A Life Less Ordinary (7 page)

Sometimes
change happens without our consent or even our knowledge.

Daisy
checked on each of her sleeping children in turn, and smiled at the sight of
their tousled heads on their pillows.  They each looked much younger than
seventeen and fifteen.  She quietly shut the door on Janika’s room, and walked
out to the living room.  With a significant look at Hub, she grabbed her purse
and left the house. 

She
strolled from her car to the casino, and smiled when she saw her favourite slot
game was free.  She sat down, fed a twenty into the machine and ordered a drink
from the waitress.  She sighed, leaned back and began to play.

Sometimes
it happens because of past mistakes.

Zeke
glanced at the small framed picture beside the computer.  It showed him with a
huge grin on his face, his arms around a smiling Dixie.  TJ had taken it just a
few months ago, when they’d been here for a barbecue.  He turned the picture
face down and returned his focus to the computer screen.

Sometimes
it’s completely out of our control.

Leah
shifted and made herself more comfortable snuggled up with TJ in their
king-sized bed.  He absently stroked her arm as he stared sightlessly at the
ceiling.  She opened her mouth, hesitated, then resolutely closed her eyes.

And
sometimes it’s a conscious decision, to throw away everything known and safe
and secure, and face the new day knowing only one thing:  today
will
be
different from yesterday.

Manny
stood in her empty, freshly painted living room and turned in a slow circle as
she admired their hard work.  She made a conscious effort to breathe calmly
before, with a final deep breath, she turned off the lights and left the room.

Manny
finished pinning her mousy hair into her habitual bun and scowled at her
shapeless sweats and t-shirt.  She wasn’t a clotheshorse by any stretch of the
imagination, but she had to admit she couldn’t wait to start replenishing her wardrobe. 
For now, all she could do was shake her head.  She grabbed her duffel bag and
backpack and headed to the living room.  She’d just placed her bag on the
living room floor when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll
get it!” Daisy called and hurried to the door.

Manny’s
stomach curled with nerves as she finished stuffing her laptop into her
backpack then glanced at Daisy and Zeke as they walked into the room.

“Ready?”
Zeke asked, rubbing his hands together.  He looked attractively scruffy with
his tousled black hair and five o’clock shadow and for a split second Manny
wondered if Rebecca was right, and she’d lost her mind.

Chickening
out?

She
glanced at Harvey then met Zeke’s eyes.  She frowned slightly at his
half-amused, half-expectant expression.  She suddenly realized he was convinced
she was about to tell him she’d decided to stay.

...never.

Good
girl.

She
put her hands on her hips and glanced around.  “I think I’ve covered
everything.  Daisy, you have enough money to pay the bills until Rebecca sells
the house...”  She glanced back at Zeke and nodded.  “Yeah.  Yeah, I’m ready.”

Zeke
smiled and nodded back.  “So where are we going first?”

Manny
reached into her backpack and pulled out a small zip-lock bag filled with
folded slips of paper. 

“You
can have the honour of deciding,” she said as she opened the bag and held it
out to him.

Zeke
stared, eyebrows raised.  “What the hell is this?”

“Our
itinerary.  Well, mine anyway.  If there are any places you’d like to see we
can just add them in.”  She shook the baggie invitingly.  “Pick one.”

Zeke
stared at her in stunned disbelief.  “Are you
nuts
?” he exclaimed.  “We
could be criss-crossing the continent a hundred times!”

Manny
nodded with a bright smile.  “Exactly.  Pick one.”

Zeke
looked at Daisy who only shrugged helplessly.

“Don’t
look at me,” she said.  “I don’t know where the hell this idea came from.”

Zeke
shook his head, but his lips quirked into a reluctant smile.  He reached into
the baggie and pulled out one of the pieces of paper.  He unfolded it and said,
“‘San Francisco/San Jose – we have to see the Winchester House.’”

“Oh,
awesome!” Daisy said. “I wish I could go with you to that one!”

“Too
bad you can’t get away,” Manny said wistfully.

“Yeah,
well, Hub would throw a fit,” she said drily.  “He had a fit when I told him I
was coming over this morning to see you on your way.”

Daisy
and Manny exchanged a silent look that spoke volumes.  Zeke raised an intrigued
eyebrow but said nothing.

“But
you’ll join us sometimes?” Manny asked a little wistfully.

Daisy
nodded.  “Whenever I can.  Wherever I can.  And if you need me – I’ll be
there.”

Manny’s
eyes filled with tears.  “I know,” she said, and hugged her tightly.  “I’ll
keep in touch,” she promised.

“You
damn well better, if you know what’s good for you,” Daisy choked out.  “Don’t
make me have Max track you down!  You wouldn’t like it if Max has to hunt you
down.”

Manny
laughed a watery laugh as they parted.  “I’m sure I wouldn’t.”

She
was still wiping tears away as she waved good-bye while they pulled out of the
driveway.  She stared resolutely out the passenger window and sat in silence
while Zeke drove them out of town.

~~~~~

“Hey,
Stacey,” Daisy said to the woman who answered the phone, “I’m looking for Hub. 
Is he around?”

“Sorry,
Daisy,” Stacey replied in her bright, cheerful voice, “he’s out of the office
for the afternoon.”

Daisy
frowned slightly.  “Oh?  I could have sworn he said he was going to be in the
office all day.”

“The
meeting must have slipped his mind,” Stacey said breezily.  “Is there a
message?  Do you need him to call you right away?”

“No. 
No, I’ll talk to him when he gets home.”

Daisy
thoughtfully hung up the phone and stared off into space with a frown.

She
glanced towards the door as it opened and Max walked in.  He was tall, still
trim even in his fifties, craggy-featured and soft-spoken.  He always looked
like he’d slept in his clothes while at the same time he was intimidating with
his shaved head, aquiline nose and bright, shrewdly intelligent green eyes. 
Daisy had been terrified of him when she’d first started working for him
immediately after Janika had started kindergarten.  Ten years on, any fear had
long ago subsided and now he was just as much friend as he was boss.

“Manny
get off all right?” he asked, his sharply observant eyes taking in her
expression.

“Hmmm? 
Oh.  Yes.  Right on time, in fact.”

Max
gave her a reassuring smile.  “Don’t worry too much.   This Powell guy checked
out.”

“Or
he just hasn’t been caught yet,” Daisy replied drily.  She shook off her mood
and smiled at him.  “New case?”

Max
nodded and slumped into a chair beside her desk.

“Jaime’s
hired me to find her father,” he said bluntly.

Daisy
blinked at him in silence. 

“
Rebecca’s
Jaime?”

Max
nodded.

“Oh.”

“You
knew him, didn’t you?” Max asked.

Daisy
shrugged.  “Everyone knew him.  Small town, you know.  He’s probably not going
to be hard to find – the last I heard, his family’s still living there.  I’m
sure they’ll know where he is.  It’ll probably only take one phone call.”

She
cocked her head and considered him thoughtfully.

“Why
did Jaime
really
hire you?”

Max
sighed.  “To check on her mother’s version of events.”

“You’re
kidding,” she said flatly.

Max
shook his head.  “Oh, finding her dad is part of it, but for some reason she
thinks Rebecca’s lying about what happened thirty years ago.  She thinks
Rebecca has deliberately kept her away from her father all these years.”

“It’s
only taken her thirty years to come up with this theory?” Daisy snorted
inelegantly.  “That’s her father’s side coming out.  He never was the brightest
bulb in the light socket.”

Max
frowned.  “So why did Rebecca -?”

“Because
he was freakin’
gorgeous
.”

Max
huffed and rolled his eyes.  “Seriously?”

“Seriously. 
He was the best-looking boy in town, Max!  Every girl in high school had a huge
crush on him, even those who already had boyfriends.  Well, except those who
had crushes on each other.”  She stared off into space, her expression
softening with the memories.  “Devon was tall, black hair, dark brown eyes,
great cheekbones and a sexy smile, even at eighteen.  Plus he was in his last
year of high school – an ‘older’ man.”  She chuckled ruefully.

Max
raised an amused eyebrow and shook his head in mock disapproval.

“Athletic?”
he asked.

“Oh,
yeah.  Track and field, football, baseball, hockey; you name it, he was good at
it.  His parents put him on pretty much every team they could find.  Drove him
everywhere so he could participate.  I heard he even got a partial
scholarship.  Considering our backwater school, that was pretty impressive.”

“So,
how did he hook up with Rebecca?”

Daisy
sighed and leaned back, tapping a pen on the arm of her chair. 

“Rebecca
was always beautiful, but in those days she was...
shy
.  Too scared to
speak before being spoken to.  But she was – and is – smart.  I mean,
scary
smart.  She skipped a grade and would have graduated with Devon if...

“Well. 
Anyway.  Long story short, schoolwork was a breeze for her; Devon wasn’t the
brightest and he – basically -”  She hesitated, frowning.  “Looking back, it’s
just so
obvious,
but then again, she was only sixteen and no other boy
had ever paid that level of attention to her.  Anyway, she did his homework for
him.  Helped him cheat on his exams.  How the hell he thought he’d survive
university...” 

She
shook her head. 

“I
can see now that Devon was very deliberate in his approach and he’d chosen
carefully.  Rebecca was...vulnerable, easily convinced he was madly in love
with her when in reality, he was using her in order to finish high school with
the least amount of effort.  I think the sex, for him, was just a bonus...and
probably just another strategy he used to bind Rebecca more closely to him. 
She was completely in love with him, and Manny and I knew pretty much
everything about their relationship.  But Devon kept Rebecca a deep, dark
secret – how he managed
that
was a miracle all by itself when you live
in a town as small as ours!” 

Daisy
sighed heavily.  “Anyway.  The end result was that when Rebecca got pregnant
and named him as the father – nobody believed her.  Especially not her parents,
who disowned her and haven’t spoken to her since.  His parents laughed her out
of their house.”

She
frowned at Max.  “Which part of Rebecca’s story does Jaime doubt?”

Max
shifted uncomfortably.  “She doesn’t think her father ever knew Rebecca was
pregnant.  She thinks he never would have abandoned his child.”

Daisy
blinked at him in silence.  Then, “Wow.  Delusional at thirty. 
Wow
.”

Max
shrugged.  “That’s not for me to judge.  She doesn’t seem dangerous, so I’ll
find him for her.”  He smirked at her.  “Even if all it takes is a phone call.”

Daisy
chuckled slightly, then frowned thoughtfully.

Max
cocked his head as he watched her.  “You look like you have something on your
mind.”

Her
frown deepened.  “I’m not sure – it’s more like a faint...discomfort.” 

“About?”

She
silently stared off into space.

“Daisy?”
he prompted when it appeared she had no intention of breaking her silence.

She
jumped slightly at the sound of his voice.  She seemed to make a decision when
she met his eyes.  Her lips tightened, her eyes hardened, and she gave a brisk
nod.

“I
want to hire you.”

Max’s
smirk widened.  “You can’t hire me, Daisy; you get my services for free. 
What’s going on?  Do you want me to dig deeper on that Powell guy?”

She
shook her head.  “I want you to follow Hub.”

Max’s
jaw dropped.  “
Hub?”

Daisy
nodded and leaned forward, resting her tightly clasped hands on the desk. 
“He’s always been a workaholic, but something’s been different lately.  Small
things – his secretary tells me he’s one place; he tells me another.  He’s been
particularly moody lately, getting angry at almost everything I do.  He’s never
been super involved with the kids, but now he only remembers them when I ask –
or force – him to do something with them.  Which means the kids barely see him
and...and I’m not sure how that’s affecting them.  I just – I just need to know
if there’s something going on I need to know about.  That’s all.  And then I
can deal with whatever the problem is – if there is one that’s...well, outside
of our relationship.”