Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (5 page)

“What are you going to do if I don’t? Cut me off? Throw me out?” I whispered, though I didn’t really want to know the answer.

“Of course I’d never throw you out, Pepper Ann. You are my daughter, but it’s time for you to grow up. You can’t be a bratty heiress all your life. It’s time for you to make your own decisions. Good decisions. I hadn’t planned on doing anything, as long as you keep this job, but I will cut your allowance back to just a thousand dollars if you push me.”

“A thousand dollars!! Daddy! You can’t do that!”

“Yes, I can and I will. You still live under this roof and if you don’t like my rules, you can go live with your mother. I’m okay with that. I may have lost you, Pepper, but I don’t intend on losing Mills as well.”

I sat on the white leather couch, staring after him as he walked out of the room. I fell back against the cushions, kicked off my shoes and stretched my legs over the couch as I smoothed down my white mini skirt. This was bad.
So, my choices are—go work at Fish Lab for six weeks, live on a measly thousand dollars a month, or go live with Evangeline. Fuck that!

I figured the best thing for me to do would be to go work at Fish Lab, or whatever it was called. I could only imagine what I’d be doing. I’d probably have to play tour guide to a bunch of snot-nosed brats. My phone rang and I dug it out of my bra, it was Church. I sighed—he was a habit I needed to break. He was a jerk, but a hot, rich jerk. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“What did he say? Did he tell you to stay away from me?”

I sighed again, “No, you weren’t even a part of the equation. I have to go to work with some guy named Gabe at that aquarium place. God, I haven’t been there since like, the second grade.”

“You went to school?” he teased.

“Yeah, until that stalker tried to kidnap me. Remember that? I can’t believe this.”

“Have dinner with me tonight.” I plopped my hand on the couch. “I can’t. Mills is coming in and I promised I’d hang out with her.”

“Oh, come on. It’s not like she’s going back tomorrow. You could always bring her if you want.”

“Why? So you can flirt with her like you did Sofie, and half of my other friends?”

“Pepper, you don’t trust me. I’m hurt. Seriously, I’ll pick you up around eight. No drinking, I promise, and I’ll do the driving.”

“Let me talk to Mills and I’ll get back to you, all right?”

“Sure, but call me soon and don’t tell me no.”

“Whatever, laters.” I hung up the phone as I heard the front door open and my sister’s voice.

“Daddy! Pepper! I’m home!”

I jumped off the couch and ran to the front door. “Mills! You’re here!” I hugged her and picked her up off her feet. Mills was about four inches shorter than I was, but way cuter. She had our mother’s beautiful eyes and Dad’s full lips. Unlike my friend, Aven, Mills didn’t have to struggle with her weight, despite her height. She could eat whatever she wanted and never gained a pound.

“Yes, and I am so damn mad at you.” She slung a newspaper at me. “Really, Pep? Do you have to show everyone your boobs—twice in one week? What the hell? You know it’s my birthday in a few weeks and you’re so scared I might get some attention. I swear to God—sometimes you act just like Mom.”

“Don’t even go there girl! You know that’s not true at all. It was a big mistake!”

“Both times was a mistake? You seriously want me to believe that? You suck, Pepper. Now, help me carry my stuff upstairs.”

“No, have Flora do it. That’s what we pay her for.”

“Flora is off today, dork! You’d know that if you weren’t so busy being some kind of celebrity.” Mills scoffed and tugged the handle on her bag. “Help me out.”

“Okay! Geez!” I did as she asked me, only stopping to throw that newspaper in the garbage can. I felt like crap now for real. Dad was right—I had to do this for Mills.
Sea Lab, here I come!
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that I have a job now, so no more parties for me. Except yours of course.”

She paused at the top of the stairs, “Yeah, right, you have a job. What is it? Porn star? I’m not stupid, sis. No need to lie to me.”

“No, it’s not a porn star and why does everyone keep calling me a liar? I’m not lying. I got a real job at Sea Lab. And watch your mouth or you’ll be carrying your things yourself.” I dragged her suitcase up the stairs and followed her down the hall to her side of the wing. Each of us had three rooms, a bedroom, a spa room and a living room, but when Mills was home, she spent most of her time with me. I kind of thought it would be like that again but apparently I was wrong.

I took her stuff to her suite and she hugged me and said, “I’m going to take a shower and then I plan on going to see my friend, Victoria. She’s in town for the next week, so I hope you didn’t plan anything.”

I smiled awkwardly at her, “No, nothing.”

“Great, I’ll probably see you later then.”

“All right,” I walked out of Mills’ room feeling heartbroken. Not only was my dad pissed at me and ready to kick me out of the house, my sister acted like she didn’t want anything to do with me. I walked down to Dad’s studio and found him looking over some drawings while he sucked on a tobacco pipe that wasn’t even lit. I picked up his lighter and popped the flint for him.

“Oh, thanks.” I loved the smell of pipe tobacco. He rarely smoked a pipe, but when he did, I knew it meant something. That made me feel even worse.

“Daddy, I really am sorry. I admit that I’ve kind of lost my way a little, but it’s not as easy as you think. Of all my friends, none of them do much of anything, so I just followed along. I’ll go to that Sea Lab thingy tomorrow and talk with Greg.”

“The name’s Gabe. Gabriel Gregory. Don’t get off on the wrong foot by getting his name wrong, honey.”

“Oh, sorry. Yes, I’ll work with Gabriel Gregory and do the internship, but it’s not for the money and it’s not because I don’t want to live with Mom—although that was enough motivation for me—honestly. It’s because I‘m lost and I know it. I need to find my way. I hope that makes sense to you.”

Dad walked around his desk and hugged me. “All I want for you is a good, happy life. You’re smart, Pepper, you’re kind, beautiful and you have so much more to offer than a naked body or drinking, so give yourself a chance, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy, I’ll try.” Tears welled up in my eyes, because although it sounded easy, my daddy didn’t live my life. I silently cried in his arms for a second and then wiped the tears away and said, “Please don’t expect miracles. I’ll do my best, I promise, but, I doubt I’m going to want to swim with the dolphins for the rest of my life.”

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted, just do your best.”

I smiled. I had an amazing Daddy and I was going to give it my best shot. “By the way, Mills is home. She’s taking a shower then going to see Victoria, so good luck seeing her tonight. Maybe we can all have dinner tomorrow? Invite your girlfriend too. I’d like to apologize to her for messing up your date night.”

“That would be nice,” he smiled. “She likes you, Pepper.”

“All right. Well, I’m going to call this Gabe person now. Do you have his number? I’d like to know what I need to prepare for.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, he said come ready to get wet, whatever that means, but here’s his number.” He flipped through his phone and scrawled the number down for me. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind answering your questions.”

I kissed his cheek and left his studio, closing the door behind me. I dialed the number. Man, Dad’s handwriting was horrible. He should have been a doctor, not a real estate agent. “Hi, is this Gabe?”

A deep, rich voice on the other end said, “Yes this is Gabe. Who is this?”

“You don’t know me, well not really, my name is Pepper. I’m Douglas Anderson’s daughter. I’m your new intern.”

He paused and then laughed, “Yeah right, intern. How can I help you, Miss Anderson?”

“Well, for starters, you can stop calling me Miss Anderson. My name is Pepper.”
Oops! That sounds bitchy.
“Daddy didn’t give me much in the way of details. What am I supposed to be doing tomorrow? I mean, how should I dress?”

“Well, I usually pack a gym bag with a change of clothes. A lot us of take a shower at the end of the day.”

“What? Together?”

He paused again, “Uh, no. We have a men’s locker room and a women’s locker room. We don’t shower together.”

Oh my God! That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever said.
“No, I was kidding. So what should I pack in my gym bag?”

“Bring a bathing suit, some jeans, a t-shirt and whatever hair and body products you need. We will assign you a locker when you get here so you can stash everything without worrying about lugging it back and forth every day. In the beginning, your duties will be pretty simple. Follow instructions and get trained on how to handle the animals. Later this summer, Bobbie Jo—she’s the lead trainer—will assign you a position for our fundraising gala. It’s kind of important.”

Most of what he said went in one ear and out the other, but I got the gist of it.
“Do what you’re told,”
was the message I’d gotten. “I think I can do that. So I won’t be wearing a mermaid costume?” I joked.

Gabe obviously didn’t understand that, and in a flat tone he said, “You do know mermaids aren’t real, don’t you?”
Are you freaking serious? This is my boss for the next month and a half?

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Gregory. What time?”

“Ten o’clock. Don’t be late, Miss Anderson.”

“Great, see you then.” I hung up the phone. What a total ass! I stomped up the stairs and went to take a shower. I called Church back and told him to pick me up. Since I was going to be a working girl now, I needed to unwind a little before I started. This might be harder than I thought, and as I shampooed, I thought about Gabe Gregory and his wise ass remarks about mermaids. He did have a nice, sleepy voice though. I wondered what he looked like.

The more I thought about it, the more I had to know, so I got out of the shower and wrapped my hair in one towel and my body with another. I dried my hands and quickly Googled Gabriel Gregory and Sea Lab. In a flash, his picture came up and I caught my breath. Gabe, my new boss was smoking hot.

Oh fuck! This wasn’t going to be easy.

I slid my blue jeans on, happy I wouldn’t have to wear any more suits for the next few weeks—thank goodness. Blindly, I grabbed one of our new Sea Lab t-shirts and slid it on over my torso. I wasn’t sure I liked this incarnation of our new shirt—it had a snarling shark on the front of it—I didn’t like to think of the animals snarling, but it wasn’t really my call. The design department should watch the animals before portraying them as violent.

I thought about the day ahead. It was Day One for the interns and that meant half the day in orientation and the other half on the grounds. I had high hopes for the three I’d hired and it was going to be tough to decide on who to hire at the end of the season since I only had room for one.

Now, Pepper Anderson—she was another case altogether. I ran my hands through my hair, forgetting that I’d cut it all off a few days ago. I rubbed my eyes, slid my feet in my tennis shoes and walked downstairs to grab a bite to eat. Mom was home so I knew there’d be something delicious for breakfast, like scrambled eggs with bacon or who knows what. I hoped it wasn’t one of her occasional experiments. I loved home cooked meals, but my mother wasn’t the best cook in the world. Although she did really good when she stuck to the basics.

“There he is! Good morning, handsome young man. Come, sit. I’ve got some chorizo and eggs ready for you.”

“That sounds great, Mom. Thanks. Do you have plans today?” I noticed her glasses were perched on top of her head and she was wearing her favorite robe with flip-flops on her feet.

She smiled sleepily, “Yeah, nothing. That’s my plan. Your father will be back tomorrow so I’ll have to get my shit together by then.” She giggled. “Then just a week and he’s gone for a whole month. We’ll have to make the most of our time together.” She raised her eyebrows playfully. I rolled my eyes and grinned. My parents were the most affectionate people I knew—they were crazy about each other. I used to hope that I’d fall like that for someone, but it hadn’t happened. People my age didn’t care very much about the things I was passionate about.

“Mom! Stop! I’m eating here.” I dug into my food, slightly grossed out to hear about her bedroom plans with Dad. She laughed out loud and patted my back playfully.

“Okay, okay.” Then as if she hadn’t already put enough images in my mind that might haunt me all day, she made me squirm a little harder in my chair when she said, “You do know old people have sex too, Gabe?” I nearly spat out my food, but she continued, “We didn’t just have it once to have you come along.” She ruffled my hair, “Now, enjoy your breakfast. I’m going to read the paper out by the pool. See you for dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, that sounds wonderful,” I said, while I processed the new horror that was going on inside my head.

“Awesome! Pick up some Chinese. I’m dying for some shrimp fried rice.” I nodded in silence and she shuffled out of the room and onto the patio in front of the swimming pool. I finished up my breakfast and watched the news for a minute or two before I walked back to my bathroom to brush my teeth, then I headed out the door.