A Life Less Ordinary (43 page)

Rebecca
rolled her eyes.  “It’s broad daylight, Zeke!  Plus you called me five minutes
ago, to let me know you were on your way.  Besides, there’s what?  Fifty people
in this town?  I think I’m pretty safe hanging out in this open air parking
lot.”

Zeke
scowled.  “Regardless.  Daisy should have waited with you,” he muttered.

Rebecca
cocked her head to one side and considered him thoughtfully.  “You know, I just
can’t figure you out.”

Zeke
raised an eyebrow.

“How
such a sweet man can be such an asshole,” she clarified.

“Hey!”

“I’m
serious, Zeke.  You’re this bizarre mix of – of casual...cruelty is too harsh a
word...”  Rebecca paused, frowning furiously.  Zeke shifted uncomfortably under
her intense stare.  She shook her head.  “You’re sometimes so oblivious to just
how much your words and actions can hurt someone – and yet you’re also such a
good guy.”  She tossed him the keys to the van.  “I’m almost sorry you’re not
going to be continuing on with Manny.”

“Continuing
on?” he asked sharply.

Rebecca
shrugged and nodded.  “She says she still has to see Disneyworld, the Kennedy
Space Centre and Key West before she starts to meander home.”

“
Meander?
”
Zeke asked as he yanked the van door open and clambered inside.

Rebecca
followed.

“Manny
says she’s not going to let this slow her down, or shorten her trip.”

Zeke’s
frown deepened as he began to search the van for any stray possessions he may
have left there.

“Good
God,” he muttered, “the last time I left her alone for any length of time she
almost jumped the first half-good-looking guy who smiled at her!  I assumed
she’d be going home with you and Daisy.”

“She
still has the van,” Rebecca reminded him mildly, “and honestly – why shouldn’t
she jump the first half-good-looking guy who smiles at her?  She’s free, female
and over the age of twenty-one, and it’s not like she has some other guy
waiting for her.  And contrary to your blogs, she isn’t some dried up old maid
who’s only purpose is to sit and watch the world go by.”

“I
never -” he stopped abruptly.

Rebecca
nodded.  “Yeah.  Better stop while you’re still only half a mile behind.”

Zeke
shook his head.  “I’m amazed you haven’t knocked me over the head and used the
van to hide my body somewhere.”

“It
crossed my mind.  Believe me.  But Manny needs the van, and clean-up would be a
bitch.”

Zeke
reluctantly grinned then sobered.  “I never meant to hurt her, Rebecca.  I
actually intended to tell her when I joined her at the park a few weeks ago –
but there was Brett, and...well, it just didn’t seem to matter that much.”

“So
– what?  You thought she’d never find out about the blog?”  Rebecca asked
skeptically.

“I
honestly thought she’d never find out.  Or by the time she did, it’d be long
after we got back home and gone our separate ways.”

Rebecca
sighed sadly and shook her head.  “That was just stupid.”

Zeke
shrugged, not quite meeting her eyes.  “I guess.”  He glanced slowly around the
van.  “So, are you and/or Daisy going to travel with Manny now?”

Rebecca
snorted a laugh.  “No.  Neither of us can get away.  Daisy’s in the middle of
finalizing her divorce and has a meeting with her lawyer and the bank the day
after we get back.  I have my granddaughter staying with me, and I can’t take
her out of school.”

Zeke
frowned again.  “So Manny’s really continuing on alone?”

“Yeah.”

He
slid a sideways glance towards her.  “You actually don’t sound like you’re
pleased about it.”

“I’m
not.  She’ll end up bringing home every stray she finds.”

Zeke
smiled slightly.  “True.  How did she end up the way she did?  I mean, how did
she end up with just you and Daisy and her job as her life?”

Rebecca
narrowed her eyes.  “Are you asking for your blog, or are you asking for you?”

He
calmly met her eyes.  “I’m asking for me,” he said firmly.

Rebecca
stared hard at him.  She seemed to like what she saw in his face, because she finally
nodded, and said, “Manny’s a fixer.  She wants to solve people’s problems, and
she worries at them until she
can
fix them.  Her workplace, when she
started, had a lot of problems – business-related, people-related – you name
it.  It sucked her in and sucked her dry, and she simply didn’t have anything
left to give at the end of day.  Her friends just...drifted away.  Most days,
she barely found the energy for me and Daisy or our families.  I’m worried she
won’t be able to keep herself from spiralling back into the same situation
again when she goes back to work.”

Zeke
nodded slowly.

“So
I’m torn,” Rebecca continued.  “On the one hand, I want her to stay on holidays
for as long as she possibly can.  She’s rediscovering herself, and that can
only be a good thing.  On the other hand, she’s going to continue travelling on
her own, and while I know she’s going to be just fine, I also know I’d sleep a
lot better if I knew she was with somebody who would look out for her.”

Zeke
stared off into space, his dark brows low as he scowled.

“Well,”
Rebecca continued, deliberately nonchalant, “I guess we’ll just have to find
room for all the strays she brings back when she does finally wander back
home.”

Zeke
gave her a sliver of a smile as they climbed out of the van, and Rebecca
chuckled as she locked and closed the door.  “Who knows?  Maybe she’ll finally
break in that bed in there now that she’s on her own.  I’m sure there’s at
least one other Brett out there somewhere.”  She slanted a glance at Zeke. 
“Another reason not to mess up the van.”

Zeke’s
scowl deepened.

~~~~~

Late
that afternoon, Manny padded out of the bathroom in her t-shirt and boxers,
warm and rosy from another too-hot bath, her hair hanging damply around her
face.  She jumped as her cell phone rang, then hurried across the room to grab
it off the dresser.  She checked the caller ID, frowned, then cautiously
answered the call.

“Manny? 
This is Leah Huxley again.”

Manny
huffed a sigh.  “What, exactly, do you want?  I’ve already told your boy to go
home.”

“I
know.  And I don’t blame you.  Look -”

“Tell
me – did you make a lot of money from Zeke’s blogs about me?”

“Money? 
Not really – but our traffic’s increased dramatically.  Listen -”

“Why?”
Manny asked bluntly.

“Because
– because – aren’t you
curious
about why I’m phoning?”

“
It’s not to apologize,
is it.” 

“
No, but I do want to
explain a few things.”

“
Why bother?”

“
Because – I want to.”

“
What about what I
want?”

“
Please, Manny.  Let me
have my say, and then you can hate me all you want, okay?  I’ll just keep
calling until you do listen to me, you know.”

Manny
growled a sigh.  “Fine,” she snapped.  “What do you need to tell me?”

“Thank
you,” Leah said gratefully.  “Okay.  Sending Zeke with you was my idea. 
Keeping the truth from you was also my idea.  He wanted to come clean when he
rejoined you at the park but I wouldn’t let him.”

Manny
paused, considering, then said, “That doesn’t make it all better.”

“I’m
not trying to make it all better.  I just wanted you to know Zeke wanted to do
– well, what you think would have been the right thing.”

“You
disagree.”

“It
was an awesome story!  It’s
still
an awesome story!  And my subscribers
love it – they love you!  And they love Zeke’s reactions to you!  Which brings
me to the real point of my call.  How would you like to write a blog of your
own for
What Women Want
?  Your first one can be in response to Zeke.”

~~~~~

“What
did you say?” Rebecca breathed, wide-eyed.  She was sitting with Manny and
Daisy in a small restaurant, the remnant of their suppers in front of them.

Manny
shrugged as she sipped her coffee.  “I told her I’d think about it,” she said,
putting the cup down.

“For
God’s sake – why?” Daisy demanded.

“Because
she offered me a lot of money for just one blog post.  I mean, outrageously a
lot.  But...”

“But?”
Daisy prompted when Manny simply stared off into space, frowning.

“But
then I’d actually have to read his posts.  And I’m not ready for that.  Not
yet, anyway.”

“
Have you talked to him
since you told him to leave?” Rebecca asked casually.  A little too casually. 

Manny
shot her a suspicious look.  “No,” she said slowly, “and I don’t expect I will,
either.”

“Well,”
Daisy said, delicately wiping her lips with her napkin, “he’d just better not
be flying home with us – or if he is, he’d better not talk to us, anyway.”

“Somehow,
I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Rebecca murmured and smiled as she sipped
her coffee.

~~~~~

As
he packed, Zeke kept up a steady stream of curses and mutterings about
stubborn, mule-headed, unforgiving women and what the hell did he care anyway –
wait until they got to the blog he was going to write after
this
.

He
crammed the last of his clothes into his travel bag, then stood back and
scowled at it, hands on his lean hips, and thought about what Rebecca had told
him about Manny continuing on alone.  After a moment, he shook his head,
stomped to the desk and threw himself into his chair.

He’d
rent a car, book the first flight home he could find, and see how Little Miss
Prissy liked travelling by herself from now on.

By
the time he finished booking the car, he’d remembered Las Vegas.

By
the time he found a flight, he was thinking of Brett from the park and
shuddered at the thought of her coming across another ladykiller with a
weakness for repressed, naive older women with no sense of self-preservation. 
Sanity had prevailed in that instance for Manny, but what if next time she
wasn’t so smart?  Or the guy wasn’t as understanding?

He
thought about the Misfit Toys, and the dance contest; the way her ass looked in
that little blue dress and those shoes that were most likely illegal in some
states.  What if she broke a leg in those things?

He
thought of Dixie, and the women before her, and how easy it had been for him to
walk away from all of them – well.  Except the first.  He shook off the
momentary pang.  This should be even easier, he told himself staunchly.  Hell,
she was just his Auntie Em!  No, not
his
.  Just Auntie Em, trying to
pretend she wasn’t as prudish as she truly was.

Nobody
important
.

He
stopped and stared sightlessly at the computer screen feeling cold and hollow,
his stomach churning.

He’d
walked away from so many things.  He’d walked away from his father, from his
home, and from more women than he could truly – or wanted to – remember.

He
didn’t
want
to walk away from her – his Ma – Auntie Em.  He didn’t
want
to walk away from her fondness for Misfit Toys, her rather subdued demeanour
that she’d suddenly throw off when he least expected it.  Her ability to talk
to anyone and her willingness to try anything – and the way she always seemed
to be having an inner dialogue about just about everything.

Damn
it.

He
liked her – and she was, really, completely clueless when it came to other
people, especially men.

He
sighed.  He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her.  He couldn’t,
in good conscience, let her travel alone.

Damn
it.

* * * * *

“You’re
what?” TJ croaked incredulously.

“I’ve
rented a car,” Zeke repeated patiently, “and I’m going to follow her.”

“How
are you going to keep track of her?”  Leah asked, equally incredulous.

“I’ll...figure
that out when I get to it.  I know her current itinerary, thanks to Rebecca, so
I’ll be able to at least follow at a distance.”

“
Isn’t this a
little...stalkerish?” Leah asked carefully.

“
It’s only stalkerish if
I’m...” he hesitated.  “Okay.  Maybe a little.  But I’m doing it more for her
own protection than anything else.  I mean, she’s clueless!  A babe in the
woods!  Even Rebecca admitted Manny would be bringing home every stray she
found between now and the end of her trip.  What if she finally runs into one
who isn’t all that nice?”

“
Is that the only
reason?” TJ asked skeptically.