“Why not? You do. We all do. Mistakes are part of life. If it's a big mistake, I'll call Sabrina and do something about it.” He and his oldest daughter exchanged a smile.
“I hope it works out for you, Dad,” she said softly. It was so nice to see him again. They had all missed him so much.
“So do I. All I can do is try. And I'm sorry you're all upset. I know this is hard for you. It's a big change for me too.” And it was so much too soon for them.
“Do we have to see her, Dad?” Annie was the one who asked. None of them wanted to see her, but they assumed that he'd expect them to. He was more reasonable than they thought. He was still the father that they all loved so much.
“Let's go easy for a while,” he said sensibly. “Let's get us back on track first. I thought I was never going to hear from any of you again.” He had been sick over it for a month.
“We missed you a lot,” Candy said.
“I missed you too,” he admitted, as Sabrina opened a bottle of wine. They each had a drink with him, they all hugged each other and promised to get together again soon. And a short while later, he left. The meeting had gone better than any of them had hoped. He was marrying her, but at least he and his children were talking again, and he wasn't expecting them to embrace her with open arms, or even see her for a while. He was hoping they'd get used to the idea in time. And he had told them that there would be no Fourth of July party this year. It would be too hard for all of them, and now it was the anniversary of their mother's death, not just a party. He said that he and Leslie were going to Europe in July, and they were free to make other plans. It was a relief for all of them. None of them could have faced that party ever again, and even less with Leslie around.
“What are we going to do for the Fourth of July?” Candy asked.
“Let's not worry about that now,” Sabrina said wisely. At least they were speaking to their father again. And they collectively agreed to send them flowers and champagne in Las Vegas on Valentine's Day. It was a gesture of truce that they knew would please him. There was no question though, it was more than odd to realize that they would now have a stepmother younger than their oldest sister. This was not what any of them expected when their mother died. But then again, neither had their father. Leslie had just dropped by, and love had happened.
They were still talking about it when Tammy's cell phone rang. She couldn't imagine who it was at that hour. It was John Sperry asking her to lunch the next day. She was stunned to hear him.
“I can't believe you called me,” she said, sounding amazed.
“I told you I would. Why do you seem so surprised?” She wanted to answer, “Because normal guys never call me. I'm a magnet for freaks and weirdos.” Maybe he was, and only appeared to be normal. Who could tell anymore? She wasn't sure she'd know a regular guy if he bit her on the nose.
“I don't know why I'm surprised. I guess because most people don't do what they say. How was St. Bart's, by the way?”
“Fun. I go there with my family every Christmas. I have three brothers, and they all bring their wives and kids.”
“I have three sisters,” she said, smiling. The picture he painted of his family was appealing, and similar to hers, except that none of her sisters was married and had kids.
“I know. You said you quit your job to come here and take care of your sister. I was impressed by that.” Very impressed, in fact. “What happened to her?” Tammy had walked out of the living room with her cell phone to talk to him.
“It's a long story, but she's doing really well.” As she said it, she suddenly realized they were halfway through their lease, and she felt sad. She loved living with them. Maybe when their current lease expired, they'd find another house. None of them seemed to be going anywhere. Maybe they would live together forever. Four spinsters in a house. The only one finding true love these days was their father. And Annie seemed to be doing well with Brad. And she liked the boy Candy had met on the plane. Her love life and Sabrina's were in the tank. Her own had been for years. She had a reality show instead.
“You said your sister had an accident. What happened?” He seemed to be interested. Maybe he was only curious, but talking to him was pleasant. He seemed like a nice guy. He was intelligent, good looking, and had a relatively important job.
“She lost her sight. It was very dramatic for her. She's an artist, or was. She's doing special training at the Parker School for the Blind.”
“How strange,” John said, sounding pensive. “One of my brothers is deaf, and we all sign. He was born that way. It must be a huge adjustment for her to lose her sight.”
“It is. She's been amazing. And very brave.”
“Does she use a guide dog?” he asked with interest.
“No.” Tammy smiled. “She hates dogs. We have three here, the rest of us all have one each, but they're little, or two of them are. My older sister has a basset named Beulah. She suffers from chronic depression.” He laughed at the vision.
“Maybe she needs a shrink,” he said, joking with her.
“We have several of those too.”
“That reminds me. Now tell me the truth about Désirée Lafayette. Did she used to be a guy?” Tammy laughed out loud.
“I've always wondered that myself.”
“She sounds like a stripper.”
“She'd probably love that. She wants me to get her a wardrobe, designed specially for her by Oscar de la Renta. I haven't had the guts to ask him yet. Or the budget.”
“I'm sure it could be arranged.”
“I hope not.”
They laughed about the show for a few minutes, and he repeated his invitation for lunch. He suggested a restaurant that she liked. It sounded appealing, and it was nice to get out of the office for a change. She didn't do it often, she was usually too busy putting out fires to stop and eat. They made a date for one o'clock the next day.
The others asked her who it was when she hung up and came back into the room.
“Someone from the network I keep running into at meetings. He invited me to lunch,” she said noncommittally.
“That sounds like fun,” Sabrina said with a sad smile. She hadn't gone out since she and Chris broke up a month before. All she did was work and come straight home. She didn't have the heart to do anything else. All she'd done was think about him since he left. She missed him horribly. And she hadn't heard a word from him. She kept thinking about the beautiful ring. And the proposal that had terrified her. She wasn't as brave as her dad. Or as foolish. She didn't see how his marriage to Leslie could ever work. But she wished him well. Even though she thought the way he had gone about it was a huge disrespect to their mom. But she loved him nonetheless, and she was relieved that they had talked. At least the lines of communication were open again. That was something at least. But like the others, she was worried about how his marriage to Leslie would impact them, and their relationship with their dad.
Tammy met John Sperry for lunch the next day. He was intelligent, interesting, and she liked him. He had a million projects in the works, lots of interests, played a lot of sports, loved the theater, was ambitious about his job. He was extremely close to his family, and thirty-four years old. It appeared to both of them by the end of lunch that they had a lot in common.
“So what do we do next?” he asked her as they left the restaurant. “Dinner or another lunch?” Then he had a different idea. “How about tennis at my club on Saturday morning?”
“I'm a lousy player,” she warned. But it sounded like fun.
“So am I,” he admitted. “But I enjoy it anyway. We can have lunch at the club afterward, or somewhere else, if you have time.” He was starting slow, and she liked that too. She didn't like men who took her out to dinner once and tried to rush her into bed. And she would be perfectly content if they just wound up friends. She didn't have many friends in New York. All of her friends were in L.A., and she never had time to see them anyway.