Ordinary is Perfect

by D. Jackson Leigh

  What are you doing? Busy?

  I’m charting fertilizer applications and rainfall into a spreadsheet.

  What are you wearing?

  Nothing. You? She shook her head as her brain filtered that reply before her fingers began typing. Ah. Let’s see I’m-too-hip-for-the-hicks top this.

  My bunny pajamas.

  Seriously?

  When I pull the ears down and stroke them, it helps me fall asleep.

  Open the email I just sent you and click on the Hangouts invite.

  And I don’t have to look for slippers if I get up at night because they already have feet in them.

  Open the email and click on the invite.

  Just have to remember to lock Elvis out or he tries to bite me in the cottontail.

  CLICK ON THE INVITE

  Catherine grinned and clicked on the invite in her email. Gabe had set it up for her a couple of nights before and taught her how to use the software that let them video-chat together.

  “You brat.”

  Catherine laughed at Autumn’s crossed arms and pouting lips when she saw what Catherine was really wearing, her usual T-shirt. The webcam was too close to show the skin-hugging navy boxers that completed her sleepwear.

  “When you least expect it, I’ll get you back for that little trick,” Autumn said, unfolding her arms and wagging her finger at Catherine’s image on her screen. “I just wanted to know if you were decent so we could chat.”

  Catherine stopped mid-chuckle and nearly choked on her own saliva when Autumn dropped her arms to reveal her sleepwear—a thin, ribbed tank that nearly outlined her erect nipples. Then a camera adjustment on Autumn’s end raised the view to cut off right above her breasts. Catherine had no idea where her bold move came from, but she sat back and answered Autumn’s raised eyebrow with a nonchalant lift of her shoulder.

  “So, how has your week been?” she asked.

  Autumn seemed to accept the move back to safer ground. She cocked her head as if tallying the day in her head. “Extremely hectic. My part-time assistant and longtime friend, Jay, graduated Emory, and I hired him as an associate. I also hired a very experienced senior associate with an option to consider a partnership in a year or two.”

  “Wow. Were you looking for a partner?”

  “No. And honestly, I’m not sure I can share control of my company with anyone else.” Autumn looked away, as if that admission embarrassed her.

  “I can understand that.” Catherine wanted to choose her words carefully. “Sharing the workload, though, can sometimes increase your yield exponentially.”

  “Did you grow up in a commune?”

  “No. Not at all.” Catherine shook her head, but she didn’t want to go into the details of how she grew up. Peter had told her about the very lean years he, Mari, and Autumn had suffered through, so she didn’t think Autumn could feel much sympathy for her poor-little-rich-girl childhood. “Working together for at least a year sounds like a great way for you guys to find out how you do together.”

  “Unlike us. Becki just threw us together.” Autumn looked pensive. “Except she knew both of us and sort of decided for us, didn’t she?”

  Did Becki do that simply for Gabe’s sake? Or did she have a dual motive? That seemed to be the elephant in the room as they stared through cyberspace at each other. Nah. They were too different. Becki had to see that. Autumn was glitz and glam, a mover and shaker. Catherine was a flower on the wallpaper of life. She built the stages, held the spotlight, ushered the audience for people like Autumn who became the stars.

  “What will you do tomorrow?” Catherine asked.

  “Jay and I plan to review analytics on a couple of new clients. We’ll look at their page-view numbers, unique visitors, audience-engagement numbers, chart what they’ve been doing and how well it’s been working. And we’ll compare them to their competitors. Most companies are setting goals to beat their competition, which are often too low. We want to set and meet goals that reflect their potential.”

  “That sounds—”

  Autumn laughed. “Boring. I know. But it’s not. Analyzing data is like a treasure hunt. You mine for the gems your client has been ignoring, turn them into profit, and voilà. They think you’re a genius. The truth is that digital is so new, most companies are just learning how to make it work for them. The market will get much tougher once more people figure it out. But enough about me. What will you do tomorrow?”

  “If the forecast holds up, I’ll turn under the fields on either side of my front yard and the one next to Becki…I mean your house. I’m working with the state organic farmers’ association to test different natural fertilizers. We’ll plant corn over at your place and vegetables in my fields.” Catherine hesitated. “We haven’t talked about it, but I lease Becki’s fields. I hadn’t really thought about it until just now, but we can discuss the agreement when you come back.”

  Catherine was suddenly staring at the top of Autumn’s head because Autumn was staring at her lap.

  “Yeah. About that. I’ve still got so much to do. I’m not going to make it back this weekend like I planned. I need at least another week here.”

  “It’s fine. Gabe’s fine. She’s still up and down emotionally, and she really doesn’t want to go back to school. She says everybody will be weird because her mother died, and they already see her as an oddity.”

  “She said oddity?”

  “No. That’s my word, and you know it.” God. Did she just flip Autumn the finger? Well, so what. The little tease deserved it. “She said something like ‘spaz-o-matic.’ I don’t think that’s a real word, but it gets the meaning across.”

  Autumn laughed. “How many weeks left?”

  Catherine checked the calendar on her phone. “Three. Four, if you count the end-of-grade testing week.”

  “I’m taking for granted she had perfect grades, considering her IQ.”

  “Yeah. But she still has to go to school a certain number of days to pass.”

  “Most school systems have home-school programs and special exceptions allowed for children who can’t keep regular school schedules…like a child actor or one who has a serious illness. I’ll do some research on your state. Maybe she won’t have to go back this year. Especially since she’ll be enrolling here in the fall.”

  “How about I call Janice, and maybe Gabe’s school counselor, to see if they think schooling at home or going back with the other kids will be best for her emotionally.”

  “You’re right.” Autumn looked down and frowned. “I should have thought of that.”

  “Autumn.” Without thinking, when Autumn looked up, Catherine touched the cheek of her screen image. “That’s why Becki wanted Gabe to have a team, co-guardians. We have each other’s back.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Autumn’s mouth slowly curled into a smile. “Does that mean I’m the mommy and you’re the daddy?”

  “Brat. I’m hanging up now.” But Catherine was laughing as she said it.

  “Okay.”

  “Good night, then.”

  “Cat?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You could call me, too. Anytime. Tomorrow night or whenever.”

  Catherine’s breath caught. “Sure. I’d like that.”

  “Good night, then.”

  The screen reverted to the app sign-in, but all Catherine could see was Autumn’s parting smile. It seemed…shy?

  Chapter Ten

  Autumn climbed out of her car and groaned as she stretched. She was too young to be feeling so old and tired. She’d intended to return to Elijah within a week, but that had stretched into two, then three, and now four had passed since she’d stood in front of Becki’s house. Her house. No, not hers. She was only holding on to it until Gabe came of age.

  She was mentally and physically tired.

  They’d signed ten more clients, doubling her stable of accounts. Jay and Evan had finally set a wedding date, likely inspired by Rachel and Samantha, who had finally admitted to each oth
er that neither wanted a big wedding. They promptly eloped and were settling into their new home as a married couple. The honeymoon was postponed until ski season, their favorite pastime.

  With Jay and Rachel’s help, she’d leased office space large enough for the three of them, along with an admin to handle the work Jay used to do since he was working accounts now. Jay and Evan had sublet Autumn’s sunny little apartment, and she’d moved into a much larger, though more traditional space about six blocks from the exclusive private school where she thought she’d have to promise her firstborn to enroll Gabe. Turned out that when they saw Gabe’s test scores, all she had to promise was to maintain their social-media presence and policies pro bono and write a check for an exorbitant amount of money. Good thing that was all they wanted, though, because she was never going to do that birthing-a-baby thing. No, ma’am. She’d seen that on television once, and it had scarred her for life. No firstborn in her future. That’s why there were orphans. So traumatized people like her could adopt.

  Considering all that, she should be standing in Elijah County feeling proud of all she’d accomplished. Instead, she was scared to death.

  Even though she and Catherine had been chatting often…like about every other night, the next month would be the really hard part. She had to earn her right to be included in the Catherine-and-Gabe Club.

  It wasn’t fair that Gabe already worshipped Catherine, or that they shared a common interest in everything outdoorsy. But it really wasn’t about Catherine’s already established relationship with Gabe. Her dread was something she’d walled off years ago: that sick, helpless feeling of being outside the circle, excluded on the playground, in the school lunchroom, from parties and everything else. The fact that she was an adult now, the owner of her own company, and had a few really good friends never seemed to kill the lonely little girl inside.

  Before she could wallow any deeper in her pity party, Elvis rounded the house and began barking his head off. She started to jump on the hood of the car, then realized his half-length tail was sweeping back and forth as he literally hopped toward her, his mouth wide in a panting happy dog grin. His barks were not aggressive, but happy yips. Well, someone was glad to see her. He grasped her hand, gently but firmly, in his mouth and tugged her toward the side of the house.

  “Okay, okay. I’m coming.”

  He released her hand once she was moving in the right direction, then ran ahead. She stopped cold when she rounded the house. About thirty yards away, Catherine turned to see who Elvis had found. The weathered brown fedora was the same, as was the short ponytail sticking out a few inches above Catherine’s nape. Even the faded blue T-shirt was familiar. But the long, tanned legs left bare from the mid-thigh fringe of her cut-off jeans to the top of her running shoes were a new, very pleasant addition. The late afternoon seemed to grow hot, and the air thickened. Autumn fanned her face, then stopped when she realized how revealing her gesture might be. Crap. Maybe Catherine would think she was fanning away gnats.

  “Hey,” she called out, then tried to stroll casually to where Catherine stood next to an ancient tractor. Only the lower half of Gabe was showing since she was kneeling on the other side of the tractor.

  Catherine’s smile transformed her face into the woman of her late-night talks…but ten times better. Some things didn’t show up well on a computer screen, no matter how good the resolution. Catherine actually had a faint dimple when she smiled, and the eyes Autumn had remembered as dark were actually the color of very rich chocolate.

  “Hey, you did make it.”

  “Yeah,” Autumn said, biting back the defensive retort that dropped from her brain and onto her tongue. She had promised twice before that she was coming, then canceled the morning she was supposed to get on the road. “I finally got everything lined up, and I’ll be able to work from here for a while unless there’s a crisis of some kind.”

  Catherine’s smile grew. Yep. That was definitely a dimple. Autumn’s traitorous libido warmed again, and she realized she was smiling back. No. They weren’t smiling and staring at each other. They were just saying hello. Because Autumn wasn’t attracted to butch women. Or women who liked country living. She eyed the old tractor they were repairing. Rural and poor. Wait. Becki wasn’t poor. Neither was Catherine, considering the financial windfall Autumn knew she’d received from Becki’s estate.

  “Found it,” Gabe sang out. She ducked under the tractor to emerge on their side and triumphantly held up a short, frayed wire. “Look here.” She held it out to Catherine. “The insulation is worn away, and the wire was touching the frame of the tractor, shorting out the electrical system.”

  “Good job,” Catherine said. “My hands are too big to get into that small space. I would have had to take half the engine apart to reach it.”

  Gabe grimaced at her skinned knuckles. “Mine are almost too big.” She looked at Autumn’s hands. “Maybe Aut can put the new wire in. Her hands are smaller.” Gabe’s eyes held a hint of challenge, but it was difficult to be intimidated when she had grass sticking out of the adorable black corkscrew curls that fell onto her forehead and a cute smudge of grease on her left cheek.

  “Only after I see with my own eyes that the battery is fully disconnected.” Autumn didn’t comment on the shortening of her name somewhere other than in a text. She wasn’t sure if she liked it. Nobody had given her a nickname before. That is, if you didn’t count the nasty one uttered by stupid boys and mean girls in high school. Gabe routinely shortened Catherine’s name to Cat, so this nickname felt like her acceptance letter or a tattoo that indicates you’re officially a member of the gang. Yeah. She smiled at them both. “And only after I go visit the ladies’ room.” She walked backward a few steps, realizing that the pressure low in her belly might be her bladder, not her libido, talking. “Two large lattes and only one pit stop means I’m going to be doing the pee-pee dance if I don’t hurry.”

  Gabe’s laughter followed Autumn’s sprint into the house.

  ***

  Catherine was relieved to have another adult on hand to share the parenting load and, at the same time, worried Autumn wouldn’t have the patience to deal with Gabe, who had been on an emotional roller coaster during the past month.

  The relaxed, happy Gabe had worked on the tractor with Catherine that afternoon and seemed genuinely glad when Autumn arrived. But the moody, depressed Gabe was pushing her food around her dinner plate now, and Catherine had no clue what had flipped her switch. She never did.

  “My burger is great,” Autumn said. “Aren’t you hungry, Gabe?”

  Gabe shrugged. Yep. She was in one of her silent moods.

  Autumn put her burger down. “I was surprised to see an Xbox 360 in Becki’s room. Was she a gamer?”

  “Not really. We played some games together.” Gabe didn’t look up at Autumn as she answered but shot a sideways glance at Catherine.

  “Becki moved it into her room after she found that Gabe was gaming most of the night after Becki went to bed.” Catherine aimed a pointed stare at Gabe as she ratted her out.

  Autumn laughed. “I’ve done that before. It’s hard to stop sometimes.”

  Gabe perked up. “You have an Xbox?”

  “Xbox, PlayStation. I actually have one of those old Space Invaders arcade games in the corner of my living room. Sometimes the retro games are really fun.”

  “Shut up!”

  “Gabe.” Catherine frowned at her. “You don’t tell people to shut up.”

  Autumn laughed again. “It’s an expression of exclamation. Like you might say ‘get out’ but you’re not telling me to leave.”

  Catherine’s face heated. “I knew that.” She felt foolish because she did know it. She was so deep into parent mode, she’d forgotten herself. Damn. Autumn must think her an old, out-of-touch idiot. And that bothered her. A lot more than it should have.

  “So, what type of games do you like?” Gabe asked.

  “Mostly games that involve mysteries you have to sol
ve or fantasy worlds. I really haven’t had time lately, but the last I played was the Star Wars one.”

  Catherine began to clear the dishes while Gabe and Autumn launched into a lively discussion about gaming. She had nothing to contribute to the conversation. Was she really expecting to co-parent with somebody who seemed at times to be as much a kid as Gabe?

  “Don’t tell anyone, but I also really like fighting and battle games.”

  “Yeah? My friend Henry has Call of Duty Black Ops. It’s awesome,” Gabe said.

  “No kidding. I love that one.”

  Catherine gripped the sink. Her vision darkened, and the sounds of automatic gunfire, shouts, and explosions filled her ears. Images of soldiers, her soldiers, bleeding, dying flashed through her mind in sync with the pop-pop-pop of single shots. She whirled to face Gabe and Autumn. “Battle is NOT a game.”

  They stared at her, Autumn’s mouth agape and Gabe’s face screwing up.

  “Not everything is about you,” Gabe spat out as she shoved her chair back and ran from the kitchen. Autumn flinched when Gabe’s departure was followed seconds later by the loud slamming of a door in the adjacent hallway.

  Catherine’s head spun with the effort to stay in the present. Anxiety squeezed her chest. She needed air. She focused on the screen door, but her feet were lead, every step a struggle. She finally stumbled onto the back deck. But days were long this time of year and the sun still too bright, the air too warm and heavy. She made it to the steps before her legs gave out, and she grabbed the railing as she sank down to sit. Closing her eyes, she fought to slow her rapid gasps. Something warm and solid pressed against her side. Elvis. She dug her fingers into his fur when he licked at the sweat trickling down her neck. She was so dizzy she felt sick. No, she couldn’t pass out.

  Then something very cold pressed against her nape, and a cool, damp cloth wiped along her face. Soft murmuring replaced the sounds of battle, and her chest began to loosen. She concentrated on taking long, slow breaths.