Chapter Nine
Jensen
“Mila, be careful,” I tell her as she runs down the beach. I know we are passing the white house, and I also know they finished everything last night. No one knows I went there last night after I knew everyone was gone. I went to take one last walk-through. I said goodbye to the memories, goodbye to the ghost. I also dropped off the papers to my grandmother, selling her the house for a penny. I don’t want it. I don’t want anything to do with it, so it’s now hers.
I sat in that living room, looking into the fireplace as I burned all the pictures Julia and I had ever taken. Alone with a bottle of scotch.
Norma, Julia’s mother, gets to spend one weekend a month with Mila. After Julia left me, her mother pleaded and begged for her to come back home, but Julia was not going to do that. Plus, Julia had just found out she was pregnant, and this time, it really couldn’t have been mine. Besides, they were building their empire. Scott was setting up his own construction company, and Julia took care of the paperwork.
Two months after Julia left, I received the divorce papers as well as the papers relinquishing her parental right to Mila. My attorney got her name taken off the birth certificate to make sure she could never come back for custody. I knew she wouldn’t, but I covered my bases anyway. Norma begged me to let her be a part of Mila’s life, and I agreed, with the condition that she is not to discuss Julia. There was no reason to talk to my girl about a mother who deserted us. Who deserted her own daughter. No daughter should grow up with the knowledge that not even her own mother wanted her. It was my one rule, and until she broke it, she could be in her life.
Now, I watch as my little girl smiles every single day; she is surrounded by so much love that she doesn’t miss anything. I know she will have questions when she gets older, so I kept one picture of Julia. The one right after she gave birth with tears running down her face. I brought it home with me and slipped it in the bottom of my dresser drawer. One day, I’m going to have to answer where her mom is, and I hope this makes her feel loved even though she left her.
“Poppa, look, a bottle,” she says as she points at an empty bottle of beer that has washed up on the shore. She picks up the branch lying next to it and throws it into the shallow water. Flounder jumps into the water and catches it, carrying it back out.
We walk a bit more until we circle around to head home. I make Mila her Sunday night special of fish sticks and tater tots. I’m taking the pan out of the oven when my front door slams shut. “Uncle Gabe,” Mila says from her spot on the couch as she watches The Boss Baby. Gabe is my cousin; our fathers are brothers. We grew up together, and he’s like a brother to me, which is why Mila calls him Uncle. “Hi.” He smiles at her and kisses her head.
I watch him walk into the kitchen from the huge family room. The open concept was the perfect decision. “What’s got into you?” I ask him as I flip the fish sticks over and put them back in the oven. I watch Gabe go to the liquor cabinet and pour himself two fingers of scotch. Downing it, he then pours himself another two fingers. Once he finishes the second one, he stands there with his head hung. “So are we discussing this, or are you just going to sulk in the corner?” I ask him.
“I just met the woman replacing Laura,” he says, and I stand there as I whisper, “Oh.” Laura was Gabe’s head nurse at the medical clinic; she was best friends with Bethany, their office manager. Bethany started off working together with Gabe, and it slowly progressed to them dating and getting engaged. I’ve never seen him happier. He had me build his dream house, but little did he know, she was going to be a runaway bride. He stood at the alter waiting for her to walk down as their families looked on, only to get the news she took off. She was offered a sales position in Chicago for a medical company. So just like that, Bethany was gone. It also didn’t help that she got his best nurse Laura a job at the hospital. Not only was his fiancée gone, but she had also taken her best friend with her. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s the biggest one for four towns over. We have people coming from all over to have Gabe treat them, but he refuses to move to the city and he refuses to give in to the hospitals. Instead, he does what he wants to for him.
“Yeah, that,” he says as he sits on the stool at the island while I stand on the other side. “Plus, she lives in your old fucking house.”
“Don’t even fucking think about it.” I point at him, and I’m not even sure I know what I’m threatening him about. “She doesn’t need you sniffing around her just to add another name to that list of yours.”
He looks at me like I have two heads. “What the fuck are you talking about? You know Crystal?”
“Oh, her.” I cross my hands over my chest. “I thought you were talking about Hailey.”
“And if I was?” he asks. His eyebrow goes up in challenge, so I change the subject.
“Why are you so pissed about it?”
“She wants to place her bed in the middle of the room. Diagonally,” he says, gesturing with his hands. “Who does that? So I fired her.”
“So you fired her?” I ask, trying not to laugh at him.
“Yes, but then the little, the little,” he says, trying to come up with a name, “the little woman called my father and quit.”
Now I don’t even try to hide the smile. Instead, I belly laugh out loud. “It’s not fucking funny. I had to apologize to her.”
I put my hand in front of my mouth and gasp. “You did?”
“Fuck you, Walker,” he says. “I knew she was fucking trouble from the minute I got her application. She comes from one of the top hospitals in the US. She was even given a reference from the head of surgery, who called and begged me to turn her down.” He gets up, getting more scotch. “I told my father to turn her down, told my father it wasn’t a good idea, but then Grams came in, and it was a done deal.”
“Why would she want to leave a big hospital for a small medical clinic?” I ask him. The oven beeps, and I turn to take the fish sticks out of the oven and place them on Mila’s small plastic plate. I get the ketchup out and squeeze a bit on the plate. “Mila, come eat, honey.”
“Okay, Poppa,” she says, jumping off the couch and walking over to the island. She tries to climb up, but instead, Gabe picks her up and places her down. “I could’ve done it, Uncle Gabe.”
“I know, but I didn’t want you to fall down and do a big boo-boo,” he says.
My little girl rolls her eyes at him. “I’m a big girl now.”
“Yes, you are,” I say to her. “Now, make sure you blow, okay, because they just came out of the oven.” I push the plate in front of her as Gabe steals a tater tot.
“From what my father said, she came down with Hailey,” Gabe says. Mila butts into our conversation.
“I like Hailey; she calls me Princess Mila,” she says as she grabs a tater tot, dipping it in the ketchup, then she blows and bites a piece off. “She looks like a princess,” Mila says as I just nod and try not to let my thoughts go back to the look of sadness on her face the minute I opened my mouth and mentioned her husband.
“Eat because it’s almost bath time,” I tell her as she eats all her fish sticks. “You want to hang out while I put Mila to bed?” I ask Gabe. He nods his head and heads to the living room to sit on the couch, changing the TV to the sports channel while I take Mila back for a bath and story time.
Forty-five minutes later, I finally return to find Gabe sleeping on the couch. I turn off the television and make my way to my bedroom. I turn on the baby monitor, then peel off my shirt and finally get into the shower. I stand there in my big walk-in shower and let the hot water rain down on me. I close my eyes, thinking of the week ahead, but instead, I picture the beach, the waves, or better yet, the woman watching the waves.
My dreams play tricks on me that night as I toss and turn. I only wake when I get kneed in the balls by Mila, who climbed into my bed sometime during the night. I groan and look at the clock, 5:30 a.m. I roll off the bed and catch my breath as I hold my balls. Sliding my jogging pants on, I go to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Gabe’s gone, so he must have taken off sometime in the middle of the night. I grab the coffee and sit at the island, looking outside. The whole back wall of my house has a panoramic view of the ocean. I’m about to take a sip of coffee when I see blond hair, and my head whips up. It’s blowing as she walks down the beach wrapped in a blanket. When she gets to the steps that lead to my house, Flounder runs down and jumps on her. I rush outside and yell, “Flounder.” I see that she is on her back now with the blanket off her and her cup of coffee tossed in the sand. Flounder sits on her and licks her face as if she is a treat.
“No.” She tosses her head from right to left. “Stop, fuck.” She tries to push him away, but he thinks it’s a game and continues to lick her face while she squeezes her eyes shut. “Fuck off.”
“Flounder.” I issue the command, and he stops right away. She opens her eyes and rolls to her knees. I take in her cotton pjs as she picks up the blanket and shakes the sand off it. “What the fuck were you doing?” I ask her as she bends to grab her cup. She whips her head up to look at me.
“Me?” she says as she dusts the sand from her back. “Your dog attacked me while I was walking on the beach.”
“He doesn’t like people on his property,” I say as I pet his head, and he lies next to me.
“I’m sorry. Since when is a public beach your property?” she says and then puts up her hand. “You know what? Fuck that. Keep your dog leashed or I’m calling animal control next time.” She turns to walk away.
“For what? Licking your face.” I smirk at her and see her take in my shirtless chest.
“Licking my face?” she shrieks out, then lifts her shirt. I see that she is bleeding and her shirt is torn. “He bit me.”
I want to see if she is okay, but I stop when she turns. “I’d better not need a tetanus shot.” She opens the blanket again and drapes it over her shoulders, then she walks away.
“Flounder, that wasn’t nice,” I tell him as he tilts his head to the side and looks at me. “Not nice.” When I look up, she’s already gone. I go inside just in time for Mila to come into the kitchen. “Poppa, can I have Lucky Charms?” I nod, picking her up and kissing her sleepy face. She wraps her arms around my neck and lays her head on my shoulder, and we sit on the couch lost in our own thoughts.