Cassidy picked at her cereal for a moment longer then couldn't stand the silence anymore, “Are we meeting Mom for lunch?”
“No.” Andy kept her eyes on her plate. Miranda assured her that her behavior last night, her drunkenness, was forgiven, but she knew it had been wrong; the wrong thing to do, the wrong message to send to the girls. With a sigh, Andy looked up, “Miranda has meetings all day today, she won't be home until dinner.” Pressing her lips together, she decided to get it over with and spoke quietly, “I'm sorry, about last night... I had too much to drink and...” Shaking her head, Andy swallowed hard, “...and I'm just sorry.”
Caroline's eyes, so like Miranda's, were hard. “Stephen drank all the time,” She added quietly, “He was mean to Mom when he drank.”
Andy's nostrils flared, “Miranda told me he never hit her.”
“He didn't,” Cassidy jumped in quickly, “but... he said really mean things to her...” she licked her lips, “to us.”
Andy could see Caroline's chest moving as the girl breathed heavily, “We were scared you were going to be mean to us too...” she whispered, “mean to Mom.”
“Never!” Andy felt the tears welling in her eyes, “I will never be mean like that... I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but I'm not him... I don't get that way when I'm drunk, and I promise you that I'm going to try very hard not to ever get that drunk again.”
“Why did you... get drunk?” Caroline had wondered about that all night. “Are there... problems? Stephen always drank when he and mom fought...or he was upset...”
“No...” Andy assured them, “No, Miranda and I are fine. Serena was tense because Emily was going to be here, I offered her a drink and I joined her, but I hadn't eaten very much yesterday, nothing since lunch, and neither had she... so the drinks hit us hard on an empty stomach, the alcohol worked faster than we expected. It was just a mistake in judgment. I didn't intend on getting drunk.” She looked down at her plate, “I didn't mean to scare you.” She didn't notice the girls moving until she felt their arms around her shoulders.
“It's okay, Andy.” Caroline kissed her cheek and moved back to her chair.
“Ma,” Cassidy hugged her for a moment longer, “Don't be sad, we love you.”
Nodding, Andy smiled, trying to keep the sadness out of it, “Thanks, Sweetie.”
Cassidy smiled at her and dug into her breakfast.
Andy looked at Caroline, “You too, Munchkin.”
Caroline nodded as she ate her cereal slowly, but the girl didn't smile and Andy couldn't help but notice that Caroline had called her 'Andy', not 'Ma'. She watched the miniature Miranda eating her breakfast and sighed to herself, All is not forgiven on that front, yet. She wished Miranda was here to help smooth things over. Surely if Caroline saw that Miranda was okay with last night's behavior the girl would be too, right? Unless, Andy bit her bottom lip, Miranda would smooth things over with Stephen's behavior too I'll bet. Damn... I screwed up.
Licking her lips, Andy tried to keep a grin off her face, “I, um... did call your Mom a name last night.” She watched as the girls both went very still.
“You did?” Cassidy was stunned, Andy had just said she wasn't mean.
“What?” Caroline asked quietly.
“I called her a panda...”Andy's brown eyes twinkled as her grin broke through, “A...'Miranda panda'.”
Cassidy laughed, “You didn't!”
Even Caroline couldn't keep from laughing, “What did she say to that?!”
“Well... I think she rolled her eyes,” Andy smiled wider as Caroline did exactly that, “...and she said 'that's enough of that', right before she went to make me and Serena some coffee.”
“She was pretty upset while she was making dinner,” Caroline pushed her cereal away, “she yelled at us.”
“What?” Andy swallowed hard, “I know she was upset, but we worked it out... I'm sorry she yelled.” Yelled being a relative term, in Miranda's case it meant she spoke sharply in a volume most people would expect in normal conversation.
“We deserved it,” Cassidy said.
“I don't think so,” Andy sighed, “She was just upset at me...”
Caroline nodded, “We did deserve it. We compared you to Stephen.”
“That's understandable.”
“No,” Cassidy shook her head, “Mom didn't like that at all.”
Caroline agreed, “She told us...” Closing her eyes the girl did a chilling imitation of Miranda's tone. “That is the one and only time I ever want to hear you speak of Andrea and Stephen in the same breath, do you understand me?”
Cassidy nodded, “She said there was no comparison between you, that Stephen was nothing.”
“Nothing huh?” Andy liked the sound of that, but her curiosity got the better of her, “Did she say what I was?”
The girls glanced at each other then answered the question in an almost breathless whisper, in stereo, “Everything.”
Pulling her phone from her pocket, Andy dialed quickly a little surprised when she got Miranda's voice mail, but left a message anyway. “I love you.” Hanging up the phone, Andy managed to wipe away the tear rolling down her cheek with a little bit of finesse. “Um... Serena will be here soon for our run.”
“Okay,” the girls took their dishes to the sink and rinsed them before putting them in the dishwasher. “We'll just be upstairs.”
“Do you want to go to the airport with me today?”
“Airport?” Caroline turned to face Andy, “Going somewhere?”
“No,” The brunette sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, “Ma and Gram Sachs are coming for a visit. Mrs...Ms. King too. They're gonna help me pick out a dress for the wedding.” Andy looked at the girls hopefully, “I was hoping you'd be able to help me with that too.”
“When?”
“Well, I figured today we could just relax and settle in, then tomorrow Em has the bakers and caterers coming over for tastings... so we can choose who we want for the rehearsal dinner and reception. I'm thinking we'll need the day on Sunday to get over that.” Andy grinned, “So Monday after the tv appearances, we can go round to the showrooms and see what we can find?”
Both girls nodded and Cassidy spoke, “Yeah, the sooner the better.”
“Yes, weddings take a lot of planning you need to make sure you have each step covered so nothing gets lost in the shuffle.” Caroline tugged on her sister's sleeve, “C'mon, Cass.”
“Soooo, are you coming with me to the airport or not?” Andy raised her eyebrows, “If you are I need to call Roy to make sure he has the limousine.” She watched as the girls looked at each other, exchanging comments in their own silent way before Cassidy answered,
“Yeah, we'll go with you.”
Andy watched and listened to them stomping up the stairs then sighed. She wished for the thousandth time she hadn't screwed up so badly. Something about Caroline's words niggled at the back of her mind though, What had she said? Lost in the shuffle? The doorbell pulled Andy's attention away from the subject and she forgot about the problem as she walked down the hall to let Serena in.
###
Cassidy listened as Caroline spoke on the phone to her friend, Allison.
“I know Alli...” Caroline sighed, “No, no!” Rolling her eyes, the young Priestly woman spoke through her grinding teeth, “Fine, whatever,” before disconnecting the call and tossing the phone across the room to land on the couch.
“Why do you let her get to you that, Ro?”
“I don't know.” Caroline ruffled her fingers through her hair, “She's just so... sure of herself. Like whatever she says is right, even if it's not.”
“Then why let it bother you?” Cassidy didn't actually 'hate' Allison, but she'd never understood why her sister was even friends with the girl because, well, Allison was just mean sometimes.
“The same reason the tabloids bother you, Cass.” Caroline sounded exasperated at her sister. “You know ninety-nine percent of that crap is completely made up.”
“I know, that's not what upsets me.” Cassidy admitted, “It's the other percent, the truth that bothers me.” She looked at Caroline and shrugged, “It's no one's business but Mom's and Andy's what Mom gave her for her birthday, where they go to eat, what they're wearing when they go to whatever function.” Cassidy felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks and brushed them away angrily, “Why does anyone else even care?!”
“Whoa!” Caroline moved to hug her sister, “Why does this bother you so much?”
Cassidy hugged her sister and sniffled. “I'm gay, Caroline.”
Pulling away slightly, to look her sister in the face, Caroline blinked, “What?”
“I'm gay.” Cassidy lowered her face, unable to look her sister in the eye, “So if the tabloids make up all that stuff about Mom and Andy, what do you think they're going to do to me?”
“Hey...” With both hands Caroline lifted Cassidy's face up, brushing away the tears with her thumbs, “Do you honestly think Mom or Andy will put up with anyone dissing you?” She smiled at her sister, “Mom may not even have anything left to do once Ma gets through with them!” Her heart did a double thump as she realized what she'd called Andy and why. No matter what, Andy will be there for us when we need her. Even if she is so caught up with the wedding that she, and Mom, forget our birthday.
Caroline wondered, “Are you going to tell them?”
“I um... think they already know.” Cassidy admitted everything to Caroline, about Ms. Bax, about confiding in Andy and what Andy told her about feelings being natural. “They haven't said anything, but I'm pretty sure Mom knows too.”
“What about Dad?” They both knew that their Mom and Andy would be supportive, but they weren't so sure when it came to their father's reaction.
“I...” Cassidy shook her head, “I dunno.”
Caroline grinned, “You want me to tell him?” Her eyes twinkled, “We can do a switcheroo and I can break the news to him.”
“No way!” Cassidy grinned at the idea though. When they were younger they could trick their father easily. They had never managed to pull one over on Miranda though and they both doubted Andy would fall for a switcheroo either. After all, they'd tried it when they first met Andy and she'd seen right through them. Stephen never could tell them apart. “You are not going to pretend to be 'gay' me, Caroline...” Cassidy warned her sister, “and you better not do it when we're older either... I'll end up seeing you in the tabloids at some club with whatever girl you think I'd like, which I probably won't by the way, and my name will be in the headline.”
Caroline laughed, “Okay... fine... sheesh. Try to help a sister out...”
“I don't think Dad needs to know right now anyway.” Cassidy wasn't really sure he ever needed to know.
“Okay...” Caroline smiled at her sister and hugged her again. “Whatever you want.” The girl grinned at her sister. “So... Ms. Bax...”
Rolling her eyes Cassidy smacked her sister's shoulder, “Shut up! I knew I never should have told you...”
“No, I'm sorry,” Caroline laughed as she rubbed her shoulder, “She's nice. If I were gay I could see how I might be attracted to her too.”
Cassidy buried her face in her hands and groaned, “I'm so going to regret telling you this, aren't I?”
Caroline grinned mischievously at her sister and spoke cheerily, “Probably, yeah.”
Cassidy groaned again.
###
“Wow, Em.. I'm impressed.” Andy looked through the list of plans the redhead had made for the wedding and knew that even though it was seven weeks away almost everything was done. Well, not exactly 'done', but arranged for and planned for. “This is great.” She grinned and asked Serena, “Don't you think so, Serena?” Emily spoke before the Brazilian could.
“You still need to choose a baker and caterer,” Emily warned, trying her best not to acknowledge her Brazilian friend's presence, “Did Miranda show you the schedule for tomorrow?”
Andy nodded, “Yes.” She didn't tell Emily that the paper with the times of arrival for the various places was currently tacked with a banana shaped magnet to the front of the refrigerator. She didn't want poor Emily's head to explode. “Thank you for arranging that too. Going to all those different places would have been taxing for my mother and Gram.”
Serena cut in, “Emily is always very thoughtful.”
Emily sniffed and ignored the comment, choosing to answer Andy, “Miranda wouldn't have liked it much either. Being on someone else's time schedule often tries her patience. Besides, they are caterers... you need to see what their presentations will be like.”
“That's true.” There was no way Andy was going to deny any of those statements. “Is that all we have to go over this morning?”
“Seems so,” Emily repacked her messenger bag, “You only still need to choose the caterer and baker...” She looked Andy in the eye, “And you need to choose a dress.”
“I know, Ma and Gram will help me with that on Monday... I think the girls are going to go with us as well.”
“After you choose your dress, things will start moving rapidly.” Emily looked around the park, “Your hairstyle and jewelry choices, plus your shoe choice will be crucial at that point, but all the other arrangements have been made.”
“Has Miranda chosen her dress yet?” Andy was curious about that. She wondered what the fashion icon had decided on.
“Not that I'm aware of.” Emily sighed, “She doesn't always tell me things you know.”
“Right.” Andy smiled and looked around the park for Patricia. Her expression froze as she saw a boy walking toward them. “Ummm...”
Emily scoffed, “Him again.”
Whirling on the redhead, Andy swallowed hard, “What?”
“He was here yesterday, wanted me to give you a note, can you imagine? Like we were in Primary school or something. I told him to give it to you himself.” Emily frowned at Andy's wrinkled forehead. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing.” Andy stood quickly, “Be right back.”
###
When she was close enough to speak in a regular voice and still be heard, Andy asked, “Are you stalking me?”
“No!” the boy held up his hands, “I just wanted to apologize.”
Andy stood, feet apart, arms crossed, “I'm waiting.”
“Look, I didn't realize how it would sound when I told you all that stuff about yourself.” He sighed, “I only realized afterward how weird it would be... especially because of that trial and all... Most of that stuff I told you is all online, I only had to do a little hacking to get into the school records. Their security is crappy.” He offered her a folded piece of paper, the same one he'd tried to give Emily yesterday. “I wrote it all down, how sorry I am... where I got all the info... I'm not going to use it for anything, I just... you were so nice to me and... I was curious. Sometimes when I'm looking up stuff online I don't know when to stop.”
Andy reached out and took the paper, but didn't look at it, merely crossing her arms again, “What's your name?”
“Oh!” He nodded, she'd ran away last time before he could tell her, “It's Thomas, Thomas Hall.”
She scanned his face for any sign that he was a total freak and grunted once at the oh so not freakish name, “Well, Thomas, you shouldn't go around scaring people like that, or prying into their private records.”
“I know,” He hung his head but was silently thrilled that she had not kiddified his name to the much hated 'Tommy'. “It won't happen again.”
“I should hope not!” Andy grinned, “At least not until you get a little older and get your Private Investigator's license.” She chuckled at the glimmer in his eye at that idea. “Who knows, in a few years when I'm on a hot story I might just need a crack P.I., to help me out with some research.”
“Yeah?” Thomas grinned, “That would be awesome.”
Nodding, Andy's eyes narrowed at the school insignia on his shirt and the Ma in her kicked in, “Why aren't you in school?” Then she remembered, “Oh... school is out...”
“I always schedule independent studies in the mornings anyway, so I don't actually have to be at school until after lunch.” He grinned, “Summer school starts in three days, but if it was still in session I'd totally skip if it meant I got to see you.”
“Ha!” Andy shook her finger at him, “You better not! You have to have good grades to be a private investigator. The more you know, the better you'll be at it. No skipping!”
He grinned and gave her a little salute, “Yes, Ma'am!”
Rolling her eyes at that, Andy waved him away, “Get outta here!”
“So you aren't mad?” He had hoped things would go something like this.
“No, I'm not mad.” She smiled at him, “Just don't let it happen again.”
“I won't,” he assured her, “I promise.”
###
“Are you still not talking to me?” Serena sighed to herself as Emily continued to look through her bag as if no one had spoken. The statuesque woman laid her arm across the back of the bench they were sitting on, but didn't touch the smaller woman. “Thank you for making sure I got home safely last night.”
Emily's shoulders sagged and she turned to her tall friend, “What else was I supposed to do? You were totally plastered.”
“Not as totally as you might think.” Serena admitted, “I remember everything that I did last night. I'm sorry to have held you like that.”
Emily felt like crying, I knew it, she thought, She never would have done that if she hadn't been....
“Holding you against your wishes like that, it was wrong of me.” Serena sighed, “I should have let you go when you wanted up, but...” Andy's advice rolled through her mind, eventually you're going to have to take the chance.... and Serena plunged on, “It felt so good to have you there, I couldn't seem to let go.”
Startled, Emily looked at the Brazilian with wide eyes, “You wanted to...”
Serena smiled a bit sadly, “I've wanted to for a long time.” She looked at Emily seriously, “I want to be more than your friend.”
Emily could feel her heart thumping in her chest and wondered that it didn't pound it's way out by now. “You do?”
Taking the risk, Serena curled her arm around to rest her hand on Emily's shoulder, “I most certainly do.” She squeezed the shoulder under her hand gently. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
“I had dinner with you last night,” Emily reminded her, “It wasn't all that pleasant.”
“Ah, but tonight we will not be at Miranda's, and I will only be intoxicated by your presence.” Serena grinned at Emily's rolling eyes.
“Stone cold sober then.”
“No,” Serena countered the self-recrimination, “Your presence? I'll be high as a kite.” The Brazilian smiled, “So will you, have dinner with me, tonight?”
Emily nodded, “Yes, I will.” She glanced at Andy seeing that she had finished talking to the boy then back to Serena, “It appears we have some things to discuss.”
Serena nodded and looked up as Andy returned to the bench. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Running her fingers through her sweaty hair, Andy shoved the folded piece of paper into her pocket and asked Emily, “Was that all we had to go over this morning?”
“Yes,” The wedding plans had gone as far as they could until the choices were made for caterer and baker. “Oh.. have you decided on the music yet? Live or DJ?”
“The girls are going to play at the ceremony, pianos, so there should to be two set up and available... and in tune please, Miranda will have a fit if they aren't tuned properly and so will the girls, especially Cassidy. A DJ for the reception, make sure they have a huge selection of music and will take requests from the guests, the guest list is so diverse a large music selection will be vital.”
“So should I start setting up interviews for you to choose the DJ?” Emily had automatically taken out her notebook and was taking down every word Andy said, just as if she was Miranda herself giving orders. For a moment it felt odd, but then Emily got over it and got on with her job.
“I suppose so, but if you could pre-interview most of them... I don't want too many choices on that front. Who is going to DJ at the girls' party?” Andy had thought they'd decided on that form of entertainment for the girls.
“Oh, I got the hottest new DJ in the city for them, but I'm not sure she'll be appropriate for the wedding reception.” Emily dug in her magic bag of plans again to come up with a bundle of invitations and a business card. She handed the card to Andy, “Her name is Carmen, she worked a lot on the west coast but recently moved to New York.”
Nodding, Andy accepted the card and looked at it, then handed it back to Emily, “Okay then, we can see how she does at the girls' party. You can set up interviews with a few others, or, better yet, if you know where they are working I'll try to get Miranda to drop by and give a listen.”
Emily's eyes bugged out at that idea, but she said nothing about it as she passed the bundle of invitations over. “These are the invitations for the girls, Miranda said ten each.”
“Right,” Andy was glad to get these, the date for the party was only three weeks away. “Great, I'm sure they'll start mailing them or taking them to their friends right away.”
“I would have gotten them to you yesterday, but I forgot, like an idiot. They kind of got lost in the shuffle.” Emily closed her bag and looked up as Andy made a frustrated sound. “What?”
“Lost in the shuffle!” Andy sighed, that is what Caroline said... weddings take a lot of planning you need to make sure you have each step covered so nothing gets lost in the shuffle. “Have you spoken to the girls about their party at all?”
“Um.. no.” Emily shook her head, “The Top Chef thing was a secret, and I thought you and Miranda had been speaking to them.”
“Spoke.” Andy ground her teeth together, “I talked to them about what they might want for a party and then after Miranda plopped the job in your lap, we haven't talked about it since...” Recalling the look on Caroline's face when she was talking about things getting lost in the shuffle, Andy suddenly knew what Caroline was thinking. An exasperated groan escaped her as she hit her forehead with her palm, “They think we've forgotten.” She let out a piercing whistle for Patricia to return to them.
Serena laughed, “Like that movie.”
“What?” Andy set the bundle of invitations down on the bench to clip the leash onto Patricia's collar. She was glad the large dog was easily stopped before the large paws ended up on her shoulders, “What movie?”
“The old one... with Molly Ringwald... Her sister was getting married and her family forgot her birthday.” Serena laughed, “It's a very funny movie.”
“Sixteen Candles. Right!” Andy grinned, “Thanks, Serena!” She stood and gripped the leash in one hand and the bundle of invitations in the other, “You ready?”
Nodding, Serena stood. “Yes, Once back around and home yes?”
“That's the plan.” Andy grinned, “See ya later, Em” Clicking her tongue at Patricia, Andy began to jog down the path.
“Yes,” Serena smiled at the redhead, “See you later, Em.”
Nodding, Emily watched as Serena's long legs allowed her to catch up with Andy and the pair jogged away down the path. Later....