“And there I was, challenging you to a race! What an idiot I am!”
Pepper’s face actually flushed with embarrassment, or anger at herself. “You didn’t know, baby,” I said, consolingly. “Besides, it wasn’t like I was dashing back to the vehicles, remember?”
Her expression grew softer. “Does it hurt when I touch you when we’re… making love?”
“Not really. Sometimes it’s a little sensitive, but your touch is nothing but good, understood?”
She hugged me and walked out of the room. I hoped that I’d reassured her. Actually, sometimes I did tense up when she brushed her hand over my scars, but that had more to do with anticipation than the actual act of touching it and I sure as hell didn’t want Pepper to feel self-conscious about it. I was already feeling self-conscious enough for the two of us.
“See you later, baby,” I said, leaning in for a kiss. “I may be working late this week. I’ll call so you know what to expect.”
“I know it’s a big week for you, Gabe, but try not to overextend yourself, okay?”
As I drove to work, thinking about everything that needed to be done before Friday, I felt like my head was going to start spinning and explode. It didn’t help that my lead trainer, Bobbie Jo, had jumped ship while I was still on my back recovering from the shark attack. She knew how to hit a guy when he was down, but a part of me wanted to bow down and beg her to come back.
That wasn’t going to happen. What did Kim from HR say? Bobbie Jo’s departure was a ‘blessing in disguise.’ That would probably turn out to be true. Unfortunately, this week I was too busy to schedule interviews for a replacement. Too busy to get some help—how fucking frustrating!
The medication kicked in as I entered Sea Lab and I felt my confidence grow and in control again as I bid the staff a good morning. Once in my office and behind my desk, I felt like the captain at my helm, my purpose clear, ready to chart my course.
Maybe I couldn’t have it both ways, doing what needed to be done at Sea Lab and indulging in carefree sex with Pepper, but whenever I was with her, I lost control, which is how it’s supposed to be if you love someone, I guessed. My ego dissolved and we merged into a single sexual entity. It was as if she cast a spell over me and I forgot all about my responsibilities and obligations.
That’s great for sex, but not such a good thing when others are depending on you to get the job done. Maybe I needed to talk with Pepper and explain that we couldn’t continue living in la-la land anymore. We were adults, after all, and we needed to start acting like it.
The phone rang. It was Kim. I knew what she wanted, knew that she wanted to help, but all she was doing was piling on more fuel for my anxieties.
“Good morning, Kim,” I said.
“Good morning, Gabe. Listen, I was checking back to see if you’d had a chance to look over the resumés for the Lead Trainer position. You asked me to get back with you this week.”
Christ, it’s only Monday and I only just got here! I really didn’t need this first thing in the morning, but I knew it wasn’t her fault.
“I know, Kim, and I don’t know why I asked you to do that knowing we’ve got the whales coming in. I’ll be burning the midnight oil as it is for the opening of the new wing and the VIP dinner. I’ll try to review the applications when I have a spare minute but, honestly, I don’t think I’ll be able to get back to you till next week.”
“I understand, Gabe. I’m sorry, and I certainly don’t mean to add to the pile. I’m standing by to call the cavalry and get you some reinforcements.”
“I appreciate that, Kim, but I don’t feel like I’m at the last days of the Alamo quite yet,” I chuckled. Thanks for your follow-up, though. Once we get past this week, we should be over the hump.”
“Good. Well, do you want me to make a note to call you next Monday?”
“Um, I’d say no at the minute, Kim. I’m buried right now but I’ll call you when I’ve had a chance to look over the resumés if that’s okay?”
I really wanted to get on with my work and I felt myself starting to get a little cranky and frustrated at her interruption. No way did I want to be rude to her, but I’d noticed my medication sometimes made me thin on patience lately. Even though I tried to fight it, sometimes that took over and she was only doing her job.
“No problem, Gabe,” she said, “Just let me know if I can do anything to help and I’ll wait to hear from you.”
“Sure thing, Kim. When’s the absolute latest you need me to get back to you on this?”
“Well, I really need to be scheduling interviews as soon as possible and I’ll email them in the meantime to let them all know we’re still deliberating on a short list. That should keep them happy for a little while. Can you look at them and get back to me by a week on Friday? I can’t leave it any later than that.”
I had no idea whether I’d be able to meet her deadline or not, but I wasn’t about to tell her that now and I needed to get off the call and get my shit handled for the day, fast.
“A week on Friday works for me. Thanks, Kim, I’ll see you around.”
Recruiting two new whales to the operation was more stressful than I’d anticipated, and it was starting to take its toll on me. I just wanted to be left alone to do my job of making sure everything was perfect for the grand opening we’d planned.
I picked up the phone and speed-dialed Nautilus Designs, the company that had installed the whale tanks. They were supposed to be here first thing this morning to conduct pump pressure and temperature tests and there was no sign of them on site. Maybe my meds were affecting my mood, but I felt my blood pressure rising as I waited for someone to answer at the other end.
“This is Gabe Gregory from Sea Lab,” I informed the receptionist. “May I speak with Harry Nelson, please? It’s urgent,” I said curtly. Contractors—as soon as they’d got their money, it seemed they suddenly became hard to get a hold of. I had to listen to their annoying, self-promoting blather while I waited, ‘Nautilus Designs, when you need us, we’re there,’ the female voice boasted. More like ‘when you need us, we’re scarce!’ I seethed.
“Hello, Gabe. How are we this morning?” I pictured Harry sitting at his desk. His friendly manner helped quiet my nerves, but only somewhat.
“Well, I’d be better if your techs were here. I thought we had an 8:30 appointment?”
“Wasn’t it 9:30?” Harry asked. I heard him flipping the pages of a desk planner. “Here it is. Yeah, I’ve got you down for 9:30, Gabe. In fact, they’re already on their way.”
I looked at my own planner and felt a flash of embarrassment when I’d realized I’d made the mistake. Sure enough, it said 9:30.
“Oh,” I muttered sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Harry. I must have entered the time wrong.”
“No worries,” Harry chuckled. “Although I can see why you might be a little anxious. It’s sort of like being an expectant father, isn’t it?”
Please, I thought, don’t bring up fatherhood!
“You know what? I’m going to shuffle over there myself once they’ve gotten started. I’ll just walk around and eyeball my men—that always makes them nervous! But that’s the fun part of being the boss. You know how it is, right?”
I laughed, both at Harry’s easy-going humor and relief that I hadn’t gone totally ballistic and made a complete fool of myself. “I look forward to seeing you, Harry. Thanks a lot.”
My voice croaked. My throat was so dry and I knew coffee wouldn’t help, but it’s what I wanted. I poured a cup and downed two more pills with the first gulp. It was going to be a long day.
I thought I’d have a quick look and picked up the stack of resumés Kim had forwarded to me. Jesus, where to start? I looked at the first one from a Peggy Sue Miller and read the cover letter. It read like a standard boilerplate with the exception of a brief, personalized paragraph explaining how ‘Gee whiz, I’d really like to work at Sea Lab because I’d get to wear shorts and a polo shirt, and I could work on my tan, and i
t’s close to where I live so I could save a bundle on gas,’ or some such nonsense. Looking over her work history, my eyes glazed over at the list of retail jobs she’d had since she was fifteen. Nothing pertinent to the position at all. Couldn’t she at least have lied and said she once took care of a goldfish once when she was little?
I decided I couldn’t look at any more of this crap, so I went over the invoices for the installation of the tanks, and then reviewed the wing construction billing. I’d been through the files twenty times, double-checking every item, every entry, but doing it again seemed to help me focus. Numbers were comforting—but people were getting on my nerves today, and that wasn’t like me at all.
Harry arrived as promised, a little while after his technicians had started with the tests. Everything went well and after they’d finished, I had a chat with Amanda Pelt, one of our board members. Thankfully, she’d taken it upon herself to oversee the VIP dinner and all of the publicity surrounding it and the public opening. Her husband, Victor, owned a chain of newspapers throughout Florida, and a couple of radio stations, as well, so I was confident she’d make sure we got the coverage we needed to reach the public and make it a success.
As I left, a gaggle of paparazzi were lurking outside the entrance. Had they been there all day, or was this the second shift, gathered in case there was some late-breaking news?
“Mr. Gregory! Mr. Gregory! Can you confirm which celebrities will be attending the opening?”
My mood was less than cheerful after a totally stressful day. I really didn’t want to deal with these dirtbags, so I ignored them and made my way toward my truck. There was something about a bunch of grown men and women chasing after me like a pack of barking dogs that made my blood boil, however, I finally stopped, composed myself and gave them some red meat.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss who is on the guest list right now but a press release will be announced shortly. That’s not my department and that’s all I have to say. Thank you.”
Apparently, when someone is courteous enough to acknowledge their existence, the paparazzi tend to ignore what you actually say and instead take it as a signal to ask even more ridiculous questions.
“Will the governor be there? What about movie stars? Any movie stars? Are you expecting protesters? Have there been any threats?”
I glared in the direction of the person who asked the last question, but nobody owned up to asking it, so I unlocked the truck, climbed in, slammed the door and drove off.
I pulled into the garage and climbed out, feeling my thigh smart when my foot hit the concrete. How long had it been since I’d taken my last medication? I couldn’t remember—but it was evidently time again as I felt the pain building up.
Pepper was stretched out on the sofa watching TV. She gave me a perfunctory smile and then stared back at the show, some crime drama. Mind-numbing fodder for the masses.
“Don’t get up, sweetie. Do we have anything to eat?”
She clicked off the TV and sat up. “I’m sorry, honey. I thought you were going to call. I didn’t know when you’d be home so I ate the last veggie burger. Here, let me take a look in the fridge.” She gave me a hug and a kiss as she passed by.
I didn’t want to sound like a baby about it, but I was hungry. “Yeah, sorry. I was so busy, I forgot to call.”
“I tried your cell, but you must have been too busy to check your messages,” she said, matter-of-factly. She peered into the fridge and stood up, grimacing. “Eesh! It’s pretty bare in there. I didn’t make it to the store.”
“Busy day?” I asked, trying to keep the sarcasm I felt out of my voice.
“I had two classes today, and then I hung out with Mills and the baby for a while. You should come with me next time!”
I rummaged in the cupboard, looking for chips… cookies… anything. “Have they named that thing yet?”
“He’s not a thing,” Pepper protested. “Not yet, but they’ve got it narrowed down to three possibilities. Mills is doing great, by the way.”
“Glad to hear it,” I said. “I’m going to go over to Mom’s and see what she’s got to eat. Did that veggie burger satisfy you, or would you like me to scavenge something for you, too?”
A shocked expression lit Pepper’s face. “You can’t do that! She’s going to think I’m totally useless if you go over there and raid her fridge.” She grabbed the car keys from the counter. “I’ll run to the store. Or pick up some fast food, if you’d prefer.”
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I’m too hungry to wait for all that. I’ll just run next door. Don’t worry about Mom. If she asks, I’ll just tell her that you were too busy ogling the baby to pick up a few groceries.”
Pepper raced over and stood between me and the door. “Listen, Gabe, I’m really sorry I didn’t have a meal prepared for you. If you’d called and told me you wanted dinner, I would have run to the store and made something. I thought you were working late and would grab a bite on the way home, but I didn’t know because you didn’t call me.” Her voice was becoming harsher and more confrontational as she continued. “So please don’t try to make me feel guilty about spending time with my sister! This is a special time for her and I want to enjoy it with her.”
“Fine,” I said. “It’s no problem. Now let me go next door, please.”
“Wow, what’s wrong with you lately? Is work really that bad? God, if it is, just quit. You know we don’t need the money. I don’t know why you work anyway.”
“Because that’s what people do. They work to feed their family. To pay their bills—only you wouldn’t know much about that.” I walked toward the door. I was finished with this conversation and my stomach growled again.
“Oh hell, no! You don’t get to walk away!” Pepper replied, her voice cracking. “Gabe! You don’t even pick up the phone to talk to me, now you’re insulting me because I’ve never had to work? Well, you don’t have to work either and if a job stressed me out that much, I’d quit!”
Pepper paused and I turned back to the door and twisted the handle.
“You know what, Gabe? I get it, it’s the whole baby thing, isn’t it?? When I saw the way you looked at him, I thought you’d felt like I did—that having a child would be such a special thing for us. You know a family of our own. And I’d understand if you felt nervous about the whole thing, but you don’t have to come in here acting like a dick about it! And if you thought about it rationally, you’d realize how much it would change our lives!”
“Pepper! I’ve had enough changes for the time being!” I shouted. “My whole life has changed! I don’t know what I’m doing anymore! When I lived alone, at least I knew there’d be food in the house. My work has suffered and I’m afraid people are going to lose faith in my ability to do my job! And the last thing I need is more responsibilities!”
“Fine,” Pepper snapped, stepping away from the door. She grabbed the keys to the Escalade. “Go and run to your mother! Maybe she’ll feed you and you can tell her all your problems. I’ll bring your car back tomorrow.”
Chapter Four — Pepper
I couldn’t believe I was leaving Gabe, but then I couldn’t believe the things he’d said to me either! A part of me knew that this was absolutely the worst way to handle the situation, but I was hurt and something propelled me to take this course of action anyway. Pride? Definitely. Immaturity? Undeniably—but if everyone were sensible, there would never be any conflicts, right? All it takes is a glance at the front page of any newspaper to see that this isn’t the case. At least I knew I wasn’t alone.
I really wished I was better at controlling my emotions, but at the same time there was something very satisfying about giving in to temptation and indulging my temper. I knew it was childish—like a little devil in my head whispering, ‘You’ll show that bastard! He’ll be sorry he talked to you like that and he’ll come crawling back after you, begging for your forgiveness.’
I hoped so, or at least I hoped he’d attempt to patch things up, even i
f he didn’t wear out the knees of his jeans to do so. It must be true, what they say about familiarity breeding contempt. When I first moved in with Gabe, it was wonderful being together all the time, just like we were husband and wife—but apparently I’d overstayed my welcome.
It was getting dark earlier now, and I wished I’d grabbed a jacket. I turned on the heat in the SUV and waves of warmth spread over me. It felt good.
As I drove around, warming up, I realized I didn’t know where I was going. I had no direction or purpose other than to get away from Gabe. But I had to go somewhere and before I knew it, I was heading toward home… my ‘real’ home.
Not long ago, I felt so independent. I was full of myself and optimistic about my future with Gabe. I’d lectured my father, the person who probably loved me more than anyone else, telling him he needed to reevaluate his role in our relationship—at least as far as sharing responsibility for all of the pain Evangeline had inflicted on me throughout my life. That must have hurt him, even if it was something that needed to be said.
And now, here I come slinking back, craving the comfort of my old room. Yes, the cold, cruel world hadn’t hesitated one second in bitch-slapping me off my pedestal. That must be why they called it the school of hard knocks. Well, even great armies have to retreat and regroup sometimes. It was time to lick my wounds and come up with a new strategy if I was going to survive this war between the sexes.
It must have been the paparazzi’s night off. There wasn’t a single photographer to be seen near the gate. As I punched in the security code, it felt like something was missing without the clamor of the tabloid press. “Hah! I guess I’m old news now,” I chuckled to myself, although if I were honest about it, I kind of missed it. Apparently, Pepper Anderson had settled down and wasn’t even interesting enough to stalk these days. And the firestorm that had erupted on TV and social media between me, Evangeline, and Mills had died down—which was a good thing. We were getting awfully close to the White Trash Zone with our very public, dysfunctional free-for-all. It was a wonder someone hadn’t stepped up and offered us a contract for our own reality show!
Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set Page 45