physically strong girls shouldn’t be described as boyish. They’re girls. Strong girls. “She’s in that skinny stage where her muscles are trying to catch up with her bones’ growth spurt, but she moves like an athlete. She’d rather go fishing with Catherine than shopping. I know that alone doesn’t mean anything, but she has a strong budding-lesbian vibe. I’m not sure she has a lot of friends at school.”

  “Why not?” Jay’s expressive face had empathy written all over it. He’d been bullied at school once he came out as gay.

  “Well, for starters, she’s extra smart and isn’t interested in what the other girls care about, like boys and clothes. And, well, she’s obviously biracial in a small, rural town.”

  “Where’s her father? Is he deceased?” Rachel asked.

  “I don’t think so. Becki’s lawyer said he wasn’t a US citizen and had signed over his parental rights and left the country when Gabe was still an infant. So he’s not really a factor in Gabe’s makeup, other than his DNA.”

  “She sounds interesting.”

  “She really is.” Autumn wondered what Gabe and Catherine might be doing right now. “Oh, and she has a dog, Elvis.”

  Evan laughed. “Elvis really isn’t dead?”

  Jay high-fived Evan for responding exactly like he had the first time Autumn had mentioned Elvis.

  “Nope. Not dead.” She shook her head and grinned. “But he ain’t nothing but a hound dog.”

  Evan and Jay howled. Literally.

  Autumn grew serious again once they quieted. “Actually, I don’t know if Elvis belongs to Catherine or Gabe.” She paused. “I’m not sure if that matters since they live in the same house now.”

  “What about your cousin’s house?” Jay asked.

  “See? That’s one of the things I haven’t figured out. The house is technically mine now. Gabe can’t live there alone, so she’s staying at Catherine’s. I guess I’ll sleep there when I visit, which I don’t think will be that often. So, should I rent it out? It seems weird to do that with her right next door.” She threw up her hands. “I just don’t know. I can’t think about all this because I need to focus on my business right now.”

  “You haven’t told us much about Catherine,” Rachel said.

  Jay glared at Autumn. “She’s right. No dodging. Spill.”

  “I told you that she owns the farm next door and takes Gabe fishing.”

  Evan shook his head. “We want details. What does she look like? Is she married, divorced, single? Gay, straight?”

  Autumn thought back. Did she know for sure? “She’s tall.”

  Jay snorted. “Everybody seems tall to you, short stuff.”

  Autumn stuck her tongue out at him. Mature, right? She gathered her thoughts. “She has straight brown hair, about shoulder length, that she pulls back in a ponytail. But not a cheerleader ponytail. More of a metro-man type—several inches above her nape.” She pointed to her own head to indicate what she meant. “She’s not stocky, but really strong. When I cut my thumb, I sort of passed out in the kitchen. It bled a lot.”

  Jay grimaced in empathy when she held up her bandaged digit.

  “But Catherine apparently caught me and carried me into the living room. I don’t remember, because I was passed out, but Gabe told me later that Catherine just scooped me up and carried me to the sofa.”

  “Swoon,” Evan declared, his hand pressed against his chest. “All you needed was a grand staircase for her to climb with you in her arms. That was the best scene in Gone with the Wind. I fell in love with Clark Gable the first time I saw that movie.”

  “Does she have a girlfriend?” Jay asked.

  “Didn’t meet one.” Autumn gave Jay a pointed glare. “Farmer isn’t my style, so don’t get any ideas about matchmaking.”

  “What color are her eyes?” Evan asked.

  “Brown.” Autumn answered without thinking, then narrowed her eyes at Evan. “Why does that matter?”

  Evan grinned. “Just checking to see if you’d noticed.”

  Autumn’s face heated. “I notice a lot about everything. That’s what makes me a good businesswoman.”

  “You’re blushing,” Jay said.

  “Hot flash from the curry.” She had to put a halt to this before Jay started plotting. He was always scheming to match her up with an eligible woman. “Catherine is very nice but too serious, too butch, hates city living, and sort of…beat up.”

  Jay and Evan leaned forward, their eyebrows raised. “Beat up?” they asked in unison.

  Damn it. She’d drawn more interest, rather than cooled it. “She’s…I don’t know…sort of weathered. I don’t mean her face really. She’s not unattractive, but she isn’t what you’d call beautiful. She just acts older than I think she really is. Everybody seems to know her, but it’s clear she’d rather go unnoticed.”

  “Maybe she’s hiding out.” Jay had an active imagination. “Like in the witness protection plan. Or she’s someone famous who’s dropped out of sight because they couldn’t stand the constant spotlight. Wait. I know. She had an affair with somebody famous or the wife of somebody famous and was bought off. Now she’s keeping a low profile and pining for her lost love.”

  Autumn laughed. “Or maybe she’s just an ordinary person content to live an ordinary life. Some people have no ambition. Trust me. I was raised by two of them.” She chewed on her lip, uneasy with that depiction of Catherine. “I don’t want to give a bad impression of her. She seems very steady. In a video Becki made before her death, she called Catherine her anchor.”

  Rachel gathered the empty food containers and carried them to the trash disposal in the kitchen. “So don’t stress. There’s no harm in letting the house stay empty for a while. It’s touchy. Gabe could see selling or renting it as you trying to erase memories of her mother. On the other hand, keeping it like it is could hinder her from moving forward with her life. But it sounds like you have an able co-guardian. Talk to Catherine about it. Since she’s around Gabe more right now and knows her better, she should be able to advise you about what to do.”

  Autumn brightened. “I will. Thanks, Rachel.”

  Jay came around to wrap her in a tight hug. “You have a village here, and it sounds like you do there, too. Let us help. Let your farmer woman help. You don’t have to do this by yourself.”

  That was just it. She’d always done everything herself. She didn’t know how to live in a village.

  ***

  “You haven’t told her?”

  Catherine rubbed her forehead, holding the phone to her ear with her other hand. “No. Apparently, her business made a breakthrough almost right at the time Becki passed away, so she was dealing with a lot and didn’t ask to go over the financials very thoroughly.”

  “You dodged a big bullet, Cat.”

  “I know, Pete. One you should have taken care of a long time ago.”

  “Hell, she hasn’t spoken to me or her mother in years. Becki and I planned to sit her down after Mom’s funeral and explain everything, but my asshole brother and his trashy wife showed up and started yelling that Daddy meant the farm to be his, but his own daughter and her black brat were stealing it out from under him.”
>
  “I’m afraid she had a skewed memory of that, too,” Catherine said. “She’s really smart. At some point, she’s going to have time to track down where Becki got all that money and the investment that’s still pouring money into Gabe’s trust each month.”

  “I need to visit. It’ll go better if we bring it up rather than wait for her to find it. I just don’t know how to justify hiding it from her all these years.”

  “She might be an adult now, but she’s still your child. You need to remember who’s the parent. You did keep a secret, but you had good reasons to when she was a kid. You left plenty of clues once she got older, but she didn’t want to let go of her childhood resentment and see the truth.”

  “You are an extraordinary person, Catherine Daye.”

  “No. I’m just an ordinary person who was in the right place at the right time.”

  “So when do you think is the right time for me to come talk to my daughter? I want to clear this up. I’ve missed too much of her life, and now I’m missing out on Gabe’s life. She’s effectively my granddaughter now, you know.”

  Catherine chuckled. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, but Gabe will be surprised to have a grandfather other than the one Becki’s warned her to stay away from. I wouldn’t advise that you come yet. Gabe needs some time to bond with Autumn, I think. And I don’t want to mess that up.”

  “You like her? Has she turned out okay despite mine and Mari’s shortcomings as parents?”

  “She’s pretty awesome, Pete. You won’t be anything but proud when you see the woman she’s become.”

  ***

  Catherine was tediously typing into a spreadsheet when her phone pinged. She pounced on it so quick, it slipped from her hand, and she juggled it for a few tense seconds before she got a solid grip on it and read the incoming text. It’d been nearly five days since Autumn had said she’d call when she got a quiet minute, and Catherine had kept her phone charged and in reach the entire time. She hated texting until Gabe showed her how to speak her message and let the phone type her reply.