by Peggy Bird
She was tired. It was all too complicated for her to think about any more. She turned out the lights, headed upstairs, and collapsed into bed, not even bothering to floss.
• • •
Two nights after the dinner with her father, Leo and Shannon split their weekend together between Vancouver and Portland. The Vancouver half was dinner at her house with Powell and her latest hunky guy on Saturday night. The Portland piece was a Sunday brunch with some of Leo’s family at his sister’s house.
Dinner with Powell was nothing but laughter and stories as Powell flirted outrageously with both her date and Leo and told embarrassing stories about her friend. There was the time Shannon called the governor of Washington by his predecessor’s name—a predecessor who happened to be his worst political enemy. And the time she scheduled a public meeting to discuss cultural sensitivity on the holiest day in the Muslim calendar. She was about to launch into another one when Shannon cut her off by bringing out dessert.
Brunch with Leo’s family was equally delightful. His sister Olivia Wilson lived in Sellwood, south of Portland, with her wife, Tanya Jefferson. They had been together as a couple for a decade but had only been able to marry recently when Washington State passed the marriage equality law. They had two daughters, Chloe and Alyssa. Leo told her on the way there how each of the women had carried and given birth to one daughter. The two women and their daughters were the most beautiful family Shannon could remember. Olivia had contributed the Wilson family’s startling blue eyes to one daughter; Tanya had passed on her brown eyes to the other. But the best part was the caramel and latte skin color of the two little girls, mid-way between Olivia’s Caucasian skin and Tanya’s African-American color.
In addition to the Wilson-Jefferson family, one of the Wilson brothers was there with his son and daughter for a short visit before he went to the airport to pick up his wife, who was returning from a trip to see an ailing parent. Leo’s mother and father, who insisted she call them Bill and Kate, made up the rest of the brunch party. They were obviously doting grandparents and spent most of the time before brunch visiting with the children.
As they ate eggs Benedict and fresh fruit and drank perfectly brewed coffee, the elder Wilsons asked Shannon some of the same things Louise had asked her on Wednesday, and she found herself repeating her “story.”
Then Olivia asked her to tell them what her brother was up to. At the time she asked, Leo was playing with Shannon’s knee under the table, so the question had several layers of meaning.
Shannon choked on her glass of juice and saw Leo smirk before he patted her on the back.
When she had the coughing under control, she said, “You mean his art installation?”
“Of course, what did you think I meant?” It was obvious Olivia knew exactly what Shannon was thinking.
“I can’t believe he hasn’t been bragging about landing the biggest art grant ever awarded by the Community Foundation,” Shannon said. “It’ll be a glass art installation like no one has ever seen in the region. Well, except for the big Chihuly exhibit at the art museum a bunch of years back.”
“We knew he’d gotten the grant. I think the whole city heard him yelp when he got the news. But he’s never told us exactly what he’ll be doing.” His sister was grinning at Leo from the head of the table. “Why do you think we encouraged him to bring you to brunch? It was the only way we could figure out how to pry the information out of him.”
“As always, my sweet sister, you exaggerate,” Leo said. “But if you want to hear what I’ll be doing, I’d be—”
“Nope,” Olivia said. “I want an unbiased observer’s opinion on what you’re doing. You are unbiased, aren’t you, Shannon?”
“Are you, Shannon?” Leo asked, his mouth working hard to keep from smiling.
“Well, I guess I can put on my city employee hat and make a few observations.”
“Wait,” Leo said. “Is this the hat you wore when I first asked you to help me get the permits I needed, or is it the hat you wore after I walked you through the Reserve and wowed you with what I had in mind?”
“There’s a story here, isn’t there? Did she thwart your plans, baby brother? Did the famous Leo Wilson charm fail at first?”
“Olivia, let Shannon get a word in here,” Leo’s mother said, although she was laughing as she said it.
Shannon eventually gave a brief description of what Leo planned and everyone stopped laughing long enough to congratulate him on his project and to promise they’d be at the event and take photos.
On the ride home, Shannon thought about the two meals she’d had with their respective families. Her dinner with her distant and emotionally disengaged father was as far removed from brunch with Leo’s family as possible. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been with a family so close-knit, so warm, so welcoming. It was everything she’d always wanted in a family and had never had.
Having met his family, she understood exactly why Leo was the way he was. Did her family, if you could call it that, explain who she was in the same way? It worried her. And didn’t Leo deserve someone who had a normal family and who could give him the care and attention he had obviously had all his life? The kind of care and attention he knew how to give? The kind she could only dream about?
The difference between their lives wasn’t defined by what they did or how much money they earned, despite what her father had suggested. It was explained by where they had come from, how they were raised, and who they were because of their families.
Leo deserved someone who could give that back to him. And Shannon wasn’t sure she was that person.
Chapter Sixteen
The countdown for the Fourth of July had begun. Shannon was now officially up to her ears in alligators. Days were long and sleep was minimal.
Local weather forecasters were consulted with as much reverence as the Oracle at Delphi. Grounds maintenance crews worked to groom the grass on the parade grounds to perfection, even though the thousands of visitors on the Fourth would undo all their efforts by the end of the day. Vendors and musical acts were confirmed and reconfirmed. The million and a half questions about when to arrive, where to set up, or how much space there was in which to set up were answered once, twice, sometimes three times.
As hard as Shannon tried to keep her personal life from bleeding into her work life, it wasn’t possible. There was Leo, the best of the incursions, who was now as nervous as an expectant father, which in a way he was, awaiting the birth of his artistic baby. And then there was Jeremy who kept sending her little presents at work, like balloon bouquets and cards. She’d also begun to get calls at home with hang-ups as soon as she answered, which she suspected were also from him, although the number was blocked on caller ID. Hard as she tried to ignore it, she was still aware of his presence in Vancouver and his apparent determination to insinuate himself back into her life.
Last, but not least, there was her father. He’d called several times, to say hello, he insisted. Then late one evening when she had straggled home after a twelve-hour day, there he was, sitting on her porch swing. This time, he was alone, not with Louise to act as buffer.
“Daddy, what are you doing here? You should have called. I’ve had a helluva day, and I’m not really up for company.”
“You shouldn’t swear, sweetheart. Men don’t like women who sound like sailors.” He leaned in and pecked her cheek.
“Helluva hardly qualifies as sailor-like swearing. Now if I’d said it had been a fucking hard day, that might make the grade.” She unlocked the front door, hoping her use of the f word would make him leave.
It didn’t.
“I have to assume you learned such language from your mother. You certainly never got it from me.”
She came close to saying “No, I couldn’t have gotten it from you. You were never there.” But she refrained. Standing in the doorway to her home, she merely said, “What is it you want? I really need to get to bed. I have another long and difficult day tomorrow.
”
“Can’t I come in? Maybe have drink? I came here hoping to give you good news.”
Reluctantly, she moved out of the doorway and let him in. “I’m too tired to be social. Tell me what you want and then, please, let me get some sleep.” She closed the door behind him.
“Well, Louise and I … ”
A loud knock on the door interrupted him.
Shannon hurried to answer it, hoping it was Leo who’d been dropping off supplies for his installation almost every evening.
Instead, when she opened the door she found Jeremy standing there, a determined look on his face.
“Great. Just what I need. Jeremy. What do you want? I’m tired and not up to this tonight.”
“One more chance, Shannon. What I want is one more chance. Dinner together. That’s it. If you still feel the same way after dinner … ”
“I’m too busy right now.” But before she could say she really didn’t think one more dinner would make a difference anyway, her father came up beside her and welcomed Jeremy with open arms. Literally—he hugged Jeremy.
“Good to see you, my boy. Come on in. You’ll be interested in what I was about to tell Shannon.” Over his daughter’s objections, he waved Jeremy into the living room and closed the door.
“Now I can tell both of you the good news. We’ve been able to reschedule the wedding for the last week in July so everyone we want in attendance can be there. I assume you’ve asked your boss about time off, Shannon.”
“Not yet. I wanted to make sure it was on before I asked.”
“It’s on. And you can get time off from work can’t you, Jeremy?”
“I’m completely at your disposal, Marty. My work won’t stand in the way,” Jeremy said.
Shannon glared at her father. “What do you mean, can Jeremy get off from work? Why would his work schedule matter?”
“I want him to travel with you. I don’t like the idea of your being alone. He’ll be good company.”
“I don’t need company on a two hour flight to Las Vegas.”
“But it’s always nice to have a companion and if you drive … ”
“That’s enough, Daddy. I’m not a child. And you.” She turned to Jeremy. “Did your old firm really welcome you back with open arms when you disappeared for over a year with no notice? Or was it only me you didn’t let in on your plans?”
Jeremy shrugged his shoulders in what seemed to be an attempt to brush off her question. But she continued to stare at him, eyes narrowed and lips thinned.
“Okay,” he admitted, “we haven’t exactly come to terms yet on things like title and salary and when I start, but we’re in negotiations and I’ll make sure I’m free to travel at the end of July.”
“And I want him there to be with you,” her father repeated.
“This is insane. Why does it matter so much to you? Jeremy has never been important to you before. I’ve never been this important to you before.”
“You’re wrong. You’ve always mattered. And it was important to your grandfather that you be at my wedding.”
“Granddad’s not here. And he knew how hurt I was about you not being part of my life.”
“Which is why he wanted you at the wedding. And I want you to be safe, which is why I want Jeremy to make sure you get there. For your safety, I mean.”
“You’re not listening to me. I’m not interested in spending time with Jeremy. I’m seeing Leo. And, you … ” She poked her ex-boyfriend. “Why would you want to be someplace you’re not wanted? At least by me.”
Jeremy ignored both her poking and most of her questions, responding only to the last one. “It matters to your father, Shannon, so it matters to me. The marriage is the most important thing I can think of right now. And it’s the perfect way for us to be together. I wasn’t sure I’d get a chance like this but since I have, I’m not turning it down.”
“Good man,” Marty said. “I knew I recognized you as someone who’d acknowledge when he made a mistake and own up to it. Makes you a better man. One I’d be happy having in my family. We’ll get this time off issue settled so the four of us can have a wonderful time in Las Vegas with my daughter back in my life again.”
• • •
Leo could barely remember the drive from his studio to Vancouver, so intent was he on mentally going over, yet again, his plans for the days before the Fourth. The days during which the most important installation of his life would take shape. Days starting soon. He regretted having to give up time alone with Shannon, but she understood how important this was for him.
He’d rounded up a crew of four people—Amanda and Giles, Frank, and another buddy from Firehouse Glass—in addition to himself and Shannon. The six of them would assemble and hang the fireworks over a three-day period, staging it so the most inaccessible, and therefore safest from vandalism, pieces would go up first. The last pieces would be the entrance gazebos—they’d go up the morning of the Fourth so no one would have the chance to use them for batting practice. The flower baskets would be removed and placed on the ground so the glass could be seen.
In the back of his truck he had the signs he wanted affixed to the gazebos and the information booth he’d be staffing. They explained the installation and a bit about glass blowing. His librarian sister had done the copy and Amanda had paid for the signs to be made, her gift to him for his big break. As if fronting the money for some of his supplies hadn’t been gift enough. At least he’d been able to pay back the initial loan when he got the first check from the foundation.
He’d been slowly moving all the things he needed for putting up the fireworks to Shannon’s house. He wasn’t sure what he would have done without her, either.
Without her. God, he couldn’t imagine his life anymore without Shannon. She’d become as important to him as his work, something he’d never felt about any woman. And he was beginning to believe she felt the same. Maybe once this was over, he’d tell her how he felt and he’d know for sure.
He pulled into the parking area behind her home and went round to the front of the house. As he walked up the path to the door, he heard voices inside. Male voices. Two different men’s voices. Whose?
Quietly he went up onto the porch and peeked in the front window. Oh, shit, Jeremy and an older man who looked a bit like Shannon—her father. It had to be. He started to barge in, to be Lancelot for his Guinevere, when the conversation he heard stopped him.
He heard Jeremy say, “This marriage is the most important thing I can think of right now, the perfect way for us to be together. I wasn’t sure I’d get a chance like this but since I have, I’m not turning it down.”
What the fuck? Jeremy was talking about Shannon and a wedding?
When her father spoke, it got worse. “Good man,” he said. “I knew I recognized you as someone who’d acknowledge when he made a mistake and own up to it. Makes you a better man. One I’ll be happy having in my family. We’ll get this time off issue settled so the four of us can have a wonderful time in Las Vegas with my daughter back in my life again.”
Without waiting to hear any more, Leo went back down the steps and around to his truck. Shannon and Jeremy in Las Vegas? A wedding? What the fuck? He knew she wanted her father back in her life. Knew she’d put up with a lot of shit so she could try to win him over but how far was too far to get someone to pay attention to you? Was she going to spend the weekend in Las Vegas with Jeremy, a man she said she wanted out of her life? Could he have been so wrong about her?
He remembered as little of the drive back to his house as he did the drive to Shannon’s. But this time what distracted him wasn’t his work.
• • •
“Wait one damn minute, Daddy.” Shannon couldn’t ever remember being so angry in her whole life. “One, I’m not sure I can get time off to go to Las Vegas. Two, even if I can, I won’t go if the price is that I have to travel with Jeremy. Three, if this is what it means to have you in my life, I have spent years trying to get something I now re
alize isn’t worth the trouble.”
“Don’t talk to me like that, young lady. I’m your father.”
“You’re the man who contributed half my DNA. You’re not now nor have you ever been a father to me. I don’t need you to start bossing me around now when you’ve never wanted to be part of my life on a regular basis.” She was clenching and unclenching her fists as she spoke, horrified to realize some part of her brain was urging her to break free and use them. “Leo was right. I’ve done fine by myself. I don’t need you to make me whole or happy.”
“I do not want to hear his name. He’s not good enough for you.”
She yelled as loud as she could, “Leo. Leo. Leo. Leo. Leo.”
Jeremy grabbed her arm. “Now you’re acting crazy, Shannon. Stop it right now.”
She shook off Jeremy’s hand and pointed to the door like a ham actor in a bad play. “Get out. Both of you. Jeremy, if you set one foot on my porch or send one more lame gift to city hall or text me or call me at work or at home and hang up, I’m taking out a restraining order against you. And Dad, please tell Louise I appreciate how hard she’s worked to bring everyone together, but I simply won’t be manipulated anymore. I can’t be in Las Vegas for your wedding.”
“Don’t make such a hasty decision, sweetheart.” Her father was beginning to sound almost desperate. “Sleep on it. If you don’t want Jeremy with you, come alone. But I really want you there. I won’t say anything to Louise until you have a chance to think it over.”
“I don’t need to think it over.” Shannon marched to the front door and flung it open. “You have my answer. Now, both of you please leave. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow and I’m exhausted.”