Zac and Taylor arrived home about an hour later. Kris and Ginger were up and running now. They were in the living room with Jenny and as soon as Zac walked in, he noticed that they had cleaned. He groaned. "Great," he said to Taylor. "They cleaned." Since he hadn't been home in a few days and Gwen had been mad at him, the house wasn't a wreck, but it definitely wasn't clean. In the short time Zac and Taylor had been gone, they'd managed to pick up most of the apartment.
Zac walked into the living room. Kris had a rag and the lemon Pledge, while Ginger was on the floor with Jenny in her lap, watching PBS kids. Zac hadn't seen PBS kids on since he was at home and Zo� would watch it in the morning. "Isn't Jenny a little young to be interested in TV?" Zac asked, sitting down on the floor next to Ginger.
"She loves Caillou," Ginger said.
"Or do you love Caillou?"
"Ugh," Ginger said, making a face. "He's a four-year-old bald headed freak. I can't stand him." Zac rolled his eyes. Jenny crawled away and started messing with a stuffed rabbit on the floor. "So, how was it? Did you have to crack down on the poor lazy producers down at the studio?"
"Oh yeah," Zac said. "I had to do some serious cracking. Ask Taylor. I yelled at the kid and I even threatened to fire someone if they didn't shape up."
"Ooh, you're such a hard ass."
"I know," Zac said, smiling.
"Did you and Taylor get along?" Ginger asked, looking up at Taylor, who was annoying Kris as she continued to wipe down the furniture.
"Yes," Zac said. "Surprisingly."
"That's good. I want you two to get along. It's not cool when you fight." Ginger looked over at Jenny who had made a little mess out of the basket of old newspapers Zac had yet to empty. "Jenny, baby, come over here next to Mommy and Daddy."
Zac's face went blank. He stood up. "I'm�going to the kitchen."
"Okay," Ginger said. She picked up Jenny. Zac went quickly into the kitchen and sat down at the counter. He put his head down and felt his hands shaking. That was a revelation he thought he was over. He had a daughter. Okay. He was a father. Okay. Being a Daddy was something he wasn't used to just yet.
"Are you okay?" Ginger asked, walking into the kitchen. "You looked a little pale."
"I'm a Daddy," Zac said, picking up his head and looking at her. "I was okay with everything else�being a Daddy is too much. She's going to call me that! She's going to learn how to talk and she's going to call me that!" He put his head back down.
"Zac�" Ginger said, sitting next to him. She put her head against his back. "It'll get better. It's weird for me too, you know. It's just new for you. Give it a few weeks and you'll be a parent. I'm here with you."
"I don't want to do promotions," Zac said. "I don't want to be away from you and Jenny."
"When are you going?" Ginger asked, running her hand over his back. Zac closed his eyes.
"The first week of November," he said. "I'll be gone through January, at least I was the last time I checked. Where are you going to be?"
"I'll still be here," Ginger said. "Shooting's going to last until December, at the earliest. After that I'll be staying in town for a while working on it. I should still be here when you get back."
"Are you going to stay here?" he asked. She sat up and he looked at her.
"I don't know. You're not going to be here."
"Well you're not going to stay in a hotel for three months," Zac said. "No, you're going to stay here."
"All right. I'll stay here. Take daily bubble baths in your massive bathtub." Zac smiled. "I was thinking�if I'm going to be here when you and leave, and I'm going to be here when you come back, why don't you take Jenny with you?" He sat up.
"You know, Taylor and I were talking about that in the car. I didn't want to mention anything because I didn't know if you'd be okay with that."
"Zac, it's your daughter too."
"That's what Taylor said."
"No, you should," she said, giving him a smile. "If you need help, I could send either Kris or Taylor with you, they both pretty much know what to do with her. My hours are really flexible, so if I have extreme withdrawal and I need to see her, I could always fly out for a day or something."
"Are you sure about this?" Zac asked. "I mean, yeah it won't be for another month or so, but are you sure you could be away from Jenny for that long?"
"We'll see," Ginger said. "The thing with this movie is that after shooting I can pretty much come and go as I please. If it gets to the point where I'm not doing too well, I could always come out and be with you. Do you think I could do that? Do you think I could travel with you?"
"Of course," Zac said. "You could always come with me. Actually, I think I'd like that." She smiled. "You know, it's still kind of warm outside. You should take Jenny down to the beach before you have to go to work."
"What beach?" Ginger asked. Zac smiled.
"The beach out there," he said, pointing. "Have you been on the balcony yet?" Ginger shook her head.
"I didn't even know you had a balcony." Zac's smile grew. "What?" He got up and took Ginger's hand, leading her down the hallway to the balcony. He now understood why she didn't know about the beach; all the blinds were closed. He opened the blinds and Ginger's eyes grew. "Oh my God!"
"Come on," he said. He opened the door and stepped outside. Now that it was October, the wind was cooling down into a soft breeze that brought the heat from sweltering to absolutely beautiful. "This is where I wrote all the songs for my album."
"Oh�" Ginger said. "On the balcony�I get it now!"
"Nice, Ginger."
"Shut up. Zac, this is so beautiful." She was looking out over the beach and the ocean, a big smile on her face. "I am definitely bringing Jenny out here."
"Nobody ever comes out here anymore," Zac said. "When I first got here, you could see some of the neighbors out sometimes, but they haven't been out lately. So, really it's just completely privacy out here."
"Wow." Zac looked back out onto the beach. The only thing he regretted about living here was the fact that he had no time to enjoy it. He loved the beach to no end and he never had any time to take advantage that he had his own private beach in his backyard. Although he shared it with everyone else in the apartment building, most of them were old folks who never went onto the beach. They only lived here because of the view.
"Are you going to come with us?" Ginger asked.
"Sure."
"Great. Let's go now." However, Ginger didn't move. Looking down, he realized that he still had her hand in his. That made him smile.
"Come on," he said. He pulled her inside.
"Kris, did you know there's a beach out there?" Ginger asked, walking with Zac into the living room where Kris was with Jenny.
"No," Kris said. "There's a beach?"
"Oh my God, you could see it from the road! Where were you girls?" Zac asked. He picked up Jenny from the floor. "Well, Ginger, Jenny and I are going out there. If either of you would like to join, you're welcome to do so."
"Score," Kris said. She got up and ran into the bedroom to change.
Ten minutes later the five of them were on the beach. Ginger had sat down on the blanket and was busy putting massive amounts of baby sun block on Jenny. "What the fuck are you doing, Ging?" Zac asked.
"I'm not letting my baby get sunburned! She's a little white girl like me and she'll get burnt to a crisp if she's out here too long without sun block." Zac rolled his eyes. Jenny was whimpering because she obviously didn't want to sit there and get lathered with greasy lotion, but Ginger was insistent.
"Hey Kris, do you want to get thrown in the water?" Zac asked.
"No!"
"I think you do," Zac said. He took off his shirt and Ginger froze, a glob of lotion falling off her hand and onto the blanket. Kris was prepared to run when she saw Zac's stomach. Even Taylor was staring. "What?"
"Where the hell did that come from?" Ginger asked.
"Where did what come from?" Zac asked.
"Uh, your abs, maybe?" Ginger asked. Zac looked down. "I've seen you naked a million times, and you never looked like that."
"Gee, Ging, tell the whole world."
"Oh, yeah, like they don't know," Ginger said, gesturing to Kris and Taylor. "And Jenny was definitely created by an immaculate conception." Zac gave her a look. "It looks good."
"Of course it looks good," Zac said. "I'm finally more defined than Taylor."
"Shut up," Taylor said, self-consciously putting his arms over his waist.
"Anyway," Zac said. "I was supposed to throw someone in the ocean." Kris started running away and Zac followed after. He caught her quickly and flung her over his shoulder. She started screaming and kicking and Zac quickly threw her into the water. She screamed again and Zac wiped off his hands. He began walking away when Kris got up and pulled him back into the water. When Zac surfaced he saw Taylor sit down next to Ginger on the blanket.
"Kris, Kris, let go of me," Zac said.
"Why?"
"I want to go back up to the blanket," Zac said. Kris looked over and shook her head.
"You still don't trust them, do you?" she asked. He sighed.
"No."
"Zac," she said, "Taylor's not going to do anything with her. He's getting married to me. They're just friends. She needed someone like him because you weren't around. Now that you are, they won't hang out as much as they used to." Zac couldn't help but stare at the two of them. "This thing with Jenny isn't going to work unless you trust them. You can't trust them together until you trust Taylor. It's only going to get worse if you don't fix it now."
"I don't want to lose her again," Zac said. "Not this time. There's too much involved now."
"You're not going to," Kris said. "She still loves you. It wasn't her choice to leave the first time." Zac looked over at Kris. She gave him a smile. "Go. I hate the ocean." Zac smiled and got out of the water with Kris. They walked back over to the blanket.
"Does Jenny want to go in the water?"
"No!" Ginger said.
"Pfft, why not?" Zac asked. "It's warm."
"Jenny can't swim. She's only six months old."
"I'll be holding her. If she doesn't like it I'll come right back out. It'll be like a big bath."
"Yeah, a big bath with scary fish and objects and everything." Zac gave her a look. "I don't go in the water."
"Yeah, I kind of picked that up. Well, I'm going back in and Jenny's going with me. Is she completely coated with sun block? Is she going to slip out of my arms when I pick her up?"
"That's not funny," Ginger said. Zac picked up Jenny.
"Are you coming?" he asked. "I'll protect you from the big bad creatures in the ocean." She sighed. "I promise."
"Oh, all right�" She got up and followed Zac into the water. She was worse than Jenny. Jenny was squirming in Zac's arms until he got in her in the water.
"See, Jenny likes it," Zac said. Ginger shook her head. "Come on, Mom, everybody's doing it! All the cool kids are getting in the water�"
"Shut up, Zac."
"If Jenny can be fine in this, you can be too. Come here." Ginger waded in a little more and Zac pulled her next to him. "See, it's not so bad."
"Oh my God, what was that?" Zac rolled his eyes. "Zac, I don't like this!"
"I'm right here," he said, pulling her up against him. "There's nothing in here that's going to hurt you." Ginger looked up at him, her eyes wide and beautiful. He gave her a smile. "Well, except for me."
"That's not funny," she said. She looked at Jenny. "She does like it."
"Of course she does," he said. "She's my daughter."
"Yeah," Ginger said. "Yeah, she is." Zac smiled.