A few days later Zac woke up and found Ginger and Jenny in the bed with him. It'd been like that every night. He fell asleep alone but woke up in the morning with Ginger and Jenny sleeping next to him. The first night or two Ginger woke him up, but after that she just continued to come in without bothering him.
He smiled. Giving a kiss to Jenny, he got up and took a shower. After he dressed he walked back into the main bedroom. Ginger had woken up already with Jenny. "Good morning," Zac said.
"Good morning, Zac," Ginger said.
"You know," Zac said. "You should just move in here. You end up coming in here anyway." Ginger smiled.
"You're right."
"When do you start shooting?" Zac asked, leaning against the wall.
"Tomorrow," Ginger said. "I have to go in for a few hours later today, but that won't be until the afternoon. I guess the guys down at the studio like to sleep in." Zac rolled his eyes. "I'll be out a lot once shooting starts. You probably won't see me every day."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that would happen," Zac said. "What are you going to do about Jenny? You're no going to bring her with you, are you?"
"No," Ginger said, shaking her head. "Since Taylor doesn't work, I'm going to leave her with him. He knows what to do."
"All right."
"Are you okay with that?" Ginger asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'm going to be here most of the time too. I'll make sure Taylor doesn't corrupt her or anything. You're never too young to learn how terrible leather pants are." Ginger smiled.
"You know, speaking of horrendous leather pants," Ginger said, looking at him. "I couldn't help but notice how your style has changed."
"It's all Gwen's doing," Zac said, looking down. "She insisted that I change my style. She basically threw out all of my old clothes and wouldn't let me buy anything without her supervision."
"Hmph," Ginger said. "That sounds like her, all right."
"Ginger�"
"What, am I supposed to like your supermodel ex-girlfriend?" she asked. "Am I supposed to say she's good for you? Oh, yes, Zac, please go back to her. Please leave me and Jenny behind."
"Ginger, I wouldn't go back to her if she was the last girl in the world," Zac said. Ginger didn't say anything as she looked away. "I love you." She continued to look away. "I have to go," he said. He walked over and kissed Jenny's forehead. He leaned in to kiss Ginger, but she leaned back.
"Don't," she whispered. She turned her head and tapped her cheek. He kissed it.
"I'll be back at ten." He walked out of the bedroom. Taylor and Kris were already awake. "I'm going to the studio," Zac said. "I'll be back in a few hours."
"All right," Taylor said. Kris looked over at Zac.
"Are you okay, Zac?" she asked. Zac waved her off and left immediately. As he was leaving, he heard Ginger call out for Kris. Sighing, he pressed the button for the elevator and rested his head against the door. This was getting to be so complicated.
Zac returned home at ten o'clock. Ginger was dressed and was putting on her shoes as he walked in the door. Taylor was sitting in the living room with Jenny. "Oh good," Ginger said when she saw Zac return. "You're home. The studio called and they need me in early. I was just about to leave; I thought I'd miss you."
"When will you be back?" Zac asked.
"Not until after dinner," Ginger said. "Jenny's with Taylor and he's got everything he needs. Do you have my number just in case?" Zac nodded. "Great. Call me if you need me. Kris is coming with me. I'll see you later." She kissed his cheek. "Bye."
"Bye." She ran out of the apartment and Zac walked into the living room. He sat down on the couch. "Hey Taylor," Zac said.
"Hey Zac. Everything in order at the studio?"
"Yeah, they were all there on time. They've made a lot of progress these past few days," Zac said. "Finally this record is going somewhere."
"That's good," Taylor said. "Too bad you weren't at the studio."
"What?" Zac asked.
"I called," Taylor said. "I thought you were still there and I wanted to tell you that Ginger was leaving early. Ellen said she hadn't seen you all day." Zac didn't say anything. "Where were you?" Zac sighed. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He put it on the table. "You didn't."
"I did."
"She's going to say no if you ask, Zac," Taylor said. He grabbed the box off the table and opened it up. "Although that's a really nice ring."
"What makes you think she'll say no?"
"Because she doesn't know what she wants yet," Taylor said. "And furthermore, it'll interfere with my wedding." Zac smiled.
"I don't plan on doing it today, you know."
"When are you planning on doing it, then?" Taylor asked.
"Before I leave. I want something to look forward to while I'm doing promotions." Taylor shook his head. "What?"
"I don't know�"
"Fine, Taylor, continue to bring me down. Anyway�Ginger said that I should take Jenny with me when I go on promotions." Taylor looked over. "Since apparently you're the official babysitter of my child, you should come with me."
"We'll see," Taylor said. "I don't know if I want to be away from Kris for that long."
"It's two months!"
"I haven't been away from her for two months yet," Taylor said.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Wow." The phone rang. "I'll get that." Zac got up and answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Zac? It's your mother." Zac smiled.
"Hi Mom," he said. "How are you doing?"
"Just great. I haven't heard from you in a while. What's new?" Zac let out a breath. What wasn't new in his life lately?
"Uh, well�I broke up with Gwen."
"You didn't!"
"Yeah I did," Zac said. "There were some problems. She wanted to get married, I didn't, and there were some other things going on there. I met up with Taylor again. He's here right now with Jenny."
"Who's Jenny?" Zac paused and looked at Taylor, who was laughing nervously.
"Uh, she's one of Kris's friends. I'm surprised Taylor never mentioned her!" Zac said. Taylor looked away. "Listen, Mom, I'm going to have to call you back. I have something to take care of."
"All right dear. You will call back, won't you?"
"Of course, Ma!" Zac said. "Talk to you later." He hung up the phone. "You never told her about Jenny??"
"Zac, if I would have told her then she would have told you! Ginger didn't want me to say anything anyway. I haven't spoken to her in months, I've been living with Kris all of this time!"
"Taylor, what the hell am I supposed to say to her now? How am I supposed to tell her she has a six-month-old granddaughter without her hating Ginger more than she does now?" Zac asked.
"I don't know. I didn't knock anybody up."
"Does she know you and Kris are getting married?" Taylor shook his head. "Okay. I'm going to call her back, slyly mention Jenny's my daughter, then you tell her you're engaged and she'll forget about my news."
"I seriously doubt that's going to happen, Zac," Taylor said. "They've been expecting this from me and Kris. Nobody expects you to come out and say you have a daughter." Zac sighed and sat down.
"You know, I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do when the press finds out about this."
"What makes you think the press is going to find out?"
"Jenny is going to be traveling with me and the press are going to be following me around. They're bound to find out."
"That's something you're going to have to discuss with Ginger. And I suggest you find somewhere to put that ring so she doesn't find it." Zac picked up the box and looked at the ring. There was no doubt he was going to give it to Ginger, he just wasn't sure exactly when it was going to happen.
"Well," Zac said. "I guess I should call Mom back."
"Yeah, I guess you should. Jenny needs to be changed."
"I'll let you take care of that," Zac said. He picked up the phone while Taylor took Jenny out of the room to change her. "Mom? Hi, it's me. There's something I need to tell you."
"All right, dear."
"Are you sitting down?"
"What is it?" Zac sighed.
"Well�when I broke up with Gwen and I met Taylor, Kris and Ginger were with him," Zac said. Diana began to speak. "No, let me finish. I went to see Ginger, and I found something out. I haven't spoken to her since we broke up, and everybody's been saying that I should, and I found out why. Jenny, who I just lied about and said was one of Kris's friends, is my daughter."
"Oh, Zac�"
"I could have sworn Taylor told you, but apparently he hasn't seen you in a while, so he didn't say anything."
"Zac, how could you do this?"
"Gee, Ma, make it harder on me."
"How come you didn't tell me?"
"I just found out!" Zac said. "How could I have told you if I didn't know? I just thought you should know you had a granddaughter." Diana was quiet. "Mom?"
"I do have a granddaughter, don't I?" she asked. "I'm a grandmother."
"Yes, Mom, you are."
"When do I get to meet her?"
"I don't know," Zac said. "She's coming with me when I do my promotional tour, and I'm going to be in Tulsa during that time, so I'll stop by with her."
"I just can't believe you didn't tell me." Zac sighed.
"Taylor's getting married!"
"Zac!" Taylor yelled. "I was supposed to say that!" Zac smiled.