Chapter 14
The food arrived just then. Once they were seated they passed around to-go containers of wonton soup, the filling for chicken
lettuce wraps, crispy honey shrimp and fried rice.
Victoria eyed the amount of containers. “It’s possible I overordered. We can split the leftovers. There’s no way I can finish
all this myself.”
“Thanks. It’s delicious, and food like this is always better the next day.” She moved her soup bowl closer. “Did you tell
your mom I texted?”
“No. You?”
Shannon shook her head. “I can’t figure out how she feels about running into Ava. Obviously there’s guilt. She went to see
her a few days after the dinner. I don’t know what happened, but when she came back, she spent the whole afternoon locked
in her office crying.”
She paused. “Is it okay to talk about this?”
“Sure. We’re both the result of what happened, but we had nothing to do with the circumstances.
If Cindy had given you up, you would have had my life.
I guess my mom would have found another couple to adopt me.
” Now it was her turn to consider her words.
“Intellectually I can say that, but I can’t imagine what it would have been like to grow up with different parents. It’s strange to think about.”
“For me, too. Although I have the advantage of being able to look at you and try to picture myself in your world, whereas
you have nothing to compare it to.”
“It is sort of like falling through the looking glass.” She smiled. “I have to warn you, when you’re doing your what-if dreaming,
improvement is my mother’s love language.”
Shannon scooped up some fried rice. “What does that mean?”
“My mom shows she cares by trying to make you better. My dad totally gets it and loves when she steps in to tell him what
he’s doing wrong.” She waved a piece of shrimp. “I wasn’t so understanding. Whether it was clothes or my hair or how I was
training, she had an opinion.”
Shannon looked confused. “Training?”
“When I was little, I was into gymnastics. I was pretty serious about the sport.” More than that, it had been her world for
years. “I was the kid getting up at four in the morning to train before school and then went back for an afternoon session.
I competed until I was twelve.” She shrugged. “That’s when I knew I wasn’t going to make it past the state championships.”
Her coach had been hinting at that for months, but Victoria hadn’t wanted to listen. It had taken a very blunt meeting with
him for her to face what she’d been avoiding. She simply wasn’t good enough to make the national team, and without that, she
had no future in the sport. At least not one she wanted.
“Twelve?” Shannon sounded stunned. “But that’s so young. Couldn’t you have kept trying?”
“I didn’t see the point. Being the best in my region was like winning the Miss Apple Orchard crown or something. I wanted
it all, and when I was willing to admit I didn’t have that extra spark of talent, I was done.”
“But you were twelve!”
Victoria grinned. “You need to let that go. I spent a couple of months feeling sorry for myself, then decided to find something else I could do. I picked cheerleading. All-star cheerleading.”
“Meaning you were really good?”
She laughed. “We were, but all-star cheerleading is about competing and performing. We don’t cheer for another sport like
regular high school cheerleaders do. It’s a combination of dance, gymnastics and tumbling.”
“Oh, like when you all stand on each other’s shoulders and the guys throw the girls around and stuff.”
“Yes, that. Our team competed at the high school level. It was a female-only team.” The training had been hard, but she’d
loved it.
“You were doing a lot,” Shannon said. “I’m impressed. My big high school thing was working on the yearbook. Did you compete
in college?”
“I didn’t go. It turns out my mom loved that I was cheering and totally supported me. There was no way I could stand making
her happy all the time, so I refused to go to college and went to stunt school instead.”
Shannon frowned. “Are you being funny?”
“Sort of. Maybe. I don’t know.” She paused, wondering if her past jokes on the topic had been hiding the truth. “I have to
think about it for a second. Did I really stop cheering because of my mom? At the time I had a thousand reasons why it didn’t
make sense, but now . . .” She grimaced. “I hate emotional self-exploration. It makes me want to work on an action movie or
something.”
“Not with that cast.”
Victoria grinned. “It would get in the way and my orthopedist would be so pissed.”
“Do you miss cheering?”
“Not anymore. It was fun, though.” She’d liked being on a team and the challenge of learning new routines. “In a way, stunt work isn’t that different. We all work together to make something happen.”
“And it has the added advantage of Ava hating it,” Shannon said lightly.
Victoria held up her glass of wine. “You got that right.”
“My mom always supported whatever I wanted to do,” Shannon said. “But I think in a different way than Ava. She was always
there. I mean right there.” She gestured to her left. “She checked every homework assignment, kept in regular touch with my
teachers. Whatever happened, she was ready to catch me if I started to fall.”
“That would have freaked me out,” Victoria admitted. “I was always an independent kid. According to my parents, I needed to
do everything myself. I remember being pretty young and being on a playground somewhere. Ava wanted to stay with me, but I
pushed her away. I had worlds to conquer, and I didn’t need my mother getting in the way.”
“I wasn’t like that at all. I wanted my mom close.”
Victoria couldn’t relate. “Then it’s good that she was there for you.”
“Sometimes. It made my life easier.” Shannon hesitated. “Now I wonder if I didn’t learn the right skills. Despite the fact
that I moved out, I don’t feel independent. I’m not sure what to do with my life. I flunked out of college, and now I’m working
for my mom. It was supposed to be a transitional job, but it’s been three years, and there I am. In the same office chair.
So I’m trying to figure out what’s next, and I don’t have a clue.”
“Most people our age are clueless,” Victoria said. “I wonder about my own future. The stunt thing is great, but I worry about
the next injury and the one after that.” She picked up her lettuce wrap. “Oh, don’t tell my mom that you’re trying to figure
out a life plan. She’ll put together one for you in twenty minutes, along with bullet points with the hows and whens. You not wanting to do it won’t be discussed.”
“She’s an incredible woman. She told me about her foundation. I can’t believe she started one on her own. She spends her day
giving away money to help people. That’s her job.”
“I agree that she’s doing a good thing, but watch your back. She’ll absolutely try to take over.”
“My mom already has that market cornered.”
“We could make them compete,” Victoria teased. “Who can be the most intrusive mom? Although I have to say Cindy seems too
nice to beat out Ava.”
“I think she’d surprise you.”
They both laughed.
Victoria was having a good time, which was unexpected. She hadn’t gotten a sense of Shannon at the dinner—probably because
she’d been in a weird mental space, trying not to react to having the Wanted Baby right there at the table. But Shannon was
easy to be with. She was also Javiar’s soon-to-be stepsister and his roommate.
“What’s with Javiar?” she asked. “Is he a good guy?”
As soon as the words came out, she wanted to slap herself. What a dumb thing to say. What did she care if he was “good” or
not, unless they were talking about his performance in bed.
“Why do you want know?” Shannon asked. “Are you interested in him?”
“Not in the way you mean, but he’s been over a few times.” She wrinkled her nose. “I think he wants to date me.”
“I had no idea. We don’t talk about his love life very much. I take it you’re not interested in him?”
“Oh, I totally am. For sex.”
Shannon’s surprise was nearly comical. “Not a relationship?”
Victoria waved away that comment. “I don’t do that kind of thing. I’m in it for the orgasm. Javiar’s holding out on me, and
I can’t figure out why.”
“So just random sex with different guys?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Don’t you want to get to know them first? What if you don’t like them?”
“As long as they’re disease-free and know what to do with my clit, I’m fine with it. Not everyone feels the need to pair-bond.”
“I couldn’t be more different,” Shannon said. “I’m in love with Aaron, and he’s in love with me.”
Victoria mentally made a gagging noise. “I’m glad you two are happy.”
“But?”
“I’m not interested in falling in love.” Victoria found herself wanting to tell the truth. “I did once. He ripped my heart
out and did a little dance on it, and I’m never doing that again.”
“Never is a long time. What if you meet the right guy?”
“There is no right guy. They’re interchangeable.”
Shannon’s expression turned knowing. “You’re choosing sex because you don’t want to get hurt again. You’re scared.”
“I’ve made a lifestyle choice.”
“You’re in denial.”
“Possibly, and here I’ll stay.”
“Javiar isn’t a sex-only kind of guy. He’s always had a romantic streak.”
Well, that was disappointing to hear. She enjoyed his company and had assumed she would be getting him into bed, but if he
was a romantic, then he would have emotional expectations she had no interest in meeting.
“You’re going to hurt him,” Shannon added.
“What? No. I don’t get involved enough to hurt anyone.”
“But maybe he will.”
She sounded concerned, which made Victoria feel the tiniest bit guilty. Then she reminded herself that Javiar was a grown-ass
man who could take care of himself.
Conversation shifted to the venue where they’d met. Victoria talked about her mom’s plans for Milton’s sixtieth birthday, while Shannon mentioned Cindy’s upcoming wedding. When they’d finished, Victoria realized they’d spent nearly two hours talking.