Chapter Seven

Carly rushed into the Happy Feet dance studio, ten minutes late to pick up Sage. Her daughter was patiently waiting, watching the jazz tap class go through it's rehearsal. Between work and constantly running the kids around, her patience with Jack was wearing thin. Eleven days thin, to be exact. There was only so much perspective one could give to a booty call. It was what it was. No amount of brooding could change it.

Taking a deep breath, it crossed her mind it wasn't the length of time Jack was taking. After all, she knew what it felt like, looking in the mirror and wondering how your life got so out of control. More than once. So if he was taking the time to figure it all out, he needed it. At least that's what the angel on her shoulder whispered. The jealous, bitchy devil on her left wondered why he hadn't talked to her once since he was gone. And what that meant in the scheme of things. Being a schemer had it's downside---examining all the angles had a tendency to drive her a little nuts.

As they walked, Sage chatted away, with little prompting other than "oh?" or "really?" as they hurried toward the parking lot. As the passed Al's Sage unexpectedly took a sharp left. "Sweetheart," Carly stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, "the car's this way."

"But the recital's tomorrow."

"And?" Carly asked blankly.

"We always eat at Al's the night before," Sage reminded her. "It's good luck."

Carly sighed. Bless Hal---this one was his fault. He was probably chuckling his head off in the Great Beyond right about now. He'd started taking Parker to Al's for good luck the night before his first Pee-Wee hockey game. She and Jack had kept it up after his death, through good times and bad. And when Sage had been nervous before her first recital, Jack treated it like any other "big game" and took their daughter to Al's.

Unfortunately, he hadn't realized one day he'd be gone, his ex-fiancee would be working there, and Carly would be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Mom?"

Well, it was after five o'clock....and the odds of Janet being there were slim, Carly rationalized. "I don't suppose you're in the mood for Chinese," she asked, already knowing the answer before Sage's eyes rolled and she started shaking her head "no". "But we're getting it to go," Carly conceded. "I still have to finish the hem on your costume."

"I thought you did that last night---"

"I'm going to re-do it tonight," Carly replied. In fact, she vowed to rip out the perfectly good hem she had done and re-do it ten times if she didn't run in to Janet. Or Katie. Or Vienna, for that matter, who still carried a little grudge over losing Simon. Or being shoved into a crate and nailed inside. In spite of being head-over-heels for Henry.

"Can we have brownies too?" Sage pleaded as she plopped down at the counter. "They're extra good luck. Dad said so."

Carly was about to protest when Henry emerged from the kitchen, loaded down with someone's order. He smiled warmly for a second, then almost spilled a plate in his customer's lap on recognizing Carly. After profusely apologizing, he hurried over to the counter. "Sage, Carly great to see you! My favorite partner, and her favorite daughter!"

"I'm her only daughter," Sage spoke up.

"Yes in-deedy," Henry babbled as moisture started beading up on his forehead. "One girl--check. Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked abruptly as he pulled Carly over to the corner. "I think it's only fair to warn you---Vienna is not your biggest fan right now."

"That's not my problem, Henry."

"I know, I know. But you know how passionate my little Swedish dumpling can be. Janet's become a very good friend---"

Carly snorted. "Yeah, right. Katie and Vienna probably popped champagne corks celebrating Jack's engagement to anyone but me. All hail the heroic waitress who drop kicked me right out of his life. I'll tell you exactly what I told Katie. Jack makes up his own mind. I'm not sorry Jack didn't marry her, but he made a decision he felt was best for him."

"Personally, I believe you," Henry conceded. "I even sympathize with Jack. It's not easy calling things off with scads of people expecting free food and drinks. But Janet has cried a lot on Vienna and Katie's shoulder this past week. And--"

"And I've become the villainess," Carly finished for him. "Look...I'm just here for Sage. We're getting it to go, so we'll be in and out."

"I knew we should have started offering free delivery," Henry sighed, slapping himself on the back of the head. "I'll put a rush on your order. Anything to avoid---" Henry swallowed the rest of his sentence as Vienna emerged from the kitchen.

"What is she doing here?" Vienna scowled as she locked eyes with Carly. "She...she...I do not want her here!", Vienna spit out, shaking her head and pointing her finger straight at the door.

Dancing nervously to her, Henry struggled to force her arm to her side. "Liebchen..." he murmured, stifling any further protest. "Say hello to Sage! Perhaps you'd like to offer her a cookie while she and Carly wait."

Vienna pursed her lips and shook her head. They whispered back and forth, until Vienna held out her hand to Sage. "Come, Sage. We're trying a new reciepe for Christmas. Who better than a sweet, good girl like you to give us an opinion." Vienna tossed her chocolate mane of hair, sniffing in disapproval at Carly as she took Sage into the kitchen.

Henry let out a deep sigh of relief. "That went...well, considering."

"Am I supposed to be grateful?" Henry shrugged his shoulders, infuriating her more. "If she's going to have a problem with me, I don't want to see her at Metro. Got it?"

"We're partners, Carly," Henry reminded her.

"Yeah...we are partners. She is not. And I won't put up with her attitude in my place of business. Period."