Coming Home (18 page)

“You haven’t made anyone mad with your quick comments?” Mom gave
me the look that told me I knew exactly what she meant. Sometimes I do speak
before I think.

I smiled. “No, the only people I usually say things to that I
shouldn’t are Vicki and Matt. They seem to take the comments pretty well,
though.”

“You haven’t even had a small argument with someone at work?
Something that may seem insignificant to you could really be big to someone
else.”

“Mandy and I had a few words. She’s the secretary for Matt and
Vicki. I only see her when I need to see them, but I did run into her when she
was running out of the building one day. I asked her the next day how she was,
but I just got attitude, so I never asked again.” I shrugged. “We’re not that
close, and I just passed it off as her having a bad day. Our paths don’t cross
that much for her to hate me.”

“Mandy doesn’t hate you.” Vicki finally came back from the
restroom. She had her cell phone in her hand. “Mandy doesn’t like you, but she
doesn’t hate you, either.”

“She doesn’t know me to not like me.” I got a little defensive.

“How’s Ashley?” Mom pointed to Vicki’s cell phone.

Vicki smiled and sat down. “She’s great. She’s having too much
fun to talk to her old mom on the phone, though.” Vicki turned back to me.
“I’ll tell you something, but you can’t say anything.”

I nodded my head in agreement. Mom and Vicki just looked at me. “I
promise I won’t say anything.” They didn’t budge. “Fine, damn. I won’t say
anything to Ryan, either.”

Vicki finally spoke. “Mandy likes Wade—a lot—and she thought you
were going to take him from her.”

“What? I’ve never had an interest in Wade.”

“But he’s had an interest in you. You can’t deny that, Becca.”
Mom added.

“Mandy heard about the kiss, and that’s why she stormed out of
the building. She had a fling with Wade that meant more to her than it did to
Wade.” Vicki shifted a little. “That’s why I told you to be careful about him.
He’s gone through a lot of women there. Most of them know what he’s like, but
we’ve lost a few employees because they couldn’t stand to work with him
anymore.”

“Why don’t you tell him to stop?”

“They’re adults and we can’t control what happens outside the
office. I’ve told her that you have no desire to be Wade’s next item, but she
doesn’t believe anyone can resist Wade.” Vicki and my mother both rolled their
eyes.

“Maybe you and Ryan should come clean about your relationship.
Have you two . . . um, taken the test drive yet?” Mom and that stupid test
drive.

“No.” Vicki answered for me and I just looked at her. “Well, why
else would you have stayed with us last night instead of Ryan if you two have
slept together?”

“Okay, I can’t deny that, but please let me answer for myself.” I
turned to mom. “No.” Okay, that was childish, I knew. I just like to answer for
myself, and I could see that happening less and less when the two of them were
together. I might as well have not even been there.

“Well, why not? You’ve been dating longer than you had before you
started sleeping with your past boyfriends.”

“Mom, please! I’m glad you two are close and cozy, but can my
business please stay my business and not be aired in front of my boss?” I got
up and started pacing. I knew the boss comment hurt her. I saw it before I
walked away.

Mom cleared her throat and glanced at Vicki before standing. “I
need to clean up a little in the back, and then we’ll head home for dinner.”

“I can help.”

“No, Becca. You sit and talk to Vicki.” She hugged me and
whispered. “Please, just give her a chance, baby.”

Mom went to the back, and I couldn’t figure out why it was so
important for her to get me to like Vicki as more than a boss. Just because mom
was friends with her, didn’t mean I needed to be. I slowly walked back over to
the table and sat down. I started to speak, but Vicki cut me off.

“I get it, Rebecca. I really do. I’m your boss, and there are
lines that shouldn’t ever be crossed. Unfortunately for you, I am going to
cross most of those lines. I won’t treat you differently at work, but outside
the office or when no one is around, you’ll be treated like family. Hillary is
my best friend, and anyone she considers family is now family to me.”

“I appreciate that, Vicki, but people are noticing that you do
treat me differently. I’ve heard comments, and I don’t like be thought of as
the favorite. I’m no one’s teacher’s pet and it makes me uncomfortable.”

“I wasn’t aware of that and I’m sorry. What can I do to make it
better?”

I could tell Vicki was sincere and wanted to change things.
“Maybe we could invite Stacy for lunch occasionally. I used to have lunch with
her all the time, but . . .”

“You can go back to having lunch with Stacy. I was just trying to
multitask so you could leave earlier with Ryan. I guess I didn’t think how it
would look to the others.”

And I didn’t think about it being for my benefit. Now I felt
really bad. “Maybe an honest conversation on the trip home would do us both a
lot of good. We’ll come up with a good compromise.”

~*~

Vicki helped mom with dinner and they both practically
shoved me out of the kitchen. I took that as meaning they wanted time together
and not a reflection on my cooking abilities. It had been a long time since I
just sat and watched television with my dad. I never liked to watch the news or
sports as he did, but I did like his company.

“Hi, Dad.” I leaned down and kissed his cheek.

“Hi, sweetheart. You okay?” Dad heard all about the break-in the
second we got home. I didn’t want to hit him with it before dinner, but he took
it better than I thought he would.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Need money?”

I smiled. Dad doesn’t like to have long-drawn-out conversations.
He just gets to the point and gets there quickly. “No, I’m good. Vicki bought
me some clothes, and I’m sure the insurance check will come soon.”

“Still seeing that baseball player?” Dad’s eyes never left the
television.

“Yes, I’m still seeing Ryan. He actually went through the
apartment before he would let me enter.”

Dad shocked me by looking directly at me and smiling. I couldn’t
help but smile back. “Sounds as if I could like this boyfriend of yours. He
knows baseball and how to protect my girl.” The second I heard him call me his
girl, I started tearing up. “Those damn onions. I keep telling your mother to
not cut so many up. They stink up the entire house.”

Before he was finished with his excuse for my sudden waterworks,
he sat down next to me and pulled me into his shoulder. “My shirt will help
keep the sting away. I’m used to it, but you’ve been away for a while.” He
kissed the top of my head before watching the television again. I snuggled into
him for an onion-free zone that I didn’t realize just how much I needed.

~*~

Dad had gone to bed early. I didn’t think he wanted to
sit around and listen to the tales of my childhood rehashed. Frankly, I didn’t
either. I excused myself to my room to change into my pajamas and to get ready
for bed. I was going to sleep on the sofa since mom had taken over the
guestroom before she started her bakery and hadn’t changed it back yet. Vicki
insisted on going to a hotel, but I wouldn’t let her do that after she welcomed
me into her home.

It was kind of odd being back in my childhood bedroom to sleep.
The only time I had slept over after I moved out was for holidays so I didn’t
have to get up so early to come over. I’d already be here. I was looking
through my room that I called home for so long and was grateful I didn’t decide
to take much with me. It would have been destroyed in my apartment. I was
especially grateful I decided to leave my favorite doll, Avery, here. Mom tried
to get me to take her so I would have a friend with me on my new adventure, but
I assured mom I wouldn’t need her. How wrong was I?

Vicki knocked on the door and I opened it for her. She looked
around the room and smiled. She looked at all the sketches I had done when I
was younger and stopped on one. It was as though she couldn’t take her eyes off
of it. It really wasn’t anything special. It was a drawing of two trees holding
a hammock. There was a father and daughter reading in the hammock. She started
to touch it and I just stared at her. She had that dazed look in her eye again.
I was about to get mom when she turned around and spoke. “You’ve always been a
great artist, huh?”

I shrugged. “I guess you could say I liked to draw a lot, but
artist?” I shook my head. “That came with a lot of practice.”

“Well, they’re great. I’m so happy you kept them all. Ashley
doesn’t like it when I keep anything of hers.” She sat on the bed next to me.

“Can she draw, too?”

Vicki laughed and shook her head. “Not really.” She laughed
again. “But they’re all still great to me.” She picked up Avery and started
playing with her outfit.

“That’s Avery.” I pointed to the doll she held.

“What did you say?” Vicki quickly looked at me and was no longer
laughing.

I didn’t know mom had been standing at the doorway listening.
“Avery is what she named her doll. It gave her great comfort whenever she had
her bad dreams. Avery was her best friend for a long time.”

“If a doll can be a best friend, then I guess it’s true.”

Vicki whispered, “Avery,” and stroked the doll’s hair. She closed
her eyes and took a deep breath. I just looked at mom and she motioned that it
was okay. Vicki stood up and placed Avery back on the bed. “I think I’ll get
ready for bed now if that’s okay.” Vicki’s voice sounded shaky and I just
looked at mom again.

“Sure. You two had a long night last night and then a long drive
today with another long drive tomorrow. Let me show you to the guest bath. I
haven’t taken that over.” Mom laughed as she ushered Vicki out of my room.

Mom came back a few minutes later without Vicki. “Mom, what was
that all about?”

“Becca, how would you feel about sleeping in here with Vicki?”

“Um, weird. You sleep with her and I’ll sleep with dad.”

“Your bed is plenty big enough. Just think of it as a sleepover.
Vicki really doesn’t want to put you on the sofa, and you know I’m not having
our guest on that sofa.” Mom was putting her foot down.

“Fine, but you have to tell me what that was all about.” I
motioned to Avery. Mom didn’t say anything. She just turned the bed down as if
Vicki and I couldn’t have done it ourselves. “You know something.”

Mom stood up straight and turned to me. “Yes, I do. Now you don’t
want me to tell her your secrets, so stop asking me. I’m not telling you unless
you’re okay with her knowing yours, too.” I just looked away and mom walked
over to me. “Baby, you know I would never make you do anything that I didn’t feel
was best for you. Now please just give the woman a chance.”

“Mom, are you sick? Are you trying to push Vicki on me in case
you . . .” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Mom grabbed me and hugged me. “No, it’s nothing like that. I
swear your imagination runs wild. I don’t trust a lot of the people you work
with and with good reason. Look at all that’s been happening to you. I do trust
Vicki, and if I can’t be there to protect you, I need to know that someone
will. Understand?”

I nodded and hugged mom back. It was finally sinking in why she
needed me to get closer to Vicki. It had nothing to do with their friendship or
watching out for Vicki. She wanted to make sure someone was watching out for
me.

~*~

The trip back to Dallas didn’t seem to take as long as it
did to get to mom’s house. It probably helped that Vicki and I talked the
entire way this time. We talked a lot about the office and how to not make it
obvious to everyone that we were part of each other’s personal lives. I have to
say that Vicki had been doing great since we got back. She agreed to let me
stay with Stacy instead of her, and we’d only had working lunches on the nights
I went out with Ryan.

Stacy was great letting me crash in her spare room. She went out
to the club almost every night, so we really didn’t see that much of each
other, but it was easier to talk to Ryan that way. I felt as if I should tell
her about us, and I probably would have if she weren’t the queen of gossip.

I felt as though I should tell a lot of people about a lot of things.
It wasn’t that I wanted to hide everything; I just didn’t want to field all the
questions I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know anything about my family, and I had no
idea where Ryan and I were headed. I knew the direction I’d like to take with
Ryan, but until he made his direction clear, I’d keep that to myself, too.

I wanted to get the apartment settled and move back in. Ryan and
mom thought I needed to find somewhere else to live, and I considered it, but
it was hard enough finding that place. They’d already changed the locks and
said they’d start the repairs as soon as the adjuster was done with the mess.
Besides, my budget didn’t allow me a lot of options in a nice neighborhood.
Ryan said he’d help me look for a place. It probably would have been crazy to
move back in there. I didn’t think I would ever feel safe again.

I couldn’t do anything until the insurance adjuster finally
decided to meet with me. He kept putting me off and that was starting to piss
me off. I knew that no one was hurt and it was just things, but I needed to get
back in there or find a new place. I couldn’t do either without the money from
the insurance. Vicki and Matt graciously offered to fund my move until the
insurance came through, but I didn’t want to depend on them any more than I had
to.

“Hey, Rebecca.” Stacy came home a little earlier than I expected.

“Hey, yourself. No fun at the club tonight?”

“Um, well, that’s the thing. I’d rather be having fun here if you
catch my drift.” Stacy motioned to her bedroom.