Damage Done (27 page)

"Well that's what we
wanna talk about," Lana interrupted, "Megan's never had a job, or
went to school. We're lookin' for something for her to do part-time, but we
were talkin' about her going to school and takin' some classes, too."

"I think that's a
wonderful idea, how can I help?"

"We met up with the
financial aid people and she can get some grants and loans, they're gonna pay
for her rent and her school, but that won't start 'til January and she needs a
car to get to work and to school. It's not like there's a bus around here to
get her there."

Rachel gritted her teeth, this wasn't the first time a
client had needed transportation, and it wouldn't be the last. It was a huge barrier
for most of her clients, not having a vehicle made it incredibly difficult to
leave an abuser and become independent.

"Lana," Rachel
said evenly, "You know that's a tall order."

"Rachel," Megan
interrupted, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to ask, you've done so much for me
already."

"Hush girl," Lana
said, "You didn't ask, I did."

Rachel smiled at her and wondered if Megan would ever
appreciate the bulldog advocate she had in the old woman before her.

"I can't promise
anything," Rachel said, "To be honest, it probably won't happen,
Megan, but I'll see what I can find. In the meantime, look around and see if
you can find a dealer or an organization that might be willing to work with
you. We should have a list of transportation resources in the volunteer handbook."

"You know I know that
handbook front to back, Rachel," Lana smirked and stood to leave,
"There ain't nothin' in there that I ain't tried. So you get your pretty
little face on that computer and see what you can do. And we'll see you tomorrow
at the Summit. Kiss that baby for me and tell her I'll have a special present
for her birthday when I see her tomorrow."

Megan rose to leave with her and looked back at Rachel, her
face red with embarrassment.

Creeeak.

“Rachel!” Dylan barked from
the front room.

She bolted from her chair,
what was he doing there? Lana and Megan looked to her and made their way to
leave, but Dylan already stood in the doorway, his tall frame and dark suit
blocking their exit.

“Ladies,” he greeted them
kindly, “How are you this morning?”

“We’re just dandy, tall,
dark and handsome,” Lana purred, a huge smile across her face, and then nodding
toward Megan, “We’re just harassin’ Rachel about finding a car for our girl
here.”

“A car, huh?” he asked as he
walked into the office, “I tell you what, give me ten minutes alone with Ms.
Beauchamp and when I’m done I’ll give you a car. You can pick it up this
afternoon.”

“Ms.
Daniels
,” Jake
said from the door, “Come on, Lana, let’s give the man ten minutes alone with
Ms.
Daniels
.”

“Absolutely,” Lana said,
grinning from ear to ear, “Give the man his ten minutes, Rachel, and then he
can come talk to me about a car.”

Jake ushered Lana and Megan
out of Rachel
’s office, then stood
holding the door handle as he narrowed his eyes at Dylan and said, “Keep it
down in here, kids.”

He shut the door quietly and left them alone.

“Dylan,” Rachel began, “You
can’t just give her a car!”

“I just did,” he said,
closing the distance between them.

She stumbled back in her chair,
his hands went to the armrests and he leaned down to look into her face,
“Why haven’t I heard from you?”

"Dylan, what if
somebody sees you?"

"I don’t care, I had to
see you."

He pulled her from her
chair, guiding her forcefully to the door where he reached down and locked it.
He was irresistible, any good sense she should have had in telling him to leave
fled when he flashed her that wicked smile and pressed her against the wall.

"Dylan -"

"Hmmmm?" he
murmured, his mouth already on her neck, his hands running over her body.

"Dylan, this is a bad
idea, we've got to do this the right way."

But her body said this was the right way, she melted into
him and reached to pull him in closer. He looked at her, his eyes ravenous and
frustrated.

"No, you're right,"
he said reaching for her hands and stepping back, "Let's do it the right
way. I'm sorry. I just had to come and see you. I needed to look into your face
and hear you tell me you hadn't changed your mind."

She moved to him and raised up on her toes.

"Kiss me," she
demanded.

He kissed her quickly on the mouth and pulled back to see
her.

"I haven't changed my
mind. But this was reckless. I've got to protect Hunter and Lauren."

Pain washed over his face as he frowned down at her.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"I love you," she
said reaching up to touch his face, “But I need more time, okay?”

She walked back to her desk and watched him as he reached
up to lace his fingers on top of his head.

“Rachel- I need you.”

Her hands shook but she
steadied her breathing and looked him in the eyes, “I have to protect my kids.”

"I swear to you,
Rachel, I will love your children like my own. I will give them everything, I
will keep them safe and protect them, I will go to fucking co-parenting classes
with their dad, I will do whatever I have to if it means they will be happy and
we can be together. It's our turn. Look at me and tell me you don't know that."

"I do know it,"
she said, "But it's more complicated than that."

"No shit, Rachel, the
circumstances are complicated, your mom and her bullshit and you being married,
and you always fucking running away and never wanting to deal with what's right
in front of you? Michael laying in the hospital waiting for us to pull the plug
so he can die? Yeah, that's all complicated. But everything between us,"
he said pointing from himself to her and back, "all of this is pure and
simple, this is as basic as it fucking gets. There's nothing complicated about
you and me, puss. I love you. I have always fucking loved you."

"You're right,"
she finally conceded, "It doesn't have to be as complicated as I always
make it out to be. I don't know how not to make things complicated. I just
don't know what to do next."

“Leave him. Come home with
me.”

He stood brooding, his arms
crossed as he watched her. She wanted to leave with him, right then. But it was
best to sit Kenneth down after Lauren's birthday, after the gala, then they
could talk about the divorce. The holidays were around the corner, but it
wouldn't have been fair to any of them to fake it for that long.

It was time to let the healing begin, time for both of them
to move on and make themselves happy.

"Dylan, I've just got
to wait, Lauren's birthday is today, I have to think of my kids. And if I leave
my husband of twelve years for my high school boyfriend weeks before the
biggest event of the year, think about how that might affect my organization.
Do you think those snotty wallets are going to open for the skinny slut
sleeping with her ex-boyfriend?"

He uncrossed his arms and
turned to the door to leave, "So after the gala then?"

"After the gala."

***

He ran a hand over the bulge
in his pants and rubbed away the erection still threatening his resolve to be
respectful in her office. He hadn't meant to get so worked up. He wasn't angry,
but he was dying without her there to hold him. He had to tell her what he was
thinking.

The lawyer in him had gone to work, waiting for her
argument so he could rip it apart and make her see it his way, convince her he
was right. But she hadn’t argued. She’d said she would leave after the gala.

Her parent's divorce had
scarred her, Dylan knew that. He would have to give her the time to feel safe.
She was worried for her children, he understood, and he'd do whatever he could
to protect them, too. They were a part of her.

She was right, it was irresponsible for him to have come
there. But he hadn't slept and couldn't stop thinking about her, he had to see
her before he went into that meeting, one last reminder that the world wasn't
coming to an end, that he had something else waiting for him after Michael
left. After Michael died.

He walked from Rachel’s
office and found the old woman waiting for him, grateful to be rid of Michael’s
car, one last reminder he wouldn’t have to worry about.

“You ready?” he asked Lana,
“Let’s go get your friend a car.”

***

They had pizza and spaghetti
for dinner, Lauren's favorites, and she and Kenneth did their best to appear in
good spirits while they sang Happy Birthday and watched Lauren and Hunter scarf
down cake and ice cream.

They hadn't spoken in weeks except to work out the
logistics of picking up he and Hunter's tuxedos for the gala, and to agree that
the kids could leave early with Kenneth's parents. It wasn't often they were able
to make it down from Dallas to visit, and they'd wanted the kids to spend the
night in their hotel, they were taking them to the Texans game the day after-
an afternoon of football and cotton candy.

Lauren opened her gifts
excitedly, Rachel gave her the tiara and Kenneth gave her a jewelry box with a
bracelet that said, "Daddy's Little Girl."

Rachel's heart swelled at his gift to their little girl,
and she fought tears as she watched him hug her a little more tightly than
usual. Hunter made her a card and gave her a nice quartz rock from his
collection.

It was tense between she and Kenneth, but they pulled it
together for the kids and it made her feel good to know it was possible.

"I'm going to
bed," Kenneth said as soon as the kids were tucked in.

Rachel poured a glass of
wine and walked out to the porch, sorrowful, thinking of the days dwindling
away, knowing it wouldn't be long before it was over and they had to tell
Hunter and Lauren.

Lauren probably wouldn't remember it, she was still young
enough. But Hunter would never forget, and it rocked her to think of his eight
year old self dealing with hearing that his family was breaking up.

She'd been eighteen when it happened to her, and it tore a
hole in her that she'd never been able to repair.

A little over a week before the gala, and Rachel finally made
an appointment with Hillary to do something about her hair. She watched her
stylist in the mirror as she lifted small sections to examine the damage.

"That bad, huh?"

"Rachel, sweetie, you
have to stop doing this," Hillary said, "You only come in twice a
year and your hair is so dry and damaged. I'm gonna go get some color mixed in
the back."

"Hey Hillary, let's go
dark this time, okay? No highlights, I want something more dramatic."

"Dramatic, huh? Absofuckinglutely. Let's do it!"

Savannah had always hated
Rachel's plain brown hair, she'd encouraged her to start highlighting it in her
teens, wanting to lighten it up like her own. Rachel never argued, her mother
had known more about style and the trends, it just wasn't something she'd cared
about. But if her mother had the audacity to show up next weekend, Rachel
wanted to make a statement.

She was done being told, "You're doing it wrong."

Hillary took off for the
back and she flipped through a decade old hairstyle book, eavesdropping on
another stylist and her client who sat gossiping in the next chair.

"No, I think she's
waiting for him to leave her," the client said excitedly.

"Yeah, but he's been
promising to leave her for over a year, and where is he right now? Probably
having lunch with his wife or flying kites with his kids. The girl's an idiot
if she thinks that man is going to leave his family to be with her, and his
wife is a fool for not seeing what's going on behind her back," the
stylist said animatedly, waving her scissors and comb around the girl's head.

Rachel hadn't wanted to make
a fool out of Kenneth, but listening to the girls next to her go on and on
about their scandalous friend, she realized that's exactly what she was setting
herself up to do.

Kenneth deserved better than that. She couldn't go any
longer without telling him she wanted out. She'd have to do it soon, tonight
even. And if ReachingOut suffered as a result, she'd just cross that bridge
when she came to it.

Her happiness needed to be a priority, too.

***

Hunter refused to give her a
kiss when she picked him up, eight year old boys are a lot less compliant than
three year old girls when it comes to public displays of motherly affection.

"Give me some sugar,
handsome boy, I missed you today," Rachel demanded leaning over the
console as he climbed into the front passenger seat.

For all her worrying over the infinite number of horrible
things that could possibly happen to her children, she hadn't thought twice
about allowing Hunter to ride in the front seat as soon as he'd been old
enough. Sarah made her kids ride in boosters in the backseat until they were
twelve. Maybe Rachel wasn't as overly obsessed with their welfare as she'd
thought.