by Sean Black
“That’s great,” said Sofia.
“And now you have even more good news for me,” said Candice. “You know, I’ve never been much of a Christian, but maybe this is all just God’s plan.”
“I hope so,” said Sofia. And she really did. More than anything she wanted Veronica to be the turning point that would not only save Daniel’s life but give him one as well. After all, if God did move in mysterious ways, it didn’t get much more mysterious than this.
“So who’s the father? It wasn’t one of the baseball guys, was it? Because that’s going to be an awkward conversation.”
“No,” said Sofia. “It wasn’t. Although it was a sportsman, so the genes are all good,” she told Candice, trying to sound chipper and immediately regretting it.
“Wes? I knew it!”
Sofia nodded. “And you were right.”
“He was such a considerate lover. Spent a lot of time down south. If you know what I mean.”
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
“So sensual, as well,” Candice went on, a misty, faraway look in her eyes. “Kind of surprising for a ball player. Usually those guys just like to get hold of you and slam away, like they’re in the weights room or something”
Sofia guessed if Candice could remember this kind of detail Wes had had something going for him. Maybe even at that stage he was in touch with his feminine side. Or maybe Sofia was just reading too much into it. In any case she wasn’t there to discuss Wes’s abilities as a lover. “So, I don’t know if you remember, or whether I mentioned it before, but I didn’t really know my father growing up. He walked out on my mom when my sister and I were little.”
“That’s men for you,” said Candice. “The good ones are either taken or gay.”
Sofia wasn’t sure that was true. There were lots of good men around but not, from what she had seen over the past few days, in Los Angeles. Tim, her step-father, was a good guy. Married. So was Ray, her brother-in-law. Then she thought about Gray, who would have made an ideal husband. Yeah, maybe Candice had a point.
“Anyway,” said Sofia, trying not to get blown off course, “I guess what I’m saying is that I may have some idea of how Daniel will feel when he finally discovers who his father is. That was why Brendan asked me to be the one to talk to you.”
Candice leaned over and patted her hand. “And I really appreciate it.”
That was the easy part done, Sofia guessed. Delivering the good news. At least Candice seemed to be delighted to hear that Daniel’s father was Wes Adams. Now came the trickier part. Telling Candice that Wes was no longer Wes, but Veronica, and maybe wouldn’t be able to give Daniel what he needed most.
“So,” Sofia began, “there’s a couple of other things you need to know. It’s not all good news.”
“He’s going to try to deny being Daniel’s father?”
“No. He’s actually been pretty helpful.” He wasn’t a he, but Sofia needed time to get to that. “And the DNA test is pretty conclusive.”
Now Candice was looking worried. “So what is it? What’s the bad news? If he doesn’t want be a donor, I’m sure once he meets Daniel, and sees what a great kid he is . . .”
This was excruciating. The longer Sofia dragged it out, the more upset Candice was going to be. “Wes isn’t Wes anymore. He’s Veronica.”
Candice’s face looked like Sofia and Aidan’s must have looked when they’d realized that the person they were talking to, Veronica, had been Wes Adams.
“What did you just say, honey?”
“Wes Adams realized that he’s really a woman. She’s called Veronica. It hasn’t hit the news yet, but it will.”
Candice rocked back in her chair. “Veronica?”
Sofia nodded.
“At least he picked a pretty name,” said Candice, still clearly shell-shocked.
Sofia had to admire her ability to spot the silver lining.
“So when did he decide he was a chick?” asked Candice.
“I don’t know. The first we knew of it was when we turned up at his place and there was Veronica. But I’m guessing these things are gradual. Or maybe he always knew, but people are only willing to accept something like this now, so he felt it was a good time to make the transition. Those are just guesses, though.”
Candice went quiet. She stared out of the window. Seconds passed. Then a minute. Sofia didn’t want to interrupt. It was probably just better if she let the news sink in.
“How am I going to explain this to Daniel?” Candice said finally. “You know, that his dad is actually another mom.”
Sofia had no idea. She’d had enough trouble finding the words to explain the situation to Candice, a grown woman. How to break this kind of news to a teenage boy who was dying was anyone’s guess. It probably called for someone who was a properly qualified counsellor, rather than someone who was still training as a private investigator.
“Perhaps the hospital has someone who could help. I’m sure if you asked they’d have a person on staff who can―”
“You said you had kind of a similar experience. I mean, not knowing your father and all.”
“Yeah, that’s true, but there’s a little bit more to this. I think it might be best if you spoke to someone who’s used to dealing with these kind of situations first.”
“There’s more?” Candice said. “More than Wes being Veronica?”
“It’s more a question of what that means, or doesn’t mean, for us being able to help Daniel.”
“Wes, I mean Veronica, won’t help Daniel with a transplant?”
There it was. The real question. Not whether Daniel’s father was Wes or Veronica, but whether this other parent would be prepared to provide part of themselves to save him.
“When we spoke to Veronica she indicated that because she’s still in the middle of transitioning she may not be able to be a donor,” said Sofia. “Brendan’s going to speak to her. That’s where he is now. But we shouldn’t get our hopes up just yet.”
At that point, Candice seemed to crumble. Her shoulders rounded, her chin dropped onto her chest and she slumped forward. She started to cry.
Sofia stood up and put an arm around her. She wasn’t sure what to say to make her feel better. Probably because she didn’t think there was anything she could say. Daniel was dying. He needed someone who was prepared to give up one of their kidneys to save his life. They’d thought his father might be that person. They had pinned all their hopes on it. But even though they’d done their job it looked like it wasn’t going to be enough.
CHAPTER 41
A idan glanced at his watch as they waited for Brendan outside Veronica Adams’s Hollywood Hills home. “He’s been in there for, like, two hours.”
“You sure he’s still inside?” Sofia asked.
“His car’s still here,” Aidan said, with a nod toward the Crown Vic parked outside the front door.
“What do you think they’re talking about?”
Aidan shrugged. “How should I know?” She could tell he was also feeling the disappointment of having done what they’d been asked to do and it not having made any difference to Daniel’s situation. He’d barely spoken half a dozen words since they’d left the hospital.
“We’ve done everything we could,” said Sofia.
“That’s what pisses me off. We’ve done everything we could, but it still doesn’t count for jack.”
“I know. It sucks.”
They lapsed back into silence.
Five minutes later there was still no sign of Brendan leaving the house. Sofia wondered if they should maybe call him. She was just about to ask Aidan what he thought when he said, “I’ve asked them to do the tests to see if I might be a match for Daniel.”
She turned to look at him. He was deadly serious.
“Blood type’s already good, which is pretty major. But there’s also the antigens to check, and a bunch of other stuff to assess my kidney function. Make sure we’re not just switching out one bum kidney for another
. Not that I’ve had any problems,” Aidan continued.
It was Sofia’s turn to be dumbfounded. She had known Aidan a long time. Underneath his slightly asshat-ish demeanor she’d always known he was a good guy, but this was a whole other level. Being prepared to give up a body part to help someone he hadn’t even known existed a month ago.
“Are you sure about this?” said Sofia.
“Yes.”
Sofia wasn’t convinced. “I mean, have you really thought it through?”
“What’s there to think about? If Daniel doesn’t get a kidney, he dies. I have two, but I can live fine with one.”
“Okay, but it’s still a major step. I mean, we have two for a reason. Even if we only need one it’s always handy to have a spare.”
“I can get by on one. So can Daniel,” said Aidan.
Sofia wasn’t sure what to say. Aidan was right. But it still seemed like a huge leap. Even if everything went okay afterwards, and Aidan could get by with one kidney, it was still major surgery. “I thought you didn’t like hospitals.”
“I don’t,” said Aidan. “I hate them.”
“Have you told your dad yet?”
“Nope. I only just decided.”
“When you were sitting with Daniel just now?”
“Yeah,” said Aidan.
Sofia was about to ask him again whether he thought this was a good idea when the front door of the house opened and Brendan appeared with Veronica. They were laughing and Veronica had her arm around Brendan’s shoulders. Brendan wasn’t a small guy, but Veronica towered over him.
Aidan got out of the car. Sofia followed. They walked over to Brendan and Veronica.
“Aidan, you have one great father here,” Veronica said.
“Thanks,” said Aidan.
“Back in the nineties there was a bunch of hate crimes against trans men and Brendan was the one who busted the assholes who were doing it,” Veronica told him.
“I didn’t know that.”
“So, Veronica, we’ll be in touch about you sitting down with Candice,” Brendan said.
“I look forward to it. And, Brendan?”
Brendan turned back toward her.
“Thanks for being so understanding.”
Veronica went inside and the door closed behind her. Brendan walked down the driveway to join Aidan and Sofia.
“That seemed to go well,” Sofia said to him.
“Yeah, we got on great. Fascinating character,” Brendan responded. “Takes a lot of guts to do something like that when you’re such a public figure. I kind of thought it might be a stunt at first but, nope, this has been a long time coming.”
More than most people, Sofia knew Brendan was right. The scrutiny of celebrities, even someone like a retired athlete, was more intense than it had ever been. Between the paparazzi and social media, most celebrities couldn’t do anything without the whole world first dissecting and then commenting on it. Even the most minor things, like a new outfit or haircut, never mind something as major as gender reassignment.
“So what did Veronica say about Daniel?” Aidan asked.
Brendan looked down at his shoes. “What she said before. That she doesn’t know if she’ll be a viable donor because of what she’s going through.”
“Perhaps someone else will come forward,” Sofia said, throwing a glance toward Aidan, hoping this might prompt him to tell his dad he’d decided to step forward as a donor.
“Look, we have to prepare ourselves for the worst,” said Brendan. “I mean, it’d be great if someone stepped up, but I’m not going to be holding my breath. Daniel’s very sick and he doesn’t have time on his side.”
“I don’t know,” said Sofia. “Stranger things have happened.”
“What’s going on with you two?” said Brendan. “You’re saying we shouldn’t lose hope, and you keep looking at Aidan, Sofia. If there’s something I should know then tell me.”
“Seeing as how Sofia’s going to blab to you about it anyway, I’m having the tests done to see if I can be Daniel’s donor.”
They both waited for Brendan’s reaction. Sofia didn’t know whether he’d think Aidan was foolish, over-emotional, stupid or a combination of all three. She was pretty sure he wasn’t going to take it well, which was why she thought Aidan needed to tell him sooner rather than later.
“Look,” said Brendan, “this has been tough on all of us. Let’s take at least a day to think about our next move. Aidan, if it’s what you want to do, I’m not going to argue with you. But make sure you’ve thought it through.” Brendan headed for his Crown Vic. “Go get some rest, both of you. I’m going to see Candice and Daniel. I’ll call you if there’s anything new.”
They watched him get into his car and drive off.
“Thanks a bunch,” said Aidan.
“You weren’t going to tell him?” said Sofia.
“Yeah, when the time was right.”
“And when would that be? The clock’s running.”
Aidan’s jaw tightened. Something was up.
“You’re not sure about doing this, are you?” Sofia said.
His jaw clenched a little tighter. “Don’t be ridiculous. I said I would, didn’t I?”
“Exactly. You said it, but you’re having second thoughts.”
“Hey, do me a favor, would you? Break the habit of a lifetime and mind your own business,” said Aidan, storming off to his car, getting in and slamming the door.
CHAPTER 42
Sofia closed the door on her egg-shell blue trailer in Nirvana Cove, threw her bag onto the sofa and slumped next to it. Her head was still spinning.
She had been braced for Veronica deciding not to be a potential donor. What she hadn’t foreseen was Aidan deciding to step in.
Worst of all, on the way back she had decided to Google the risks for kidney donors. She should have known by now that, when faced with any kind of medical crisis, the worst thing she could do was to Google it. For some reason, probably to do with people loving worst-case scenarios and therefore clicking on those links, the first page of Google always seemed to throw up the most alarming outcomes.
One in three thousand kidney donors would suffer post-operative problems. It was major surgery. And even if he got through the operation and being under general anesthetic, he was still going to be running on one kidney for the rest of his life. Which, again, was totally manageable. Most people were running around with one and a spare. But if that one kidney got into trouble, he didn’t have the back-up sitting there all ready to take over.
Normally Sofia would have left it to Aidan. After all he was a grown man, capable of making his own decisions. But he had already admitted he was having second thoughts.
The problem was that now he had told Brendan, because of Sofia’s pestering, he might not feel like he could back out. Sofia was facing perhaps one of the most powerful forces on earth: male pride. Men were capable of doing all kinds of stuff when they thought they might lose face by not doing whatever it was. If they would lose face in front of their fathers, forget it: Aidan would jump off a cliff if he thought Brendan expected him to.
Sofia dug out her cell phone and pulled up Aidan’s number. Her finger hovered over the green call icon. She put the phone next to her on the sofa. A call was a bad idea. Aidan would still be mad about her pressuring him to tell Brendan. Plus if Sofia was trying to get him to back out there was every chance he’d dig his heels in even harder. And, in any case, he’d said earlier that he was going to use any time off to catch up on his date with the woman he was seeing. No, Aidan was best left alone, at least for now.
That left Sofia with the problem of what to do with her time off. Part of why she liked working at Maloney Investigations was that it kept her busy. While she’d been busy as an actress―being on a hit kids’ TV show took care of that―she’d known there would come a time when she’d spend longer and longer between jobs. That was one of the other reasons she’d gotten out when the going was good. She didn’t want to
become a ‘resting’ actor, spending more and more time waiting for a call from her agent.
She liked being busy. She liked work. Which left her with a dilemma when her boss told her to stop working and relax.
She looked around her double-wide trailer. She supposed she could clean. She’d bought a new shower rail that needed to be fitted.
Or she could call over to Gray and ask if he wanted to go grab dinner later. Or maybe see if Tex was at a loose end.
Maybe not. They’d want to talk about Daniel, and Sofia wasn’t sure she could face talking about it. Not without bursting into tears. The same went for her mom and her sister.
She also didn’t want to stay home and drink wine. Or stay home and not drink, with just Fred the seagull for company.
* * *
SHE PULLED the Tesla into her usual space in the alley behind Jack’s Gym in Venice. She climbed out, grabbed the bag with her workout gear from the trunk, and headed inside.
The gym was busy, the split about half men and half women. Sofia had noticed more and more women working out at Jack’s since she’d started coming. At first it was kind of surprising, given that the men who used the place were either boxers, MMA fighters or serious about their physical conditioning. No spin classes or yoga mats. It was all heavy bags, weights, and the kind of equipment used for CrossFit (truck tires and heavy rope).
Sofia finally figured out that because the guys who frequented the gym were there to train rather than hit on chicks, the women who went there were comfortable. And if anyone made a pest of themselves, Luis was on hand for some gentle persuasion. Plus there was some serious male eye candy walking around the place.
Sofia selected a set of resistance bands, headed to a corner and began her warm-up. Once she was ready, she helped herself to some gloves and headed over to a heavy bag. She must have been throwing punches with extra ferocity because after a few minutes Luis appeared.
“Hey, you’re gonna break your hand throwing shots like that. You remember anything from what I taught you?”
“Sorry, Luis, rough week.”