"This is nice," Taylor said to Zac as they looked around an empty house three streets away from Taylor's place. Zac made a face.
"It's really empty," he said.
"Well duh, Zac. You usually buy the house empty and fill it yourself." Zac's look remained. "Okay, what? This house is fucking gorgeous, inside and out, and you don't like it? What's wrong with it?"
"It's really big."
"Actually, it's not," Taylor said. "It's pretty standard for the houses in this area. The foundation is great, it has no flaws, the only problem is that there's no basement, but who needs a basement anyway?" Zac shrugged. "Zac, if I were you, I'd take it now before anybody else does."
"I'll have to show it to Jenny first." Taylor looked at his watch.
"She's out of school pretty soon. We can get her, come back, and then you can make an offer on it. You're shaking your head. Why?"
"It's too big!" Zac repeated. Taylor groaned. "Think about it, Taylor. Jenny is my only child. It's just going to be the two of us here. What am I going to do in three years when we're finally all settled and she goes off to college? I'm going to have to live in this gigantic empty thing by myself for the rest of my life."
"Zac, you're thirty-two. More than likely you won't be in this for the rest of your life," Taylor said. He paused, leaning against the kitchen counter. "Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Do you think you'll get remarried?"
"No." Taylor was surprised at Zac's quick response.
"Really?" Taylor asked. "Never?" Zac's reply was the same. "Zac, don't you think that's pushing it a bit? More than likely you'll live for another forty, fifty years. You haven't even lived forty years yet. Do you honestly think that in all of that time you're going to bum around here by yourself? Never date again, never even look at another girl again?"
"Yes."
"Zac, that is the most pathetic thing I have ever heard in my life. Ginger is up in heaven right now going 'What the fuck, man? Get over yourself!' "
"Don't even presume to know what Ginger thinks. Ginger was my one and only. Say I get married again. What am I supposed to do when all three of us are dead and we're all in heaven? Am I supposed to split my time between two wives? I don't think so."
"Well I suppose God would split you in half so there'd be two of you." Zac looked at Taylor incredulously.
"It's not going to happen, Taylor. Ginger was my soul mate."
"Do you think so?" Taylor asked.
"I know so."
"But if she's your soul mate and you were supposed to spend the rest of your lives together, why'd she die so early in yours? I know she was killed, but still, there's a master plan for everything. If you two really were meant for each other, then you'd still be together."
"You know what, Taylor, you have no fucking clue what it's like to lose a wife, so don't even pretend that you know what I'm going through here. It's been over seven years and it still hurts just as much as it did when I saw her die. This is not just something that'll go away and I'll be happy and dating again. I don't think so."
Taylor didn't bother to fight with his brother anymore. It was pathetic and ridiculous, but most of all was completely reasonable coming from Zac, who was always level-headed when it came to his emotions.
Zac looked at his watch. "I have to pick up Jenny from school," he said. "After she gets to look at the house, I'll make my decision. Okay?"
"Fine."
Zac turned to the door and looked around again. It was quite a nice place; it would be great for Jenny to live in and it was close to Kris and Taylor and to Jenny's boyfriend. However, it looked so big and empty. Knowing it was only three years before he'd be by himself again was a bit much to handle.
He drove the short route to Jenny's school. Now that he was back Jenny opted to have Zac pick her up from school rather than driving home with Mike, and Zac seemed more than happy in doing so.
He parked in the waiting lane, immediately spotting his daughter through the sea of white and green uniforms. Her hair was a dead give away; it was so bright it could be seen from a mile away and she did nothing to hide it.
Jenny spotted the car (she was the one who convinced Zac to buy it) and waved. She turned to Mike, who was standing next to her, and kissed him goodbye. It was short and Jenny started to the car when Mike pulled her back and deeply kissed her again. Zac grew slightly angry seeing this and accidentally honked the horn. Jenny gave him a look as she said a quick goodbye to her friends before getting in the car.
"What was that for?"
"It was an accident," Zac said. She crossed her arms. "Really!"
"Daddy, I'm not a little girl anymore. I do kiss Mike, you know. He's my boyfriend; that's what we do."
"I know, I know. I just don't like it. The last time I saw you, you were a little eight-year-old girl and now you're all grown up and have a boyfriend and everything," Zac said. "It'll take some time to get used to."
"Okay," she said. "But no more honking the horn, insane overprotective father bull, all right?" He sighed.
"All right," he said. "All right. Anyway, Uncle Taylor and I were looking at a house today and I wanted you to see it before I made any decisions." Jenny nodded.
Zac drove them back to the house he'd been looking at. Jenny was suprised. "Wow, it's close," she said. Zac nodded. "I like it."
"I want you to see the inside too, you know," he said. Jenny rolled her eyes as they got out of the car. It was obvious that Jenny had already made up her mind. Zac went inside and Jenny looked around. "It's really big."
"It's not that big," Jenny said. "Remember our house in Florida? That was big."
"I'm surprised you remember that," Zac said. "You were really young." Jenny nodded. "We bought that house under the assumption we'd have more children, but then we decided against it and moved to New York. But think about it; this house will just be you and me, then once you go to college, it'll just be me."
"What makes you think I'll go away to college?" Jenny asked.
"Well, sweetie, it's what you do. You finish high school, you go to college..."
"Well yeah, I'm going to college, but I don't want to go away. I want to stay here with you." Zac smiled.
"As much as I would like that, we'll talk about it later," he said. He knew she was smart enough and talented enough to go wherever she wanted; she didn't need to stay in town just because of him. "Let me show you upstairs." The two went upstairs and Zac showed Jenny what would be her options of room should they buy the house.
"Oh, wow, I like this one," Jenny said, stepping into quite a large room. It was down a long hall from the master bedroom, right next to the bathroom and across the hall from the other two bedrooms.
"Yeah, it's the biggest of the three spare bedrooms."
"I like it. Daddy, you should get this house. I really, really like it."
"Are you sure? Because if we buy this house, this is it. No more moving around. And when you leave, because as much as I would like you here with me forever, you will leave someday, what's that going to leave me? I'll be in this enormous house all by myself forever."
"Well, Daddy, I suppose you'll be remarried by then."
"What is with that? Taylor thinks I should get remarried too."
"Do you not want to?"
"No! Not at all!"
"'Dad, I think you should. I know how much you loved Mom, how much you still love Mom, but it's been seven years. You and Mom weren't even married for seven years when she died. I don't expect you to get over it right away, since you did just get out of jail, but Dad you need to move on with your life. Mom is happy where she is now and she wants you to be happy as well. She wouldn't want you to be sulking around because you miss her. I miss her too, but it's time to move on."
"I--I don't think so, Jenny," Zac said to his daughter. "But we'll get the house. You like it. Maybe, eventually, I'll like it too."
"Okay." She hugged him. "I love you, Daddy."
"I love you too, darlin."
After Zac purchased the house, he and Jenny, with the aid of their family, began to furnish it. Kris always had a knack for interior design and used what they'd kept from Zac and Ginger's apartment to create a fresh new start for Zac and Jenny. The new design remembered Ginger, but didn't burden her family with harsh memories.
Mike helped Jenny decorate her room, only because he wanted to spend as much time in it as possible before Zac instated a "No boys allowed" rule, which he was already hinting at. Whenever Mike was upstairs, Zac usually hovered close by.
"How's it going in here?" Zac asked Jenny and Mike, who were making out instead of hanging the picture like they said they were going to. Zac had become more used to Mike now that it'd been a few months and was okay knowing the two did make out. He was beginning to be comfortable with it, and stopped freaking out when he saw it. "I see that picture got up really fast." The picture was still on the floor in the middle of the room, a hammer and a nail next to it.
"Cute, Dad," Jenny said, and got up.
"Listen, get the picture up and come back downstairs. I need your help with some other things." Zac turned and went back downstairs to the kitchen where Kris was opening the box to the new toaster over Zac bought, along with a lot of other useful items for the downstairs area. Taylor was standing right next to Kris, an arm around her waist, resting on her swollen stomach. She was showing now and they just discovered a few weeks before that they were having a girl. Kris decided they were going to name her Krystal Ginger. Zac completely approved.
"Did they get the picture up?" Kris asked, looking up at Zac. Zac shook his head.
"No, they were making out."
"Well, at least that's all they were doing," Kris slipped. Zac looked up.
"What do you mean by that?" Zac asked. Kris exchanged looks with Taylor who was across the room. "Kris? Is there something I should know?"
"Jenny came to me with the utmost confidence, Zac. I don't think I should say anything."
"Just by saying that you're saying something! Are they having sex?" Zac asked. When Kris didn't reply right away, Zac immediately knew the worst. "Oh my God."
"You know Jenny's friend Angie?" Kris asked. Zac nodded, slightly unsure why Kris was bringing her up. Jenny had spent the night a number of times with Angie since Zac had been home. "There is no Angie. Angie is Mike."
"Oh my God," Zac said, putting his hands over his eyes. "Oh my God. I can't believe this. I'm going to kill him!"
"No, no Zac, don't," Kris immediately said. "Jenny loves him very much and their relationship is very serious. I know she's young but you and Ginger were young too."
"Yeah, and I know why we had sex. I don't want him to be treating my little girl like that." Suddenly a regular pounding came from upstairs and Zac freaked out again. "Oh my God."
"They're hanging the picture, Zac! It's just the hammer!" Kris said.
"How long has this been going on?"
"Since before you got out of jail," Kris said. Zac shook his head as the pounding got quicker.
"I--I need to leave." Kris sighed.
"They're happy together, Zac," Kris said. "Mike treats her great and loves her very much. They're good for each other."
"I know," Zac said. "I know. I just need to get used to it." He started to the door. "I'll be back soon." He looked around as he left the house. Everything was in place. Today's trip to the store was just to get everything they needed to finish it off. Everything else was settled in nicely; they were ready to stop moving and start living again. Things had gotten back to normal, almost, and Zac and Jenny had their first father-daughter fight about a week beforehand. After it was over they hugged and smiled, happy to be a normal family again.
Ginger was still missing, though, and it hurt to wake up in the morning and realize again that Ginger was no longer there. Although he bought himself a new bed when they moved into the house, it was still big and empty, and he rolled over every morning expecting to see his wife. When he didn't, he felt very alone.
He didn't have a definite destination in mind for his outing, but when he passed a Starbucks his body called out for some caffeine. He pulled over and went inside. There weren't many people in the small shop, and the kid at the counter looked to be Jenny's age. He had absolutely no idea who Zac was. It'd been a long time since Zac could go anywhere without having anybody recognize him. It was obvious that it had been a long time since he had been in the real world.
He ordered his coffee and stepped off to the side to wait for it to be filled. A moment later another kid put a to-go cup on the counter.
"Triple Grande Soy No-Whip White Mocha," the kid announced. Zac reached out to grab his coffee when the woman standing next to him did the same.
"I'm sorry," he said, not really looking at her. "You first." She gave him a polite smile and took her coffee.
"You know I've never met anybody who's ordered the same thing as me," she said. He looked over at her for the first time and was immediately floored. She looked his age, and was obviously breathtaking, with long wavy brown hair, intense brown eyes, and a natural tan. She had the body of a supermodel and an adult, but still beautiful, face to go along with it.
"Me neither," he said.
"I'm Gwen."
"Zac." She paused, looking over him. He nodded. "Zac Hanson."
"Oh my God," she said, her words typical of every fan he's ever met, but her tone was completely different. She wasn't about to go teeny on him; that was a good ten years behind her. "I was such a big fan."
"I was beginning to think they'd all disappeared." She smiled. "Have I seen you somewhere before? You look familiar."
"I used to be a model," she said, waving her hand. "Way back when. I still work in fashion, but I'm behind the scenes now. You've probably seen me in some magazine or something before." He nodded.
"Triple Grande Soy No-Whip White Mocha," the kid announced again, and Zac took his coffee before he met another person who liked the same kind.
"Well," Gwen said, "I'll see you around."
"Wait, what day is it today?" Zac asked.
"Saturday."
"Are you busy now?" he asked her, surprised at his own guts. Not an hour ago he was fighting with Taylor about still being single, and there he was, asking a random girl out. Five minutes ago when he walked into the coffee shop he still thought he would spend the rest of his life alone, but that was before he saw her face. She smiled.
"No."
"Can I take you to lunch?" Her smiled grew and he saw the beauty in her face that had been in magazines years ago.
"Yeah, you can," she said.
"Great. Let me call someone first," he said. She nodded, waiting for him. He took out his phone and called home. "Taylor, hey, it's me. I'm going to be a while. I'm having lunch with someone." Gwen smiled. Zac hung up the phone. "All right. Let's go." He opened the door for her and they stepped outside, discussing what they wanted for lunch.
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