Author's note: Once again, you can hear a clip of the song if you go to Amazon or a similar website. Plus, I put a little note in the reviews section.
Chapter 13
Zach and Kendall rode home in his SUV, following and trailed by two police SUVs. For awhile there was utter silence, not even the radio that Kendall seemed to favor. Zach glanced over to see if she was sleeping. She wasn't. He decided to ask her something that had piqued his curiosity. "You said back there that you were done with remote cabins. Something about nothing good coming of it. Have you had a similar experience?"
Kendall groaned. "A couple of years ago a bunch of us ended up at a cabin in the woods, There was this Argentinian guy who was dating Greenlee. Some guys wanted to kill him, I don't remember why. His name was Juan Pablo. Pablo was at the cabin with Greenlee. Then Ryan drove me there. Somehow Aidan and Mia showed up, also. Anyway, there we all were, and I was so miserable. We were all bedhopping – not in the way you think. Ryan just wouldn't leave Greenlee alone, he kept insisting that they were just friends and he had to help her. I knew there was more to it than that and boy was I right, huh? Anyway, the bad guys showed up with a bomb and there was gunfire - it was terrifying. Edmund came to warn Juan Pablo, and then Maria showed up to warn Edmund. That was when he was shot and lost function in his legs. Man, what an awful night that was."
Zach didn't want to think about Maria and Edmund. "Why was Ryan always wanting to help Greenlee?" Kendall shook his head. "I think it started out with him wanting to be close to Leo's widow. Ryan was friends with Leo duPres, Greenlee's husband who died. Ryan's wife, Gillian, had died also, so they shared that connection. Plus, lets face it, he has a savior complex. He is convinced that everyone in town needs his help. And since Greenlee is always so needy, they are perfect for each other. The two of them are so self-absorbed they've created their own little black hole right in Pine Valley." Zach smirked. "I can't say that I disagree. But it sounds like you're still pretty bitter about it. Is it because you didn't come out on top of the whole mess, or are you still in love with Ryan?"
Kendall stared at him. "You do like to needle me don't you? What a strange question. Trying to determine if I really have a heart, and whether it was broken? It does…inflame me that Greenlee took something important from me, but only because she is the most smug person on the planet on a normal day. But I rarely come out on top, anyway. I'm sort of used to my life crashing around me on a regular basis." Zach allowed himself a moment to stare at Kendall in contemplation. "From what I've heard, you've made some pretty spectacular mistakes. But other times you threw it all away for someone you loved. I don't think I was ever more impressed than when Myrtle told me about all that you did for Bianca after Michael died." Kendall turned a deep shade of red. "You…you and Myrtle spoke about me? I don't know whether to be more amazed that she spoke favorably of me…or that she was having a conversation with you that didn't involve ripping you to shreds. She must like you." Zach grinned. "I think she does. I feel like I've been given the highest honor in the land." Kendall laughed. "You have! And apparently I have too, though I didn't know it. I think that is one of my biggest problems. I'm always blustering around so much that I don't take time to sit and listen to the quiet voice of wisdom."
They drove in silence again for a while. Zach tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "You never answered the second part of my question. Are you still in love with Ryan?" Kendall shook her head. "How is it any of your business?" Zach raised an eyebrow. "Well, you are dating my son. I just want to know if he'll get dumped because he's Rebound Man." Kendall scoffed. "It's still none of your business since you pretended he wasn't your son." Zach sighed. "I don't want to get into that again. Just answer the question." Kendall narrowed her eyes. "You don't care about Ethan at all. You have some other reason for wanting to know. What is it?" Zach gave her a wicked grin. "Maybe I'm hoping that Ethan is Rebound Man so that I can swoop in and be the man you really fall hard for." Kendall glared at him for a few long moments. "Fine, you're not going to tell me. What the heck, I'll answer the question anyway. I did love Ryan. Incredibly. Unbearably. But that love is dead." She stared pensively out the window. Zach murmured. "Sometimes love is only sleeping." She frowned at him. "What?" Zach shrugged. "Its an old song. It goes, 'Then she turned away and said, Once I loved, but love is dead. And he whispered, Sometimes love is only sleeping.' I think you remind me a lot of the girl in that song."
Kendall looked down at her hands in her lap, as if not sure what to think of that. "What are the rest of the words?" Zach opened the cubby between the seats and pulled out his CD case. He handed it to her. "Find the one called Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones." She flipped through the CDs until she found it. "The Monkees?" she asked incredulously. Zach laughed. "They aren't all bubble gum songs. Go ahead and put it in." Shrugging, she slipped the CD into the player and skipped to the song.
"She looked at me
And the emptiness in her eyes was cruel to see
Then she turned away and said,
"Once I loved, but love is dead"
And I whispered, "Sometimes love is only sleeping"
She said, "I cannot cry
And I cannot give or feel or even try"
And her voice was hard and cold
Then her sweet young face looked old
And I whispered, "Sometimes love is only sleeping"
Through the endless days and nights
She could not help but wrap herself in sorrow (sorrow)
Through the endless days and nights
She waited for a shiny new tomorrow
Love was sleeping, sleeping
She looked at me
And her smiling tears were warm and sweet and free
And the moonlight kissed her eyes
As it mingled with our sighs
And she whispered, "Sometimes love is only sleeping"
And she whispered, "Sometimes love is only sleeping"
Only sleeping..."