They were sitting in the cafeteria when she remembered her mortgage was due in three days.
�What's wrong?� She looked up from her water at Nick and frowned,
�What?� If he said something to her she didn�t realize, she was too preoccupied.
�That look on your face. What are you thinking about?� She didn�t want to get into this with Nick. He wasn�t the one to talk to this about.
�Uh, nothing really. I just remembered something.� She looked around the cafeteria and sighed.
�Hey, we�re supposed to be starting over. We�re supposed to be on the same side now. Be honest with me, don�t lie. Come on, if I didn�t want to know I wouldn�t have asked so at least give me the truth.� She figured it was the least she could do since he was interested and worried enough to ask.
�Ok, well,� she didn�t want to tell Nick this. It was embarrassing to admit she couldn�t pay her own bills. It was hard on her though. She didn�t have room to breathe until Nick started paying child support. All the months before that were rough. Buying a home was economically more sensible than paying rent, it was cheaper and she was on her way to owning something but she didn�t have enough money to even pay the down payment. She borrowed it from her parents. Her father considered it a gift but she told him she was determined to pay him back. There was no reason a college graduate should be getting something a significant as that from her parents. Her college degree that they paid for was gift enough.
�Come on, you can talk to me.� She looked up at Nick and looked so anxious to be a shoulder to lean own,
�I�m not working anymore and I�ve used my vacation days but I still have to pay all the bills.� She tried to shrug it off,
�You now how it is, it�ll be fine.� Actually, he didn�t know how it was. The only time he did struggle financially he was too young to have to deal with it. It was his parents� burden to bear.
�How much do you need?� Already, she was feeling like a charity case,
�I�m fine. It�s fine. It�s just that before I had Mac I didn�t have a problem but kids are expensive.� She wasn�t going to do this with him. She couldn�t,
�Its fine.� He shook his head,
�No, let me-� She knew where he was going and she wasn�t going down that path with him,
�Just let me relax please. I�m serious Nick. I don�t want to talk about it at all. Please.� Her last please was a bit more forceful and he finally relinquished.
She left Nick to go spend some time with her dad and they made it back to Mac�s room.
�So, how are things going?� She shrugged,
�Fine. I�m just glad they said Mac looks better.� He nodded as they both looked over in her direction. The doctor said she was finally coming out of the more risky phase and her progress was positive but they didn�t want Quinn to get her hopes too high. All she needed to hear was that MacKenzie was fighting. She was going to make it. There wasn�t anything that was going to change her mother�s mind.
�She�s a Garner, she�s going to be fine. Good things happen to Garners, you know that.� She smiled at what had become the family motto. Anytime she and Nate were nervous about a test, a basketball game or in her case a track meet that was the line their father dished out to them. No matter how hokey Nate and Quinn claimed it was, it had a special place in their hearts. It made them feel better and it did give them confidence. They may not have won every game, every meet or aced every test but they never did as bad as they thought they would.
�I know daddy, I know.� There was silence and she wanted to bring up Nick spending the night with her.
�So we know she�s going to get her strength from the Garners. What is she going to get from her other side of the family? What�s their name?�
�Carter. The Carters. Well, I guess she�ll get singing and dancing. Well, singing anyway.� Her father looked at her.
�All the kids seem to know how to sing. Just about.� He shook his head,
�Please tell me that isn�t something you�re going to push her into.� Actually being in the spotlight was the last thing she wanted for her daughter. She was tired of hearing her name on the radio and seeing her face in stolen pictures all the time in tabloid magazines. There was no way she wanted that for her daughter by the time she was old enough to understand. It may seem selfish and a bit cruel but she hoped Nick was no longer famous by the time MacKenzie started school. She didn�t mind her daughter being a rich kid but she didn�t want her to be a celebrity kid.
�I wouldn�t even think about it. That�s the last thing I want for Mac.� He nodded,
�Good.� It was that time again. She needed to tell him nothing happened.
�So I heard you let Nick crash at your place?� She was shocked and she couldn�t hide it. How long had that been on his mind she thought. He surely wanted to discuss it; he was the one who brought it up.
�Yeah, one of his friends was playing loud music and had a girl over at the hotel and his mother was running her office out of his room. He needed a quiet place to sleep. So, I offered him the couch. No big deal.� She gave way too much information to a question that only required a one word answer. Her father,
�That wasn�t a smart move.� She frowned,
�Nothing happened.� She knew it was wrong for her to be so defensive and hurt. Ssomething did happen.
�For one, you�re spending the night with a man that is attracted to you. If he wasn�t none of us would be here because there would be no MacKenzie. And two, you have the feelings of a fianc� to worry about. Would you like it if he had an ex spend the night with you? How did James handle it?� She needed to just accept all the words her father was dishing out to her,
�He doesn�t know. I didn�t tell him. I didn�t see him until this morning and it�s my house I don�t need his permission.� Her father shook his head,
�That right there will end a marriage. A woman thinking she can do whatever she wants and doesn�t have to respect her husband.� Her father sounded archaic at that moment,
�But the man can do whatever right?� He shook his head,
�No, but that�s not what I�m talking about right now. I�m talking about wives wanting to act totally independent like they are single. You aren�t single. It�s like when you work for the government. You give up some of those rights in order to be a part of the team. It�s the same with marriage. You can�t act like some independent single woman and still expect to have a marriage. When your mom goes somewhere she doesn�t HAVE to tell me where she�s going but she does tell me. It�s not about anything other than respect. You need to respect James enough to not have Nick sleeping in your house.� That was more than she thought she was going to hear. Her father�s life lessons were particularly thought-provoking.
�I thought you liked Nick? Didn�t you say I should give him a chance?� He nodded,
�I do like him, he seems like a nice enough person. I want you to give him another chance to be Mac�s father not another chance to be with you.� That was blunt enough for her. She didn�t have to hear it from her father to know he didn�t approve of Nick. He was nice enough but not nice enough for Robert and Lillian Garner�s daughter. She and Nate always knew from the time they started dating that undesirables were not welcomed. When they were in high school the people they were interested in should be college-bound or don�t bother bringing them home. When she was in college, she was advised not to get serious with someone who was majoring in being a professional athlete. As her mother said, they and their families worked hard and they weren�t going to �regress to riff raff.�
Chapter 91
Reunited
Stories