Now Until Forever

by Karen White-Owens

  “Sounds good. Thank you.” Keir slipped into the chair across from the sea green sofa and watched his kids. “Go on, enjoy,” he told them.

  Ryan strolled into the kitchen, returning with two mugs of coffee and a small plate of rolls. She placed the treats on the end table between the two crème and jade green chairs, noting neither child had touched the food on the tray.

  The rhythmic rumble of the dishwasher filled the silence. The tension in the room felt uncomfortable, so Ryan decided to do something about it. Fixing a pleasant, welcoming smile on her face, she asked, “What have you guys been up to today?”

  Keir crossed the ankle of one foot over the knee of his other leg as he sipped his coffee. “We had breakfast at the farmer’s market and then picked up some fruits and vegetables before coming this way. There’s stuff for you in the car.” Keir produced his keys and tossed them to his son. “Adam, go out to the car and bring in that bag of food for Ryan.”

  The boy caught the keys in one hand and hurried from the house. Minutes later, he returned with a large brown paper bag. Ears of corn, a loaf of Italian bread, and carrots stuck out the top.

  Ryan rose from her chair and took the bag from Adam’s arms. “Thank you.” She took the food into the kitchen and stored it in the refrigerator.

  Upon reentering the living room, Ryan noted that the children sat as quiet as adults on the front pew in church on Sunday. This was so unlike children who played together. Concerned, Ryan glanced Keir’s way, with a question in her eyes. He hunched his shoulders.

  This felt so awkward. The kids didn’t want to be at her house, and they didn’t feel comfortable. Neither did Ryan. There had to be a way to break the ice and ease the tension in the room. At the very least, she wanted to get along; anything was better than this oppressive silence.

  Searching for something to say, Ryan decided to give them the gifts she and Keir had purchased while on vacation. “While we were in Hawaii, I picked up a couple of things for you guys. Let me go upstairs and get them. I’ll be right back,” she promised, heading for the stairs.

  The children were sitting exactly where she had left them when Ryan returned. Handing a colorfully wrapped box to each child, Ryan said, “I hope you like them.”

  Both children glanced at their father. Keir nodded approvingly. Adam tore the paper off the box.

  Adam’s face sprang to life the moment he opened his box. “Wow!” he exclaimed, removing an iPod nestled between white sheets of tissue. “This is awesome!”

  Ryan slipped around the coffee table and sat next to the boy, pointing a finger at the headsets and armband. “I was worried that you already had one. But your dad assured me that it was something you had been begging for.”

  Adam nodded and slid the iPod into the armband. “Yeah.”

  Smiling at the boy, Ryan tapped the side of the box. “You’re not done. There’s something else in there.”

  “Oh, man!” Adam withdrew decks of baseball, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Superman trading cards from the recesses of the box. He tore the cellophane wrappers from the cards and quickly shuffled through the decks. Grinning, he turned to Ryan and asked, “How did you know I wanted these?”

  “I guessed. But it looks like they’re a hit with you. I’m glad you like them,” Ryan answered, touching his arm.

  “Adam,” said Keir. Keir’s stern tone and the slight lift of his eyebrows achieved the proper response.

  Shamefaced, Adam muttered, “Sorry. Thank you.”

  Keir nodded.

  Ryan hugged him. “You’re welcome.”

  Emily sat with her box on her lap. She made no move to open it. This little girl was a hard sell, and Ryan understood her loyalties to her mother. All Ryan wanted was a little place in Keir’s daughter’s life. “Honey, why don’t you open your gift? I’m sure you’ll love it,” said Ryan.

  Responding to the prompt, Emily tore the box open. She lifted the first item from the box and glanced at it. The Bratz doll was dressed in a sparkling outfit with rhinestones. Unlike Adam, Emily didn’t express any surprise or delight at what she found in the box. Keir rose from his chair and put his empty mug on the table before sitting beside his daughter. Smiling at his daughter, he asked, “What do you think?”

  Grinning at her dad, Emily answered, “Pretty.”

  “We hoped you might like her,” said Keir. “But go back to the box. There are some other things in there.”

  Emily dug inside the box and brought out several outfits for the doll.

  For the next few minutes, the kids played with their gifts as Keir talked softly with Ryan. “How about dinner tonight?” he asked.

  “You’ll have the kids, won’t you?”

  He nodded.

  Ryan glanced at the sofa, where Adam and Emily played contentedly, and shook her head. “I think they’ve had enough of me for one day.”

  He tapped her leg with the back of his hand. “Come on.”

  “No. I’m serious. You’ve been away for eleven days. They need your undivided attention for a little while. Give it to them. Devote some time to your kids. Besides, I don’t want to be in their faces every time they come to visit you. They come to spend time with you, not me.”

  “You’re part of my life,” he reminded, taking her hand.

  “Yes, I am. But”—she removed her hand from his—“they were here long before I came in the picture. And if I disappeared tomorrow, they’d still be here, needing your time and guidance. We’ll all do things together, but not yet and not all the time. They need to get to know me gradually, and hopefully, they’ll grow to like me. It’s not fair to them to shove me down their throats every time they are with you.”

  Keir grimaced. “I hate it when you’re right.”

  “I know you do.”

  “But you’ve made a good point.”

  “Thanks for listening.” Ryan tilted her head toward the sofa. “Go spend the rest of the day with your family. I’ll talk to you later, and we’ll see each other on Wednesday.”

  He fished the keys from his pocket, saying, “Maybe I’ll take them to the beach. They’ll like that.”

  “That’s a plan. It sounds good.”

  Ryan rose.

  “Emily, Adam. It’s time for us to go,” Keir said as he turned to Ryan and took her hand. “Thank you for having us over.”

  “You’re always welcome.” Ryan accompanied the Southhalls to the door and waited as the kids raced down the stairs and hurried to the SUV. Leaning close, Keir kissed her lips softly. “I’ll talk to you after they go to bed tonight.”

  “That works for me.” She stood in the entrance, watching Keir back out of the driveway and steer the SUV down the street, before shutting the door and returning to the living room to gather the dishes. She sank into the soft folds of a sofa cushion and then shot off the sofa. “Ow!” Something hard and sharp had jabbed into her butt. Ryan separated the cushions and found the Bratz doll jammed between them. Emily must have forgotten her doll, Ryan reasoned. No, she didn’t. The girl had deliberately left the gift. At closer inspection, Ryan found Emily’s gift box stuffed under the sofa.

  Ryan sighed sorrowfully. She felt so helpless against Emily’s stubbornness.

  She tossed the doll back in the box and picked up the tray of food, making her way across the living room to the kitchen. Ryan placed the tray on the counter and opened the dishwasher and began to empty it. She knew Keir’s daughter wouldn’t be easy to get close to. Ryan had hoped the gift would help her cause. It was beginning to look as if she might have a tremendous battle of wills on her hands with the five-year-old.

  What to do? What to do? This wasn’t a situation that she could talk to Keir about. He would be concerned for Ryan’s feelings and upset by Emily’s duplicity. After punishing her, Keir would demand that the child apologize. Complying wouldn’t make their lives easier. It would add more fuel to an already burning fire.

  She’d keep the doll and stay quiet about it. There might be a time in the future where the situ
ation would change and they could become friends. But today wasn’t that day.

  Returning to the living room, Ryan took the toy upstairs. She placed the box in her mother’s room and then shut the door after herself. When Emily wanted her Bratz doll, it would be here waiting for her.

  Chapter 16

  Like one of those nonstop action flicks, Ryan’s first day back to work was hectic and busy from the minute she drove onto One Leaf Studio grounds. Although the director ran her ragged, it felt good to be back to work.

  Around six in the evening, Ryan escaped the crowded set and returned to the cubbyhole known as her office to take a breather. Sighing contentedly, she sank into the chair at her desk and gave the floor a tiny kick with her sneaker-covered foot, sending the chair into a slow spin. She stretched her arms wide, and finger combed the hair at the back of her head. As Ryan righted the chair, the phone rang. She reached for it and recited in a singsong voice, “Set department. Ryan Mitchell speaking.”

  Without any greeting or preamble, Ryan’s older sister asked, “Where have you been for the past two weeks?”

  Grimacing, Ryan scrunched up her face and stomped her feet. Why hadn’t she stayed on the set? “Hello to you, too, Helen.”

  “Your brother and I have been worried. You haven’t answered your phone in days,” Helen said.

  Ryan rolled her eyes. Guilt, the mother of all emotions. Her sister used it like an assault weapon. She cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear as she continued to finger comb the hair at her nape. “I went out of town.”

  “Really? By yourself?”

  Ryan giggled softly. Her older sister didn’t have a subtle bone in her body. When it involved her family, words like “privacy” didn’t register in Helen’s vocabulary. As the senior member of the Clemons family, Helen felt she had earned the right to question her siblings on any topic that popped into her head. She acted like those grandma types who used their age as an explanation to say and do things that would normally be taboo.

  “How have you been?” Ryan switched the subject. “How are your kids and Larry?”

  “They’re good. Andre and Gee are involved in summer programs. Gee’s working on her game. She wants to apply for a softball scholarship. Andre’s taking some science courses this summer so he can get into advanced placement courses in the fall. And my dear husband is working 24/7 so that he can make partner.”

  “Everyone in your house is busy. What about you?”

  “I’m fine. Although there are only five weeks left before I have to be back to work.”

  Stalling, Ryan rocked back and forth in her chair, muttering, “Ahh, the life of a teacher. You guys have it so good.”

  “Look who’s talking, Ms. ‘my job has been closed down for almost two weeks.’ You deal with a class of thirty-five seventh graders for nine months out of the year and see how you fare. Believe me, it gets old really quick. Hormones to the left and hormones to the right. They want to be adults one minute and break down in tears like babies the next. Deal with that on a daily basis and see if you don’t pull your hair out by the roots.”

  “No thanks,” Ryan answered firmly. “I’ve got big kids to deal with. I’ll trade you fifteen seventh graders for one temperamental television star any day.”

  “I’ll take my kids.”

  Smiling, Ryan responded, “That’s what I thought you’d say.”

  Ryan shook her head. An eighteen-year veteran of the public school system, Helen knew how to work people and get the information she wanted. One thing about her sister, she didn’t let anyone or anything deter her from her course of action once she decided on it.

  “So, what’s going on Ryan?” Helen asked. The seriousness and concern in her sister’s voice touched Ryan’s heart because she knew her family cared about her well-being.

  Before she fully realized it, Ryan admitted, “I went to Hawaii.”

  “Hawaii! Wow! You should have told me. Maybe I could have scraped up the money and gone with you, shared a room, and got to see the sights.”

  Smiling seductively, Ryan thought, I had a roommate, and we definitely saw the sights. Some of the best from the inside of the bedroom. I love you, but I don’t think I’d trade him for you.

  “What about your husband? What would you have done with him and the kids?” Ryan asked.

  “Sold them as a package deal for a dollar.”

  “Very funny.” Ryan laughed, knowing full well Helen absolutely adored her husband, Larry, and her children.

  Helen continued to prattle on. “Did you guys shoot on location? Is that why you were on the island? Was there any downtime to explore? Wow! It sounds so wonderful.”

  For a moment Ryan debated letting her sister believe that she’d gone on the trip for work. But the honest part of her refused to keep lies between them. “Actually, no. I didn’t go for One Leaf.”

  A long pause followed, filled with a valley of unasked questions. Ryan waited, knowing an explosion or interrogation was next.

  “Who did you go with?” asked Helen.

  That’s my sister, Ryan thought, admiring how calm and focused her older sibling stayed, although she knew Helen wanted to demand answers to very different questions.

  Ready to explain, Ryan opened her mouth to tell her. The door burst open, and Glo strolled into the room, with her cell phone attached to her ear. The sounds of the studio followed Glo into the room as the scent of Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door wafted through the air. She gingerly stepped around Ryan, heading to her own desk.

  Saved by the boss, Ryan thought as she eyed her boss. “Helen, I’ve got to go. We’ll talk later. Bye.”

  Sighing with relief, Ryan dropped the phone in the cradle, knowing perfectly well she’d only succeeded in postponing the inquisition. Ryan opened a desk drawer and removed a navy velvet jewelry box. Silently, she waited for Glo to complete her telephone call. After a moment, the set director snapped her phone closed and slipped it into the slot on her belt. Ryan rose and moved across the tight space, dodging props along the way, and waited next to Glo’s desk.

  “Hey,” said Ryan.

  “What?” Glo asked.

  Ryan passed the box to her boss. “I got this while we were on Maui. It reminded me of you, and I couldn’t leave it. I hope you like it.”

  Glo stared at the box but didn’t reach for it. “Why?”

  “I appreciate everything you did for me before the trip. You got me a few extra days.”

  Glo pushed the box back into Ryan’s hands. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Really. Please take it. It’s a peace offering. A sort of new beginning for us after the problems we’ve shared.”

  Shaking her head, Glo rose from her chair. “Look—”

  “Wait.” Ryan opened the box, displaying the bracelet. Egyptian hieroglyphs adorned the ring of gold. An inscription lined the interior of the bracelet.

  Glo gazed at the item. An indescribable expression molded her face.

  Ryan didn’t know what to make of it. She pushed the box at Glo for a second time. “I know I broke the trust between us when I started seeing Keir, but when you helped me work out my schedule, it made me think that you’d forgiven me, and we could start working like colleagues again.”

  Glo opened her mouth to say something, but a familiar and very welcomed voice interrupted her before the first word left her lips.

  “Hi, ladies.” Hands in his pockets and casually dressed, Keir strolled into the room.

  All the noise from the studio dimmed. Surprised to find Keir in her work area, Ryan said, “Hi. You done for the day?”

  “Almost. I thought I’d check to see who was still here before heading out for the evening,” replied Keir.

  “Oh,” Ryan muttered.

  Without saying another word, he examined Ryan’s face before turning to Glo. “What’s going on?” he finally asked.

  “I just gave Glo the gift we found on Maui,” said Ryan. “We were talking about how much I appreciated her helping us so
rt out the vacation mess.”

  Keir nodded, stroking Ryan’s bare arm. As usual the sensation sent her heart into a gallop. “We both want you to have this,” Keir told Glo. “Believe me, Ryan refused to leave the island until she found the perfect present for you. I had aching feet to prove it.”

  Ryan grinned at Keir. “Don’t believe him. He loves shopping more than I do. Keir, Glo’s giving me a hard time about it. She keeps insisting she doesn’t need this. I disagree. What do you think?”

  Keir removed the box from Ryan’s hand and held it out to Glo. “Please take it. We both want you to have it.”

  Glo started to protest, but Keir instantly cut off her stream of words. “I won’t take no for an answer. I insist,” he said.

  The two women stared at each other. After a moment, Glo smiled and took the gift. “Well, if you insist. What can I say? Thank you.”

  “Nothing,” Keir teased. “Take your present gracefully.”

  The tone of Keir’s voice made Ryan flinch. She put a hand on his arm, needing physical contact to dispel the feeling of unease coursing through her. For a second, Ryan sensed animosity, anger, even dislike, flowing between the two studio veterans. Before she could label it, the sensation was gone, and everyone had their happy faces on.

  “Ryan, it was sweet of you. You didn’t have to do it,” said Glo.

  “I wanted to,” Ryan answered.

  Taking the piece of jewelry from the box, Glo unsnapped the clasp and wrapped the item around her wrist. She admired the bracelet for a beat before saying, “It looks as if you guys put a lot of energy into finding something for me. I can’t let all that hard work go for nothing.” Smiling at Ryan and then Keir, Glo added, “Thank you. It was sweet of you to think of me while you were on vacation.”

  Ryan took a step closer to the older woman and said, “No. Thank you for letting old wounds heal. I promise, you won’t regret it.”

  Chapter 17

  Saturday loomed in the near future like a bright beacon after a week filled with a hard and fast shooting schedule. Tired and ready to escape the demands of her job for the day, Ryan was strolling across the set on her way to her office when she halted near camera three, giving full attention to the man holding court. She remained in the shadows, listening to the director drone on. Surrounded by the crew and actors, Josef Brennen was describing his philosophy, directing style, and vision for the next scene.