“Michael, it’s possibly the best and most beautiful thing anyone has ever given me,” she said, wiping away the tears.
“What is it?” Zelda asked reaching for the box. Her face contorted at the contents. “It’s a pen. I thought it was a bracelet of diamonds or something.”
“You get me,” she said to him.
“I get you, Persephone, but I want to, I mean, I need to have a conversation with you after dinner,” he said.
“No need. I understand. You don’t have to try and let me down easy. It’s fine. I needed some dick, you had one and shared it with me. We both enjoyed ourselves, and I get it,” she said.
“Sweetheart, no you don’t,” he said, taking her by her hand. “Going to bed holding you was wonderful. Waking up and sharing my fears, thoughts, and issues with you was even better. However...”
Looking at his sister he asked Zelda, “Sis, can you give us a moment alone?’
“No. If you are about to break my friend’s heart, I am going to be here for her,” she said.
“I am not about to break her heart. However,” he paused, looking at back at Pip. “I was about to say that I don’t want it to seem as if I am taking advantage of the situation with you being here in the house. Last night shouldn’t have happened, but it did and I don’t regret it, but I don’t want to take you being here for granted or use it for my convenience. That is not who I am.”
“How are you still single?” Pip asked him.
“Easy. Most women don’t want what I want and can’t give me what I need,” he said.
Pip stared into his eyes, “Tell me what it is you need, Michael?”
He started to scratch the side of his face. His cheeks warmed under her scrutiny as he pulled at his hair. Zelda had never seen this side of her brother and found the dynamics between him and Pip to be an interesting contrast.
“Persephone, I don’t watch sports, party, or drink. At the end of my day, I want a good meal with family, and usually, I end my day reading in my room before going to bed. I don’t want a houseful of kids because I really want to travel more. I prefer a good conversation about a well-written novel versus political talk. The concept of having a social media page other than Linked-in is foreign to me. My focus in life is not on how many likes I can get for a picture of my dinner or any of that nonsense,” he told her.
“What are you reading?”
“Huh? After everything I told you, you want to know what I am reading.”
“Yes,” she said, cocking her head to the side.
“Currently, I am re-reading The Alienist to refresh my memory before the show starts this fall,” he told her.
Pip didn’t answer him, but left the kitchen and headed to the guest room on Zelda’s side of the house, returning a few minutes later with an armload of books. The first thing she sat on the table was her copy of The Alienist.
“I packed more books than clothes,” she told him. “Have you read any of these?”
“I have not,” he said, fingering the stack of books as if he were touching fine spun silk.
“Michael, did you want me back in your bed tonight?” Pip asked him, her eyes down on the pile of books.
He blushed as he looked at his sister. The discomfort of having such a personal question asked in the open made him shift in his seat a tad bit at the table. This conversation is supposed to be private.
“Yes, but not in that way. In my head, I envisioned sitting in my chair reading to you before carrying you to the bed, easing into sheets, all the time holding you close, inhaling your strawberry scented red hair as we drift off to sleep,” he said, feeling exposed and stupid.
Pip touched his chin, running her fingers over his goatee. “I had the same plans for tonight as well, Mr. Fitzsimmons,” she said. “Well, except for the carrying you to bed part.”
“Jesus, build a retaining wall,” he mumbled, looking at his sister in confusion.
“You might want to ask Him for more than that, my good man. Your days of being single just may be coming to an end, that is if you can get that yelling thing under control,” Pip said, taking a seat at the table. She used her new pen to inscribe her name in all of the books. “I am an only child. I want at least two kids.”
Michael turned down the corners of his mouth. “Duly noted.”
Zelda found herself smiling. Soon her days of being single were also coming to an end. She had no appetite tonight and opted instead to return to her quarters to see if she could reach Scott. It was her hope that he could cut the trip short and come home to her.
Michael was on his way to happiness whether it was with Pip or some other woman. She really hoped that what he was starting with the odd woman was real. If not, it was really going to stink to high heaven if Michael broke her heart. That was not the only thing which stunk. The smell of the boxes greeted her as she entered her bedroom. It did smell like mold. Instead of calling Scott, she picked up the first box and took it to the garage. She did the same with the other three.
Maybe this weekend I will look and see which dairies are damaged and which ones are salvageable.
Maybe.
Chapter 9 – Time, Clock Watching, Travel
Time moved at its own pace as Zelda waited for the three weeks to pass. It helped a great deal having Pip in the house, even making the dinner conversation livelier. To ensure Zelda wasn’t left out of the discussion, Pip picked her up a hard copy of the book they were reading, encouraging her new bestie to join in the after-dinner melee.
An odd sensation settled into Zelda’s bones as she watched her brother with Pip. This was the first time she’d ever seen him focus on a woman other than herself, spurring an understanding that it was time to let go of this life in order to move on to her new one. Michael also needed to move forward and let go of her. Seeing him with Pip also made it clear that he used her as an excuse to not get involved in serious commitments. He couldn’t hide from Pip.
Pip knows how many children she wants. How many do I want with Scott? How many times am I comfortable to be all belly swollen growing a small human? Shit! What if I can’t have any? I can’t just assume that since I’m a woman, I will get pregnant right away.
Michael noticed immediately that Zelda had retreated back into her head. Tapping Pip on the hand, he silently asked her to excuse them. Since Pip had been in the house, he and Zelda hadn’t had an opportunity to be alone.
“Hey, Sis, are you okay? You seem to have drifted off somewhere,” he said.
“I did. In my head, I was imagining how I was going to explain to people in the grocery store, you and Pip’s funny looking little redheaded children with their mismatched socks and ventriloquist dolls,” she said to him with a sardonic twist of her lips.
“Who’s going to notice my adorable little gingers sitting next to those hairy little bucked toothed beavers you call your babies?”
Michael’s face froze. Zelda’s smile grew wide as she pointed at him, breaking into uproarious laughter. He was hooked on Pip.
“What the hell did I just say?” Michael said.
“Big brother, you said your cute little gingers,” she winked at him.
“Two and a half weeks! She has been here two and a half weeks and I am talking crazy. You are sitting around watching the clock and I am overeating and talking about kids,” he said shaking his head.
“Good,” she told him, patting his arm. “It’s past time for you to think of your future.”
“What about your future, Zelda? You haven’t mentioned the boxes. Did you get rid of them?” he asked.
“No, they are in the garage,” she said.
“Zelda, if there is really something you want to know, all you have to do is ask,” he said calmly. He didn’t feel calm. His insides were churning at the ugly truth she had a right to know. But he would only tell if she asked directly; he wasn’t going to offer any excess information. Truth was, he didn’t want to relive any of the memories himself, let alone recount them to his sister. Michael wa
ited patiently for the questions she was going to bombard him with, using her journalist skills of prying.
She didn’t hesitate. Zelda didn’t skirt about the issue. She looked her brother in the face and asked, “How many times did Daddy molest me?”
To her shock, Michael didn’t hesitate either.
“He never did.”
“I am not understanding. Then what is in the diaries that is so damaging?”
Michael ran his hand across his goatee, “I never said he didn’t try, Zelda. He only got his courage up on the nights he would get drunk. Those nights, I moved you to my room and I slept in yours.”
“The thing which really pisses me off more than anything is our Mother. A mom is supposed to protect her children,” Zelda said.
“She can’t protect you if she is zoned out on whatever pills she’d started taking,” he said softly. He would only offer answers to her direct questions. It was safer that way.
“Mike, was he always drunk when he tried something?”
“One time, I don’t know Zelda, he was acting weird. I watched him for some reason. He gave Mom a pill, then poured himself a drink. I kid you not, he poured it in the plant besides his chair. Then the bastard poured two more and did the same thing. He got up, stumbling to the bathroom, pretending to be drunk. The moment he closed the bathroom door, I ran you over to Mr. Bautista’s and you spent the night there,” he told her.
“I guess it is a good thing my real father lived next door to protect me from my predatory stepdad,” Zelda said flatly.
Michael’s hands were fisted. The secret was out and his sister wasn’t cracking up or falling apart. He asked, “How long have you known?”
“I figured it out,” she said. It only took most of her adult life, but she figured it out a few weeks prior.
“He is the reason I got custody of you, being next door and all. Wilke spoke up at the hearings, even offering to do joint custody until I was 21 if need be. He helped with the financial planning for us to go to college and a lot more,” he said.
“Truly, Mike, I feel so fucking cheated. My Dad living next door, we could have had such a different life,” she said.
“Oh, shut up!”
“What?”
“I said shut up. You led a nice life. And please, don’t start with ‘I would have spent more time with him’ because you would be lying,” Michael told her.
“It would have been nice, Mike, if the man was at least treated like my Daddy,” she said.
“Tell me what you would have done differently, Zelda? You take him a tie-on Father’s Day or some new slippers at Christmas. Every birthday you have baked him a cake, and when he got sick you took him a bowl of soup every day until he got well. There is nothing wrong with your relationship with him,” Michael said. “Hell, it’s a better relationship than I had with my father who lived right here in the house with me.”
“Well, you have a point there,” she said.
“Our lives may have been non-traditional, but we came out okay,” he said.
“You did a great job,” she told him.
“Zelda, you made it easy,” he said.
Her hands rubbed the fabric of her jeans as she looked at her brother. A calm had come over him since Pip had been here and Michael seemed happy. A well-deserved happiness.
“Mike, Mr. Bautista said he wants to meet Scott,” she said.
“Let him, but Scott needs to be aware that his kids are truly going to be bi-racial,” he said, laughing. “They will be one fourth Pilipino, and quarter part African American, and half Yeti.”
“It sure beats a carload of snot-nosed orange headed carrot tops in mismatched socks and gingham outfits, holding Dr. Seuss books and pretending to throw their voices into the Cat in the Hat dolls,” Zelda said laughing.
“Don’t be talking about my non-existent kids, Zelda. You are going to love those little red headed...wait...what the hell am I saying?”
“You are saying, Big Brother, that you have found your soul mate. I think we should do a documentary on the mating habits of the modern nerd in its open habitat,” she said, laughing.
“I don’t know about all that,” Michael mumbled.
“You are happier than I have ever seen you. The two of you get along very well,” she said. “Hold up Mike! Please tell me you are not just going along with this because she is in the house?”
“No!” he said. “No, Zelda. Dang, I am happy. Who wouldn’t be,” he said.
“But?
“But what?” he said, contorting his face.
“I know there is a clause in there somewhere,” she told him.
“Jeez! It’s only been two weeks. Besides, she lives in Cincinnati. She’s an entertainer, and she travels a lot. Did you know she is going to be in Vegas at the same time as you? I suggested the two of you share a place, to keep you both safe,” he said.
“Michael, do you think if you asked her to give it all up, would she?”
“I would never expect any woman to give up her life to sit at home having my children, washing my clothes, and waiting for me to come through the front door,” he said. “I don’t want that.”
Zelda mimicked Pip, “What is it you do want, Michael?”
“I want her,” he said. “I just don’t know how at this early point to make it work. Taking her on a date was so refreshing. Waking up next to her, sharing conversations about books, but I need to see the real her, if you know what I mean.”
“Dude, that is the real her. Don’t wait too long, and besides, you will know for certain in a very short period of time,” she told him.
“What do you mean?”
“Scott arrives next Saturday. She leaves this Friday. Pip goes home for a week then out to Vegas for two months,” she said.
He stood up with a look of determination on his face.
“Where are you going, Mike?”
“To price tickets for Las Vegas,” he said. “Did you rent an apartment or a house?”
“I have a condo,” she said.
“Okay...let me think about this some more,” he said, wandering off, rubbing his chin. Zelda watched him, figuring some form of design planning was in his head. In her head, she was thinking about Scott. Her phone rang, it was her big, hunky, hairy man.
“Hey handsome, you headed to the U.S.?” she asked.
“Soon,” he said. “I really wish you could have joined me here.”
“What fun would that have been? Besides, I want you ravenous for me when you get to Texas,” she told him.
“I’m ravenous alright,” he said. “I plan to eat you alive when I see you.”
“Hey now, talk that sexy talk,” she said. “I can’t wait.”
“Saturday. I will be there Saturday,” he told her.
“Don’t forget to bring a suit. We are having dinner with my Grandma on Sunday. But that evening, we are having a cookout here at the house, that one will be casual,” she told him.
“I will be ready,” he said.
“You’d better be,” she added before hanging up the phone. Suddenly a brilliant idea struck her. “Pip, hey Pip?”
“Yes, Zelda?” Pip asked, coming into the bedroom wearing a Cowboys tee with a pair of white panties.
“Can you stay another week?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“You helped make the invitations, I want you to stay for the party,” she said. “It is going to be a blast.”
Chapter 10 – Tell Me What You Need
Scott arrived at his home in Kentucky, tuckered out, jet lagged and exhausted. The trip, as usual, had proven fruitful. He returned with over a year’s worth of orders, new connections, and cemented the bond with families his great-grandfather had also serviced during his tenure as the head of the Berger Vent Company. By the time he reached his bed on Wednesday afternoon, he was dead on his feet, easily sleeping through the evening until the next morning.
Two days were scheduled for him in the office with a boatload of meetings on Th
ursday and dinner with his family on Friday. The meetings, in his estimate, were complete wastes of time because his mind was elsewhere. His head and heart were in Texas with Zelda. Although he’d spoken to her before arriving home and again this morning, he wanted to see her. The need to hold her close to him fueled him. The burning desire to kiss those amazing lips after they traveled along his neck distracted him to the point of nearly being rude. Memories of the lusty sounds of her breathing in his ear as he brought her to a passionate finish ruled his thoughts.
“Mr. Berger? Do you agree with my assessment?” Florence, the head of accounting, inquired.
“I need to see it in writing. Please get the numbers to me by Monday at five and we can go from there,” he said, thinking of Zelda’s Tuesdays. “On second thought, you have until Wednesday at 5 pm, no later.”
“Of course, Mr. Berger,” she said, leaving his office.
Zelda also occupied his thoughts all day Friday and bled into the tasteless broiled dinner with his family later that night. It didn’t require much conversation to update them on the progress from his European trip. In less than three sentences, Scott updated the family on the sales, the contacts with long standing customers, and what would happen in the next twelve months. After his last word, he retreated back into his head, thinking only of his Zelda.
Rebekah, his younger sister, spoke softly to him, asking, “you miss her, don’t you?’
“She’s all I can think about right now,” he mumbled.
“When will you see her again, if I may ask and not pry into your new sexy love life,” she said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
“Tomorrow. I get to see my baby tomorrow,” he said, smiling.
“You two are huddled up over there whispering among yourselves,” Sarah, his older sister, said. “Are you talking about your serial kisser lady?”
“Zelda,” Scott corrected her. “Zelda Fitzsimmons.”
“You seem to be serious about her, Scottie,” Krista, his mother added.
A Saucy Sunday (The Zelda Diaries Book 4) Page 6