Chapter Five

"Theresa, dear, do come in!"

Ivy Crane smiled at Theresa from behind her mahogany, the warmth of her smile not quite reaching her eyes. Theresa felt a wave of relief wash over her as Ivy motioned for her to enter her office, dawning on the realization that Ivy apparently had not heard of the events of the previous evening.

Last night had gone from bad to worse after the Poblano soup incident. After Ethan had stormed off in a rage, mumbling something about "extracting revenge", the owner of the Book Café had shown up, seething at the gills. He had caught wind of what had gone down earlier that evening, and had fired her on the spot. Not only had she dumped a bowl of soup on the head of a paying customer, she had dumped a bowl of soup on the head of a Crane.

Theresa had a night of fitful sleep. Every time she had finally dozed off, she had awaken with worried thoughts running through her head. What if Mrs. Crane found out what happened between Theresa and her son? What if she too fired Theresa, leaving her broke and with a car to fix?

Shortly before sunrise, Theresa gave up on sleep, and got up and began to get ready for the day. Her mind never strayed from Ethan Crane, though.

Theresa knew that she had a tendency to be a bit impulsive, but she felt justified in yesterday's actions. As far as she was concerned, Ethan Crane deserved a lot more than a bowl of soup poured on his head!

The nerve of that guy, saying that she was both neurotic and psycho! As far as Theresa could tell, their dislike of one another had been caused by him screaming at her after the car wreck, and Theresa not being able to reign in her own temper.

But who could blame her? She had been nothing but nice to him up until he chose to jump down her throat, not to mention instantly infatuated. Heck, infatuated didn't even begin to describe how Theresa felt when her eyes first met his. When the vision of what your children might look like together flashed through your head, you knew that it was more than a simple crush.

The thing annoyed Theresa to no end, though, was the fact that she could alternate from wanting to kick him-HARD- where it counted, to wanting to feel his luscious lips on hers in a matter of seconds.

GRRR!!!!

So damn annoying!

As Theresa got herself ready for work, she made a vow to herself to stay far, far away from Ethan while she worked for Ivy Crane. Avoid him at all cost.

That is, if she still had a job with Ivy Crane.

"Good morning, Mrs. Crane," Theresa said as cheerfully as she could, smoothing her knee length black skirt across her thighs as she sat down.

"Same to you, dear," Ivy said, turning her concentration back to her appointment book. Theresa sat in silence for a few minutes, eyes trained on the bright sun outdoors, wishing that she had never had the displeasure of meeting Ethan Crane.

"What's on the agenda for today, Mrs. Crane?"

"I'm so glad you asked that, Theresa. I have a special "project" for you to work on."

Theresa figured Mrs. Crane would say something about flower arrangements (one of her specialties), or something about the Children's Ward Gala. However, nothing could prepare Theresa for what Ivy Crane said next.

"I want you to spend the day with my son, Ethan."

Theresa's jaw went slack with shock. No, No, No!!! This was all wrong! She was supposed to be avoiding the pompous creep, not spending quality time with him!

"You want me to WHAT?"

The words flew out of Theresa's mouth before she could stop them. They came out in a shrill, high pitched voice that would surely arouse Mrs. Crane's suspicions. Luckily, though, Ivy merely raised a skeptical brow and continued as if Theresa hadn't spoken.

"I want you to spend some time with my son. Re-aquaint him with Harmony. He's had a rough few days, and could use a little cheering up. You have such a delightful demeanor, Theresa, and I am certain that after a few hours with you, his good spirits will return."

With a sinking feeling, Theresa realized that Mrs. Crane honestly wanted them to spend the day together. She wasn't kidding around about her getting chummy with her darling son, Ethan "The World's Biggest Prick" Crane. Spending so much time with him was surely to be almost unbearable!

It wouldn't be completely unbearable, though, because Theresa tried to always find a bright spot with every situation.

And the bright spot with having to hang out with Ethan was the fact that she would be getting paid to do so.

Bwa ha ha.

A loud banging on his bedroom door roused Ethan from his sleep. He rolled onto his side and raised open one sleepy eyelid, glancing at the clock on the table beside his bed. 8:23 am. Ethan couldn't fathom why anyone would be banging on his door so early in the morning, but he would admit that he was more than grateful to be awoken from the disturbing dream that he was having.

The dream had started off normal enough…

Ethan and his wife were walking along a well-worn path in the woods of Harmony. Between them, a little boy held onto both of their hands, shrieking with delight as they reached a playground filled with kids.

"Momma, daddy, up!" he cried, and Ethan and his wife lifted the boy in the air much to his enjoment.

The boy was Ethan's son!

He was the spitting image of Ethan when he was younger, with curly blonde hair the color of straw, and chubby cheeks that were just crying out to be squeezed.

His eyes, though, his eyes belonged to his mother. Large and curious, they were the color of deep mocha, fringed with long black lashes.

And it was looking into his son's eyes that Ethan knew something was wrong.

Gwen had beautiful aqua eyes that could change from a calm pale green to a story midnight blue in the matter of seconds. His heart beating furiously, Ethan turned to face his wife.

Before he could even see her face, he knew who she was. He could tell by scent of warm vanilla flooding his senses. Could tell by the light swishing noise her hair made as they walked. The soft tinkling of her laugh as she spoke quietly to their son.

Ethan's blue eyes met her laughing brown, and for the first time in a very long while, Ethan felt a sense of peace overcome his entire being…

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ethan jolted from his bed, beads of sweat on his brow. A sense of dread washed over him as his dream rushed back to him.

He had a child. He had a child with Theresa Lopez- Fitzgerald.

Ugh! Shivers ran up his spine at the thought. What an utterly horrifying notion! He had actually been enjoying their little tiffs, up until the point that she dumped his bowl of soup over his head.

After being humiliated in public like that, Ethan had promised himself that if he ever saw her again, he would make sure that her life was a living hell. He would embarrass her the way she did him, maybe even more.

Even though he knew, that to some extent, he had deserved what had happened.

He'd never, ever admit it, though.

Shaking his head, Ethan burrowed himself farther under his covers as his door creaked open.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head!" his mother sang, staling over to his window and throwing back the curtains. Ethan let out a moan as the early morning sunlight streamed and, and smooshed a pillow over his head to block out the brightness.

In a matter of seconds, the pillow was lifted off of his head. Ethan raised his head slightly and saw Ivy standing before him, hands on hips.

"Up, up, up! The day awaits!"

Ethan had no inkling as to how his mother could be so…chipper this early in the day. After what she shared with him yesterday, about her and his father divorcing, he figured that she must be on some sort of drug that kept her so cheerful. All Ethan felt like doing was curling into a ball and sleeping for a long, long time.

But, Ivy would have none of that. She sat down beside her son, and wrapped her arms around him tenderly. Sighing, she brushed a wavy tendril of blonde from his forehead.

"Baby, I know your hurting. God knows, I know how it feels. But you can't let it eat at you. The only way you're going to pull through this is by being strong, and facing the world head on, each and every day."

"But, it hurts, Mother. So much. I…I miss my wife."

"I know you do. I know. But that doesn't change the fact that it's a new day, and there's things to be done."

"All I am planning on doing today is laying in my bed and thinking about Gwen. Curtains closed, door locked, no interruptions."

Ivy's beautiful face hardened as she looked at her son.

"Ethan, I am in the same place as you are. You need to stop being such a…a…sour puss and get out there! Face the day! I mean, we've already been up and working for over an hour."

Ethan looked at him mother curiously.

"We?"

Ivy stood up and began straightening up his room.

"Yes, Ethan. We. As in, me and my personal assistant?"

"Personal assistant?"

Ivy sighed as she folded a pair of sweatpants that had been tossed on the floor.

"Yes, Ethan, my dear. My personal assistant. Remember, I was telling you about her on the phone a while back?"

"Oh, right."

"Anyway, she's a doll. An absolute angel. I just know that you're going to love her!"

Ethan's senses went haywire at her last comment. Was his mother trying to play matchmaker? One day after he and his wife had separated- temporarily?

"Anyway," Ivy continued, checking out her makeup in the chest of drawers mirror, "You'd better get up and make yourself look presentable. She'll be by your room any minute now to pick you up."

What on earth was going on here?

"Pick me up" Ethan cried incredulously, running a hand through his disheveled hair.

Ivy tossed her hands in the air and let out an exasperated groan.

"YES. To pick you up. Must you repeat everything that I say?"

"Well, I-"

"Look, Ethan, she has graciously volunteered to take time out of her own day to re-aquaint you with Harmony. Now, I want you to get up, march into that shower, and get ready, do you understand me?"

"Oh, mother!" Ethan whined, dropping his head into his hands. "How could you?"

Ivy swooped in and panted a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Do what, sweetie? You've just arrived back into town, and you need a-"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

A knock on the door interrupted Ivy. Her face brightened considerably, and Ethan began to realize that his own mother was indeed trying to play "matchmaker".

"Ah! That must be her. Now, Ethan, darling, I want you to have fun today. And I'll see you tonight."

With that, Ivy floated to the bedroom door and flung it open.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to spend the day with Ethan, Theresa…" Ivy greeted the guest, but Ethan had stopped listening at the word Theresa.

THERESA???

Ethan's mind became a whirlwind of thought as he racked his mind for a possible explanation. Theresa was a common name for a girl, there had to be dozens of other Theresa's in Harmony. That HAD to be it! It was another Theresa!

But as Ivy moved aside to allow the girl into his room, Ethan discovered himself face to face with Theresa Lopez- Fitzgerald. She stood in the doorway, face as white as a ghost.

The look on her face, which resembled that of a deer caught in headlights, would have been laughable if Ethan wouldn't have known that it matched his own expression. But as it was, Ethan was speechless. Absolutely speechless.

"I...I- uh," he stuttered, trying to find something to say. But there was only one thing that he could say.

"YOU!"