Brown Eyed Girl (12 page)

<><><>

Tiffany foraged through her fridge for something to eat, wishing she’d taken Red’s offer to bring home leftovers. Settling on a personal pizza from the freezer, she’d just popped it into the microwave when the phone rang.

She checked the caller ID and answered with a bland, “Hello Tanner.”

“
Who the hell have you been talking to for an hour?”
he demanded.

“What do you care, and where’s the bimbo of the week?”

“There you go with your paranoia again, Tiffy.”

The sound of the hated nickname grated on her nerves to no end. “Where are you Tanner? What’s her name?”

“
Hmph, must be that time of the month again,”
he said.
“For a couple of days you have no control over your emotions, and your imagination runs rampant for an entire week.”

Tiffany cursed lowly. “Why don’t you for once, in your pathetic life tell me the truth? I’m not stupid, you know. I’ve just chosen to look the other direction for the past five years.”

“
I’m not with anyone else...”

“
Last chance, Tanner. If I don’t get the truth right now, I’m out of here.” She fumed internally at the impatient sigh he released.

“
You know, this attitude of yours gets to be so boring.”

Tiffany let out a long sigh, but remained calm. “Aren’t you as sick of this as I am?”

When he didn’t call back, she breathed a sigh of relief and picked up her cell phone. She programmed Red’s number into her cell phone before deleting it and the message from both the cordless phone and answering machine. Innocent as his call had been, she wouldn’t give Tanner any reason to take his ill feelings out on him. She sat on the couch and propped her feet up onto the coffee table, before calling Red. “Hey,” she said after he’d picked up on the third ring. “Are you busy?”

“
I’m never too busy for you, Doc.”

She smiled at his answer. “Tanner called from some unknown number, demanding to know who I was speaking to for so long.”

“What happened?”

“I asked him to come clean and he accused
me
of being paranoid, of course. I told him by the time he comes back I won’t be here. We’re over.”

“
Good for you. He won’t come back and bother you tonight, will he?”

“Tanner would never go through that much trouble.” Her phone began to ring. “That
better
not be him calling. I’ll let the machine pick it up.”

When the recorded greeting finished she heard Sally from the hospital on the other line. “Hang on, Red. It’s the hospital.” She picked up the phone. “Sally? What’s going on?”

“
Hey, honey, your nine a.m. knee replacement just got cancelled—that’s a Mr. Mouton. His pre-admit blood work showed a high white blood cell count. It turns out he’s got a bacterial infection, so Dr. Trahan put him on antibiotics. Looks like that one will be put off for awhile.”

“
Okay Sal. That was my last surgery scheduled, so I won’t see you until Monday. Tell the gang I said Happy Thanksgiving.” She hung up the phone and picked up her cell, “Looks like I’m free until Monday. So…I guess I’ll be looking for a big, strong man to help me move some things back into my house tomorrow. Do you have any idea where I could find someone that fits that description?”

“
You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to that.”

She crossed her ankles and laughed. “Oh, I think I do, but thanks. It shouldn’t take long. I left most of my stuff in the house. I only have my desk, computer, and a couple of chairs to move. Everything else is clothing and personals. I’ll need to find packing boxes, though.”

“
You’re in luck, Doc. I didn’t finish unpacking until yesterday, so my garage is full of ‘em. I’ll bring some when I go.”

Tiffany’s phone rang again, and she waited for the machine to pick up. She froze as her mother’s voice, shrill with anger, erupted from the machine.

“
Tiffany Danielle LeBlanc, have you completely lost your mind? I know you’re home and I’m giving you one minute to pick up that phone or I’m going over there.”

Tiffany stared at the answering machine in horror. “Oh, my God, I cannot
believe
he called my mother. I need to take this, Red.”

“
Do you want me to stay on the line, or call you back?”

“
Give me ten minutes or so then call back.”

“
Be strong, Doc.”

“I will.” She disconnected, resenting the hell out of Tanner
and
her mother for forcing her to do so.

Tiffany took a deep breath and picked up the phone, “Hello mother. Did you call to say Happy Thanksgiving?”

“
You know why I called. Poor Tanner just called me, so distressed about you dumping him during the holidays.”

“
Poor Tanner was supposed to be spending it with his parents, but never made it that far. He called you from some other woman’s bed.”

“
Why didn’t you go with him?”

“
I’m on call. I can barely leave the city much less the state, Mother. I’ve been at the hospital all afternoon.”

“
And whose fault is that? You know how I feel about you working once you’re married. A woman who doesn’t need to work, shouldn’t. Marry Tanner, quit your job at that awful hospital, have a child or two, and join a few clubs to keep you busy.”

“
And endure a loveless marriage like yours and fathers.”

“
We both have our forms of entertainment.”

“
No kidding.”

“
Don’t be rude, Tiffany.”

“
Don’t be obtuse, mother.
Entertainment
is just a polite way to say you both sleep around.”

“
Your father and I are satisfied with the arrangement.”

Tiffany shook her head in disgust. “You shouldn’t be. I want a better life, a better marriage than that.”

“
This is a good life, dear. We’ve raised you and your brother to have the best of everything.”

Tiffany couldn’t stop the bitterness from seeping into her reply. “You didn’t have a damn thing to do with raising Drake and me, mother.
Melinda
took care of us, thank God. Don’t you ever wonder why we only go there twice a year?”

“
I don’t need to wonder. It’s because you’re both selfish, ungrateful children.”

Because it’s not a home-it never was! I’ll be damned if I raise children in a place like that. If I marry, it will be for love, and to a good man who’d rather die than hurt me the way Tanner has.” She cringed at the sound of her mother’s hysterical laughter.

“
Oh, listen to you, so full of hope that there’s still a decent man out there waiting for you. You always did live in a fantasy world, Tiffany. Now, you listen to me. The phrase “good man” is an oxymoron, and there is no such thing as a faithful marriage. The sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be.”

Tiffany closed her eyes and sighed. “Mother, I feel so sorry for you. I’ve seen how other people live, and it’s not how you and father live. Other people are happy. Not all, of course, but I can name dozens of couples right now who are truly happy together.

“
Pah! Newlywed love fades...trust me, dear.”

Tiffany ran a hand through her straightened locks and let her head fall back. “You’re wasting your breath, Mother. I will
not
marry Tanner. He’s selfish, vindictive, spoiled, and
weak
.”

“
Oh yes, you will,”
her mother spoke in an icy tone.
“You will do what your father and I have groomed you to do, to make a good match.”

“
Groomed me? Why not just call it what it is? You want to whore me out.
Sell
me to the highest bidder!”

“
Don’t be ridiculous!”

“
You know, most parents would be thrilled their daughter is a successful surgeon, but not you and father. Neither of you give a damn about that. I’ve
got
money, Mother—money I earned myself. All you care about is how much I can add to the family coffer by marrying a rich husband.”

“
Money can bring comfort to a woman that a husband won’t, dear.”

Tiffany placed her hand over her eyes. “Don’t you love Drake and me enough to want us happy? Have you
ever
loved us?”

“How dare you say such a thing to me? You have no idea how many sacrifices I’ve made for you and your brother! We’ve given you everything you ever wanted. We paid to send you both to the finest schools. The least you could do is to show us gratitude.”

Tiffany laughed. “Do you even know which college I attended, mother?”

“
I’m sure it was the finest money could buy.”

“
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge...I went on a full scholarship because of my grades. My counselor and I filled out all of the papers ourselves because you said father wouldn’t pay for it unless I went to law school.”

“
We’d have paid to send you to Harvard.”

“
I didn’t want to be a lawyer.”

“
You always were too obstinate for your own good.”

“
I graduated at the top of my class in med school.”

“
What has that got to do with anything?”

“
I don’t owe you and father a damn thing for my education! I took out school loans and paid every dime of it back. Two years later you sent Drake to Harvard when he wanted to be with me at LSU. I convinced him to go to Harvard because it
was
the best school money could buy.”

Tiffany stood up to pace the floor as she continued to rant. “So, if you think I’m going to give up everything to marry a spoiled, self-centered, cheating ass-hole like Tanner, you’re wrong. I’ll choose my own husband or I’ll choose not to marry at all. But I
will
do the choosing, do you understand me? And don’t you dare send father over here, because I’ll tell him the same thing!”

“Tiffany, you will be shaming me in front of our entire circle of friends,”
her mother screeched.
“I’ll be a social outcast after this.”

“Oh mother, for crying out loud, you act as if this is the nineteenth century.”

“Tiffany Danielle, don’t you trivialize this situation!”

Tiffany couldn’t have stopped the short burst of laughter if she’d wanted to. “Everything about this situation is trivial Mother!” The ensuing icy silence reigned supreme.

“
Well,”
her mother finally huffed into the phone.
“I have no need of ungrateful children.”

One single click of the phone and it went dead. Tiffany dropped to the couch, and threw the phone on the cushion. Her laughter began as a quiet chuckle, gaining strength, until it bordered on hysteria. The journey from hysteria to tears proved to be unexpectedly short.

Sniveling and needing to talk to someone who gave a damn about her, she attempted to call Drake. By the time his voicemail picked up, she was crying too hard to leave a message.

What had she ever done to deserve getting so little love from either of her parents?
Red’s last words telling her to be strong rang through her head, and she threw her shoulders back, straightening her spine. She’d learned to be independent and strong at an early age, had always taken immense pride in her strength. She had friends and co-workers who relied heavily on their partners in times of trouble, and she’d always wondered what that would feel like. What would she do if just, for once, rely on someone else to be strong for her. Her phone rang and she answered, sniffling into a tissue.

“Doc? Are you okay?”

Red’s voice, saturated with concern for her, turned out to be her undoing. Within moments, she was crying uncontrollably and incapable of intelligent speech.

<>

Nothing could have prepared Red for the sound of Tiffany’s heartbroken sobs. “What happened?” he said, ready to kill, or at least cripple the person responsible for her tears.

“Red,”
she sputtered.

“Are you alone?”

“Y...y...yes.”

“Can you talk to me?”