0215543001348293036 vaughn piper oshea m.j. (10 page)

I dumped my bag full of school clothes and my keys right at the doorway to my apartment, and set Alice’s car seat down more carefully before I dug in my pocket to answer it. “Hello?”

“Hey, hotness!” Only one person called me that—and called after closing time on a Friday. He knew I’d be up, and I was. I’d picked Alice up at Dusty’s and was trudging my way to my bed. I couldn’t get there fast enough.

“Chad, hey, what’s shakin’ in Hollywood?”

I’d met him when he’d been in town for a family wedding. He lived in LA and had a chair at Roberto Colucci, one of the most exclusive salons in Beverly Hills. We’d had a fun weekend together and managed to remain casual friends. He told me that when I was done with school he’d find me a job in Cali. I had every digit connected to my body crossed that he would eventually pull through.

“Not much, babe. You?”

I shrugged. “Just getting home from work.”

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“Ah, yes. The Tom Tom club.” He’d come there to blow off steam after spending a day with cousins and nieces. Ended up blowing… well. Me. “How is the ’Ware?”

Ugh. Delaware. “Cold. Boring. I have a baby.” It was fun to listen to him sputter.

“Wait, what? That’s genetically impossible.”

“For one night it wasn’t. Believe me, you don’t want to know.” I groaned in memory. “Her name is Alice, though. She’s gorgeous—

black hair, white skin, big cornflower blue eyes.”

“You’re totally fuckin’ with me, aren’t you?”

“Alice, love, say hi to Chad.” I held the phone close, and she made one of those adorable high-pitched squealing noises that she’d started making a few weeks earlier. “See?”

“Oh my God. The world
has
come to an end.”

“No, more like a beginning.” I didn’t mean to sound so smitten, but it was in my voice.

“You really are a daddy, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I really am. All the more reason to have to get an amazing job when I’m done with school.”

“How much longer do you have?”

“A few months.” I was worried about what would happen after. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life tending bar at the Tom Tom Club. They usually booted you if you hit thirty anyway—made room for fresh, young blood.

“Listen, I haven’t heard of anything new, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do. I might have enough clout by now to pull a few strings.”

“Thanks, Chad. You know I’d love to work for you.”
Or anyone
who lives somewhere other than here….

“I’ll do what I can, gorgeous. I know that town’s not for you any more than it is for me. You’re the only good time I ever had there.”

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He’s got that right.
“Hey, listen. It was really great of you to call, hon. I’ve gotta get Alice to bed and decompress. It was an intense night at the club. Foam party.”

Chad chuckled. “You should come to one of those out here.

You’d have them lining up around the block. Hey, I’ll call you if I’ve got any news, okay?”

“I’ll be waiting. It was nice talking to you.” I hung up the phone wishing there was something ready for me right then, even if I wasn’t ready to take it. I was so over the East Coast scene.

I’d leaned down to take Alice out of her car seat, door still wide open, when I was surprised by Erik peeking his head around the doorway. He looked rumpled, like he’d been running his hands through his hair all night.

“Hey,” he said with a smile.

“Hi.” I couldn’t help but smile back. Even though he was still stranger than my Aunt Elma’s three-legged cat, he was a bit lovable, and somewhere along the line, since he started watching Alice, we’d gotten to be friends.

He looked me up and down. I’m sure after a night of sweaty, soapy guys draping themselves all over my bar and me, I looked like a complete mess. “Uh, do you want me to put Alice down while you shower? You look uncomfortable.”

I was. The foam party was great for tips, but not so fun for those who were sober… like the employees. “If you don’t mind. That would be really great.”

“Of course not. Come here, baby cakes.”
Baby cakes? Erik? Had
he been hanging around with Devon when I wasn’t looking?

I watched in fascination as he lifted Alice from her car seat and nuzzled a kiss into her fat little baby neck. Then he rocked her gently back and forth, making soft little noises as he stealthily headed for her room. My daughter was a night owl and screamed like a damn banshee

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if I tried to put her to sleep while there were other people awake in the room. Erik must’ve figured that out at some point. I was impressed.

I gathered my shower stuff from my room, not wanting to let Alice see me and start crying. The shower felt amazing. Rinsing the grime of the Tom Tom Club off my skin made me feel like myself again. Weirdly enough, so did rinsing off the black eyeliner and dusting of pink, kabuki-style shadow I’d loved so much earlier in the evening.

I came out of the shower, drying my hair, to find Erik waiting serenely for me on the couch. He was still the same kinda weird guy, but there was something different about him. Like communing with Alice had calmed him somehow.

“Thanks for waiting.” I noticed he eyeballed my pajama bottoms skeptically—black with little stars stitched in metallic hot pink.

Whatever. They were awesome.

“I just wanted to make sure she was okay while you were in the shower. I’ll get back to my writing now.”

“It’s late. Aren’t you going to go to bed?” Erik shrugged. “Maybe later. I had a great idea for a new series.” He looked kind of odd (well, more than usual, anyway), like there was something he wasn’t telling me. My neighbor… I really didn’t get him.

“Okay, well, get some sleep. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.” I usually did. He’d pop in to say hi to me and Alice once or twice a weekend. I thought at first I’d be annoyed by it, but it was kind of nice—in a kooky, Erik sort of way.

I LOOKED in my fridge on Sunday morning, only to be greeted by Alice’s baby formula and a carton of milk that had been expired for a day or so. I really wanted to relax, but it was clearly time to go to the grocery store. I used to go nearly every night between class and work, to pick up a salad or some kombucha (kind of vile but awesome for your skin). If I was feeling crazy I’d even grab a slice of cheesecake or a lemon tart—but only on the weekends. Had to fit in my little

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bartending outfits, after all, and I really didn’t have time to work out.

Lately, though, going to the store had turned into a big effing procedure, unless, of course, I could get Erik to watch Alice while I was gone. It was tempting to ask, but so out of line… actually, you know what? I decided we were friends, and maybe he wouldn’t watch Alice, but he should at least come with us. He didn’t leave the building very often, and I didn’t want him turning into that Sean Connery guy from
Finding Forrester
… although Sean Connery was pretty yummy for a silver fox.

So I got Alice all dolled up in one of her new outfits and went over to knock on Erik’s door. He answered dressed but disheveled.

“Up and at ’em, mister. You’re going out with me and Alice.”

“Where?” His voice was groggy and scratchy and kinda
sexy
, actually, even if it was still Erik. I just smiled my most annoying morning-person smile.

“Grocery store. I’ll even pull through Starbucks if you get your butt ready in five minutes or less.”

Erik looked at me like I’d grown an alien appendage out of my head. I was used to that look so it didn’t bother me.

“Rue, I don’t need to go to the grocery store. All my food is delivered so I don’t have to do that.” He shuddered, looking apologetic.

He called that crap “all his food?” Oh noes.

“What’s the matter with the grocery store?”

“It’s crowded. I don’t like crowds. And the parking….” I wasn’t going to let him be such a shut-in. “Uh huh. Well, I’m driving, and it’s not going to be very crowded right now. Get your coat on, and brush your hair. You’re coming.”

“Rue—”

“Hair. Coat. Now.” I smiled again but angled my body into his door. He sighed and shuffled off to the bathroom to do my bidding.

“See, Alice, everyone listens to your papa. Keep that in mind for when you turn thirteen.”

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Piper Vaughn & M.J. O’Shea

Erik came out of his bathroom moderately put together. It was about as good as I could expect from that one, but the scruffy kinda worked for him. I just wanted it to be refined scruffy. It’s a curse, I tell ya, that itchy urge to make everyone look their best.

“You ready?”

“Ready? No one’s ready for the Spanish Inquisition.”

“What?” I swore sometimes that he was speaking another language.

Erik laughed, which surprised me because I’d never heard him laugh before, and his laugh was friendly and open and made him, well… beautiful. I just stood there for a second, unable to speak.

“Never mind, Underoo. Let’s just go.”

“Oh, you didn’t! I’m gonna kill Dusty.
Kill
.” He laughed that out-of-character laugh again and shuffled us out into the hall so he could lock his door.

THE grocery store was ridiculous. Erik got his own cart and proceeded to fill it with every sugar-filled, salt-crusted, processed piece of crap he could find. I laughed harder every time he did it. It was almost a contest—for every vegetable or fruit I’d put in my cart, he’d counter with something nobody likes after they’re twelve.

“You’re not really going to buy all of that, are you?” He held up a package of marshmallow pinwheels. “Of course. I haven’t had these in years.”

“That’s because they’re outlawed for everyone who’s old enough to vote. I read that somewhere.”

Erik made a show of smelling the package. “Mmmmm.” It was impossible not to snicker. “Fine. Put them in your cart, but you’re coming over for dinner.” Where was uncomfortable Erik? I had to admit, I liked him like this. Of course, the store was deserted, and he

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had to be used to me and Alice after being around us for a couple of months.

“You cook?” He looked skeptical. I wished I could wipe that skeptical look off his face with a home cooked, gourmet meal. Not likely.

“I make an awesome salad… and I can grill the hell out of some garlic bread.”

“Salad?” He looked worried. Based on the contents of his cart, I wasn’t surprised.

“You’ll like it.”

Erik nodded. “Okay. Dinner. But let me at least have a snack before this supposed salad. I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

WE PILED the groceries into my car, and I made the promised pull through the Starbucks’ drive-thru window. He got a huge coffee with like fifty pumps of syrup in it and a breakfast sandwich. I got a tall green tea and called it good. Erik rolled his eyes.

When we got back to the building, he retreated to his apartment, saying he needed to write, and I made myself happy cleaning the kitchen and doing a little yoga while Alice took a nap. He showed up at seven, just like I asked him to. It was strangely domestic, us sitting at the table, Alice in her rocker right at our feet. The place smelled like warm garlic bread and the pasta I’d boiled and mixed with olive oil, Parmesan, and herbs. (I took pity on the guy, and boiling pasta was one of the elementary cooking feats I’d mastered.) We talked surprisingly easily. I ribbed him about his junk food habit. He produced the package of marshmallow pinwheel cookies, which I tried since he ate my salad, and dammit if I didn’t still like them. I didn’t want to admit it, but he looked so pleased with himself.

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Piper Vaughn & M.J. O’Shea

We said goodnight with smiles and lots of kisses (for Alice of course). I snuggled into my bed early, more than ready for some sleep.

I figured I’d be woken again in a few hours anyway.

What I didn’t figure was my phone ringing about an hour later with a panicked Dusty on the line.

“Rue?” He sounded like he’d been crying.

“Dust, what’s wrong?”

“I need you to come pick me up.” He sniffled and let out another sob. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard Dusty cry.

“What’s happening?”

“Gary… he’s drinking and I’m here… outside. It’s really creepy here, Rues. I wanna go home.”

“Wait, did Gary do something to you?”

“Will you please just come get me? I’m outside of Two Koi, that new sushi place. You know, down on Washington Street?”

“Yeah. I know where it is.”

“Hurry. I don’t want him to come out.”

Fucking Gary….

I jumped out of bed, pulled on flip-flops and an old hoodie from a concert I’d been to in Boston a few years back, and jogged across the hallway to get my sleeping daughter out of bed and into her car seat. I didn’t want to go down there alone. Gary was a douche, but he was a big douche—nearly six three. I wasn’t even close. Neither was Dusty.

Erik.
He’d come with me. He’d help. I grabbed my keys and my daughter’s car seat and tensely walked the ten feet between my door and his.

“Erik?”

I knocked on his door, hoping that, as usual, he was still awake.

[66]

one small thing

Erik

MY FINGER hovered over the mouse pad, just an inch or so above the button that would open the file on my screen. I’d been waffling about the decision ever since I’d gotten back to my apartment after having dinner with Rue and Alice. I was still full from the pasta and salad, which had been surprisingly good, even if there hadn’t been any meat in it. What was even more surprising was how much I’d enjoyed myself, being with him and Alice. I hadn’t spent a day in adult company in a really long time. Having Rue around was actually kind of… nice.