Kris sat in the living room with the five o'clock news on, her nose in a book about early pregnancy. It was Friday and still no Taylor. On Wednesday he called citing some exciting new development and said he wasn't sure when he'd be home. She hadn't seen him for three weeks now, and three weeks was a long time without her husband.
Her head darted up with the sound of the front door and in a moment Taylor walked into the living room, looking a little worn out. "Taylor!" She leapt up off the couch and threw her arms around him, trapping him in an intense hello kiss. "I missed you so much!!"
"I missed you too, baby," he said. "And our baby." She smiled as she felt his hand on her stomach. "I love you."
"I love you too. Come on, sit down. You look exhausted."
"It was the flight from hell, but I'm here now and that's all that matters," he said. "Listen, Kris..."
"No! You're just going to tell me you're leaving again and I don't want to hear it." He didn't say anything. "When are you leaving again?"
"Tomorrow," he said.
"Tomorrow?" she asked, her voice rising. "Why'd you even come home?"
"To see you! I'm not leaving until tomorrow night. We can spend the entire day together," he said.
"You know Mike wanted to meet you and I told him you'd be home this weekend." Taylor paused.
"Mike?" he asked. "Who's Mike?"
"Mike? Mike Laticer, the boy who's been mowing our lawn for the past five years! This is why I want you to meet him! You don't even know who he is!"
"Does it matter? It's some kid we pay to mow the lawn." Kris crossed her arms.
"That 'some kid' happens to now be a friend of mine. He is a kid but he's a good kid, and five years is a long time. You should meet him."
"I'll do it later. I have to go back tomorrow. I'm need in LA." She put her head against him.
"You're needed here," she said. "Let me come with you."
"You work here."
"I know, I know, but there's got to be an easier way. I don't like you gone so much."
"I'm not gone that much and we've almost got it. When we appeal you can come out to LA for the trial, because you'll need to be there anyway. Until then it's going to be like this. It's just for a little while," he reassured her.
"Oh, okay...hopefully it won't take too long. If you miss anything with this baby, I'll kill you."
"I won't. I promise," he told her. "I'm just as excited as you are. What do you want to name it?"
"Taylor, I found out I was pregnant two week ago. I haven't--" He gave her a look. "Fine, if it's a girl, what about Krystal?"
"Krystal? No."
"No? Why the fuck not?" she asked, sitting up. His eyes widened.
"Um...what if it's a boy?"
"No, you tell me why not Krystal? It's a beautiful name!"
"And it's also what our fancy glasses are made out of. I don't want to name my daughter after a cup." Kris huffed.
"Fine, hot shot. What would you name her?"
"Charisma."
"Oh, so you can't name her after glasses, but you can name her after one of the three qualities of politicans?" Kris asked.
"You know what, I'm, uh, gonna go upstairs." Taylor got up and left quickly, avoiding any more conflict. Kris returned to her book, shaking her head.
"Loser."
"So what are you doing today?" Jenny asked shortly into a phone conversation with Mike. They'd been dating for a little over a month and Jenny's popularity at school had remained at a constant high the entire time. She had her first birthday party (where people actually showed up) the second week of school.
"I have to work this afternoon."
"Oh, right. How boring."
"It's not incredibly boring. I finally get to meet this woman's husband. He's practically never there. I've been mowing lawns for them for five years and I've never met him."
"Wow," Jenny said, vaguely interested.
"Yeah, so that's what I'm doing. I'm actually getting ready to leave right now. Hey, do you want to help?" Jenny snorted.
"Hell no."
"Oh come on, it'll be fun!" Mike pressed. "You can, like, do trimming or something. We'll bond. It'll be great."
"Michael I have never mowed a lawn before in my life. I have no clue how it works," she said. "Nor do I necessarily want to."
"But that's all the more reason to do it! Please?"
"Oh, fine."
"Great. When you're not trimming, you can bond with Kris," Mike said. Jenny curled her lip in disgust at having to socialize with someone she didn't know.
"Ugh...wait, did you say Kris?"
"Yeah." Jenny paused, but shook her head. Kris and Taylor still lived in the city. "Jenny?"
"Yeah, whatever. This better be good. I could be doing something way more productive."
"Painting your toenails is not productive," Mike said. Jenny looked at the nail polish that sat on her desk; she actually was planning to paint her toenails. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Wear something you don't mind getting dirty."
"Okay." Mike hung up the phone and Jenny quickly threw on some other clothes before Mike showed up. When Jenny opened the door she smiled. Mike's wifebeater clung to him in all the right places and showed off his muscular arms.
"Hello beautiful," he said. "I noticed the lack of cars in the driveway. Where are your parents?"
"They're out for the day."
"And Josh?"
"Who knows?"
"So it's only you?" She nodded. "Well, we might have to be late," he said and kissed her. She pushed him away.
"Cute. Let's go." He groaned but obliged and after locking the front door, the two of them left. "So who are these people?"
"They live in the big house at the end of the block. Kris a really nice person and...you know I actually don't know her husband's name. Anyway, he's gone a lot on business but she works here so she can't go with him. You'll like them."
"All right."
Jenny was not at all looking forward to this--she didn't like strangers and she especially didn't like work. The only reason she agreed was because she knew Mike would never take no for an answer.
He pulled into the driveway of the house. It was big. This neighborhood was in the rich part of town anyway, but this house was massive. Jenny could only wonder who had this kind of money.
"Are you coming?" Mike asked. He was already out of the car.
"Just a sec, I have to put on my shoes." Mike shrugged. "Go ahead. I'll be just a second." Mike went up to the door and rang the doorbell. Kris answered.
"Oh, hi Mike!" Kris said. "Come on in, you'll finally get to meet Taylor."
"I hope you don't mind, but my girlfriend's going to be helping me out today." Kris shrugged.
"That's fine." Jenny appeared, her head down, but Kris would recognize that hair anywhere. She gasped. "Oh my God, Gi--I mean, Jenny?" Jenny's head immediately snapped up.
"Kris?"
"Quick, get in here before anybody sees." Jenny ran inside and immediately threw her arms around her aunt. "Oh my God, look at you. You look exactly like your mother. Taylor!!" Taylor appeared and his gaze went to Jenny, standing next to Kris.
"Jenny?" Jenny nodded and ran over to him, hugging him as well. Kris smiled and looked at Mike, standing at the front door, very confused.
"Oh, Mike, I'm sorry," she said. "Taylor, come here. You have to meet Mike. Mike this is my husband Taylor Hanson. Taylor, this is Mike, who's been mowing our lawn for the past five years."
"And he's my boyfriend," Jenny added. Taylor looked over at Mike from Jenny.
"Well I was going to say nice to meet you, but I think I'll have to add the 'don't hurt my niece or I'll hunt you down and kill you' speech," he said, shaking Mike's hand. Mike grew slightly afraid.
"Uncle Taylor, don't. You're scaring him," Jenny said. "He's joking anyway. Come on, let's sit and talk." Jenny walked deeper into the house, pulling Mike with her. Most of the house Mike had never seen before--he usually walked the usual route from the front door to the back door through the kitchen. The living room was much different from the rest of the house. There were many photos, not only of Kris and Taylor but of a young Jenny and her parents, and all of them when they were younger. Mike had never seen any of these photos before, and if he had, he would have brought Jenny over much sooner.
"So," Jenny said, looking between her aunt and uncle, both beaming with happiness to see her again. "You moved?"
"Yeah," Kris said. She began to tear up, which caused Jenny to do the same. Jenny hugged Kris again. "Oh honey, it's so good to see you again. We were so worried about you all this time."
"I know. I missed you guys so much. I don't like where I am," Jenny said and sat back down next to Mike. She could tell he felt a bit left out so she took his hand.
"Where are you now?"
"I live, like, ten minutes away in The Eagles."
"Oh, I know where that is," Kris said.
"Yeah. I've been with the same family the whole time. They're not terrible, but they're not you," Jenny said. "I just hate it there and ever since they discovered who my parents are they haven't been treating me well. But, then again, that is usual."
"Jenny, I'm sorry," Kris started to say but Jenny shook her head.
"Don't be," Jenny said. "I'm fine. It's been hard, but I'm fine." Kris and Taylor nodded. "How is my father?"
"He's...okay," Taylor answered. "I just saw him this week. We're working on his appeal, and I think we can win this one." Jenny smiled.
"Really? You think you can get him out?"
"We're trying. It looks promising, but nothing is for sure." Taylor looked at his watch. "Actually, hold on. I think I can get you to talk with him." Jenny teared up at the thought of being able to speak to her father again. She looked at Mike, and upon seeing the tears in her eyes, kissed her temple.
Taylor appeared again a few moments later and motioned for Jenny. She immediately got up and ran out of the room with Taylor. "Hey Zac, it's me," Taylor said into the phone. "There's someone here who wants to talk to you." With a grin a thousand miles wide, Taylor handed the phone to Jenny.
"Daddy?" she asked.
"Jenny? Oh my God, Jenny?"
"Hi Daddy!!" Jenny said, waving her hand in front of her face to stop herself from crying. Taylor left the room to give her some time to talk with her father alone.
"Oh my God," Zac repeated. "What...how...what's going on?"
"It was an accident; my boyfriend mows Kris and Taylor's lawn and by chance brought me along today," Jenny explained. "Taylor called you almost right away."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You have a boyfriend?" Zac asked. Jenny laughed.
"Yes, Daddy."
"Well, okay. It is so good to hear your voice again. You sound so grown up. Happy belated birthday."
"Thank you, Daddy," she said. She paused, tears welling and her voice cracking in her sudden swell of emotion. "I miss you, Dad. I miss you so much."
"Oh, darlin, don't cry."
"I'm sorry," she said, but couldn't stop herself.
"How's your new family? Are they treating you all right?"
"Oh, they're fine. I just don't want to be with them. I want to be with you," Jenny said. "You shouldn't be there, Dad! You didn't do anything!"
"I know, sweetie. We're working on that. I'll get to see you soon. Until then I just want to make sure you're safe and you're happy."
"I won't be happy until you're out of there!"
"Now don't say that, sweetie. You've got yourself a boyfriend, so hopefully in some aspect you're happy."
"Yeah, Mike does make me happy. He's very good to me, Daddy, so don't you worry about me," she said.
"Well I'm not so much worried about you as him. If you're anything like your mother, he's in for a bit of a hard time."
"Daddy..."
"I'm kidding. Well, they're telling me to hang up now. I love you so much, darlin."
"I love you too, Daddy."
"Take care of yourself. I'll see you soon." Jenny said a heartfelt goodbye and hung up the phone. As soon as she did she began sobbing. Michael came into the room and sat next to her.
"Honey, are you okay?" She put her arms around him. "It's okay..."
"I miss him so much, Mike."
"I know you do, but now you've gotten to talk to him. He's okay." She nodded. "Everything's going to be okay from now on."