Separate Vacations: Parallel Lives

An added bonus was that she had two girls the same age as mine, and they got on well. I had just come out with my second book, a long tome that turned me inside out as I wrote it. Janice was practically drooling. "You won't be able to hide any more, Bruce. This is going to shove you front and center into the public eye." I had signed with a publisher, one that had rejected my work seventeen times, and the team of Mona and Lew made them pay dearly for every one of them. I had an extra boost when HBO bought the rights to film Bittersweet Farewell, for a really nice chunk of change. My future looked very bright.

Sarah was talking about taking a vacation. The movie based on her fourth book was about to premiere, and she wanted a little downtime before she hit the talk show and red carpet circuit. Her daughters and mine shared a lot in common, the main being an absolute dedication to a popular boy band.

"I can get tickets and backstage passes, Bruce. It would be the thrill of a lifetime for them."

Without telling her why, I got Tiffany to agree to let me have the girls for four weeks straight during the summer. She actually welcomed it, the boost from the success of her latest venture made her the 'it' girl in land development, and she was extremely busy.

I told the girls to pack light, that I was taking them someplace special, and there may be shopping invovled. Sarah owned a timeshare type arrangement with an avaition service, so we were on a private jet and bound for New York before any of the girls could ask questions. We had a private suite in a five star hotel, Sarah and I had the master, and the girls shared two bedrooms, divided by age, so the older girls had one, and the younger ones had the other. We dressed them to the nines and arrived at the Garden. One of hers actually fainted when she saw who was on the marque.

We were front and center, among thousands of screaming teen girls. Sarah smiled her thanks when I handed her a set of ear plugs. When it was over, the girls were so excited they couldn't talk. We went backstage, and the guys in the band, late teens to early twenties, past masters of the meet and greet, welcomed them, posing for pictures, giving them autographed glossies. One gave Kristen the shirt he'd worn during the concert, and the others not to be outdone, gave the other girls theirs. That led to more pictures with the barechested boys. I was amazed at their toned bodies, but then again, to dance as frenetically as they did while they sang for sixty minutes would put anyone in shape.

The girls slept in sweaty tee shirts that night, and Sarah and I were smart enough not to object.

I didn't think about it, but every girl had a Facebook account, and they flooded it with pictures. We spent the next day shopping at some very exclusive stores, saw the Gugenhiem, and New York hot spots like Times Square. The girls even got a picture with the Naked Cowboy, who was extremely polite to them. He even sang them a song. Still a little creepy seeing a man in his BVD's and a cowboy hat with my girls under his arms. The evening found us on the jet, bound to L.A. for the premiere of the film the next evening. Once again, the girls and Sarah were dressed to the nines, and I didn't look too shabby in my tux as we walked the red carpet, Sarah posing for countless pictures. I stayed in the background because this was her time, and I didn't want to detract from it. She showed her appreciation with a littl PDA, kissing my cheek and taking my arm. The gossip magazines and tv shows were going crazy, trying to figure out who I was. One even speculated I was her new husband. Many gushed about what a handsome family we made.

Of course, being a man, I didn't keep up with any of this.

The next morning we were on a commercial flight to Japan. We saw the sights, and had a traditional meal, the girls dressed in native clothes, their hair done up carefully. They looked like little porcelain dolls, and Sarah looked like a geisha. A really, realy hot geisha. She was there for a book signing, marking the Asain release of her latest book. I stood in the background, and many assumed I was some kind of bodyguard. The girl spent the night at the movies, and had real bodyguards with them. That little fact kind of freaked me out later.

The kids were killing their Facebook pages, and had a following numbering in the thousands, when shit hit the fan. I got a vicious email from Tiffany, railing against me not telling her where we were going, accusing me of doing the whole trip fo revenge. I didn't know it, but Kaitlyn had posted it was the vacation of a lifetime. That one had hit her hard.

It took me a little to calm down enough to reply.

"What in the world is the matter with you? I do not need your permission to take our children on vacation. Maybe I should have told you, but it was kind of last minute when Sarah invited us to join her. Whatever, I'll have the girls home safe and sound in two to three weeks."

Two days later we were in China on the Great Wall. I couldn't believe it was built centuries ago. The man hours it took had to be astronomical. The girls weren't that impressed, but they really liked the traditional puppet show we attended that evening. They were circumspect with their photos, but they hit Facebook as quick as we cleared the border.

We left China and did the grand tour, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain. We did all the tourist things, rode the gondolas in Italy, watched the Running of the Bulls in Spain. I thought the girls and Sarah were going to freak when they saw me run it for about half a mile. Fear can really shaves seconds off your run time.

We saw the Book of Kells, kissed the Blarney Stone, tossed coins in fountains in Rome, toured the Vatican. We even got to see the Pope, even if it was at a distance. We crossed from France to England on a eighteenth century three masted schooner, the sailors dressed in traditional clothes. It was indeed the vacation of a lifetime. Three and a half weeks after we left, we were back home in Jacksonville. I cringed a little over what I spent, but it was worth every dime.

The only bad part of the trip came when Sarah and I split up. On the last night, after another marathon sex session, she snuggled up to me, reaching into a drawer in the nightstand, handing me a little box. I didn't know what to say when I opened it and saw wedding rigns.

"We're good together, honey. Our kids get along better than most sisters. I've got more money than I know what to do with, and you're well on your way to being my equal financially, so the normal bullshit has no meaning in this situation. Marry me?"

I shocked the shit out of her when I said no.

"Why?"

"Because you don't really love me Sarah. You love the idea of us, the power couple of the literary world, at least in romance. All we have is we're great in bed and our kids like each other. We haven't been together long enough. We don't know each other's annoying habits, hangups, or predispositions to certain situations. I really care for you Sarah. You're a great mother, fun to be with, and sexy as hell. You've probably ruined me for normal women. And truthfully, while I care for you quite a bit, I don't love you. Let's hold on a bit longer, and see where it goes. Who knows, there may be wedding bells in our future."

Her reaction surprised me. "It's your bitch of an exwife, isn't it? You know you still cry her name in your sleep? And who the fuck carries around a picture of their ex? I knew when I read your book you're still carrying a torch for her. I've seen the little titted bitch, and honey, she ain't got what I got. You'll never do better than me, and I'm not willing to wait. We'll go home tomorrow, be pleasant in our farewells, but I'll never sleep with you again."

She flounced out of the room. I watch her juicy ass all the way to the door, but still didn't have any regrets. Oddly, I dreamed of Tiffany that night, when we were in our early twenties. it wasn't a sex dream, just a pleasant scene of two young people in love. I woke up and felt my cheeks, knowing I had been crying. I never went back to sleep.

...............

Since we were home four days early, I took the kids back to Tiffany sooner than she expected. They had been missing Mom, and I caught Kaitlyn one day while we were in France, crying.

"What's the matter, pumpkin?"

"I miss Mom. I wish she was here with us. Is this what it was like when we left you and went to Hawaii? I'm sorry, Daddy. I was just a kid then, I had no idea how you would have felt. I know that triggered you divorcing Mom, but I also know that was just the breaking point. I don't remember a lot, but I remember some. Grandma is a little crazy, isn't she? Mom wasn't very good to you, was she?"

I knew I had to tread carefully. "I loved your mother a great deal, baby, and she loved me, or we wouldn't have the two perfect children we have now. People change honey, or sometimes one changes while the other stays the same. There are a lot of reasons why your mother and I aren't together anymore, but I never once regretted my time with her. And I defintely don't regret you or Kristen. Well, sometimes I do, when you're being bratty, but most of the time I don't mind keeping you around."

She broke the hug and grinned. "We are not bratty! We're just a little more intelligent than most people, and it's hard for the common folk to understand us. Anyway, we're the lucky ones here. Even if you're divorced you're both still there for us. A lot of my friends can't say that. Besides, now I have the memory of two 'vacations of a lifetime'. Thank you, Daddy."

I was thinking about that when Tiff pulled in. The girls were running to her before she stopped, and I cringed as she slammed the lever in park, the SUV coming to a shuddering halt. She was out of the car with her arms wide, and soon they were a little ball of feminine tears.

I respected the moment, unloading the suitcases and boxes of memorabilia. There were several cases still to come. I had them shipped instead of the hassle of dragging them along. The girls walked up the drive, a child under each of her arms. I smiled, but the look on her face stopped me from speaking. "Girls, kiss your Dad and go into the house."

As soon as the door shut she was on me. "You had to do it, didn't you? You had to try and one up me. Well, you dick, you won this round. It'll be a long time before I hear one of the girls say, "Mom, remember when we did this in Hawaii? No, now I have to hear about the fucking Great Wall or the fucking Eiffel Tower or listen to fucking BadBoyz while they wear those fucking tee shirts until I feel like fucking screaming. I checked that big titted Cougar out you were with. Best selling author my ass! She's a hack romance writer. Was it some kind of groupie thing, hanging with someone who could do what you couldn't?"

I tried to be calm and failed. She knew looking into my face she had crossed some kind of line. I waited until I was close, because I didn't want the girls to hear. "Know what, Tiff? Fuck you, which is apparently your favorite word now, and the arrogant ass you rode in! Wait a minute, YOU are the arrogant ass. I didn't judge you when you fucked your buddies or your little dicked husband or your big dicked boyfriend, so leave who I date and who I sleep with out of your world. IT...IS...NOT...YOUR...BUSINESS, not any more. It hasn't been for years. Now, tell me you understand!"

She had been getting paler and paler, and when I finished my tirade, she ran into the house in tears. Another civilized conversation with my ex. It had been over four years, why couldn't she leave me alone?

I asked just that question two nights later, to the table of my friends.We had gotten together at O'Brien's as a welcome home. Lew grinned, and Vik and Mona laughed. "What?"

"She's still in love with you, you idiot! Everyone but you can see it. I know a little, and I tell you she's changed, or trying to."

I looked at Mona in wonder, when Bill chimed in. He had been moody when his French lover left him, but as his reputation grew and his victories rolled in, almost every woman in Jacksonville, the northern part of the state, and southeast Georgia seemed determined to fuck him, and he didn't fight it much. Hells bells, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleading squad would have fucked him as a group if he showed the slightest bit of interest. And they all seemed to have one thing in common. Almost all were blond, beautiful, and extremely well endowed.

"I know for a fact she's been seeing Teller. You know he's one of the best, and I've seen her, time to time, coming out of his office."

"I'm glad. If a woman ever needed help, it's Tiffany. But if you'd heard the rant I got the last time I saw her, you'd change your mind pretty fast about her loving me."

Mona rolled her eyes. "Men really are idiots. Her rants are a cry for help, a way to get you to see her. If you'd call her up and say "be at my condo at eight, naked and in the bedroom", she'd tear the front door off the hinges to get in."

"Yes, and then she'd put on her running shoes and scurry back into her safe zone. It's never going to happen, Mona."

"We'll see. Did you know we sit on a few of the same charity boards? The first thing she said to me when we met was that my husband was a very good lawyer. Everything after that was all about you. She once made fun of your writing, and it was all I could do to not tell her. I didn't talk to her the next two meetings. She hasn't said a word about your writing since."

She grinned again. "That's all going to change, soon. Ready for your coming out party? You're not going to back out, are you? It's been pretty damn hard being a publicist whose client won't appear in public."

"No, it's for a good cause, and it's time. I took a sabbatical from the firm, and honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever go back. I'm ready."

............

Even as Mona put the finishing touches on her makeup and straightened the seams on her hose, she was fuming. She used to love functions like this but the hassle of finding the perfect date and making sure he behaved was getting a little old. They all expected her to drop on the bed and spread her legs when it was over. It seemed like everyone she had sex with had an agenda.

Of course, as their most successful female, her firm wanted her to get as much facetime as possible. Her assistant had been excited she was going. "HE'S going to be there. I wish I could go but tickets have been sold out since the announcement that he was going to do a book signing. It will be the first time he's appeared in public. You have to tell me how he looks tomorrow. He has to be handsome, he just has to! Tell me everything, okay?"

"Who in the world are you talking about, Hillary?"

"B. Davis. Both his books have made me cry, but his last one is very powerful, and there is no traditional happy ending. Still, I couldn't put it down when I got it. It took two boxes of tissue, but I finished it in one go. If he's giving autographs, will you get me one?"

Tiffany had seen the billboards all over town. A bedroon scene, it featured a four poster bed, with shoes lined under it, the length of the bed. All were high heels, four inches or better, Jimmy Cho's, Loubotons, other famous designers. She owned a lot of the same shoes. And right in the middle there was a pair of bright pink Nikes. The caption read "Running Shoes Under The Bed," by B. Davis. Something about them made her uneasy every time she saw one.

Tiffany only read newspapers and trade journals, a fact that had irritated Bruce no end. She grinned, thinking every time Bruce saw those billboards, it would tear him up. Another successful writer, and it wasn't him. The book was apparently red hot and flying off the shelfs. She'd heard a review of it on talk radio, and the reviewer gushed about how intensly emotional it was. It was currently fifteen on the bestsellers list, and expected to hit number one in less than a month. The rumor in the trades said there were six production companies in a bidding war for the video rights, and the figure 12 million was being tossed around.

Tonight she didn't have to worry about her date being an octopus disguised as a man. Her 'date' for the night was her oldest daughter, who'd almost thrown a fit when she found out she was going. She finally let her, knowing she could use her as an excuse to leave early, and it would expose Kaitlyn to adults in situations she'd never encountered before. It would probably be an eye opener for her.

They were going to a charity fundraiser, a five hundred dollar a plate dinner and dance, the proceeds going to help victims and survivors of the terrible assault that took place on the grounds of the old courthouse. A drug cartel had gone after the judges and DA. The DA was unharmed, but many innocent bystanders, most some part of the legal profession, were gunned down without mercy. She remembered reading about it, very glad of the jobs she and Bruce held, away from violence and strife.

Her tablemates were Mona and Lew Walters. She had hated him at first, but later came to admire him. He hadn't tried to stick it to her as opposing attorney in her divorce case, he'd just asked for what the legal system deemed a fair split. Still galled her no end to let go of that money. Mona she loved, even though she wanted to hate her at first. And when she found out they were still in close contact with Bruce, she couldn't help subtly pumping her for information about his activities. Mona caught on fairly early, and would just grin and change the subject.

They met at the entrance, and Tiffany was suddenly glad she had taken a little care in her appearance. Everyone had gone all out. The gowns were dazzling, hair elaborate, makeup perfect. Kaitlyn was a living doll in the long gown she'd gotten her, her hair arranged in an artful braid, with just enough makeup to highlight her almost perfect face. She definitely didn't look like a child any more and she realized there were going to quite a few nights in the not so distant future where she wouldn't be able to sleep until her baby was safely home after a date. The girl had been grinning like she had a secret she could barely contain all afternoon, and it was driving Tiffany crazy that she was so insistent that she dress up. She was suddenly grateful she had. Mona had a grin plastered to her face, matching Kaitlyns', and they whispered to each other as they hugged, grinning bigger when they broke. Something was going on, she felt sure, but she couldn't figure out what.

They found their table, and she accepted a kiss on the cheek from Lew, smiling when Kaitlyn turned her head. Lew leaned down and planted a gentle kiss, then seated them. There was a general hubbub, but it wasn't so loud they couldn't talk. "All right, spill it! Why are you three grinning like monkeys?"

Mona acted surprised. "Is it that obvious? All right, we lured you here to meet someone. Stop frowning Tiff, I think you'll like him. At least, I hope you do. I know Kaitlyn does. No, we won't tell, so stop asking. Sit back, enjoy the meal, the speeches if you can. There's going to be a few special events before the orchestra starts up, local celebrities will be about. I hear there are going to auction off a few signed Jaguar jerseys, that sort of thing. There's even going to be a local writer here, signing two hundred copies of his book, all for the charities of course."

Tiffany sighed, knowing she was going to be in for a long evening, especially when Kaitlyn said she wanted to meet the writer. Still, she had her firm to represent, so she mingled, pressed the flesh, said hello to a few old friends. Mort Bailey, now over eighty and retired but still in good health, was there with his granddaughter. Tiffany remembered playing with her when she was a girl. Matt Henry was also there, with his wife, whose hair finally matched his. She had a moment of sadness, thinking her mother would love this, but she was currently living in Miami, receiving therapy at an on site community. She had finally gone too far with the wife of one of her lovers and hurt the woman. It was court ordered, but it was better than jail, and was horribly expensive. In a move that surprised her, Mort and the partners were footing the bill, a nod to her loyal service. And, Tiffany suspected, payment for the many sexual adventures she had given them over her employment. It was going on two years now. If she cooperated with the program, she could be releashed in less than a year.