She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before. Her mother loved to keep crap to moon over later, and she’d been desperate to have a child, and Cindy had been pregnant, and she’d loved the unborn baby. Which meant that somewhere in the house where she’d grown up was a box of all the glory that was Shannon. Ava had kept it all these years, would keepit forever. God knows how many times her mother had pulled out that box and gone through the contents, wishing that she’d been given her “real” baby instead of the one she’d gotten almost by accident.
“Victoria?” Shannon’s voice was small. “Are you okay?”
She told herself to fake her way through the next three minutes. Then she could be alone and figure out how to survive the latest emotional hit.
“I’m fine. Sorry. It’s just my mom and her stupid memories. If you knew how many hours I had to spend putting stuff in the boxes when I was a kid.” She offered what she hoped was a realistic smile. “You were important to her. Of course she kept mementos. The ultrasound pictures and, you know, other stuff.”
“I upset you.”
“Absolutely not. You’ve been great, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know you. I mean that. We should hang out again.”
Shannon relaxed. “I’d like that. It’s such a strange situation. No one else gets that our lives could have been totally different. It’s confusing to think about.”
“It is. So we have each other when we need to work things out.” She pointed to the food. “Don’t forget the leftovers. You have both Javiar and Aaron to feed. A couple of guys could go through that in about fifteen seconds.”
“You’re sweet. Thanks.”
Victoria was proud of herself for the pleasant chitchat. It was only after Shannon had left that she allowed herself to collapse—emotionally and physically—crumpling onto the sofa and letting the pain wash over her. No matter how she tried to protect herself, the hits kept on coming, she thought sadly. At some point they had to stop. They just had to.
Shannon drove home, grateful it was late enough in the evening that the worst of the traffic had eased. She avoided thefreeway and made good time on main streets, only occasionally getting stuck at a busy intersection. She’d enjoyed her evening with Victoria very much. The other woman was so interesting and she’d done so much with her life. The gymnastics, the cheerleading, the stunt work. All that and she was only twenty-four. Shannon was the exact same age, and what did she have to show for herself? A couple of semesters of college and a job she didn’t particularly like. Oh, and a secret engagement she was hiding from her mom.
Victoria wouldn’t do that, she thought wistfully. Instead she would march into Cindy’s office, flash the ring and tell her there was no way they were going to have a double wedding. Problem solved. Then she would quit her job and go find out what she really wanted to do instead. Maybe it was time for Shannon to channel her inner Victoria.
Only Shannon wasn’t sure she had one. As for quitting her job, honestly she couldn’t imagine doing that. Not without a plan and a couple of months of savings in the bank. She slowed at a red light and wondered if she at least had the courage to tell her mom about the engagement. The instant full-body flinch told her that was a big fat no. She sighed, wishing she were stronger, or at least better at faking strength.
Her phone rang, and Aaron’s picture flashed on the screen. She pushed the talk button on her steering wheel.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m just leaving Victoria’s.”
“You have a good dinner?”
“I did. She’s really interesting and easy to be with. Plus it was nice to talk about our very strange situation without boring everyone else in the room.”
“I don’t get bored,” he told her, his voice filled with amusement. “And you listen to me talk about the Dodgers for hours at a time.”
“Yes, and I only tune you out a little.” She grinned. “We hadfun.” She thought about mentioning how together Victoria was and how she was hoping to channel her envy into action but wasn’t sure that was an on-the-road kind of conversation.
“I’m glad dinner was good.” He hesitated. “So those plants didn’t come in, and the nursery wants me to pick different ones. This is for that backyard in Culver City. They’re going to give me a discount for the inconvenience, and I can apply it to my next order. I need to figure out what new plants to replace them with and maybe stock up on a few things for upcoming jobs. You know the design stuff isn’t my thing. I hate to ask, but can you help?”
Love and affection warmed her from the inside. “Of course. I’d love to. You know I enjoy playing around with the layout. It’s like a big puzzle.”
“Yeah, and it all has to go together. Give me a bad lawn anytime. That I know how to deal with.”
She smiled. “I’ll swing by the house and pick up a few things, then come over. We’ll figure out what they have already and what the nursery can get, and we’ll come up with a plan. This is the job that has to be finished this week, right?”
“That’s the one.”
“Then I’ll be there. Oh, did you eat?”
“I made a sandwich.”
“I have leftover Chinese. I’ll bring it.”
“How’d I get so lucky as to have you fall in love with me?”
“I don’t know, but you did, and now you’re stuck with me. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Me either. We’ll be stuck together. See you in bit. And Shannon?”
