Zenith Fulfilled (27 page)

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” Rebecca asked.

“You’ve been so h-happy since Rob’s been around. I didn’t want to spoil it for you. It’s just, I’m not. I miss Daddy. I miss him so much. And I don’t understand why he doesn’t miss me that much.”

The tear
s streamed over Rebecca’s face and Kathy’s. Karlee was quiet. She came to her mom’s leg and grabbed on. Kathy pulled on Rob’s hand and tugged him towards them. Rob finally wrapped the whole bundle of crying girls up in his arms. Rob and Rebecca’s eyes locked just then, saying a lot more than any words.

Rob didn’t know how Doug Randall could leave them. Any of them. He didn’t understand how Doug couldn’t work his life out closer, so he could still see his children. Rob knew he should hate Doug, since he was to these girls what Rob could never be: their father. And Doug would always be the father of Rebecca’s children, no matter how much time she spent with Rob. There was no changing that. Rob barely made up for a sliver of Doug’s absence.

Finally, they broke apart when Kayla’s crying diminished. “You were really great out there. How could you play the guitar without any music? We’ve never even practiced before.”

He squatted down so he was eye level with Kayla
and looked into her tear-filled eyes. “I used to play in a band, and we practiced a lot. I can play lots of songs from memory.”

“And you sang too. Real good.”

Rob nodded. “Yes, I can sing pretty well too. So do you.”

“Not like you do. I’m sorry. I haven’t been very nice to you. But maybe you’re not so bad.”

He smiled. “Maybe I’m not. But you don’t have to think so.”

“You were nice to me even after how I’ve been to you.”

“Ah, sweetie girl. You’re just a kid who misses her dad. I get that. It’s okay. You don’t have to like me.”

“But maybe I do.”

He smiled. She captured his heart with that comment. “Maybe I’d like that.”

Rebecca put her hands on Kayla’s shoulders. “You need to tell me when you feel like this.”

“I’m tired of feeling like this.”

“We all are, baby, we all are,” Rebecca said with her gaze on Rob. Finally, she mouthed, “Thank you.”

For what Rob almost asked? For her girls? For tonight? For him being there? For Doug being gone? 

“Y
ou’re welcome,” he mouthed back. He loved this ready-made family that wasn’t his, and his heart squeezed in physical pain at the thought of losing any of them. The pain he felt was far deeper than when he lost Joelle and
Zenith
.

When Rebecca walked into the PTA meeting the following night, the classroom became silent. She glanced around, and knew it wasn’t her imagination. No, the room went completely silent.
Rob.
They were all wondering about Rob, and the performance, and how quickly she and her family just disappeared after that. They were also wondering about Doug, and where he was.

So was Rebecca. She wondered where her family was going and what they were becoming. And where Rob fit in, and how much more her girls could take. She suspected Kayla was holding a lot of emotional stuff in,
and feared she might break down at one point, but never expected it to be with Rob, and all because Rob did such a nice thing for Kayla, a fatherly gesture. Something Doug should have been there to do.

Rebecca’s heart nearly stopped when she thought about it.
He saved them, not only from humiliation at school, but also in a way they’d always remember: he stood up for them. He had their backs and helped them when they needed it the most. He became something special. He was steady, capable, reliable, and someone you could always count on for trying to make you happy. She realized in that moment when he saved her girls, that she and everyone else underestimated Rob. No one gave Rob any credit for the true man he was. The kind of  man who could do what he did last night, even for another man’s children.

“Rebecca? Who was that man last night?” Leave it to Judy Hammond to come right out and ask
her about Rob.

“That was Rob, Judy.” Rebecca almost added
my lover
, just to see their reactions.

“He was amazing with th
e guitar and save.”

“Yes, he used to have a band.”

“A band?” Bob said from her other side, his voice intimating that it also explained the tattoos.

“Where’s Doug?”

“You know where Doug is.” Rebecca suddenly stood up. “You’ll have to excuse me, I can’t stay for tonight’s meeting.”

Turning, she left.
She hated PTA meetings, and only participated because she felt she should. Walking through the empty school parking lot, she just wanted to be with Rob. Not in a room that suffocated her with judgmental opinions of what was prim and proper, or how things and people should be. She unlocked the mini-van that she now hated and sat there. She hated the van with a passion that was almost proportional to her anger at Doug. She and Doug bought it right after Karlee was born because Doug insisted they needed the extra room. They needed a mini-van, but
she
didn’t. She would rather drive a large SUV, and might actually do just that. The hell with it. Why not? Her brother was rich, and would spot her the difference in payments.

She dialed Rob’s number from her cell. He answered after two rings.

“I thought it was PTA night.”

“I walked out. I hate th
ose meetings. I hate this van. I hate how I dress.”

Rob was silent on the other end. “Because of me? Were they asking questions about me?”

“Yeah, but that’s not why I left. I left because I realized half my life doesn’t belong to me.”

“The half that goes to PTA meetings? Come on, Rebecca, that is you. For the welfare of your girls.”

“I want to see you. I want to be with you right now.”

“It’s too far and you know it. The girls need you at home. Where are they?”

“With a neighbor. She sits on PTA nights.”

“Rebecca, go home. I’ll come up tomorrow.”

“No. We’ll come down tomorrow. I want to get out of my house. I mean, Doug’s house.”

He was quiet. “Okay. You sure you want to bring your children here?”

“I’m sure. I’m also shopping for a new car tomorrow.”

“Are you okay?”

“I am. I’m really okay. I’m better than I’ve been in years. By the way, the book is almost done! I mean, like it’s only a few chapters from being done. I sent off some proposals to editors.”

“You did?”

“I did. And I mean for it to get published. Just warning you. It’s really good, even better than I ever hoped. It’s definitely going to be published.”

“And when it comes out, and your PTA friends discover what I’m really like, will you still be so sure?”

“I haven’t been so sure about myself or my life in years. And that includes you. I’m so tired of being... I don’t know… the too-nice version of myself. I like the person I am with you. You’ve brought it out of me from the start. I’m done being the doormat. Or Doug’s poor, abandoned, pathetic wife! I’m done with being the PTA’s ‘go to girl,’ and done with this stupid mini-van.”

“I was beginning to like the van.”

She laughed. He always made her laugh and feel better. He made her feel alive, worthy and right. He made the rest her life fall into perspective and helped her prioritize her feelings.

“We’ll be down tomorrow.”

“Hey, were you serious about wanting to talk to Spencer for your book?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I’ll ask him and Erica to come over tomorrow for dinner. You can talk to him then.”

“Are you sure he will? He doesn’t strike me as the chatty type.”

Rob chuckled. “He’ll talk if I tell him to. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rebecca hung up and thought that’s what so confused, surprised, puzzled, and thrilled her. Rob was always there for her. Even from the very start. He continued to become a more integral part of her life. He unwittingly took care of her, and yet, he didn’t. He trusted her abilities as wom
an and a person and let her be, except when he tried to help her. He hated her book, but believed in her success as a writer, so he helped her with it. He cared that it was important to her, enough so that he called his friend to help her. He cared enough for her now that she was pretty sure he’d do almost anything she asked of him.

****

It might have been wrong to take her children to Rob’s house. Psychobabble probably advises not involving children in one’s dating life. But screw that. She already followed too many rules in her life and that philosophy didn’t get her anything she ever wanted.

Pulling into Rob’s driveway in her
new Suburban, all white with black, tinted windows, huge tires and silver chrome, Rob came out and whistled at her new wheels.

“You were serious?”

“I was. The van is gone.”

The girls squealed and jumped over the seats in excitement. They had no idea this was the first sign of their once timid and dowdy mom emerging from her cocoon. Tired of being such a cliché, she intended to do things more often her way, even if it clashed with how things ought to be done. Proof in point: Rob Williams.

He took them inside, and the girls ran all around, excited to see where Rob lived. He previously cleaned it up, which Rebecca detected by the fresh vacuum marks in the carpet. When she pointed it out, he shrugged, ducking his head from her gaze.

Rob showed the girls the spare room
s, which Rebecca saw too, since she’d never been through the entire house before. There was a real master bedroom, which now housed Rob’s musical instruments and equipment. She instantly realized this must have been the room Rob shared with Joelle, which Spencer took after Joelle left. She glanced at Rob. Did he still picture Joelle whenever he came in here? Or himself, five years younger, and in a much different life?

The music
room was truly impressive. She didn’t know the functions of everything, but the sheer amount impressed her. A piano, several guitars, amplifiers, microphones, and multiple speakers were all stacked haphazardly around the room. Kayla picked up a guitar and Kathy headed towards the piano.

“Girls
, no!” Rebecca screeched before they ruined something.

“Don’t worry about it. They can look at them,”
Rob said as he went over to Kayla. He spent ten minutes showing her how to hold her fingers on the guitar. Kathy came over to watch, and Karlee merely banged on the piano with ear-splitting sounds.

The doorbell pealed and Rob glanced at Rebecca. “That’ll be Spencer. I’ll be right back.”

Rebecca wandered around the sterile room with only stools, a chair, and the unused musical equipment. The walls were plain white with nothing on them. Whatever history
Zenith
once possessed was all gone: painted over or taken down. Was that really the final result?

Rob walked back into the room
with Spencer and Erica behind him, who both smiled and said hello to her before she introduced her daughters. 

“Rob
, will you play a song for us?” Kayla asked.

“Sure. Why not?” Rob said, glancing at Spencer. “Come on, the ladies have a request for us.”

Spencer looked up at Rob, startled, and eyed Erica, who nodded. Rebecca sensed and wondered about the tension suddenly filling the room. Why did Kayla’s request seem way more than just the casual suggestion that Rob made it sound? Rebecca stood closer to Erica as Spencer sat down at the piano, which she assumed was his before he moved out. He ran his fingers over the keys and the sweet notes of music drifted into the air.

Rob picked up
one of the guitars and plugged it into the instrument next to him.

Rebecca leaned into Erica. “Hasn’t it been years since they played together? Why do they seem so weird about Kayla’s request?”

Erica turned with a soft smile, and in a low voice said, “They haven’t played together except for a few times after Rob came out of rehab. When I first met Spencer, he hadn’t played the piano in many months. It was like they both got so soured on it, they couldn’t stand to do it anymore. After all the years they spent every single day, making and writing music together. I think maybe they freaked themselves out after everything that happened.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t be doing this.”

“They should have done this two years ago,” Erica said, shaking her head. “It’s time.”

Rob glanced her way. “So, Rebecca, what do you want us to play?”

“Me? I don’t know.”

“What do you listen to?”

“I don’t think you like my taste in music.”

“Couldn’t be
worst than Erica’s,” Spencer said, smiling at her from the piano bench.

Erica stuck her tongue out at him. “Spencer doesn’t understand my appreciation of big-voiced women. You know Celine, Barbra, Bette, only the best.”

“I listen to country,” Rebecca said, ducking her head.

Rob stared
at her and smiled when she started blush. “I had no idea. Really? You don’t like anything with a little more rock?”

Rebecca thought quickly. “I like
REM.”

Rob nodded. “Okay; that I can do.”

Spencer got up and grabbed the bed sheet on top of what turned out to be a set of drums throwing it off. He spent a few moments fiddling with and adjusting the various drums. Rebecca’s mouth dropped open in astonishment, and she leaned into Erica. “I thought he played the piano.”

“He can play everything: guitar, drums, piano. He’s a prodigy with instruments. But his first love is the piano.”

Rob leaned into Spencer and they spoke softly for a second. Finally, Rob sat down on the stool and strummed the guitar effortlessly. Then Spencer picked up the drumsticks and started playing the drums as Rob joined in almost at the exact same second the song started.

They played the music for “
Losing My Religion” together before Rob leaned into the microphone and started singing the words. His hands moved over the guitar without looking. The way they could improvise and play a song they hadn’t prepared for, or even played in years, was so beyond Rebecca’s grasp, she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t witnessed it herself.

She sat there, her mouth opening in awe. She knew, of course, that Rob could sing and was pretty wonderful at it, although it wasn’t a part of
his life for the time she knew him. As he told her about it, it just became a part of the past, without any relevancy to the person he was presently. Now, however, listening to him, she starkly accepted that Rob Williams was finally where he belonged. The ease and skill he showed when he played the music, and the harmony with which he and Spencer anticipated each others next move were like watching two professionals doing what they were born to perfect, and masters at accomplishing.

Rebecca’s heart raced when she watched Rob, listening as his voice caressed her until she felt like her heart would burst, with pride, and newfound faith in
Rob, he was
so
good. She instantly knew exactly why Joelle stayed with him so long, despite how much she grew to hate the lifestyle.

Quite simply, Rob was worth it. He was that good, and that worthy. He deserved fame for his undeniably remarkable talent. He should have been singing every day. Every moment of his life. His unique voice could very well become rich and famous.
As he sang, his eyes found Rebecca’s and he smiled. He was a different Rob than she’d ever seen before. He knew he was good at this, and must have known what she was thinking, and the effect he had on women who listened to him. He sensed the effect he was now having on her. She glanced over at Erica, who looked every bit as enthralled as she was. Erica was married to Spencer, but didn’t seem to know they could play together so well or like this.