Oceans

"Legolas," he began. "Maybe I don't know wha..."

"We'll get it all out when Kerri brings me my child," said. Then I walked away. He just stood there in the office with shock written all over his face. Kerri never could accept reality, or the truth. It was just like her to let everyone think that I'd cheated on her.

I got into the car I'd driven today, my pewter 2009 Mustang anniversary edition. I hit the gas hard and started the rear wheels to spinning and left a trail of smoke across the parking lot until I suddenly stopped. The big oversized Brembo brakes halted the car's momentum in a split second.

Anna grabbed the handle of the door and got into the car beside me.

"I've always wanted to ride in this thing," she said cheerfully.

As we drove down the streets of our small to medium sized Arizona town, the desert's beautiful colors failed to bring the normal smile to my face. I'd picked Randall city for two reasons. One, because it was close enough to Phoenix that I could get anything that any major city had to offer. But also because Randall was small enough to be off the grid to anyone who'd look for me.

Anyone looking for me from my old life knew that there were simply things like internet service, good mechanics and cable TV that I'd never do without. It seemed funny to me that I'd give up the woman I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with but I wasn't ready to miss Spartacus to do it.

"Were you ever going to tell me," Anna asked, as I took a corner particularly hard and threw us both against our seats. I got out of the car and started walking fast towards a strip mall. I hadn't answered her because I truly didn't know what the answer was.

I took off my glasses and threw them against a wall where they shattered. Well the frame shattered those plastic lenses are designed not to shatter, but even they cracked multiple times.

"We've been working together for two years," she said, getting louder. She had to run a little to keep up with me.

I stepped into the barber shop and she followed me in. Luckily the place was about to close.

"Whoo, you're just in time," said the man. "I was on my way to flip the sign around to read closed."

"I could come back," I began.

"Nah," I haven't made nearly enough money this week to turn down any paying customers," he said. "Besides, my wife is probably only halfway through burning the shit out of my dinner anyway." He smiled as he said it. He had a twinkle in his eye that told me that no matter how badly he talked about his wife, he'd give up his life for her.

"I feel really bad for you," I said.

He laughed again. "Hey what she lacks in cooking skills, she makes up in other rooms in the house. If ya know what I mean," he smirked.

Anna forgot her growing anger long enough to blush.

"So how am I cutting this?" he asked.

"Just a light trim," said Anna. "We have to get you another pair of glasses."

"Cut it all off," I countered.

He looked at both of us. "I tend to side with the ladies," he said. "Are you two going through something?"

"NO," I said, at the exact same time as Anna said, "YES!"

The friendly barber sat there stunned. "Why do you want his hair long?" he asked Anna.

"It's the way it's always been since I've known him," said Anna. "It's soft and wonderful."

"Why do you want it cut short?" he asked me.

"I'm tired of hiding. There's no need for it any more. I've always liked my hair short and functional. It's easier to take care of and it doesn't get in the way. I only like long hair on girls," I said. "Anyone who knows me and cares about me knows that."

"Cut it short," said Anna sadly.

"And can you shave off the beard?" I asked. He nodded and went to work. Anna seemed to worry more with each lock of hair that was cut and fell to the floor. By the time the pile of dark brown curls littered the floor around the barber's chair, she'd stood back up and was standing beside me holding my hand as the barber shaved me.

"You were never going to tell me," she said. "I can see that now. Her holding my hand wasn't new. She'd started doing it when I had the flu really badly. I'd barely made it through school the first day that I came down with it. I'd had to stop several times driving home because I was so dizzy.

When I got to my house, I got the door open and had collapsed on my couch. When I hadn't called in the next morning, Jim had stopped by to see me at lunch time. I'd been there for about a year and everyone had wondered where I was because I'd never missed a day of school before. He must have called Anna on his way back to work, because the next thing I knew she was at my house.

She'd always been friendly with me. Well, as friendly as I allowed anyone to be. But the look on her face told me that there was more to it. She'd taken my coat off of me and made me get into my bed. She'd reached under my covers and taken off my pants and socks. Then she started force feeding me. She kept feeding me until I'd throw up because I couldn't keep anything down. She had a bucket right beside the bed for when it came back up. I was delirious that first day. By the second day, when I still felt as sick as a dog but found myself lucid enough to try to talk, I looked at her and said, "Sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry about?" she asked.

"I didn't call in," I said. "I'm really sorry but this hit me really fast and I could barely move yesterday." Then I noticed that she was laughing quietly.

"Am I suspended?" I asked.

"Well, I'd have to suspend myself too," she said. "I didn't call in either."

"But I think we'll be okay," she laughed. "I thought you were apologizing for the damage to my reputation. After all I did stay over-night at the home of a man I'm not married to. What will people think?"

That was when she started the whole hand holding thing. Til this day, whenever she needs something to grab onto she holds my hand. The last play of a game for the school's pee wee football team, she's holding my hand. If we're at a particularly heated PTA meeting, under the table she'll be holding onto my hand. Sometimes she digs in so tightly that I'm sure she'll draw blood.

"After all of this time, don't you know you can trust me?" she said sadly. I didn't say a word. I just stared forward out the window into space. There were so many questions running through my head. I couldn't believe that all of this shit had just come down on me from out of nowhere. Now I'd probably have to start all over again. I'd miss Arizona. I'd miss my little school and my students. And I really would miss Anna. I realized then that I cared about her more than I'd let myself realize.

As I formulated an exit strategy, the barber continued to shave me. My best hope was that I could get custody of my daughter if she liked me. The weird thing was that I loved her already though I'd never met her. I was curious to see what a child that I had with Dana would look like. Anyway after getting custody, I'd be in the wind. This time, no trickery though. I'd probably have to move to a different country for real, at least for a little while. Maybe my friend Duna could help me get settled somewhere in Europe. After a few years there, all of the heat would die down and Aria and I could come back.

I'd still love to be somewhere in the Southwest, perhaps Texas.

"Are you even listening to me?" asked Anna. I guess she had no idea that I'd zoned out a long time ago. I gave her hand a squeeze.

I paid the barber as Anna stood there with her mouth open. I gave him more as a tip than he charged me for the haircut. "I told you it was worth it to stay open," he said. "And I'm a stranger. I don't know you two or your problems but the way the two of you looked sitting there holding each other's hands, I'm sure you'll be able to work out whatever you're going through."

As we walked back to the car, Anna never grabbed my hand. I'd expected her to do that but she didn't. She kept looking at me and shaking her head. "What" I asked her finally.

"You're beautiful," she said. "And I'm a damned fool."

"Anna, I'm a guy," I smirked. "My nose has been broken twice and I have a square head. I just chopped off all of my hair. I look like an army recruit. And you're one of the most educated women I've ever met."

"Larry...shit; I don't even know what to call you. Anyway your features, your face is wonderful. It looks even better out from under all of that hair. You're not the same man you were when we walked in to that barber shop. The way you look has changed, the way you talk has changed and even the way you walk is different. My Larry Martin is buried back in the floor of that barbershop under all of that hair." I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"And there's a difference between education and intelligence," she said. "I've been chasing you on the sly for two years and you've never noticed. Now I know why. For all of this time that I've been fighting off men, hoping that someday...well, I just feel stupid now." She started really crying then.

"And to make it worse, I'm sure you're going to leave. I can see it in your eyes. It's like in your mind you're already gone. You just need to take care of a few loose ends and you'll be out of here."

"Anna, I swear to you that I would never leave that way. Even if I do move away from here, I'd always make sure that you could contact me. Even from what you heard back there you should have noticed that I made sure Dana was taken care of."

That was the end of that conversation for a while because we'd pulled up in front of my house. As soon as I got within range, the door of my barn opened up.

"God damn," said Don, seeing what was inside of the barn. "How many of those cars do you have?"

Even Anna was shocked. "What is this, your driving to school car?" she asked.

My attention was riveted to the tiny bundle of energy that my de facto ex wife Kerri was trying to restrain. Kerri's shock at seeing me gave her the opening she needed and the little girl bolted to me.

As she ran up to me, I scooped her up into my arms. Looking at her dark brown hair and the shape of her eyes told me everything I needed to know. I'd seen pictures of my sister when she was this age and this girl could be her twin.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked her.

"You're my daddy," she smiled. "Mommy had pitchers of you all over the house." She wriggled in my arms and tried to get down so I put her on her feet. She walked around me in a circle then came back. "Where's your sword?" she asked. "Mommy told me that you always had one, even though you weren't supposed to." I just smiled and told her that there were lots of swords all over the house.

She took a look at Anna and went over to her. "You're really pretty," she said to Anna. "Are you going to be my new mommy? My old mommy went to heaven to wait for my daddy and me."

"No, she's not," said Kerri from behind us.

"Hey Legs," she continued. "Don't you have anything to say to me?" I just shrugged my shoulders and started walking towards the house.

Looking at the two women was like studying contrasts. Anna was tall and very slender with generous breasts and long legs. She was dressed very conservatively in gray dress pants, a white blouse and a gray scarf that brought them together. Her long hair was swept back away from her face to fall over her shoulders. Her only jewelry was a simple gold necklace that, upon further inspection, I realized I had given her.

Kerri, on the other hand was far shorter, yet still thin. She was almost elfin in appearance. She had small pert breasts and very short hair. Even though she was thirty two years old, my age and two years younger than Anna, her hair was spiked on top and gelled back on the sides. Her legs were about the same size as Anna's but far shorter. Her ass however was a work of art. She wore a green leather skirt with a matching purple leather top. Her purple leather pumps had at least a four inch chrome spike heel. There were very few, if any, similarities between them.

Aria ran up and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of my comparison. She pulled Anna along with her. Dan looked at us suspiciously.

Kerri sprang into action. "Okay, whoever you are. This is a good point for you to go home. We have serious things to talk about to put our family back together. I'm sure you understand."

Anna looked confused.

"He probably won't let you drive one of those Mustangs, but you can drive his Jeep home. Legs, give her the keys so we can talk this out," said Kerri.

"She's staying," I said.

"Legs, we have a lot to work out," said Kerri between her teeth. "There are things that we have to go through that anyone who isn't involved doesn't need to know. I'm not even sure I want my father to know some of these things. Whatever you did or whoever you did while we were apart doesn't matter now. How about we just say that we're even? But it has to stop now if we're going to fix things and raise our daughter."

"Look, Kerri, I don't give a fu...I caught myself just in time. There was a moment of silence while I let my anger dissipate.

"Daddy, were you going to say fudge?" asked Aria. "Are we going to make fudge or do we already have it?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," I said. "I have to talk to Kerri and her dad for a while. You and Anna can make some fudge in the kitchen. Anna, if I don't have something that you need, the two of you might have to go to the store for it. You can drive any of the cars that you want. The keys are all on the peg board in the kitchen. The keys for each car are in front of the picture of the car they fit."

"Your name is Anna?" asked Aria excitedly. "I'm smart. Your name is just like mine. It has a big "A" at the front and a little "A" at the end. Do you know where my daddy's swords are?"

"Well, we'll look for them," said Anna. "But I haven't been all over his house. I've actually only seen his living room, his bedroom and his kitchen."

As Aria and Anna disappeared into the house, Kerri couldn't help voicing her opinion.

"Sounds like a whore to me," she snapped. "She's only seen the bedroom and the kitchen."

"Kerri, I appreciate whatever you've done for Aria for however long you've done it. All you have to do is name the price for your services or expenses and I'll write you a check so you can get back on your plane."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Kerri. "I'm going to adopt her, so she'll be my daughter legally. Then you and I will raise her together."

"Yeah, your dad told me that you were willing to forgive me and adopt her but I couldn't believe it," I smirked.

"Uhm we don't need to go into that," she said.

"Yeah we do," I countered. "First, you're not adopting my daughter. If we have to go into court you'll lose. You've been off of the nut farm for less than a month, right. The only way you got temporary custody was by having your dad go in with you. So realistically it would be me against him. I have a blood connection to her. I also have a stable career and far more than ample funds to take care of her. In the words of Ivan Drago in Rocky 4, "You vill lose."

"Legs, you have to take me back," she screamed. "I love you. I've never loved anyone except you. You leaving me was what messed me up in the first place. At least give us a chance. I can do anything for you that your blonde bimbo can and you know it. WE belong together. We always have and we always will. I know you ran away because I hurt you, but baby I never meant to. That was never the plan. I wish I could tell you that it was just the business aspects of everything but it goes deeper than that. For almost as long as I can remember, since back when we were kids, there always seemed to be something missing. Not from us, we were perfect together. There just seemed to be pieces of me that were missing. I guess I got fucked up looking for them. But I couldn't help it. It was like there was a hole in me that nothing could fill."

"I know Kerri," I smirked. "I was there. I understand what you were trying to find. YOU didn't understand it until it was too late."

"I don't understand any of this shit," said Dan. "I thought you told me he cheated on you, Kerri."

"Dad, I never said that," said Kerri. "If that was the conclusion you drew, it's not my fault."

"But you let everyone believe it," he snapped. "You never denied it once, especially after Dana got pregnant. I need to hear this whole fucking story. Who did what to whom? Start from the beginning."

"I'd like to hear it too," said Anna coming into the room. She sat down on the sofa next to me.

"Aria?" I asked.

"She's asleep," she said. "I laid her down in your bed. Your guest room is probably too dusty. We're going to have to air it out if you stay. I think she had too much excitement."

"He's not staying," said Kerri. "We're going back to New York." Suddenly she looked around the living room and her mouth dropped open. "You painted all of these?" she asked.

I nodded. "He did most of the sculptures in the back room and several bigger paintings too," said Anna. "There's even one of me."

"Do you realize what they'll be worth?" asked Kerri. "I thought that you couldn't...you worked without..." she sputtered.

"Yep," I smirked. "And they're good too."

"Can we just get to the fucking story?" asked Dan. "I feel like I came into a movie that had already started and I'm lost."

"Okay," said Kerri. "You'll have to hear this from both of us so I'll start."

I nodded in agreement.

* * * * * *

"The first thing you need to know, Dad and blond woman," said Kerri. "Is that Legs and I have always been together and we always will be."

"Uhm didn't you two meet in college?" asked Dan. "Wasn't it more like two weird art students got together than star crossed love?"

Kerri's eyes narrowed. "Daddy a big part of your problem is that you never really took the time to ever get to know me or anything about me. You were always too busy with your precious son doing guy stuff. How'd that turn out? Steve won't get out of jail for how long again? And when you weren't busy with Steve, it was Connie, your little princess, the perfect daughter. I was always just what you called me, the weird girl, right?"

Dan started to say something but changed his mind. "Ever since before Mom died and you lost your job, I've been the one supporting you, Daddy," said Kerri. "The weird girl with the artsy husband pays all of your fucking bills. Connie your little princess has what, 5 kids and no husbands. They just hit it and quit it huh?" continued Kerri.

"Can I tell you my story now or do you intend to keep butting in?" she asked.

"Go ahead," said Dan.

"As I was saying," began Kerri. "Legs and I met way before you ever thought we did, Daddy. I met him on my first day of school. We were 5 years old. Do you even remember me talking about my first day of school? Remember I told you that the kids were mean to me and laughed at me because I had my shoes on the wrong feet and I didn't know how to tie them?"

Dan nodded.

"Remember I told you about the boy who made them leave me alone? Well, that was Legs. He was always doing nice things for me. He drew pictures for me. He finger painted things for me and he never let anyone pick on me. I think on some level I knew even then that I loved him. That first year of Kindergarten was wonderful; we were together all of the time. The next year we got split up. Our classrooms were on opposite sides of the building so we rarely saw each other, but for the next few years I smiled every time I saw him. Then things got worse. We went to different middle schools. The only way I was able to even hear about him was through that evil little bitch Tammy, who lived across the street from us. She went to his school and had three classes with him. She was always telling me that he was going to be her boyfriend when she got old enough to have one. She was one of those spoiled little blond bitches, so I believed her. That was why I always beat her up, Daddy."