In the morning I flew out to Tampa to live with Kris and Ginger. Ever since Leo talked to me last night I'd been looking at things a little differently. I didn't blame Zac any longer for leaving, because now I realize I would have done the same exact thing if I were him. Kris picked me up at the airport. When I saw her I grabbed her and hugged her immediately.
"Geez, baby, you act as though you haven't seen me in weeks," she said, looking up at me. "What's the occasion?"
"I was talking to Leo last night and I realized something and it just made me appreciate you more than I already do." She smiled.
"That's always a good thing," she said. "Come on, let's get your stuff. We have nothing set up in our house because we don't have big strong Taylor to put everything together." It was a nice boost for my ego but I was sure that the two of them could put together anything that I could, although Ginger was pregnant�
After getting my things, Kris took me out to her car (it was the first time I'd seen it) and drove to our new house. I'd never seen her so comfortable in my life. Kris had never been good with directions, especially when she was in a city she didn't know very well, but here she looked so familiar with the route she could have gotten there with her eyes closed.
"Are you happy to be home again?" I asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe," she said. "I mean, all those other cities were great and I had a marvelous time. I saw a lot of things I didn't think I'd ever see in my life, but there's nothing like being home. I haven't been here in such a long time, I almost forgot how much I love it here."
"Did you go to the beach?" I asked, looking at her. She looked much darker than when I left yesterday. She nodded.
"Yeah, Ginger and I went for a little while."
"A little while? You're, like, twice as dark!"
"Come on, Tay, I'm Cuban. I tan very easily. It's Ginger who needs to stay out all day to get darker." She rested her head against her hand, her elbow propped up on the windowsill. "We were there for a few hours in the afternoon, after most of the people were gone. Not a lot of people know Ginger just but she didn't want to take chances so we found a secluded place. She's not going to be back in a bathing suit until after she has the baby, though. She was so scared someone would recognize her and realize she's pregnant."
"She was the one who left the house in a bathing suit."
"That's what I said. It was her idea to go to the beach to begin with."
"So where's this house?" I asked. I had no idea where we were. I'd only been to Tampa once before and while we were here I was nowhere near this part of town.
"It's in Odessa," she said. "Odessa's the first suburb in Northwest Tampa. Ginger used to live in the development the house is in, so she knows most of the people who live there. It's not the same house, although she really wishes she could move into it again, but the place we have is really nice. It's an awesome neighborhood."
"That's good."
"Yeah. You'll like it," she said.
"So is this place little or are you just saying that?" I asked.
"It's not little," she said, shaking her head. "I mean, it's little compared to some of the other places we looked at, but it's not little. It's a two story four-bedroom home, and it's got a pool and a study and everything. It's really spacious too."
"Two stories?" I asked. That wasn't little.
"Yeah. Ginger can't sleep on the ground floor. It's a phobia she's got."
"Really?" I asked. "She can't sleep on the ground floor?" Kris shrugged. "I don't think I've ever slept on the ground floor either."
"I did my entire life," Kris said. "I've never lived in a two-story home." She turned into a nice development that definitely was suburban. If we'd gone out any further I was afraid we were going to hit fields. A minute later Kris pulled into the driveway of a sophisticated home on the corner of Jericho Drive. It had a balcony with a bench in front of the center window, French doors leading into the master bedroom. We went inside through the front door. I looked around. There wasn't much there yet; there was some furniture but most of it was boxes.
Ginger appeared, wearing a scarf in her hair and some lounging-around-the-house clothes. "Hey," she said. "The movers are going to be here in about an hour with the rest of the furniture. Why don't you show Taylor around? I'll be finishing the living room."
"Okay," Kris said. "Let's go upstairs." She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the staircase. Up fourteen steps was the second floor. The master bedroom was separated from the rest of the house by the long stretch next to the staircase with a white railing about waist high. There were four doors on the opposite side, three leading to bedrooms and one to a bathroom. "We're going to have the master bedroom," Kris said. "You know, because there's two of us and all."
"All right." She walked into the master bedroom. The ceiling was shaped like the pointed roof with what looked to be a newly installed fan hanging from it. There was already a made bed in the center of the room, but that was the only thing in there so far, not including the boxes.
"The bathroom is awesome," Kris said, opening the door to the master bath. "We've got separate closets and sinks and stuff. It's all carpeted and this bathtub is absolutely amazing." I looked around. Only Kris could get this excited about a bathroom.
"Yeah�"
"You can at least fake your enthusiasm, baby."
"It's wonderful, Kris!"
"Thank you."
After Kris showed me around the movers came to bring in the rest of the furniture Ginger had purchased. This house was pretty much only Ginger's because she was the only one paying for it, but with her recent success with her latest book she alone is worth more than me and my brothers combined. She didn't mind spending over two hundred thousand dollars for this place. That was quite modest for what she could afford with her income.
"How's Zac doing?" Kris asked. Ginger was outside dealing with some plants that had just arrived.
"He's okay," I said. "I mean he told my mother he's happy but I don't think so. Leo apparently talked to him before he left and he didn't want to go. He either changed his mind and he really is having a good time up there or he's just lying."
"I think he's lying," Kris said.
"Me too."
"I saw him on TV yesterday," she said. I raised an eyebrow. "He's working on an album for these kids who are supposed to be really good, I don't know, I haven't heard of them. They're called The Nuclear Saturday. Have you heard of them?" I shook my head. "Well anyway there's a big buzz about them and he was on MTV news talking about them."
"Did Ginger see?" I asked. She nodded. "Oh, man."
"She was really torn up about it. She won't admit it, of course, but as soon as she saw him she got up and left the room."
"How's he look?"
"The same." I sighed. I was kind of hoping he would look terrible and unkempt, like he wanted to get the hell out of New York and move back to the Midwest. However, I'm sure he wouldn't go on TV looking like that. One of the doors leading out to the lanai opened and one of the movers came in.
"Excuse me," he said, "but your friend is throwing up out there." Kris smiled.
"I'll deal with it," she told me. She got up and walked outside. When the door closed I laughed a bit. Well, she was pregnant.
It was about a week later when the house was completely furnished and all but the tiniest details were done. Ginger had spent most of the past two days looking through photo albums to decide which pictures she wanted to put up on the wall, leaving Kris and I to pick out art. Along with that Kris was creating her favorite room�the "Art Room." Upon realizing that they didn't have a piano, I immediately went out and got a white baby grand to put in there. Kris decorated the rest of the room with a white sofa and matching loveseat, and a number of small white marble statues. Her favorite paintings were on the walls along with deep green plants that complimented the various statues, all of recreated famous works. She had Rodin's The Kiss, Canova's Cupid and Psyche (her favorite) and some other ones I didn't know.
While we were watching television the interview with Zac replayed and Ginger immediately changed the channel. I looked at her; she was obviously pissed off just seeing his face, but I could see that she was still in love with him. That was obvious. I looked at Kris and she gave me one of those 'told you so' kind of looks. When I'd looked back at Ginger she had both of her hands on her stomach, looking down at herself.
It was about a half hour later that I'd settled in the Art Room at the piano. I hadn't done anything musical in ages and that just wasn't like me. I always have something with me, whether it's my guitar or a keyboard, or sitting here at a piano. I noticed I stopped singing while aimlessly wandering about and I like that habit. Kris likes that habit too. She loves to hear me sing. Kris was dealing with dinner and Ginger was reading her book about pregnancy and birth. I began to play one of the songs off the new album that I don't think will be released. I have a copy of it, just a burned CD in a blank case in need of some tweaking. I know Ginger and Kris are fans and if I remember I'll bring it out and let them listen to it.
I was a couple of bars into the song when Ginger walked into the room. "I love this song," she said. I was confused.
"How do you even know this song?" I asked. "It's new."
"He gave me a copy," she said. "It wasn't much, just a burned CD in a blank case. He said it wasn't the final thing but he knew how impatient I was to hear it, so he gave it to me as long as I promised not to tell anybody about it ever�me and Kris know all the words."
"Oh," I said.
"Don't you have a copy?"
"Yeah," I said. "It's upstairs with the rest of my collection."
"How come you never gave Kris a copy?"
"I honestly didn't think of it," I said. "So�did you like it?"
"Of course! It's the best yet!" I smiled. That was good to hear. "My favorite is Penny and Me." I started to play the song and Ginger smiled. When I began to lightly sing, I was blown away when Ginger joined in perfectly. I stopped immediately. "What?" she asked.
"You never told me you could sing!"
"I thought you knew! I thought Kris would have mentioned it at least once." I shook my head. "Well now you know."
"What's going on in here?" Kris asked, walking into the room. "I stopped hearing music."
"You never told me Ginger could sing!" I said. Kris shrugged.
"I just didn't think it was important," she said. "Anyway, dinner will be ready in about ten minutes."
"Thank you, baby," I said. I put my hands back on the keys and began to play again. She smiled and walked out of the room. Next to me Ginger began to sing again.