Besides waking up a few times during the night to care for Jenny, Ginger had the best night of her life. She'd forgotten completely what David was like in the time she'd been with Zac. David had been�he had been the person that she always thought was herself in somebody else's body. The way he moved, the way he spoke, the way he did everything he did always resembled her in some way. They were so alike in certain things it scared her. One of those things was sex. She'd lost her virginity to him, and he lost his to her, but even Zac couldn't top how deep inside of her head he was. That's why she always loved being with him, because he knew exactly what she wanted before she did.
The next morning she woke up and he was still there. He'd said he'd leave after they were finished and she was asleep, but she made him stay. When she'd gotten up in the middle of the night to take care of Jenny, she kept checking the bed and he was definitely still there. What surprised her the most was that when Jenny woke up in the middle of the night and Ginger leapt up to take care of it, he was still asleep. He either was a very heavy sleeper (which Ginger knew he had never been) or he just pretended that it didn't bother him. Either way she was grateful for it.
Her biggest fear was that he wouldn't want to be with her because of Jenny. Jenny was, rudely speaking, "excess baggage" that most guys ran away from. But David knew right from the beginning, even before she met him again, that she was pregnant and that she was keeping the baby. It didn't bother him. It didn't bother him that she had a rock star's baby and that she obviously still thought of the father often. Nothing seemed to bother him and she was so happy because of it.
She got out of bed and put on her robe, taking Jenny, who was already awake, out of her bassinet and brought her into the living room. "Want some breakfast, Jenny? Me too." Ginger opened the refrigerator and got herself her morning shake and then sat down in her feeding place and breastfed Jenny. While she was doing that, Lily came in. "Hi Lily," she said. "How are you doing?"
"Just wonderful," Lily said. "How's Jenny?"
"Great. We just got up a few minutes ago."
"Good. How was your date last night?"
"What date?" Ginger asked.
"Well when you were here you had a guy with you. I didn't ask any questions, but I'm guessing it was a date." Ginger smiled.
"Oh, yeah. That was David. He's an ex-boyfriend and I just met up with him again." At that moment a fully-dressed, scruffy looking David came out of the bedroom.
"I'll call you later, Rosie," he said.
"Bye Davey," she called as he left rather quickly. She knew he would have said goodbye in a more formal way if Lily hadn't been standing right there. Lily looked at Ginger.
"Ex-boyfriend?" Lily asked.
"Well, ex-boyfriend and current infatuation."
"I don't know if you should be doing this, Rosemary," Lily said. Jenny finished breastfeeding and Lily took her from Ginger. "Being back with old boyfriends isn't a good thing. There's a reason you broke up and you were broken up for so long."
"Yeah, he walked out on me."
"What makes you think he won't do it again?" Lily asked.
"His mother died and there were two little sisters to take care of," Ginger said. "He went to Michigan to take care of them. He needed to be there."
"I know you, Rosemary. I've heard you talk about him. It's never been as simple as that before."
"I never understood it before."
"I still don't think it's a good idea. Don't be getting back together with old boyfriends. Unless they're Zac."
"I'm not getting back together with Zac," Ginger said, walking towards the bathroom. "I never plan on seeing him again."
"I don't know. I think there's still something between the two of you!" Lily said. "I think you still love him."
"This has nothing to do with love," Ginger said. "Absolutely nothing. I'm not getting together with Zac ever again. It's all about David now. I'm getting ready for work." She went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She didn't want to admit it but the woman did have a point. Ex-boyfriend had an ex in their title for a reason. Even if David's reason was perfectly legitimate�actually it was the best reason in the world�getting back together with him probably wasn't the best thing for her. But she hadn't gotten laid in almost a year and he was damn good at that.
Ginger kept seeing David. Kris eventually found out and seemed okay about it for a while, until she realized just about how much time the two of them were spending together. Ginger had always had this problem, ever since her first boyfriend way back a long time before David. David was her first real serious boyfriend, but before him she had a lot of guys who she dated and every single one of them ended up the same way. She would spend all of her free time with her boyfriend. Didn't matter who it was or how long the relationship lasted. As long as the relationship was there, Ginger was always moving quickly. It wasn't surprising at all when she had Zac that she spent so much time with him, went to Tulsa with him when she barely knew him, because Ginger was just like that.
"I think you're spending too much time with David," Kris honestly said to her sister about four months into the relationship. Ginger was settled at work and Jenny was used to Lily being around. Once Jenny was older she was allowed in day care, but until then, Lily would be there. Jenny was crawling now and Ginger was amazed at how much stuff that little girl could get in to.
"What are you talking about?" Ginger asked, aimlessly following Jenny as she did a bit of exploring in the apartment. Ginger had lost all of her baby weight by now and was back to what she looked like before she had a baby. She still looked older than her twenty-year-old self, but not as much as she did with her weight.
"I'm just saying you're wearing yourself out, Rose," Kris said, playing with one of the extra plug-covers that was left over after they'd finished baby-proofing the house when Jenny started crawling. "You work full time, you have a seven-month-old baby, and you have this boyfriend that you are always with! I don't know how you do it! You're not getting enough sleep, I can tell just by looking at you. You didn't lose all that weight from diet and exercise, you lost a lot of it from just overworking yourself."
"I don't understand what you're saying, Kris," Ginger said. Jenny had almost gotten her finger caught in something and Ginger immediately pulled her away. "That's enough, honey. Let's keep you on a hip for a while." Ginger stuck out her hip and placed Jenny on it, holding her around the waist. "You know, work is so easy Jenny could probably figure it out, it's just being there that makes people think that I have such a stressful life! I don't! I can balance my boyfriend and my baby because David helps me take care of Jenny. Whenever I'm with him, Jenny's along with us! In the past four months we've been dating I've asked you, what, one time to watch Jenny? And that was because you said David and me deserved a night out by ourselves. And we did that."
"I guess I just don't want to see you hurt again, Rose," she said. "I was there when you and him broke up the first time. I was there when you were crying your eyes out because he had to go to Michigan to take care of his sisters. I know he had good reason for leaving but it happened all of a sudden and you were crushed! I don't want him to do that to you."
"That's not going to happen again, Kris," Ginger said. "He doesn't have any family to take care of. He's by himself now. Just me and him. Nobody's going to take that away from us."
"What about Zac?"
"What about him?" Ginger asked, adjusting Jenny on her hip.
"What happens if he sees you again?"
"He's not going to see me again," Ginger said. "He has no idea where I am, he has no idea I have his baby or anything else for that matter. I don't go anywhere that I would see him anyway so it's not like I'm going to run into him."
"I'm just saying. If you meet him again and you're with David it's going to be really awkward."
"I'm not going to see him again so it's not going to be awkward. Geez, Kris, you're living in the past. Why don't you get with the times a bit?" Kris looked pointedly at her sister's neck. Ginger, confused, felt at her neck. She was wearing her Ginger nameplate that Zac had given her the first time she was in Tulsa with him. "That means nothing."
"You still think about him."
"No I don't," Ginger said.
"Don't lie to me! You still think about him! You wouldn't be wearing that right now if you weren't doing it."
"Of course I'm doing it!" Ginger said. She put Jenny down, who began crawling away. "Of course I'm thinking about him! Every single day I think about him, and you know why? Every single fucking time I look at her I see him. He's in her; he is her! She's got his nose and his lips and his attitude towards life. Dammit, Kris, how am I not supposed to think about him if I've got his baby right here." Kris sighed.
"I don't know what�" The door opened and David came in. Kris immediately shut her mouth.
"Hello beautiful," he said to Ginger. She managed a smile and kissed him. "Hey Kris. It's weird that you're here when I'm here. That hardly ever happens!" The sarcasm was dripping from his voice and Kris barely picked up on it.
"Yeah, weird," she said.
"Where's my baby?"
"She's crawling around somewhere," Ginger said. "You better find her before she drops something on her head." David disappeared and found Jenny quickly.
"Ah, there you are, you little squirt! How's my little squirt doing today? You're just exploring everything, aren't you?" He picked up Jenny, who giggled excitedly and gave her a hug.
"He's good with Jenny," Kris said. "I can give you that." Ginger nodded and looked in the bedroom where David had fallen back on the bed and began playing upsey-daisy with Jenny, tossing her a little bit into the air before catching her.
"Oh, David, baby, stop that! You know I hate it when you do that! I keep thinking you're going to drop her on her head and she'll have brain damage for life," Ginger said, rushing into the bedroom. "Don't do that."
"Come on, Rosie, she loves it."
"I don't care. I don't like it at all."
"All right, all right," David said, sitting up. "I'll stop."
"Thank you." Ginger walked back into the kitchen and looked down. "That baby will be the death of me," she said looking around her apartment. Jenny's things were strewn carelessly about everywhere and she'd been so busy she hardly had time to clean. Every once in a while Lily would do it, but she wasn't being paid to clean, she was being paid to take care of Jenny. "Thanks, Kris, for sitting on your lazy ass all day."
"It's what I do best," Kris said. "What do you need me here for anyway? You're constantly telling me to leave because I'm not wanted."
"This house is a mess and if I remember right, you were the one who insisted on taking Jenny's blocks out when she never plays with them. Clean your mess." Ginger went into the kitchen and started wiping off the counter with a rag. "Geez, when was the last time I cleaned this place?"
"When was the last time you were home?" Kris asked. "Out and about, at work, constantly going places with David�it seems the only time you're home is to sleep and to take a shower."
"I'm always home," Ginger complained. "We never go out any longer."
"My ass."
"Shut up about your ass," Ginger said, laughing. "And clean that mess!" Kris grumbled and got up. She walked over to the mess of blocks and began to put them away. David came out of the bedroom.
"So where are we going tonight?" he asked.
"How about we spend a nice quiet evening here cleaning my home?" Ginger suggested, looking up at him with a smile on her face. "I would really enjoy that." David didn't seem too happy about it. "Davey, have you looked around? This place is a mess and it's because I'm never home."
"Damn right!" Kris said. David and Ginger looked at her. "I'll keep cleaning."
"All right, Rosie. If you want to stay home and clean, I'll stay home and clean with you. I'll work on cleaning out your refrigerator," he said, walking over to the fridge. He opened the door. "Look at all this food! I'm going to have to eat some of it, you know, because it's taking up too much room and all."
"I mean real cleaning, David. Not eating." He made a face. "Where's Jenny?"
"She's on the floor following me around," David said, pointing to the floor. Now that David had stopped walking around, Jenny planted herself at his feet and began amusing herself with his shoelaces. "She loves me."
"That's only because you're always around," Ginger said. "And a little bit because I love you." David smiled.
"I love you too, Rosie." Kris coughed over in the living room, and surprisingly it sounded a lot like "gag me." Ginger ignored it and picked up her daughter from the ground.
"Jenny, baby, how about after we clean, we'll clean you?" Ginger asked her, taking her hand and wiggling it around. "Give you a nice bath, I'm sure you're all dirty from exploring today." Jenny didn't answer. "Sounds good to me too."
"You're crazy," David said. Ginger looked over her shoulder at him.
"Yeah, but you love me so it doesn't matter." He rolled his eyes and she laughed.