28. August – September, 2012
AUGUST – SEPTEMBER, 2012
S ummer sped by at breakneck speed, like it did every year. Paige and Xavier both started eighth grade at the same school. Julia, William, and Kevin accompanied Robert to his first day of Kindergarten, and as he grinned and waved goodbye without an ounce of trepidation, Julia choked back sappy tears.
That is, until Robert’s eyes lit up at the sight of his old friend. “Hey Rowan, look! I have two daddies now, too!”
His boast brought everything within fifty yards to a screeching halt as all eyes followed Robert’s. Their audience’s reactions varied between shock, disgust, and frank curiosity. Snorting, William smacked his own forehead, while Kevin bowed his head and shook it in dismay.
Julia merely grinned and shrugged. “Never a dull moment.”
The truth was, Kevin had integrated into Julia and William’s lives more seamlessly than predicted – even if not in the same way as Rowan’s parents. Despite finally earning his doctorate, Kevin still struggled to find work. Apparently, all the speculations about him and Izumi had been idle, because she had long since moved on to a new job at a local marine science institute. Kevin still found himself butting his head up against the glass ceiling of ageism, and he refused to exploit his parents’ connections to break through. He wanted to succeed on his own merit. That meant Ke vin still worked for William, now as the on-board naturalist, since William had long since replaced his deckhand.
August melted into September with no relief from the heat and drought. Filming began on Marisa's new show; and each Monday, when Julia stepped into The Restaurant Formerly Known as Dunphy’s, she marveled at the transformation it had undergone in only one week.
On a sweltering mid-September Monday, Julia steered her cartload of aquarium supplies past the office that used to belong to her father. Glancing through the open door, she spied a new employee going over paperwork with Marisa. The moment they looked up, Julia lifted her hand to wave – and stopped short.
“Stephen!” William’s cousin, and former deckhand. Julia blurted the classic, obtuse follow-up: “What are you doing here?”
Marisa intervened. “Meet the new sous chef of Zeneize at Fisherman’s Wharf.”
Julia gaped at Stephen. “No way! You’re working with Marisa now?”
“Guilty as charged.” With his blindingly handsome grin, Stephen rose to shake Julia’s hand. “Good to see you again. How’s my cousin?”
“Will’s great. He’d want me to tell you hello, and congrats.” To Marisa, she added, “So everything’s coming together, then?”
“Of course,” Marisa said good-naturedly, as if that were a given. And after knowing her only a short while, Julia had no doubt it was.
“I’m just curious, Marisa – do you ever sleep?”
Marisa tilted her head with a look of confusion. “Sleep?”
It took Julia a second to realize Marisa was joking. “Never mind.” she laughed.
Marisa swiveled in her chair to face Julia head-on. “Speaking of never sleeping, you’re probably not getting much, yourself.”
At first, Julia thought Marisa was referring to her sleepless nights with William. Her stomach swooped, until Marisa's self-congratulatory expression clued Julia in to her real meaning. That woman had a healthy ego, but Julia supposed she needed it, in her profession. “Oh, yeah. I actually had to create a waitlist for new clients. I even have an interview next week with the Chronicle. Can you believe it?”
“I absolutely can,” Marisa countered. “You’re kicking ass and taking names in a male-dominate d profession. I know a thing or two about that.”
“Um...” With a sheepish wince, Stephen jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll just go cower in the corner now.”
Marisa leaned over and pinched Stephen’s cheek, cooing, “Aw, the poor wittle fwagile ego!”
Stephen blushed intensely, but he cracked up laughing. Marisa spied Julia’s shocked expression and quickly explained. “Don’t worry, I’ve known this kid since we both worked here, in the aughts.”
“Oh, right.” Julia silently thanked her for not adding, And also because he’s Will’s cousin.
“Anyway,” Marisa continued, “why don’t you hire an employee so you can take on more clients?”
“I plan to; I just haven’t found the right person. I don't trust the aquarium servicing side of my business to anyone but me; and I won’t trust my shop to any old reef bro walking in off the street.” That’s when it hit Julia like a blow to the head. “Oh my God! Kevin!”
Marisa frowned. “Kevin?”
Julia waved her hand. “My ex. Why didn’t I think of him sooner?”
Stephen cocked an eyebrow. “You actually want to think about your ex?”
“No! Yes. I mean – sorry, I’ve got to make a call.”
Without even waiting for their reactions, Julia dashed off. She steered her cart out of the kitchen and through the dining room to the front of the house before retrieving her phone from her back pocket.
“Is everything okay?” Kevin’s voice sounded a bit husky, as if he had been sleeping.
“The kids are fine, but are you?” Julia glanced at her phone screen. “It’s two in the afternoon.”
“Oh... yeah.” He sounded a bit distracted. “I’m fine. Just, ah... having a bit of a lie-down.”
“Is your Crohn’s flaring up again?”
He barked out a laugh. “I hope not.”
Confused, Julia frowned, and then she heard it – a definite female voice, whispering over Kevin’s shoulder: “Who is it? ”
Julia froze. She heard the telltale rustle of bed sheets as Kevin untangled himself, followed by his footsteps padding into another room.
“What’s up?” he prompted, and Julia heard the snick of a door shutting behind him.
Julia’s mind was flying at warp speed, yet it took a geologic age to settle on a response. “Sorry if I, uh... interrupted you.”
After a two-beat pause, Kevin repeated, “So what’s up?”
“Right.” Julia cleared her throat. “I just had a brilliant idea. At least, I think it’s brilliant; I don’t know if you will.”
“Shoot.”
He was getting impatient, so Julia forced herself to focus. “I need to hire someone to cover the shop while I’m out doing my servicing appointments. Do you want the job?”
He coughed out yet another laugh. “That bad, huh?”
Julia frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, no; I just mean it’s hard to find good help these days.”
Julia rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Now you're making me sound like your parents.” The jibe was safe because his parents’ entitlement and snobbery disgusted him almost as much as it did her. “It’s just that you already know everything there is to know, and I wouldn’t have to train you. Maybe you could fill in temporarily, until I find someone else?”
“I would, but that schedule would conflict with the job I’m doing for William.”
“Oh... right.” In her haste, Julia hadn’t even considered this. She joked, “So ditch Will and come work for me, instead.”
He laughed. “Honestly, I don’t think I’d enjoy working in an aquarium shop. Certainly not more than working as a naturalist on a whale watching cruise. Nothing personal.”
“Nothing personal taken.” After a moment’s consideration, Julia asked, “Well, do you at least know someone who can help me? I’ve already exhausted all connections.”
“Let me think about it a day or two and get back to you.”
“Sure.” In a coy tone, she added, “Enjoy the rest of your, ah... day .”
“Yeah... you too. ”
He was giving up nothing, so she hung up, disappointed. Still, she wasn’t giving up yet.
That evening over dinner, during a lull in conversation, Julia casually asked the kids, “Does your dad ever bring any of his friends over while you’re there?”
“Sometimes,” Robert admitted, blatantly sneaking a cilantro-seasoned prawn to Diego, who waited patiently under the table at Robert's feet. Julia’s father kept forgetting that Robert hated cilantro.
“Are his friends nice?” prompted Julia.
“Oh,” Paige interrupted, turning to William, “that reminds me – remember that girl Izumi? The one who used to work for you as the naturalist?”
Widening, William’s eyes flitted briefly to Julia. “Yeah, of course.”
“Well, she’s one of Dad’s friends.”
“Oh yeah; she’s sooo nice!” confirmed Robert. “Sometimes she babysits us.”
Paige swatted him lightly. “She doesn’t babysit me , dufus.”
“Yeah, she does,” Robert argued. “Last time, Daddy told her not to let you play on the computer.”
Paige glowered at her plate. Oblivious, Robert continued, “And Daddy took us to her apartment once.”
Julia’s stomach lurched, forcing her to set her fork down. “And how was that?”
Not quite grasping her meaning, Robert replied, “Small.”
“Only compared to Dad’s penthouse,” Paige pointed out. “Honestly, I think Dad’s dating someone, too. I saw two toothbrushes in his bathroom, and one of them was a pink electric toothbrush. Pretty sure Dad wouldn’t buy a pink electric toothbrush. But if he is dating someone, I don’t know who.”
Again, Julia traded knowing glances with William. “Has he ever brought over any other friends?” she asked Paige.
“Yeah; there’s his fellow aquarium geeks and marine biology nerds, and even one or two old dudes from his days as a venture capitalist. But Izumi’s his only girl friend. I mean – you know. His only friend that’s a girl.”
The fact that Paige couldn’t put two-and-two together and pair her dad with Izumi only conf irmed how unusual the pairing would be. Unusual, but far from implausible.
Well, whoever and whatever it was, getting laid on the regular had been good for Kevin. He was much more chill and less sulky. The kids seemed happy and well cared for. And frankly, it had been nice having him back in the city, taking the kids fifty percent of the time. After all, it freed Julia up to spend half her weeknights with William.
William's throat-clearing distracted her from her musings. “Paul, how is retirement so far?” he asked Julia’s father.
“Boring as hell,” her father growled. Her mother rebuked his mild epithet, and Julia winced. Retirement was a sore topic these days, but William couldn’t have known that.
“I keep telling him to volunteer at that AIDS nonprofit his sister Brigid started in the eighties,” Julia’s mother said. “You know – the one that cooks meals for people living with HIV?”
“Why would I do that?” her father practically roared. “I’ve never liked that woman, anyway.”
Julia’s mother reached across the table to pat his hand. “Your sister doesn’t work there anymore, remember? She retired and handed the reins over to her daughter.”
“I don't even know Maureen,” her father stubbornly persisted.
“You don’t have to know her to volunteer there, dear.”
Julia’s father abruptly scraped his chair back, nearly sending it toppling over backwards. “And by the way, you can quit talking to me like I’m a child!”
The rest of them either stared or tried not to stare as he stomped into the house, muttering under his breath. Under the table, Diego scrambled to his feet, nails clacking on concrete as he trotted after Julia’s father.
Julia’s mother folded her napkin neatly and set it on her plate. With the weary smile of the long-suffering wife, she whispered, “I would, if he’d quit acting like a child.”
After Julia’s mother recruited Paige and Robert to help with the dishes, Julia found herself alone on the patio with William. “So,” he said after a moment, aiming a sidelong smirk at her. “That was weird.”
Julia burst out laughing. “Yeah. ”
William slowly nodded, his eyes turning glassy as he grew pensive, until Julia prompted, “Penny for your thoughts?”
“Oh, I was just remembering something your dad once said – that the day you retire is the day you die, or something like that. I see him as the kind of man who needs something to do, and if your parents moved into a place like where my mom lives, they’d have a lot more to occupy their time and their minds.”
“I agree, but my parents are in no hurry to leave this house. Every time Alison or I broach the subject, they get defensive and shut it down. Especially Dad.”
He grew thoughtful again for a minute. “I know a few months ago, when we first reconnected, you said you have no desire to live in the house you grew up in.”
“That’s how I felt in May. The only reason I’ve stayed this long is because of finances. But now that business is booming, I've started looking at the real estate market again, and of course it’s only gotten worse.”
He peered attentively at her. “So what now?”
She pondered his question for a minute, then begrudgingly admitted, “Now, I’m thinking about making my parents an offer on their house. Either that, or renting it back from them, like your sister does from your mom.”
He shifted nervously in his seat. “I’ve been spending so many nights at Kelly and Pilar’s, helping out with my nephews. Thinking long-term, if Kelly and I were neighbors... it might be nice.”
He turned to peer evenly at her, and her pulse accelerated. Thinking long-term, he had said. If Kelly and I were neighbors...
He was imagining a future where he and Julia would live together as a family. And he wanted that family to be within walking distance of Kelly’s.
All at once, that was exactly what Julia wanted, too: for their kids to walk to and from each other’s houses and attend the same schools. Celebrating holidays together. Enjoying the beach, just around the corner.
Granted, her heart briefly sank to imagine a future where Julia could not offer Ximé and Zuri a little cousin to play with. After all, Robert was five years older than they were .
But it didn’t matter: Julia had already made it clear that they could never have another baby, and William had accepted that.
“And also...” William’s voice derailed Julia’s train of thought. She watched his Adam’s apple slide down his throat in a slow gulp, as if he were preparing to say something momentous.
“What is it?” she gently prompted.
“I have to move.”
“Move?” Julia’s heart thudded behind her sternum. “What, you mean out your apartment?”
He gave a ragged laugh. “Yeah. I was given a month’s notice.”
“But why?”
“Haze and her son Ash are moving back from Alaska.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, “but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I mean...” He shrugged. “They need their apartment back.”
Flabbergasted, Julia could only stare. “What are you talking about?”
Suddenly understanding, his lips parted in dismay. “Julia. Did I never tell you...?”
“Tell me what?”
“The house I live in belongs to Haze. I live there at reduced rent because I’m her groundskeeper and property manager.”
“Oh, that's right! You did mention you live in a friend’s house. You just never said it was Haze’s house.”
Almost panicked, he seized her hands. “I’m sorry; I guess it just never came up. I wasn’t deliberately hiding anything.”
“I believe you, Will,” she reassured him, squeezing his hands. “It’s not a problem.”
He practically deflated with relief. “Thank God. I know, last time...”
She cringed internally, remembering how she had reacted in 2006 when she learned some unsavory details about his past. Specifics that he had never shared of his struggles with addiction, and his past relationships with Haze and Marisa.
I never lied to you, he had said back then. If you had ever asked me about my past relationships, I would have told you. But really, how helpful or relevant would that have been?
And of course, he had been absolutely right .
“Last time was the last time,” she offered gently. “I was in a bad place, emotionally, when all of that happened. I’m six years older and wiser now. I love and trust you implicitly.”
To her shock, his face reddened, and his eyes instantly spilled over with tears. They apparently startled him just as badly, because he gave a shaky, self-conscious laugh and swiped aggressively at them. And that, in turn, opened Julia’s own tap.
“You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that,” he admitted, his voice strained.
She gathered him up, and they spent the next several minutes letting go of six years of pain, heartbreak, and grief. Julia held on for dear life, rubbing slow, soothing circles over his back. He stroked her hair with an urgency bordering on desperation and planted kisses on the crown of her head.
“William Quinn! I thought your mother told you to stop making her cry!”
Julia’s mother filled the doorway, grinning, with a dessert plate in each hand. Her facetious rebuke made them flinch, but rather than break apart, they succumbed to ragged laughter.
“I was going to offer you some of Alison’s lemon bars, but I see I’m intruding.”
Still chuckling, Julia disentangled herself from William and swiped her cheeks with her forearms. “No, it’s okay. We were just wrapping up.”
Still red-faced – though now for a different reason – William turned away and scrubbed his eyes. Diego trotted from the house, tongue flopping, and made a beeline for William. He propped his front paws on William’s thighs and slurped his cheeks, eliciting more laughter from all of them.
William grabbed Diego’s paws. “Is that all I am to you? A human saltlick?”
As Robert and Paige spilled out of the house with their lemon bars, Julia’s mother served one to William. Looking up at her, William said, “You know, Paul really seems to enjoy Diego. Maybe he should get a dog of his own. ”
Overhearing him, Paige gasped excitedly, and Robert pleaded, “Yeah, Grandma! Pleeeeeeease? ”
Julia’s mother stilled, pondering a moment. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. It’s been years since I’ve seen him smile as much as he does when Diego is around.”
Both kids whooped and cheered, until Julia burst their bubble. “Don’t get too excited yet, guys. It would be Grandma and Grandpa’s dog, not ours.”
“Yeah, but we live with them,” Robert argued.
“For now,” Julia conceded, “but not forever.”
Robert’s face fell, and for a second, Julia assumed it was at the prospect of no longer living with his grandparents. But he quickly set her straight. “Well, then, can we get our own dog?”
Julia’s mother cackled, and Julia rumpled Robert's hair, causing it to stick up comically. “We’ll see, Tadders.” When she looked up again, she found her mother studying her curiously, blinking. Julia tipped her head: a silent question.
Her mother flinched, as if coming out of a daze. “Nothing.”
Julia considered pressing her further, but instead, she suggested, “Why don’t you guys visit the animal shelter? For that matter, maybe Dad would enjoy volunteering there as a dog walker. It would be a great way to get exercise and a shot of doggy-induced serotonin.”
Her mother nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll just sign him up myself and shove him out the door, since he’s not likely to take the initiative.”
Diego came around to sit at Robert’s feet, panting and smiling as he waited for his ration of lemon bar crumbs. “Hey Mom, maybe we can adopt one of Diego’s puppies,” Robert suggested.
“Boys don’t have babies, Tadpole.”
“I know, but they can make them,” he pointed out sagely.
“Not Diego,” William interjected. “He’s been snipped.”
Robert wrinkled his nose. “What is ‘snipped?’”
“Trust me, Tad, you don’t want to know.”
Amid the laughter that followed, Julia caught her mother studying her again in the same curious, blinking way as before. But her mother’s expression quickly cleared, replaced by its typical bland serenity.
That night, after William and Diego went home, Julia tucked Robert into bed, then settled at her sewing machine. She was almost finished with her Halloween costume, with over a month to spare. She smiled as she imagined William’s reaction to seeing her in it.
She was having a hard time focusing, though. Her earlier conversation with William kept running through her mind.
When she and William reconnected just four and a half months ago, Julia reasoned that it would be at least a year before they even started talking about moving in together. And even then, only if he put a ring on it first – proof that some of that Catholic guilt had seeped in, somewhere along the way.
But now, she found herself wondering what they were waiting for. And it reminded her a little too much of the last time she had felt so sure of everything, only to watch it all unravel.
But again, last time was the last time. They were not the same damaged people. They had long since owned their damage, dealt with at least some of it, and were actively working on the rest. This time, they were secure enough to weather the challenges fate flung into their path.
And things really had been going so well. The few times they disagreed, they communicated skillfully and came to a honest resolution, or at least a compromise, that honored each of their needs. And the rest of their time together left her feeling replenished.
Well... except for the lack of sleep.
She grinned just as her mother appeared in the den. “What did I miss?”
Julia smothered her grin and murmured something noncommittal.
One corner of her mother’s mouth curved up. “You’re thinking about William, aren’t you?”
Julia snickered. “Guilty.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking about him, too.”
“You can’t have him,” Julia deadpanned.
“Oh, Julia; the last thing I need is another man to take care of. They’re worse than kids.” Her mother sat on the sofa and patted the cushion beside her. “S orry for interrupting, but can I borrow a few minutes of your time?”
Julia set her costume aside and joined her mother on the couch.
Her mother took Julia’s hand and nodded toward the patio door. “Out there, when you talked about adopting a dog, and you told Robert something about it belonging to your dad and I, but not to you?”
“Yeah?”
“And then you talked about getting your own dog one day?”
Julia’s mother had never liked the idea of them moving out. She loved having Julia and her grandkids in the same house, and she was always talking about that’s the way it should be , or that’s how they did it in the olden days . Multiple generations living together, under one roof.
Julia loved her parents, warts and all; but living with them as a long-term solution? “Mom, there’s not enough space here for all of us,” she pointed out gently. “Paige and I are already sharing a bedroom. And one day...”
“When William moves in,” her mother finished for her.
Meeting her mother’s eyes, Julia slowly nodded. “And I can't expect Paige to share a bedroom with her five-year-old brother.”
“I know, honey. That’s what I’m saying. The conversation about adopting a dog drove it all home.”
“And here’s the thing: William just got a one-month notice to vacate his apartment. The friend he rents it from is moving back in.”
“And there’s no point in expecting him to rent a whole other place, when he could just move in with you.”
Her mother stated it like an incontrovertible fact. Julia studied her expression for any sign of disapproval, but to her surprise, she found none. “You think so, too?”
“I do,” her mother confirmed, before hastily adding, “The Catholic in me doesn’t officially approve, mind you. But the mother in me sees how he lights up when you’re in the room. He can’t take his eyes off you. And the way he is with the kids... I may not officially approve of him moving in, but I’d question your sanity if you didn’t let him.”
Julia’s laughter was full-throated. “Um, thanks?”
“For what? You’re a grown woman. You don‘t need my blessing.”
“But it’s nice to have it. ”
“William has grown up a lot in the last six years, too. Getting his degree, and starting his own business. Getting rid of that damn motorcycle.”
Julia barked out a laugh at her mother’s rare epithet and didn’t bother setting her straight about the circumstances behind the motorcycle’s disappearance. Julia had no doubt William would still be driving it, if Mike hadn’t stolen it. “But that does mean we have to move out,” Julia pointed out.
Julia’s mother looked around, taking in her surroundings. Then, she heaved a big sigh. “Not necessarily.”
Julia lifted an eyebrow, a tiny pilot light of hope illuminating in her chest.
Turning back to look Julia in the eye, her mother said, “With the kids staying at Kevin’s half the time, and you staying with William, your dad and I have really been feeling the emptiness of this house. Besides, we can’t keep it up anymore; and I just got word that the Vecchios are moving into Treemont. That leaves only one more two-bedroom unit; and I’d like to have a spare room for the grandkids when they visit.”
Julia squeezed her mother’s hands. “You mean you and Dad have already decided?”
Her mother huffed out a laugh. “Of course not. This house is your father’s hill, and if it were up to him, he’d die on it. But it’s not up to him. I’ll make him see that moving to Treemont is good for both of us, even if I have to put him in the doghouse first.” She waggled her eyebrows. “He won’t last three days.”
“Mom!”
“What? I would have thought that would give you hope for you and William when you’re our age.”
Julia grimaced. Even if she wanted to picture her parents getting their groove on in their mid-seventies, she couldn’t. In fact, she never could. It seemed more plausible that she and Alison had sprung from their skulls, like Athena. “I can do without that hope, if those are the terms.”
Her mother laughed almost gleefully, and suddenly Julia knew who Alison got her ribald sense of humor from.
“Just to clarify...” Julia felt pretty sure of what her mother was hinting at, but she didn ’t want to be presumptuous. “...how is any of this related to the kids and I moving out?”
Her mother leveled her with a cutting stare. “Do I really have to spell it out?”
“I didn’t want to just assume,” Julia chuckled. “Here’s the thing: I could buy the house from you and Dad, if you prefer. But what if I just rent it back from you, instead? You and Dad would get the income tax benefits, and I get to keep paying your obscenely-low property taxes. Of course, I wouldn't get the tax benefits of home ownership; and you and Dad would have to come up with the money for Treemont from somewhere else.”
“What do you think we were planning to do with all that money from the sale of Dunphy’s?”
Oddly enough, that hadn’t even occurred to Julia. “Really?”
“Of course!”
“Wow. You and Dad could really be living it up right now, if you sold your house on top of all that.”
“Julia, with my heart, there will be no living it up,” her mother declared, and Julia felt her own heart sink at her fatalistic tenor. “Besides, my version of living it up is staying close to my family and watching you thrive. You, William, and the kids should take the house.”
For the third time, Julia’s eyes filled with tears. “Wow. I think I’ve cried more today than I have in my entire life.”
“Definitely not. You had colic as an infant.”
Julia laughed and reached for her mother, folding her into a tight hug. “I love you, Mom. And not just because you’re giving me your house.”
“I love you, too, Julie. And not just because you’re giving me another grandchild.”
Julia jerked back and cocked an eyebrow. “Unless you know something I don’t, that’s never happening.”
Her mother had the audacity to look crushed. “ Never never?”
“ Never never.”
“Well, then I love you, too, and not just because you’re giving me a son-in-law who looks like a young Henry Fonda with bedhead.”
“We’re not married yet, and you still can’t have him.”