Post by rsafan on Feb 23, 2007 1:07:14 GMT -5
Chapter 44
“Such a different Christmas from last year wouldn’t you say?” Philip asked as he sat on the sofa in Bo and Hope’s living room. Chelsea, Shawn and himself had joined the couple for Christmas lunch. It had been pleasant enough, no shouting matches; no moody persons, unless you counted Shawn but since he was always in a mood of late, everyone chose to ignore his sullenness. A very relaxed day, totally unlike the way all their lives had been over the past year and very unlike Christmas had been the year before, the beehive of activity it had been was not to be this year.
“It started out well enough.” Hope commented, remembering the Christmas lunch they’d had at the Pub with the entire family there.
Chelsea disagreed, last year she hadn’t really been included in any of the family functions, mainly because she’d been on the outskirts, things were different this year and she had Victoria to thank, she just wished she could’ve been here too, “Just think, last year Shawn and Mimi were still together, Victoria was in Salem and apart from the whole Victor fiasco, enjoying herself very much.”
“I’d say she’s enjoying herself his year too.” Bo commented, “What with being in Italy and all.”
“Italy, really? Well, what’s she doing there?” Philip asked; he always seemed to be the last to find out about such things.
“She’s been there for the past three weeks apparently.” Hope informed him, “Friends of the family invited them over and they extended the invitation to include Christmas, she called this morning. She sounded great.”
“That’d be all the Italian wine floating around this time of the year.” Chelsea said.
“Italian wine is floating around all year long Chelsea.” Philip corrected her.
Hope shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. She sounded decidedly cheerful, and not the drunk kind, the happy kind.”
Chelsea nodded, “I agree, I spoke with her a few days ago and she sounded a lot better. Like the dark cloud that had been following her around had finally disappeared.”
“That being the case, do you think she’ll come back to Salem soon?” Philip asked, despite the fact that they hadn’t gotten together all that much, she’d been there for him at a time when he’d needed someone. Had it not been for her, he probably would no longer be in Claire’s life right now.
“She said she’d be back, she just didn’t say when. But I don’t know, maybe it’s being away from this town that’s made her happier.” Shawn said as he came downstairs, having heard the tail end of the conversation.
“That’s absurd.” Chelsea said, “If that were the case she wouldn’t call so much.”
“Speaking of calling,” Hope said as she walked over to Shawn, “Why don’t you just give her onel?” she asked him softly.
“Why would I call Tory?”
“Not your sister, your wife.” Hope informed him.
“I have even less reason to do that.” Shawn said as made his way to the kitchen for leftovers.
“Well, it is Christmas.” Hope said as she followed him to the kitchen, grateful that they were alone, “Just do it Shawn, you can say you’re calling for Zach. You know you want to hear her voice.”
“You know nothing of the kind. I have no desire to speak to Mimi…”
“You can use the phone in here. More privacy, I’ll just make myself scarce.” Hope said as she left the kitchen to join the others.
Shawn watched his mother leave and then stood there not knowing what to do. He really did want to call her, if only to hear her voice. Making up his mind, he picked up the receiver and dialled the number Mimi had left before he chickened out. He’d had it memorised within five minutes of her having given it to him and had called several times over the last twenty four hours just to hang up before the first ring.
The machine picked up, “Mimi hi. I guess you’re really busy or you’re not taking my calls. Just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas and…”
He stopped when he heard her laughter, she’d obviously rushed to the phone because she sounded out of breath, it took him a moment to realise she wasn’t talking to him, “Stop it! Don’t you take no for an answer?”
“Oh look whose talking.” an anonymous male voice replied. The two where obviously having great fun, he could hear it in their voices.
“Hello?” he almost started when she said that. Had to pull himself out of the nightmare he was imagining was occurring in L.A.
“Mimi hi, it’s…”
“Shawn hi,” That was not manufactured joy in her voice, she seemed genuinely happy to hear from him, “Merry Christmas. Did you want to speak to Zach?”
“No, no, I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, enjoy your day.” he said.
He hung up just as she said, “Will do, same to you.”
“That was quick.” Hope said as he came out of the kitchen.
“She was… pre-occupied.” was all he said before heading back upstairs, he was not in the mood for people today; he really shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.
“I’m thinking maybe I should just go back.” She said, glancing down into her coffee, waiting for the inevitable outburst.
“You’d be willing to go back to him knowing what he’s done?” Patrick asked her outraged.
“Everybody makes mistakes.” was all she said in response.
“Well as mistakes go, cheating is a pretty major one. Are you willing to go back, knowing the kind of man he is? Knowing that he has the capacity to hurt you and that he’s done it and shown no remorse. He couldn’t even tell you…”
“I know all that Patrick; you don’t have to remind me. It is after all my life we’re talking about, it’s, but…”
“No ‘buts’ Mimi, either you’re willing to go back to that life and negate the strength you’ve built for the past few months or you can cut him out, you can move on.” He stated matter-of-factly.
“Move on, to where?”
“Here, you can move here. Stay in L.A. with me, you can build a new life here, a happier life. You want that for Zach don’t you?”
“Patrick, you cannot be serious.”
“Why not? There’s nothing for you to go back to Salem for, nothing keeping you there.”
“That’s not really fair on Shawn. I can’t just take Zach away.”
“No fair on Shawn? If he wants to see his son, he can jump on a plane, why do you think they were invented?”
“And besides I couldn’t take Zach away from his family, he needs them right now. Needs the kind of support we never really had growing up. Can we just drop this subject, it’s Christmas.”
He nodded, respecting her wishes, but couldn’t help adding a ’just think about it.’ before wandering off in search of his brother.
When she walked into the Pub with Zach on her arm, she hadn’t been expecting the greeting she got. Caroline, who had been behind the bar at the time, rushed over to her, calling for Shawn Sr. to come and greet.
“You’re back!” Caroline exclaimed as she brought Mimi in for a hug and then drew back and examined her, “You look well rested. You’re positively glowing.”
Mimi smiled, “That’s be the L.A. sun, no matter how cold, you can still pick up a tan.”
“So how was your trip? Good I hope.” Caroline asked her as she guided Mimi to a booth; Grandpa Shawn relieved Mimi of her son.
Mimi nodded, “It was great.”
“Shawn said you’d be back before the New Year but I figured you’d probably stay there a while longer, not as cold and the added benefit of having your family there.”
“I called Shawn and told him Zach and I would be a few days late, he didn’t seem to mind.”
“And I didn’t.” Shawn said from behind her.
Mimi turned around and smiled at him, “Hello Shawn.”
He smiled back; maybe the time they’d spent apart had been good for them. Maybe now they could work on rebuilding their relationship, “So, how was your trip?” he asked her as he slid into the booth opposite her, Caroline took that as her cue to leave, promising their usual meals would be arriving soon.
“It was okay, helped me unwind.”
“And Zach?”
“He really enjoyed himself, the beach especially. I know it’s the heart of winter and all that but it wasn’t all that bad on the days we went. He made sandcastles with Patrick if you believe that.”
“Patrick huh?”
“Well, he destroyed whatever Patrick built; it took him a while to catch onto the ‘building’ aspect of things.”
“And what did you do while they built sandcastles?”
“Believe it or not, I went surfing.”
He stared at her in disbelief, “You went surfing? On an actual board in an actual ocean?”
“Okay, I tried my hand at surfing, discovered I wasn’t any good at it But I did stand on the board for all of ten seconds.”
“So you leaned something new.” he commented, “And how was your Christmas?”
“It was okay I guess nothing near as grand as what your family did last year but as Christmases go I’d say it was top notch.” And that was saying a lot considering her family and their penchant for not celebrating holidays together.
He smiled at that, glad one of them had enjoyed the day and equally glad it had been her, who hadn’t really had many ‘great’ Christmases in her life, “That’s good, great really. Where’s Zach?”
Now it was her turn to smile, it had taken him long enough. She’d figured those would’ve been the first words out of his mouth, “He’s in the back with your grandfather.”
He got up to go but she grabbed his arm, when he glanced back at her questioningly, she simply said, “We have to talk.”
He knew those words, nothing good ever came from those words and when it was a female saying it, you could bet your ass it wouldn’t be pleasant. “Can it wait till after I’ve seen Zach?”
“Now.” she said, she wasn’t relenting on that point. She needed to tell him before she saw him with Zach, before she lost her nerve and decided to just let things continue the way they were.
He sat down again, “Okay, talk.”
She hesitated, “I’m not sure if this…”
He cut her off, “Mimi, you wanted to talk so do it otherwise I’m going to get Zach.”
“I was thinking somewhere more private.” She hinted but he shook his head. “Okay, so here’s the thing. While I was in L.A., Patrick asked me something and at first, I totally rejected the idea. I mean it would be-”
“Mimi, you’re stalling.”
“Patrick asked me to move to L.A. and I’m seriously considering it, what with Connor away and my mom leaving soon it seems pointless for me to stay too. At first I was resistant to the idea but lately I’ve found myself leaning towards relocating to Los Angeles. The thing is Shawn, I told Patrick I’d let him know what I’ve decided by the end of the month, so basically if you want to keep Zach close, you have three weeks to convince me to stay in Salem.”
“Such a different Christmas from last year wouldn’t you say?” Philip asked as he sat on the sofa in Bo and Hope’s living room. Chelsea, Shawn and himself had joined the couple for Christmas lunch. It had been pleasant enough, no shouting matches; no moody persons, unless you counted Shawn but since he was always in a mood of late, everyone chose to ignore his sullenness. A very relaxed day, totally unlike the way all their lives had been over the past year and very unlike Christmas had been the year before, the beehive of activity it had been was not to be this year.
“It started out well enough.” Hope commented, remembering the Christmas lunch they’d had at the Pub with the entire family there.
Chelsea disagreed, last year she hadn’t really been included in any of the family functions, mainly because she’d been on the outskirts, things were different this year and she had Victoria to thank, she just wished she could’ve been here too, “Just think, last year Shawn and Mimi were still together, Victoria was in Salem and apart from the whole Victor fiasco, enjoying herself very much.”
“I’d say she’s enjoying herself his year too.” Bo commented, “What with being in Italy and all.”
“Italy, really? Well, what’s she doing there?” Philip asked; he always seemed to be the last to find out about such things.
“She’s been there for the past three weeks apparently.” Hope informed him, “Friends of the family invited them over and they extended the invitation to include Christmas, she called this morning. She sounded great.”
“That’d be all the Italian wine floating around this time of the year.” Chelsea said.
“Italian wine is floating around all year long Chelsea.” Philip corrected her.
Hope shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. She sounded decidedly cheerful, and not the drunk kind, the happy kind.”
Chelsea nodded, “I agree, I spoke with her a few days ago and she sounded a lot better. Like the dark cloud that had been following her around had finally disappeared.”
“That being the case, do you think she’ll come back to Salem soon?” Philip asked, despite the fact that they hadn’t gotten together all that much, she’d been there for him at a time when he’d needed someone. Had it not been for her, he probably would no longer be in Claire’s life right now.
“She said she’d be back, she just didn’t say when. But I don’t know, maybe it’s being away from this town that’s made her happier.” Shawn said as he came downstairs, having heard the tail end of the conversation.
“That’s absurd.” Chelsea said, “If that were the case she wouldn’t call so much.”
“Speaking of calling,” Hope said as she walked over to Shawn, “Why don’t you just give her onel?” she asked him softly.
“Why would I call Tory?”
“Not your sister, your wife.” Hope informed him.
“I have even less reason to do that.” Shawn said as made his way to the kitchen for leftovers.
“Well, it is Christmas.” Hope said as she followed him to the kitchen, grateful that they were alone, “Just do it Shawn, you can say you’re calling for Zach. You know you want to hear her voice.”
“You know nothing of the kind. I have no desire to speak to Mimi…”
“You can use the phone in here. More privacy, I’ll just make myself scarce.” Hope said as she left the kitchen to join the others.
Shawn watched his mother leave and then stood there not knowing what to do. He really did want to call her, if only to hear her voice. Making up his mind, he picked up the receiver and dialled the number Mimi had left before he chickened out. He’d had it memorised within five minutes of her having given it to him and had called several times over the last twenty four hours just to hang up before the first ring.
The machine picked up, “Mimi hi. I guess you’re really busy or you’re not taking my calls. Just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas and…”
He stopped when he heard her laughter, she’d obviously rushed to the phone because she sounded out of breath, it took him a moment to realise she wasn’t talking to him, “Stop it! Don’t you take no for an answer?”
“Oh look whose talking.” an anonymous male voice replied. The two where obviously having great fun, he could hear it in their voices.
“Hello?” he almost started when she said that. Had to pull himself out of the nightmare he was imagining was occurring in L.A.
“Mimi hi, it’s…”
“Shawn hi,” That was not manufactured joy in her voice, she seemed genuinely happy to hear from him, “Merry Christmas. Did you want to speak to Zach?”
“No, no, I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, enjoy your day.” he said.
He hung up just as she said, “Will do, same to you.”
“That was quick.” Hope said as he came out of the kitchen.
“She was… pre-occupied.” was all he said before heading back upstairs, he was not in the mood for people today; he really shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.
*****
Mimi was sitting with Patrick at his kitchen table in L.A. They were rehashing the same topic, the topic they hadn’t swayed from since she’d arrived and not even Christmas had derailed her brother.“I’m thinking maybe I should just go back.” She said, glancing down into her coffee, waiting for the inevitable outburst.
“You’d be willing to go back to him knowing what he’s done?” Patrick asked her outraged.
“Everybody makes mistakes.” was all she said in response.
“Well as mistakes go, cheating is a pretty major one. Are you willing to go back, knowing the kind of man he is? Knowing that he has the capacity to hurt you and that he’s done it and shown no remorse. He couldn’t even tell you…”
“I know all that Patrick; you don’t have to remind me. It is after all my life we’re talking about, it’s, but…”
“No ‘buts’ Mimi, either you’re willing to go back to that life and negate the strength you’ve built for the past few months or you can cut him out, you can move on.” He stated matter-of-factly.
“Move on, to where?”
“Here, you can move here. Stay in L.A. with me, you can build a new life here, a happier life. You want that for Zach don’t you?”
“Patrick, you cannot be serious.”
“Why not? There’s nothing for you to go back to Salem for, nothing keeping you there.”
“That’s not really fair on Shawn. I can’t just take Zach away.”
“No fair on Shawn? If he wants to see his son, he can jump on a plane, why do you think they were invented?”
“And besides I couldn’t take Zach away from his family, he needs them right now. Needs the kind of support we never really had growing up. Can we just drop this subject, it’s Christmas.”
He nodded, respecting her wishes, but couldn’t help adding a ’just think about it.’ before wandering off in search of his brother.
*****
Thinking about it was exactly what Mimi did on the plane home. Patrick had made a few valid points over the last few days and she was seriously starting to think that maybe she should do it, maybe she should just pack up everything and move to L.A. Shawn could catch a plane and she could bring Zach down at times too. There was no reason why it couldn’t work and only one reason why she shouldn’t do it. But it was also the reason she should wasn’t it? If she left, she’d have to accept, fully accept, that Shawn and her were well and truly over. If she stayed, she’d still have that hope of ‘one day’, was it wrong to have that hope, to have that option?When she walked into the Pub with Zach on her arm, she hadn’t been expecting the greeting she got. Caroline, who had been behind the bar at the time, rushed over to her, calling for Shawn Sr. to come and greet.
“You’re back!” Caroline exclaimed as she brought Mimi in for a hug and then drew back and examined her, “You look well rested. You’re positively glowing.”
Mimi smiled, “That’s be the L.A. sun, no matter how cold, you can still pick up a tan.”
“So how was your trip? Good I hope.” Caroline asked her as she guided Mimi to a booth; Grandpa Shawn relieved Mimi of her son.
Mimi nodded, “It was great.”
“Shawn said you’d be back before the New Year but I figured you’d probably stay there a while longer, not as cold and the added benefit of having your family there.”
“I called Shawn and told him Zach and I would be a few days late, he didn’t seem to mind.”
“And I didn’t.” Shawn said from behind her.
Mimi turned around and smiled at him, “Hello Shawn.”
He smiled back; maybe the time they’d spent apart had been good for them. Maybe now they could work on rebuilding their relationship, “So, how was your trip?” he asked her as he slid into the booth opposite her, Caroline took that as her cue to leave, promising their usual meals would be arriving soon.
“It was okay, helped me unwind.”
“And Zach?”
“He really enjoyed himself, the beach especially. I know it’s the heart of winter and all that but it wasn’t all that bad on the days we went. He made sandcastles with Patrick if you believe that.”
“Patrick huh?”
“Well, he destroyed whatever Patrick built; it took him a while to catch onto the ‘building’ aspect of things.”
“And what did you do while they built sandcastles?”
“Believe it or not, I went surfing.”
He stared at her in disbelief, “You went surfing? On an actual board in an actual ocean?”
“Okay, I tried my hand at surfing, discovered I wasn’t any good at it But I did stand on the board for all of ten seconds.”
“So you leaned something new.” he commented, “And how was your Christmas?”
“It was okay I guess nothing near as grand as what your family did last year but as Christmases go I’d say it was top notch.” And that was saying a lot considering her family and their penchant for not celebrating holidays together.
He smiled at that, glad one of them had enjoyed the day and equally glad it had been her, who hadn’t really had many ‘great’ Christmases in her life, “That’s good, great really. Where’s Zach?”
Now it was her turn to smile, it had taken him long enough. She’d figured those would’ve been the first words out of his mouth, “He’s in the back with your grandfather.”
He got up to go but she grabbed his arm, when he glanced back at her questioningly, she simply said, “We have to talk.”
He knew those words, nothing good ever came from those words and when it was a female saying it, you could bet your ass it wouldn’t be pleasant. “Can it wait till after I’ve seen Zach?”
“Now.” she said, she wasn’t relenting on that point. She needed to tell him before she saw him with Zach, before she lost her nerve and decided to just let things continue the way they were.
He sat down again, “Okay, talk.”
She hesitated, “I’m not sure if this…”
He cut her off, “Mimi, you wanted to talk so do it otherwise I’m going to get Zach.”
“I was thinking somewhere more private.” She hinted but he shook his head. “Okay, so here’s the thing. While I was in L.A., Patrick asked me something and at first, I totally rejected the idea. I mean it would be-”
“Mimi, you’re stalling.”
“Patrick asked me to move to L.A. and I’m seriously considering it, what with Connor away and my mom leaving soon it seems pointless for me to stay too. At first I was resistant to the idea but lately I’ve found myself leaning towards relocating to Los Angeles. The thing is Shawn, I told Patrick I’d let him know what I’ve decided by the end of the month, so basically if you want to keep Zach close, you have three weeks to convince me to stay in Salem.”