Operation: Normal (5 page)

I put Kayly in her walker before heading to the kitchen to fill her cup with juice. Just as
I handed it to her, my cell phone rang. While I didn't know who it could be, I knew who it
wasn't: Dad or--think the
Twilight Zone
theme here--Zach.

"Hello?"

"It's me," said Minka. "How's it going?"

"Not so hot." I plopped down on the couch again and filled her in on Zach's
bombshell.

"So his name
is
Zach!" she exclaimed, sounding as if she already knew
that.

Of course I made her explain.

"When I got home last night, Cin was there. She needed Mom to trim her hair." Cin was
Cindy, Minka's older sister who lived on the University of Texas-Austin campus. Their mom,
Cathy, was a hair stylist.

"And...?"

"It dawned on me that I should ask if she'd met a Seth Thomas. He lives so close to the
campus that I figured he might be a student, and Cin knows everyone, right?"

"Right." Minka bragged all the time about her overachieving sister, who was one of the
cheerleaders, as well as in a sorority, the honors math program, and the last musical put on by the
drama department, just to name a few of her accomplishments.

"Well, she said that she didn't know a Seth, but knew a Zach and described him. I wasn't
sure if he was our guy, even though she mentioned his amazing blue eyes. Now I know he is, of
course."

"What did she say about him?"

"That she met him at a party and really liked him. Apparently he's a transfer from
UT-Dallas and will be a senior this fall. She said he moved here so he could help out his grandfather,
who owns some kind of business and needed some computer programming done."

"Anything else?"

"She said he's majoring in Linguistics and is very smart."

"Did they go out?" I asked. I mean, that was a lot of information to wrangle from a
stranger at a party.

"Once, actually."

"Why only once?"

"Cindy told me he said he'd be in touch, but he never called, and she's got too many
other guys begging for dates to pine after one who didn't."

I knew that to be true. "I hope you didn't say anything about Zach's being Kayly's father,
especially now that he isn't."

"Give me some credit, okay?"

"Is that a no?"

"Yes."

"Good. I don't want to ruin the guy's life. Well, not any more than I already have,
anyway."

It was at least another fifteen minutes before I could get off the phone, thanks to Minka's
angst over her upcoming date with Greg March Friday night. We had to discuss possible outfits,
shoes, hair, even lipstick flavors. I thought she'd never hang up.

I messed around the apartment for hours, my head spinning with everything that had
happened that day. Finally, around five, I scooped up Kayly, sippy cup and all, plus my keys,
and went downstairs to check the mail. There was so much stuffed in there, I could barely get
everything out of the box.

Somehow I made it back to the apartment without dropping anything, though Kayly had
one corner of a magazine gnawed off before I realized it. I settled her in her walker, then headed
to the corner of the room we called Mom's office. I sat at her desk, wondering how she was
doing, as I absently opened, emptied, and shredded each envelope.

When I finally got around to examining what had come in those envelopes, I came
across a single piece of paper, plain white, and folded evenly into thirds. I opened it and saw
individual letters in all shapes and sizes, cut from magazines or maybe a newspaper, just like in
the movies, and arranged to form one simple sentence.

You'll be sorry
.

I screamed. Oh, not loud, and certainly not on purpose. It just sort burst from my lips
before I could stop it. I was that startled. Kayly jumped like I'd pinched her or something, then
wailed. I dropped the letter on the desk and ran to my sister, hugging her so hard she stopped
crying and struggled to breathe.

"Oh my God. Oh my God." I paced the living area, frantic for the safety of my mom,
whose life had just been threatened by some anonymous Blak Magyk hater who'd known she
was planning to tour with the band, but didn't know she'd left early and would never see the note.
Or maybe they'd seen her on TV. Pivoting, I headed to the desk to check the postmark on the
envelope the letter came in. Halfway there, I remembered I'd shredded it first thing.

Furious with myself, I slapped my palm to my forehead.

"Ally, you are such an idiot!"

To take a load off my quaking knees, I abruptly sat. Kayly immediately nabbed the
threat letter from the desk, wadding it as she raised it to her mouth. Though eating it was
probably as good a reaction as any at this point, I tore it from her fingers. Then I got up and
walked to the kitchen, where I secured it to the refrigerator door with a Winnie the Pooh
magnet.

My mouth suddenly felt parched as the Sahara.

What do I do? I wondered. Call Mom? Call Adele? Call the police?

If I called Mom, she'd go nuts. And it wasn't like she could hop in the car and be there in
thirty minutes. As for Adele, well, I didn't even consider that option since Mom didn't really
approve of her. The police made the most sense, of course, but what could they do with a paper
like this, besides dust it for fingerprints? And wouldn't a person who'd gone to the trouble of
cutting out and pasting letters be smart enough to not leave any?

I did get up and slip the deadbolt lock into place, which made me feel a tiny bit better.
Just as I glanced at the clock and noted the time--5:49--I thought of Zach
that way
. I
snatched up my cell just as it rang. "Hello."

"Ally, it's Zach."

"I know."

"You do?"

"Caller ID," I blurted, the next second giving myself a mental kick in the backside. Now
he probably thought I'd somehow dug up his cell phone number and added him to my contacts or
something.

"Oh." Big pause. "Um...we really need to talk. Can I come over?"

"Please."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Good. Where do you live?"

"The Austin Lofts on the corner of Fifth and Pine Street. Do you know the
building?"

"No, but I'll find it. Which floor?"

"Fifth. We're in 5C."

"Got it. I'll see you in thirty."

"Right," I said to no one. He'd already hung up.

I ran to Mom's room and deposited Kayly in her crib before dashing into mine to freshen
up. I checked to be sure that my hair wasn't sticking up too badly on top, my mascara wasn't
under my eyes, and I didn't have drool on my shirt before heading back to Mom's room to return
her borrowed earrings.

After that, I wiped Kayly down with a warm washcloth from head to toe. I smoothed
some lotion on her, which has a very soft baby scent, then put her in her walker in the living
area. My little sister immediately began rolling around the area, something made easy by our
floors which were concrete, painted to look sort of rustic, almost like stone.

There was nothing to do now, but wait. So I sat at the bar and did exactly that. Every
now and then, my gaze strayed to the letter on the fridge, but I did nothing more than stare at it.
It just seemed so unreal to me. Almost like a sick joke.

At exactly six-twenty-five, I heard a knock on my door. I stood on tiptoe to look through
the peep hole, saw Zach, then flipped the deadbolt and opened the door.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey."

I stepped aside so he could come in. He did, his gaze instantly sweeping the place,
pausing here and there, undoubtedly forming a first impression. My own gaze swept him, noting
he wore the same tee, but had changed his jeans for khaki shorts, sort of baggy, and his Docs for
leather sandals.

I gestured to the couch. "Have a seat."

He sat, but didn't lean back. Instead he sort of perched on the edge of the cushion as if
about to spring up again. I settled myself in the rocker, hoping he'd take my cue and relax.

Zach frowned slightly, and I wondered if I should've put on lipstick or something.

"I can tell you're upset," he said. "I am, too. I mean... What were our parents
thinking?"

"Not about the baby involved, that's for sure," I said.

"Yeah." He sighed and finger combed his hair to get it out of his eyes.

I realized then that it had some light streaks, but they didn't look fake. I guessed the sun
had done it and wasn't surprised. He looked like an outdoorsy kind of guy.

"Thanks for letting me come over."

"No problem." I folded my hands and pretty much gave him the floor.

I don't think he knew where to begin. He rested his elbows on his knees and kept his
gaze glued to the area rug under our feet. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier today. I wasn't
trying to hurt you."

"
You
didn't."

He glanced up at me and nodded, clearly getting my meaning. "What I came to say is
this: I don't know what you're planning to do now. I...well, that's your business, I guess. But I
think I should warn you that Seth Thomas is probably not the kind of dad you had in mind for
your little sister."

That surprised me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's not perfect, okay? In fact, he's far from it. I don't know why my mom has
put up with him all these years." He shrugged. "Actually, that's not true. I do know. She doesn't
believe in divorce, no matter how much stupid stuff he does."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Affairs. Gambling. Drinking. That sort of thing."

Whoa! I suddenly wondered how Mom hooked up with this loser. She was usually such
a good judge of character, and especially discerning when it came to men, most of whom she
didn't trust simply on principal.

Zach read my mind. "Don't blame your mom for not seeing through him. He's very
charismatic--a real people person--the reason my mother's dad put him in the public relations
department of Santiago Water Sports, which is based in Houston. That's Grandpop's business. He
manufactures sports boats, jet skis, party barges, that kind of thing. My dad has done very well
there."

"Do you two have a good relationship?"

"No. I actually haven't spoken to him since Christmas."

"I'm sorry." I knew how tough that could be.

"I'm used to it."

"Where do you suppose your dad and my mom met?"

"I've been wondering that, myself. How old is Kayly?"

"Nine months."

He nodded. "That's what I figured. So that means our parents had to hook up in January
or February of last year, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, Dad was in Austin around that time, working on an ad campaign for the new
branch of the business. He must've met your mom then."

"Hold that thought," I said, jumping up to walk over to Mom's desk. I opened the bottom
right drawer, and looked through the work folders she kept there. I found one labeled Santiago
Water Sports. In it I found a DVD, a CD, letters, a business contract. Clearly she'd worked on the
ad campaign Zach just mentioned. I walked back to the couch and handed the folder to him.

"What's this?" he said, even as he opened it and began to examine the contents. A couple
of minutes later, he raised his gaze to lock with mine. "So your mom's the photographer who
filmed the ad, which was awesome, by the way. That explains it."

"It explains how they met," I agreed. "It doesn't explain why she had sex with him. I
know that you don't know my mom, so have probably assumed the worst about her, but she's
really not the type of woman who'd sleep with a married man."

"What if he forgot to mention that?"

I blinked.

"Or what if he told her he was separated or divorced?"

"Would he lie to her?"

"Oh, yeah."

And I thought I had dad issues. I'd never felt so bad for a guy--and I don't mean Seth,
here--in my whole life. I couldn't even imagine what it cost Zach in pride to come here and tell
me this stuff.

"I'm really sorry," I blurted again. "For everything. I don't know what I was thinking
barging into your life like that. The last thing I wanted to do was make anyone unhappy. May I
have overs? I mean, can we just forget this ever happened? I promise I'll never try to contact
your dad, which means your mother and mine will never have to know."

Zach's jaw dropped. "But what about us?"

Us
? I swear my heart skipped a beat, then jumped into overdrive. Could he tell
I'd flipped for him? Or had he, perhaps, sensed our special psychic link? I hadn't called him, so
didn't know if it was a two-way deal.

"I have a sister, Ally. I...have...a...sister. How can I just forget about that?"

Oh. He meant Kayly. Now my heart sank, but only for a second, before it sort of
swelled. At least, that's what it felt like. I didn't know when I'd been so touched. My eyes
instantly brimmed, embarrassing the heck out of me.

But Zach, now looking at Kayly, didn't seem to notice.

"Excuse me a sec," I murmured, and loped down the hall to my room. I ducked inside
and burst into tears. God, what a mess! And it was all my own stupid fault. I grabbed a pillow off
the bed to muffle my sobs and began crying so hard that I could barely catch my breath.

"Ally?" Zach called from the living area.

Gulp.
I lowered the pillow, fanning my burning face with my hand and clearing
my throat so I could answer.

"Where are the diapers? Kayly's wet."

I cleared my throat again and called out, rather hoarsely, "Down the hall, first door on
your right, next to the crib." Then I scooted across that same hall to the main bathroom to wash
my face. One look in the mirror made me wince. No way was I going to be able to hide my
reaction from Zach.

"Damn." I wet a washcloth and scrubbed hard. I reapplied my mascara--light eyelashes
are so not cool--and patted a little foundation on my skin, hoping that would smooth out the red
splotches. It didn't. Knowing I couldn't hide in the bathroom forever, I abruptly gave up and
walked to Mom's bedroom. I found Zach finishing up his task. "Nice job. Do this often?"