Still Waiting For You
Chapter 2: "Make Me Regret Everything"
"Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast, breakfast," chanted Kara as she jumped up and down on the bed. Val opened her eyes.
"Kara, I would give anything for you to be a late riser," moaned Val. Her daughter wrinkled her nose.
"I'm gonna go ask Connell," she decided, hopping off of the bed.
"Kara, his name is Tyler." Val sat up and looked at Kara.
"Uh huh," replied Kara vaguely. "Tyler Connell."
"Very good," Val complimented her. "Kara, look, I'll just make you breakfast, okay? Just let me get out of bed, okay?"
"Okay," said Kara agreeably, sure she had gotten her way. Val smiled and buried her face in her pillow again.
"Mommy!" cried Kara, pouting and pulling the covers off of her mother.
"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," Val assured her with a teasing, menacing growl, climbing out of bed. Kara shrieked as Val picked her up and carried her out the door.
*
Tyler looked up from his coffee as Val and Kara entered, the latter being swung playfully by her mother. Val paled and set Kara down.
"Sorry, I forgot that you—did we wake you up?" she inquired nervously. Tyler shook his head.
"I've been up for a while," he told her, reassuring her, trying to wipe the distraught look from her face. "Val—I think we're still friends. You don't have to be anxious or anything just because I'm getting married."
"I'm not anxious because you're getting married," countered Val, sitting down on a stool. She wore a white tank top that somewhere along the way had gotten slightly too small for her, leaving tan skin visible between that and gray shorts. She propped her elbow on the table and twisted a lock of hair, looking at him curiously through still slightly asleep eyes.
"Oh." Tyler
didn't want to argue with her. She was too gorgeous to argue with. You would
think that a 28-year-old doctor with a five-year-old daughter would become less
beautiful over the years, but no, Val just happens to become more beautiful. If
she's already this gorgeous at 28, when she's 35 she'll be ready to win the
Miss Universe pageant. Connell, get a hold of yourself. You're getting married.
Married, for God's sake. This is no time to fall for Val all over again, even
if she is--
"Connell, can I have some cereal?" Kara interrupted his thoughts.
"Sure." He looked at Val suspiciously. "Did you tell her my name was Connell?"
"Tyler. Tyler Connell," recited Kara, proud of herself. "Kara, I have a secr—" Val's hand clamped over her daughter's mouth.
"She has a habit of repeating things," Val explained, "even if they were never meant to be repeated."
Tyler smiled. "What do you want for breakfast?" he inquired, changing the subject. Val removed her hand from Kara's mouth.
"Pancakes?" Kara asked hopefully, upturning her face with a begging pout she had perfected over the years. "Spot likes pancakes."
"Pancakes it is," agreed Tyler. Kara smiled. "Who's Spot?"
"I'll go get him," volunteered Kara, scrambling out of the room. He turned to Val questioningly.
"Spot?"
"He's our pet," Val said mysteriously. "Do you have any more coffee?" Caffeine. Caffeine was good, especially at seven in the morning on a Saturday when you had spent the entire time last night on a plane so it seemed like three in the morning.
"Yeah. Here, let me get you some." Tyler stood and retrieved a mug from the cupboard, pouring coffee into it.
"Thanks," Val said as the cup slid in front of her. Kara returned with a tortoise in her hands.
"This is Spot," she informed Tyler proudly, holding him out. "He's a toratoizale." Val stifled a laugh. That was what Kara had always called Spot, no matter how much Val tried to convince her that it was tortoise instead of toratoizale.
"He's incredibly cool. And you know what else would be incredibly cool?"
"What, what, what?" exclaimed Kara, jumping up and down eagerly. Val had no idea how her daughter could be so energetic.
"Tortoise-shaped pancakes."
"Cooooool," breathed Kara in awe, putting Spot on the counter. "Can you make them have a tail, too?"
"Sure," agreed Tyler. Val smiled.
"Mommy makes name pancakes. They have K and two A's and R for Kara and two M's and O for Mom and sometimes S for Spot," Kara told him. He grinned at Val.
"Well, we can make name pancakes too. Can you eat that many pancakes?"
"Spot can help."
"Speaking of Spot, why is he all wet?" Val had just realized that the "toratoizale" was dripping on the counter. Kara shrugged.
"I was givin' him a bath."
"Where?" Val inquired.
"The bathroom sink, course." Kara said it like it was obvious. Val tried not to laugh. "He liked the bubbles."
"What bubbles?" Val inquired. Tyler looked like he was about to crack up.
"The shampoo, course," Kara told them in the same tone as before. "But that's okay. I left the 'ditioner alone because it doesn't make very good bubbles."
"I'm going to go make sure there isn't any permanent damage," Val decided, rising.
"I'll start those pancakes. Turtles and letters. You want to help?" he asked Kara. "I bet we can make a bird pancake, too. Do you like birds?"
As Val left the kitchen and Kara's excitement, hot tears filled her eyes.
The perfect guy I totally tried to forget because I thought I'd get over him is getting married and I'm falling even worse than I did before. This is great. I have just fantastic luck, don't I? I mean, he's handsome, intelligent, nice, caring, has a sense of humor, and is great with my daughter—and when I finally face him again it turns out he's getting married.
Val shook her head and swallowed the tears. He was out of
her league by now, and it was no time to cry.
*
"When's the big day?" Val questioned Tyler as she
returned in ten minutes, her hair damp from the shower, wearing jeans and a red
tank top. Kara was happily stuffing her face while she tried to get Spot to eat
part of a miniature tortoise pancake.
"What?" He was flipped a pancake resembling a fish. "What
big day?"
"Your wedding. Have you forgotten already that you're
engaged to Heather Stillmore?" It would have been nice if he had. It would have
been very welcome.
"Oh. That big day. A week."
"A week?" exclaimed Val. "So I suppose I wasn't going to
be invited, then."
"I was going to call you. It wouldn't be an engraved
invitation, but I didn't know if you'd want to come," admitted Tyler. Kara
poured syrup on Spot's pancake.
"Why wouldn't I want to come?" Val asked, tilting her
head. Tyler groaned inwardly.
Stop angling your head like that, Val. Please. It's making you way too attractive. And I don't need you to be attractive while I'm fighting to get my foot out of my mouth.
"Because we haven't talked at all for years," Tyler said
levelly, looking into her eyes.
"Look, Tyler, I've been busy with Kara and work and all…"
"You had time to come here—you should have had time to
call. To talk. Val, I've missed you, but I'm not about to call you and stick my
foot in my mouth the exact same way I'm doing right now. I have pride," he told
her, "and I haven't heard from you since we were 22. I take that means you
don't want to talk to me."
"I want to talk to you," mumbled Val inaudibly, "but I
also want to just forget you."
Tyler wasn't sure if he had heard correctly, wasn't sure
if he had heard at all. He didn't want to know why Val had suddenly turned up
on his doorstep, not yet, because right now he knew that neither of them could
deal with it.
"The pancake's burning," Kara notified them. Tyler looked
down at the dark, shriveled fish.
"Sorry," he apologized, not meeting Val's eyes as he
flipped the pancake into the trash. Val wasn't sure if he was apologizing to
her or to Kara.
"Can we stay for the wedding?" Val inquired softly. Tyler
looked at her.
"What?"
"Can we stay for the wedding?" she repeated. Kara smiled.
"Toratoizale pancakes every day!" she proclaimed happily. Spot nibbled his
pancake gently.
"Sure," answered Tyler. "You can stay. And we can have
toratoizale pancakes every day," he said to Kara, whose smile grew bigger.
"Connell makes good toratoizale pancakes," she informed
her mother.
"I'm sure that I'm much better." Val kissed the top of
Kara's head and smiled at Tyler teasingly.
"We can have a toratoizale pancake contest tomorrow,"
Tyler said. "And Kara can be the judge."
"And Spot," added Kara, patting the tortoise on his back.
"And Spot," Val echoed agreeably with another smile at
Tyler. At least that was over.
*
"I wins," Kara informed Tyler and Val, setting down a run
of spades from five to ace and a set of threes.
"You know, we just taught you how to play half an hour
ago, but you're already winning every game. That's just not logical," Val told
her daughter, folding her legs and laying down her cards. "Okay, take off
twenty points…sixty points."
"Fifty five," Tyler said, putting down his cards.
"Ninety," Val counted Kara's. She looked at Kara
exasperatedly. "Have you figured out how to cheat already?"
"There's a mirror behind your cards," Kara informed her.
Val rolled her eyes as the doorbell rang.
"Getting it."
Tyler stood and walked out of the living room to the
front door.
"Honey!"
Val felt like she was going to be sick. There was no
mistaking that voice—or its owner. Kara stood and curiously went into the
kitchen, followed by Val.
Heather's jaw dropped as Val entered.
"Tyler!" she shrieked. "Who's she and what is she doing here? Are you having an affair before we even get married!" Val winced at Heather's high-pitched scream.
"Val Lanier. From high school," replied Tyler, looking
back and forth between the two of them. Meanwhile, Val was studying Heather.
Her hair had been bleached in streaks and her eyebrows
had been bleached to match. She was dressed in a slinky, bright pink
long-sleeved shirt and black miniskirt, with bright pink lizard-print heels.
Altogether, she reminded Val of a hooker Barbie doll.
"And is this your…daughter?" inquired Heather, her voice tinged with disgust. Val
tried not to lose her temper.
"Yes, this would be Kara."
"Oh." Heather had definitely changed for the worse since
high school. She was a brat that was way too spoiled for her own good. "Isn't
that sweet?"
Kara had had enough. She glared at Heather impudently and
spit on the pink designer shoes.
"Kara!" exclaimed Val, pulling the five-year-old back.
"Apologize to Heather."
"Sorry," Kara said with a please-forgive-me pout—but Val
heard her mutter "Not" under her breath.
Tyler was hereby entirely caught in the middle. On one
hand, it was hilarious to see Kara's saliva dripping down the electric pink
shoes, and on the other hand, Heather was his
fiancée. Which brought him to the next dilemma.
He was definitely falling for Val all over again, which
was very bad, although it might just be pre-wedding jitters and he might just
be a little scared at not being a bachelor anymore. Well, that was what he had
convinced himself of up until now, because now Val was standing next to
Heather, who was his fiancée, and the problem was that, at the moment, Val
seemed a lot more attractive.
"We were just playing cards. Val's in town—and we're not
having an affair."
"I should have known. You wouldn't leave me for her. I
mean, she's not even close to pretty or
attractive," laughed Heather sardonically.
Tyler and Val's jaws both dropped at her the cruelty of her words. Kara frowned
and ran into the kitchen. Val watched her go quickly and then returned her
shocked gaze to Heather.
Except, Heather, at the moment it's her I'm
staring at every second, not you, thought
Tyler, and immediately regretted it. A horrible thought. Heather was his
fiancée, for crying out loud. And Val? Well, Val was—an obstacle. An extremely
gorgeous and attractive and nice and wonderful obstacle. Yeah, that was it.
"See my toratoizale?" Kara returned and held up Spot with
an innocent pout.
"I really don't like reptiles," Heather said, backing
away. Kara's pout deepened into an honest one. "They're so icky and mean."
"Spot's nice," insisted Kara, sitting down with a large
frown. "He doesn't bite."
"What did you want?" Tyler changed the subject, picking
Kara up quickly so as to avoid further argument over Spot. "I mean, was there a
reason to come here?"
Heather gave a pout considerably less cute than Kara's.
"You mean I have to have a reason for coming to see you?"
"That means there is one."
"I was thinking, maybe we shouldn't have purple flowers
at the wedding because the bridesmaids dresses are pink, and if we have that
color pink with that color purple, people might talk because you know, what
with the red carpet it would clash and then if the altar is gold then it would
look absolutely horrible and—so I was thinking, maybe we should get pink
flowers because red would clash as well, but that would be just too much pink,
and blue is out of the question because you know that I don't like blue with
pink—it would seem so washed out as well—and so maybe we should have yellow. Do
you think yellow is good? Or white. I was thinking white because then they'll
match my dress."
"Sure, yellow and white. Can you call the florist?" Tyler
sighed. Val was looking startled at Heather's deep concern over the flowers,
but she shook it off.
"Tyler, honey, you can't expect me to call the florist!
It's demeaning!" exclaimed Heather. She examined her hot pink nails. "Could
you, please?"
"Sure." Tyler gave in. "Was that all?"
"Yeah, just about. Later I need to discuss the pew
assignments, though, but that can wait. Oh, and can I have a paper towel for
the slobber?" Kara glared at Heather with that comment. Tyler handed her a
paper towel and Heather left, grumbling as she wiped off her shoe with vigor.
"I am really, really, really sorry for that
comment…comments, actually," Tyler apologized as the door closed. Val took Kara
from him and smiled.
"It's okay. I know that she's everything you want." Her
last few words held a mocking tone.
"Val, come on—"
"Tyler, you don't need to apologize for your fiancée. I
completely understand," she said perkily. "I'm just going to go—give Kara a
bath. Yeah. She's dirty."
"Mommy," whined Kara, but Val was already carrying her up
the stairs. Tyler buried his face in his hands, his fingers in his hair.
"Oh, good. Back to the way things were."
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday to me. Today is my 12th birthday, so as a present
would you PLEASE review? PLEASE?
--Ivy Leaves
Disclaimer: Sleepless in
Seattle does not belong to me. Characters (with the exception of Kara and Spot)
do not belong to me. Get it? Don't sue…