Heart and Soul

Episode 74

What If I Don’t Want To Get Over It?

By Allan Craig

 

Shane Baldwin’s morning had consisted of getting up early, going for a workout before grabbing a coffee and heading to work. Now, in the middle of a meeting with Kendall and John, Shane’s attention couldn’t help but wander to his last encounter with Leo; despite his son’s angry insistence that Shane maintain his distance, something about Leo encouraged Shane to vow and build bridges with his son.

 

“…which is why I think that we can easily increase the market share of our publishing output.” John ended his latest proposal before noting that neither Shane nor Kendall appeared particularly interested. “Look, what happened to Grace was a tragedy, but this is a multi million dollar company that we’ve got to run here.”

 

“I’m sure Kendall will agree with me here when I say that you’re perfectly capable of running this company by yourself.” Shane decided, his patronising tone causing John’s blood to boil, considering he had built the company from the ground up.

 

“Shane’s right, you don’t need to run everything by us.” Kendall added, her interest in the business waning during her family crisis. “Just do what you think is right.”

 

“I’m glad you see it that way.” John replied before muttering under his breath, “Seeing as this is my company.”

 

No matter whose names were on the deeds for Sterling Enterprises, as far as John was concerned, the company was, and always would be, his…it was just a matter of time until it was official again.

 

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” said Felicia Kelly as she entered the room, her stiletto heels clicking against the polished wooden floor as she made her way over to the table that Kendall, Shane and John were gathered around clutching a folder to her ample chest. “I need someone to volunteer for an interview on ANN next week; they’re doing a piece on big companies and their efforts towards cleaning up the environment.”

 

“And we’re doing, what, exactly to clean up the environment?” Shane asked.

 

“Well there’s the recycling campaign that we’ve put in place regarding all of our publications, as well as the money we’ve been investing into cleaning up the river.” John explained. “Try to keep up, Baldwin.”

 

“That’s really just the tip of the iceberg.” Felicia continued. “As I’m sure Mr. Sterling will be able to tell you all about, Sterling Enterprises has an outstanding reputation for its involvement in environmentally friendly practices, so all we need is for someone to sit down in front of a camera and do a link to the studios discussing everything we’ve been doing.”

 

“I think John should do it.” Kendall decided. “After all, he knows this company inside out, and we can’t really afford any slip ups on live television. Do you think you’ll be able to handle any questions they throw at you?”

 

“Well I’ll have already sent through a list of no-go topics.” Felicia explained. “Although if they ask anything inappropriate then a simple no comment or turning it back to the topic in hand will do the trick. John’s an old pro at this sort of thing, so I’m sure he’ll have them eating out of the palm of his hand.”

 

John smiled, this was exactly what he needed; publicly representing the company would only help him to regain control of Sterling Enterprises, whether Kendall and Shane liked it or not.

 

 

“Where did you get to last night?” Diane asked, having missed Joseph the previous night due to the rare opportunity to spend time with her grandson.

 

“I was over at John’s place.” Joseph explained; the very announcement of spending any time with his brother causing Diane to spin around from applying her makeup to face her fiancé.

 

“I’m sorry, did you slip some drugs into my coffee this morning, or did I actually just hear you say you were at John’s last night?”

 

“We were just talking business.” Joseph insisted. “Nothing for you to worry about, we’re not suddenly going to become the best of friends, although I imagine that would be quite awkward for you.”

 

“Just you be grateful John and I were married, or else we would have never met.” Diane applied her lipstick with expertise before standing up from her dressing table and walking into her closet. “How is John, anyway? Still shacked up with that awful woman?”

 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.” Joseph teased as Diane emerged from her closet in an olive green Donna Karan dress.

 

“Of that piece of trash?” Diane shrugged off the very suggestion that she might have even the slightest trace of envy towards Alex as she reached inside her jewellery box and pulled out an expensive black enamel bracelet. “Give me some credit, Joseph. So do you plan on telling me what business you and John are discussing, or do I have to wait until one of you ends up killing the other to find out?”

 

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.” Joseph promised his fiancée. A knock at their bedroom door interrupted their discussion, and Joseph walked over and opened the door to see Taylor standing in the hallway.

 

“What can I do for you, princess?” Joseph asked his daughter.

 

“Well, as you probably know, mom has cancelled my credit card.” Taylor explained, “I guess she’s not exactly crazy about me staying out here with you. Can you talk to her daddy?”

 

“You know what your mother’s like, Taylor, when she’s made her mind up, there’s no changing it.” Joseph remarked, knowing all too well how stubborn his ex-wife could be. “Look, I’ll call up and get you a new one.”

 

“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” Taylor pouted and gave her father her best puppy dog eyes, the trick that had gotten her out of many a scrape since the first time she used it after pouring soda on her brother’s Game Boy when they were kids.

 

Joseph reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of notes, handing them to his daughter. “This ought to tide you over.”

 

“Perfect, thanks daddy.” Taylor blew her father a kiss before turning and heading down the hall.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“Nowhere special, I shouldn’t be too late getting home. Catch you daddy.” Taylor yelled as she made her way down the stairs and out of the apartment, leaving Joseph with the feeling that he had just been played like a fool.

 

 

The weeks since she had learned of her pregnancy had flown by in a blur of morning sickness and insomnia, but for Megan Sterling, life didn’t stop because you were about to become a mother. As she walked inside Pulse, the gym that Marc now owned, she was greeted by a scent of wet paint and bleach, and the sight of a slick, modern reception area that oozed class and tranquillity. She made her way down a corridor that led her unwittingly to the gym.

 

“Excuse me, is Marc around?” Megan asked an electrician crouching over one of many plasma screens that were being mounted in the spacious room.

 

“He’s in his office.” The man directed Megan to a flight of stairs. Megan made her way up the industrial staircase and knocked on the door at the top before walking in to see her husband buried in a mountain of paperwork.

 

“How’s it going?” Megan asked as she made her way into the office and gave Marc a kiss. “You look pretty swamped.”

 

“I didn’t think there would be this much paperwork.” Marc joked as he rubbed his eyes, preferring a more hands on approach to running his new venture than dealing with all the red tape that went along with it. “I can’t wait until we can get someone in to deal with all of this, it’s driving me crazy.”

 

“Do you think you’ll be ready to open on plan?” Megan perched on top of Marc’s desk and glanced at the documents that were confusing her husband.

 

“Not unless I can get through all of this.” Marc chewed nervously on his pen. “I spoke to your dad earlier today and he’s going to get some publicity featured in The Observer in the run up to the relaunch, if we make it on time.”

 

“Would you relax?” Megan insisted, rubbing her husband’s shoulders. “All of this…it’s not what you signed up for. How about you let me give you a hand?”

 

“Thanks for offering, but seriously, I’ll be fine…”

 

“Seriously, Marc, this is straightforward stuff for me, I had to go through all this paperwork when I ran the bar, I’m used to it.” Megan insisted. “Just you leave all the boring business stuff to me, and you go do what you love and make sure this gym runs like clockwork. Besides, your body shouldn’t be covered up in a suit, it should be on show so that people see what they can achieve if they put the effort in. You’re a walking ad for this type of place.”

 

“How would I cope without you?” Marc smiled, realizing just how supportive a wife he had.

 

“I spoke to Kimberley today.”

 

“Oh, how’s she enjoying the bright lights of Los Angeles? I’m sure Paris and Nicole are glad to have their old drinking buddy back in town.” Marc joked.

 

“She seems to be enjoying it.” Megan supposed, although her sister didn’t sound as thrilled on the phone to be back in Hollywood as she did in her texts and emails. “Although it would be nice if she was back here, what with everything that’s going on with Leo, I think he could use her support right now.”

 

“Yeah, you’d think considering how close they are Kimberley would be back to see him considering he just lost his daughter.” Marc hated to talk about Leo’s current situation with his pregnant wife, “But I guess people deal with grief in different ways.”

 

A knock at the door caused the couple to turn around and see Will standing in the doorway. Marc smiled at his half-brother-in-law as he entered the office. “Will…what brings you to my neck of the woods?”

 

“I thought I’d stop by and see how you were getting on.” Will explained, “John was telling me about all the work you’ve done to the place and I thought I’d check it out for myself, I hope you don’t mind.”

 

“No, not at all,” Megan insisted. “In fact, maybe we could use your help.”

 

“We could?” Marc raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well, yeah. This place is getting a major relaunch, so we need some publicity material, you know, fliers, brochures, print ads…” Megan explained, “And seeing as you and Josh used to run your own graphic design company…”

 

“Um, sure, I’d be happy to help.” Will agreed; his freelancing career hadn’t exactly taken off and a big job like this could certainly put him back on the map.

 

Marc was impressed at his wife’s business acumen; the idea of publicity had barely even crossed his mind, so having Megan on board to help was a great relief to him, even if it meant working with her ex-boyfriend-slash-half-brother.

 

 

After ordering herself a coffee and a muffin to go, Jessica Monroe sat on a stool at Fix waiting for her order. She scrolled through the inbox of her new BlackBerry, deciding that if she was going to run her own event planning business she’d have to look the part, but was unable to stop herself from thinking about the fact that she was pregnant, and the father was more than likely to be Shane.

 

Jessica felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach as she saw Shane, the last person she wanted to see, walk into the coffee house. Her mind’s failure to make the knee-jerk decision of whether or not to pretend she didn’t notice Shane meant that he had spotted her and made eye contact; whether or not he intended to come over and talk to her was another matter.

 

As a waitress handed Jessica her order, she gathered her things and began to make her way out of the café, but not before an awkward encounter with Shane.

 

“I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.” Shane joked, admiring the pretty blonde as he looked her up and down. “It’s been a while since we…did business.”

 

“Sorry, I’ve been really busy with getting the business up and running.” Jessica lied. “Getting the website live has taken up so much time, I meant to get in contact, sorry.”

 

“Don’t apologize, Jessica, sometimes work has to take a front seat. Although all work and no play makes Jessica a very dull girl, doesn’t it? What do you say we...have a meeting…later tonight. I think I may have some…work…I can put your way.” Shane winked.

 

“Rex is taking me for dinner tonight.” Jessica lied again. “He’s been totally snowed under at work for the last few weeks so we haven’t really been able to spend any time together, sorry.”

 

“Why do you keep apologizing, Jessica?” Shane smiled at the waitress who handed him his coffee. “It’s not like we were having anything other than no strings attached sex. Obviously you’re with Rex. It’s just a shame that our little arrangement is coming to an end.”

 

Jessica didn’t want her relationship with Shane to come to an end; in fact, she wanted nothing more than to tear his clothes off and make wild, passionate love to him on the countertop, but a baby changed things, it made things serious, and serious was the last thing she wanted.

 

“Maybe some other time.” Shane smiled as he turned and walked out of the café, leaving Jessica with a lasting reminder of the best sex she’d ever had.

 

 

Natalie emerged from the bathroom after her first shower in days. In the time that had passed since her daughter’s cot death, the very thought of doing regular, day to day things like eating, showering and sleeping had totally passed her by, with her mind falling into a daze whenever she stopped for more than a split second.

 

“Get yourself dressed, we’re going out for lunch.” Josh announced as he entered his sister’s bedroom. “I’ve booked us a table at The Bungalow and I will not take no for an answer.”

 

“Josh, really, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Natalie insisted.

 

“You haven’t been out of the house since…well…” Josh avoided bringing up the subject of Grace’s death. “We need to get back to normality, otherwise you’ll never get over what happened.”

 

“What if I don’t want to get over it?”

 

“Natalie, you can’t let losing your daughter ruin your entire life.” Josh urged his sister. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”

 

“And how am I meant to live it knowing that I was responsible for my daughter’s death?”

 

“Natalie, we’ve been over this.” Josh sighed. “The doctors told you there was no way you could have stopped what happened. You cant keep blaming yourself for this or…”

 

“Or what?” Natalie gazed off into space.

 

“Get ready.” Josh ordered his sister. “We are going to have a nice lunch at The Bungalow and you’re going to enjoy it, okay?”

 

“What part of ‘no’ do you not understand?”

 

“Seriously, it’s for your own good.” Josh was eager to get his sister back to normality, even if it meant being mean to her…their mother always said tough love was best in these situations, and as much as he had tried to let Natalie get over it in her own time, he knew that what he was doing was only going to benefit her.

 

 

Across town, Leo opened the door to the mansion and slid two crisp hundred dollar notes to the man standing on the porch, followed by the man sliding a small plastic bag containing white powder into the palm of his hand. He closed the door to the mansion and made his way back up the stairs to his dark bedroom. He sat down on his chair and rested the bag on top of his glass desk and proceeded to cut himself a line, inhaling it through a rolled up fifty before wiping the remnants from around his nostrils and rubbing it into his gums. He guzzled another vodka to take the edge off before cutting himself another line.

 

 

Taylor stubbed her cigarette out with her shoe and made her way into the mall, the wad of cash Joseph had supplied her with safely tucked inside her handbag. She glanced in the windows of various stores, with nothing really catching her eye, until she caught sight of a tall, handsome guy emerging down the escalator.

 

“We meet again,” she smirked as she walked closer to Kyle.

 

Kyle smiled half heartedly at Taylor; despite his attraction to the petite brunette, the news about Grace hadn’t exactly put him in the best of moods. “Hey…how’s it going?”

 

“Don’t sound too pleased to see me.” Taylor sighed.

 

“Sorry…this just isn’t the best time…” Kyle tried to explain, but he didn’t know a thing about this girl and he wasn’t about to open up to her about his troubled relationship with Natalie. “I have to run…I’ll maybe see you around sometime?”

”Don’t count on it.” Taylor muttered as Kyle rushed off into the crowd.

 

 

Closing the door to her apartment, Jessica dropped her bag on the couch and made her way into her bedroom. She stepped out of her heels and collapsed on top of the bed, worn out from the combination of lack of sleep and a hectic day, and touched her pregnant stomach.

 

She sighed as her mind went into overdrive, still unable to make sense of the situation she had found herself in. She berated herself for not using protection when she had sex with Shane, thinking that the pill would be enough to keep pregnancy at bay, before realizing that in the midst of getting her business off the ground she had forgotten to take it a few times.

 

“Someone’s tired?” Rex commented as he appeared in the doorway of the bedroom. “ Rough day?”

 

“You could say that.” Jessica yawned, too stressed out about her situation to even care that her five hundred dollar dress was wrinkling more and more by the second. Not that it would fit her for much longer, and when it did, it would be out of fashion. “You wanna do something tonight?”

 

“I think you’re a little wiped.” Rex decided. “And besides, I’ve got a ton of work to do.”

 

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Jessica muttered. “Any developments?”

 

“You know I cant really talk about that, but there are a few leads I’ve got to chase up.”

 

Jessica sighed, the very thought of bringing up a kid with Rex had her wondering if her and the kid would always be second place to his job. Sure, his job was important, very important, but Jessica knew she couldn’t handle being married to someone who was married to his job, never mind raise a kid with them.

 

 

Alex handed Felicia a coffee and sat down next to her friend; with everything that had happened to her over the last year she’d hardly been able to make time for her friend, but she had vowed to get back to normality now that her life was finally settling down again.

 

“I was speaking with John today.” Felicia explained. “I get the impression he’s not exactly thrilled now that Kendall is becoming more involved with the company, not to mention Shane’s presence.”

 

“Not exactly thrilled is putting it mildly.” Alex joked as she took a sip of her coffee. “But you cant exactly blame him, I mean he spent his entire life building that company, and then, all because he wants to avoid Diane getting anything from him in the divorce, he goes and signs it over to his sister who goes and kills herself before she gets the chance to sign it back.”

 

“Well it sounds ridiculous when you put it like that.” Felicia laughed. “But I know what you mean. Although to be fair to her, Kendall does really seem to be trying to make a difference with the company. The interest she’s shown in the publishing side of things…she seems to have a real knack for it.”

 

“Lets just hope she doesn’t start telling John how to run his own company. I know she’s his niece, but I don’t think John would have any trouble cutting her down to size.”

 

“And what about the money Wesley left you? Have you thought about what you’re going to do with it?”

 

“Not as yet, no. It doesn’t quite seem real.” Alex supposed. “I know that I want to do something good with it, make a difference, you know…but I still haven’t found a worthy cause.”

 

“Girl, there are thousands of worthy causes.” Felicia placed her coffee mug down on the table just as Will and Ashley entered the apartment and greeted their mother and her friend.

 

“Ashley, you remember my friend Felicia, don’t you?” Alex asked her daughter. Ashley nodded, hating this type of awkward ‘oh my how you’ve grown’ encounters.

”You’re looking good Ashley.” Felicia smiled warmly. “Europe obviously agreed with you.”

 

“We’re just going to order some takeout and rent a movie.” Ashley explained to her mother and Felicia.

 

“You guys want anything?” Will offered.

 

“Not for me, thanks.” Felicia insisted, standing up from her seat. “I better be going, I’m cooking for Savannah tonight.”

 

“Is she back from college already?” Alex asked, knowing how much Felicia and her younger sister had grown apart since she left town for college.

 

“She dropped out.” Felicia sighed. “Some thanks I get for saving up to pay her fees. Anyway, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

 

“See you later.” Alex waved goodbye to her friend as they made their way to the door. “So how were your days?”

 

“Pretty boring,” Ashley rolled her eyes and made her way across the apartment to the kitchen. “Do you have any wine?”

 

“I don’t think so, honey.” Alex told her daughter before turning to her son. “What about you?”

 

“Actually it was pretty interesting.” Will explained. “I’m going to be doing some work on the promotions of Pulse Gym, Marc’s re-launching it.”

 

“Wait a sec…you’re working with Megan’s husband?” Ashley popped her head around the doorway. “Isn’t that going to be just a little bit awkward for you?”

 

“Come on, give me a little credit.” Will sighed. “What happened between Megan and I…it was years ago, a lot has happened since then. You know, before I knew she was my sister. Finding out you’re a blood relation does kind of change things.”

 

“If you’re sure…” Alex couldn’t help but feel a twinge of fear over Will getting involved with Megan and her husband, although she was sure he was a big enough boy to know what he was getting into.

 

 

Tired from a day at the office, Kendall closed the door to the mansion and kicked off the shoes that were killing her feet, and headed to the kitchen, where she opened the fridge and reached inside for a bottle of wine that she hadn’t quite gotten around to finishing the night before.

 

“Leo, I’m home.” Kendall yelled as she poured herself a glass before making her way upstairs to check on her brother, who had barely left his room since news of Grace’s death had hit him. “Do you want to order takeout? I’m totally starving.”

 

Kendall knocked gently on the door to Leo’s darkened room before making her way inside, sighing at the pile of clothes strewn on the floor as she opened the curtains, illuminating the room with light. “I thought I’d made it clear to the new maid not to let you mope about in the dark all day. Since Julie left the replacement has been…” Kendall stopped in her tracks as she turned to face her brother. White powder was dusted over the top of his glass desk while Leo sat back in his chair, fast asleep. The sight of her brother using drugs again caused Kendall’s enthusiastic smile to drop, noticing that her brother’s face as a lot paler than usual.

 

“Leo?” Kendall asked, hoping to rouse her brother from his sleep as she made her way over to where he sat, “Leo, wake up!” Kendall urged him, slapping his face in the hope that she would awaken him from his trance. “Leo! Wake up!”

 

Oblivious to his son’s predicament, Shane entered the Metro bar and spotted Kristen sitting in the same spot as their last encounter. He made his way over to her and leaned against the bar, turning to face the pretty blonde.

 

“Not drinking alone again, are we?” Shane smiled. “We need to remedy that.”

 

“Oh it’s you.” Kristen played it cool, although secretly she had been hoping that Shane would show up; after everything she had been through with Greg, she enjoyed the harmless flirtation that came with her encounters with Shane. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were following me.”

 

“I can assure you that me following you is very much not the case here.” Shane insisted, gesturing to the barman for his usual. “Although I do find it a little suspicious that every time I come here, here you are, sitting in the same spot, drinking the same drink…why isn’t a beautiful lady like you out there being wined and dined by an array of suitors?”

 

Kristen had been asking herself that very same question; why wasn’t she having the time of her life? She was pretty, successful and didn’t have any psychotic tendencies, yet in the last year the only man she had encountered came with more baggage than LAX. “I have commitment issues.” What Kristen didn’t reveal was that the only issues she had was getting a man to commit to her.

 

“Me too, I guess we’re a perfect match.” Shane grinned. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make a trip to the little boys’ room.”

 

Shane left a ten dollar note for the barman before making his way across the bar to the restrooms, leaving an intrigued Kristen sitting alone. Noticing that Shane had left his Gucci wallet on top of the bar, she downed her red wine for Dutch courage before checking her reflection in the glass panels that adorned one side of the bar.

 

Inside the restroom, Shane stood with his cellphone held to his ear. “For the last time, you work for me. You’d do well to remember that, now get rid of it or you’re fired, got it?” Shane snapped before flipping his phone shut and sliding it into his pocket, hearing the door open and close.

 

“You forgot your wallet.” Kristen appeared, holding the piece of leather in her hand.

 

“I didn’t forget it.” Shane teased, making his way over to Kristen and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her in for a tight embrace. Their lips never parted as they continued to kiss while making their way across the spacious restroom and into one of the stalls, closing it behind them as they began to make hot, passionate love. The danger of being caught only succeeded at turning Kristen on even more, the raw, animal sex wiping all traces of Greg from her mind.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…