25. Tuesday, July 10, 2012 – Thursday, July 12, 2012
TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2012 – THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012
W hen William still couldn’t find a replacement deckhand, he invited Kevin back for Tuesday's whale watching trip.
“How was it?” Julia ventured that evening when William arrived with Diego.
With a faint smirk, he said, “Good. We saw three orcas and a humpback.”
Still in the foyer, Julia gave his shoulder a little shove. “Stop playing coy.”
He laughed. “I didn’t see any smoking gun. Kevin and Izumi were friendly, but professional. And he’s still working out surprisingly well as a deckhand and backup naturalist. He doesn’t look at me like I’m sprouting horns anymore. He’s almost... pleasant.”
“Maybe because he’s getting some now? With a twenty-three-year-old sex kitten?”
He grinned and rolled his eyes, but he refused to dignify her cattiness with a response.
Kevin worked for William again on Wednesday and Thursday, which made for an interesting Thursday session in Clio’s office.
“This is a surprising development,” she declared, her eyes ping-ponging between the three of them. “Pleasantly surprising, mind you. You all seem much more r elaxed than you were just a couple of weeks ago.”
“I think we’ve turned a corner,” William ventured, looking sheepishly to Kevin for confirmation. “You're a good deckhand.”
“Thanks. You’re a good captain,” Kevin replied with a smile. “And yeah, the dynamic has definitely shifted.”
For her part, Julia’s beaming smile said it all.
Then Kevin squirmed in his chair and coughed into his fist. “This seems like a good time to mention I’ve decided to move back to San Francisco before September.”
Julia and William both did a double-take. “I thought you had your dissertation defense in August,” Julia said.
“I do, but I can fly down for that. I don’t need to be in Santa Barbara until then, and I’m tired of being so far from the kids.”
Julia’s mind and heart were a riot of conflicting feelings. On one level, she had been dreading the day when Kevin moved back and resumed joint physical custody. For a long time, she hadn’t known what she would do with herself or how she would fill her time if Paige and Robert weren’t there to occupy her every waking minute. The silence in the house would be deafening, and the hole in her heart would feel cavernous.
On the other hand, even before her reunion with William, she consoled herself by remembering how she filled her time, pre-kids, with things like reading, sewing, and aquariums.
Once Kevin moved back to San Francisco, she would have time for those again. Maybe she could create costumes for theater, like she did in high school. Maybe she could take up yoga, or join a hiking group, or volunteer for an AIDS-related nonprofit like the one her Aunt Brigid started back in the eighties.
And now that William was back in her life, she could spend some of her free time with him, too.
After all these months to prepare, Julia knew she had to reframe this time away from her kids as time for self-restoration – for rediscovering and reinventing herself as an individual, distinct from her identity as a mom.
But this week’s events had raised another possible explanation for Kevin’s sudden change of plans. And once again, worry niggled at the back of her brain over who else the kids might be spending time with, besides Kevin.
Of course, it was far too premature to broach such questions with Kevin, so Julia swallowed her misgivings and forced a smile. “When are you thinking of moving back?”
“Now.”
Julia’s mouth went dry, and she studiously avoided looking at William. She didn’t trust herself to keep her composure if his expression betrayed the same dismay. “Now? Like – immediately?”
A tiny, almost imperceptible furrow formed between Kevin’s brows. “Like, this week.”
“But... don’t you at least have to pack first? Find a place to live?”
“My condo in Santa Barbara came furnished, and so does my new one in the city.”
This time, Julia couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open. “You’ve already found a condo here?” She was about to ask how he had pulled that off, in this housing market, when an unwelcome idea intruded on her consciousness.
But before she could process the thought, they transitioned awkwardly into discussing what coparenting would look like, now that Kevin was moving back. They talked about Robert – how he was processing his new “two daddies” reality, and how they would continue helping him with that.
But despite her best efforts, Julia’s mind kept wandering back to the single, inescapable thought that had dropped in on her. The thought that maybe – just maybe – Kevin was moving in with Izumi.
The weekend flitted by so quickly, Julia's head spun to find herself staring down another Monday. And when she scanned the coming week on her calendar, she recalled with a jolt that William’s birthday was next Saturday. She hadn’t exactly forgotten; the time was just flying by that quickly. And true to form, William had said nothing. He was just going to let her treat it like any other day of the year .
Well, screw that.
Julia spent the next day or two scrambling for a suitable way to celebrate. And by suitable, she meant epic enough to match the adoration she felt for him.
She had plenty of time to search, because even though she and Paige had papered the city with her marketing materials, Julia’s phone remained ominously silent.
On Wednesday, after wrapping up her twice-monthly check-in with Aaron, she leaned back in the chair on the other side of his desk and surveyed him. He was a little less put-together than usual. His usually immaculate, long-on-top fade had grown out a bit, and his suit jackets were fitting tighter around his shoulders, as if he were gaining weight. “So enough of all my crap, Aaron. How are you doing?”
“Okay,” he said, his flat tone suggesting he was far from okay.
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Aaron.”
He humored her with a halfhearted chuckle, but offered nothing else.
“I know what you need,” she persisted. “You need to get laid.”
This time, when he laughed, it reached his eyes. “You're not wrong. Let me tell you, the T does stuff to a person."
Julia waggled her eyebrows. “So, men? Women? Or ‘yes, please?’”
“It’s all good,” he said, snickering a bit self-consciously. But then his smile quickly faded. “In all honesty, Julia, dating isn’t in the cards for me. Like, ever. I’m too busy.”
“Aaron...” Julia reached across the desk to give his bicep a reassuring squeeze, then left it there, impressed. “Geez, dude; I guess you weren’t kidding about the T. Have you been lifting weights?”
“Rowing,” Aaron muttered. “I have plenty of time for it now. And plenty of frustration to burn.”
“Color me impressed. It’s clearly paying off.” So this was why his suit jackets fit a little tighter these days.
Aaron deftly shifted the subject back to Julia. “How are things with William?”
“Good,” Julia said, careful not to rub it in by sounding too effusive. “Saturday is his birthday, and I’m trying to figure out what to do for him. ”
He humored her with another polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes, at first. But then, suddenly, those eyes lit up.
“Did I tell you Rina is working for Dirk now?”
“You told me she would be, after graduation. What’s she doing for him?”
“Apprenticing with the winemaker and maintaining the vacation rental.”
Confused, Julia stilled. “Wait – what is Dirk doing these days? I thought he was a wine importer.”
“He sold his importing business and bought a biodynamic farm and winery in Sonoma County. He renamed it Fox Glade Farm and Winery.”
“Fox Glade...” Julia scoured the dark recesses of her memory. “Where have I heard that before?”
“It’s the literal translation of his last name.”
“Vosloo means ‘fox glade?’”
Aaron grinned. “Kind of badass, huh?”
It finally hit Julia like a thunderclap. “Does Fox Glade bottle a varietal called Cinsaut?”
“It does.”
“Mom’s friend gave her a bottle of Fox Glade Cinsaut! I had never tried that varietal before.”
Aaron nodded enthusiastically. “Dirk’s family in South Africa bottled it at their winery. It’s always been his dream to introduce it more widely here.”
“Well, I can safely say it’s our new favorite.”
“There’s more where that came from. There’s a beautiful old farmhouse on the winery that Rina maintains as a vacation rental. You and William could make a weekend of it, just the two of you.”
Julia’s face fell. “Oh, um... William doesn’t drink.”
Aaron studied her for a second, but mercifully didn’t probe further. “Well, the winery itself is on the other end of the property. All you see from the house is the old orchard and the vineyard. It’s a romantic little retreat unto itself.”
Julia hummed thoughtfully. “Does it have a big, comfy bed?”
“And a big, comfy tub. ”
Julia brightened. “Where exactly in Sonoma County?”
“North of Healdsburg. It’s a hidden gem that’s still relatively undiscovered,” he added, a bit wistfully; and Julia sensed the winery had once been his dream, as well as Dirk’s.
Julia considered a moment. “That actually sounds really nice, but won’t it already be booked?”
“Probably not. Rina actually lives in the farmhouse, so they don't book it for more than seven days per month. And it doesn’t come cheap, so it's not in super-high demand.”
“Oh,” Julia said, deflating. “I mean, I know I divorced a multimillionaire, but you know my current financial situation. How much are we talking about here?”
Retrieving his phone, Aaron waved away her concern. “I’ll text you Rina’s contact card. Give her a call and she’ll hook you up.”
“What? No. I can't accept that. It's too much.”
They went round and round until Aaron heaved an exasperated sigh. “Julia, with how much you’ve paid me in legal fees over the years, let me repay you in this small, measly way. You deserve to treat yourself. And your birthday stud, of course.”
Julia actually giggled and came around the desk to throw her arms around her startled cousin. “I am so going to set you up with someone.”
“Fuck, no. I don’t trust you within ten parsecs of my love life.” But he was grinning broadly as he tapped out his text to her.
“Fine. I’ll hover at eleven parsecs.”