Chapter 2: The Reunion

– I Dreamed a Dream, Les Misérables

This is such a bad idea, Zach thought to himself again.

He was only a few yards away from the entrance when he made his final decision, turned, and began walking back to his car. Suddenly he heard a sweet, childlike voice calling out to him in the dark parking lot.

"Zach, is that you?"

He groaned softly as he recognized her voice. It was Kristen James, his ex-girlfriend from last summer. Of course most anyone would've recognized her. She was what was referred to as a JCP, a Johnson County Princess, and those are hard to forget.

Zach chuckled, remembering his favorite description of a JCP. What if one of Santa's elves got a Barbie Doll pregnant? Voila! A JCP! He smiled as he looked at Kristen and realized how close that description actually was.

"It is you!" she squealed as she dragged her date towards him. On her arm was the tall, muscular, redhead Tommy Olsen, Bree's older brother, who was once a good friend of his.

"Sweetie, you're going the wrong direction. The fun is the other way!" She giggled.

"Depends on what your definition of fun is, Kristen," Zach retorted.

"That's what I said!" Tommy said, grinning.

"O-M-G, you're both horrible!" Kristen said before laughing.

"Come on, you two," she commanded as she snaked her petite arms around both men's forearms and began dragging them towards the building.

It had been a long time since Zach had graced the old building's halls but the memories were still thick. Rich vivid flashes from the past swept over him. Mostly they were good memories simply because they were shared with Bree. Even the horrors of high school were cushioned when shared with your best friend and first love.

The place even smells the same.

He looked over at Kristen. She was back in her element. He remembered how she'd ruled these halls. She'd been homecoming queen, prom queen, and had been the most popular girl in school. Her only competition had been Bree and Kristen's best friends, Marsha Thompson and Stephanie Black.

Now she floated through the halls as they approach the gymnasium. He could hear the mingled voices of the crowd and a band playing.

They separated after checking in and Zach scanned the crowd but saw no sign of Bree. He spent the next hour talking to old schoolmates and meeting their spouses. Soon he was ready to take a break and sit down. He noticed Kristen waving him over to her table.

He fought back another smile.

Queen Kristen was holding court. Tommy sat on her right as she huddled with Marsha and Stephanie, no doubt reliving the glory days.

As he approached, he noted time had been very kind to Kristen and Marsha, not so much to Stephanie. She'd gained a substantial amount of weight. He knew from when he was dating Kristen that both women were in bad marriages, so he wasn't surprised to see them there without their husbands.

"Brain!" they chimed together. Both women got up and hugged him and made the seat next to Kristen available. Soon the table was laughing and reminiscing about the past and where people were now. Zach had taken his electrical engineering degree from State and joined the small but rapidly growing Brothers Grymm Engineering Solutions.

He couldn't help noticing the snickering at the table when he told them where he was now working. He understood it; his bosses were more than a little unusual. Two short, paunchy, forty-year-old men with receding hairlines who should've just blended into the crowd, but that would never happen with the Grymm brothers.

He grinned as he thought of his first impressions of Roland and Victor, the brothers Grymm.

Roland was younger but was certainly the alpha dog. He was a combination of PT Barnum and Donald Trump. Always dressed like he was going to appear on camera, he was aggressive, charming, funny, fearless, and dangerously intelligent when it came to business. Of course his image was richly enhanced by his third wife, Renee.

Victor, the oldest, was an MIT grad and was scary brilliant! Like many genius type individuals, his social skills were lacking. Maria, his wife of over nine years, was extremely intelligent in her own right, and over the years had trained him to be somewhat presentable in public. His thick, black rimmed glasses were a vivid reminder he still had a ways to go.

Zach knew he'd been lucky to have joined BGES when he did. The company was exploding with Roland as CEO, Victor as the president, and Maria as the VP of Engineering. Even more fortunate was both Roland and Victor had taken a liking to him and were grooming him for bigger things in the future.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Marsha's small gasp.

"Oh, wow," she whispered. "Look at Bozo."

A hush came over the table as they all turned and stared at the entrance. There was Bree. She'd barely gotten 20 feet inside the door before she was surrounded by several men.

No one could blame them, she looked stunning. She wore a white, green and purple sundress that beautifully showed off her figure. Her hair was pulled up into tiny red ringlets that cascaded down her back.

"Wow, she looks good but what happened to her face?" Stephanie wondered aloud.

Zach had noticed it too. There was a small droop to her right eye and a large bump on the bridge of her nose.

Marsha spoke up as if she were answering a question on a game show.

"Oh, I heard she was in an accident and that..."

Tommy cleared his throat and she froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I mean..." she stammered.

Good old Marsha, beautiful but with as much common sense as a rock. No wonder you married the same cheating loser twice!

"Yeah it's true," Tommy said calmly. "But it's not something she likes to talk about. So don't ruin her night by asking her questions about it, okay?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Eventually, Bree began walking over to join them. Kristen and the other women all jumped up to welcome her. After the initial welcome and love fest, everyone began to be seated. Bree stared at Zach as she sat down.

"Hi, Zach," she said with a smile. "You look good."

"Brianna, you look as beautiful as ever."

Subconsciously, she raised her hand towards her eye but then quickly tried to recover by brushing away a strand of hair.

"I'll say," Marsha interjected, "damn girl, you look smokin' hot! Just look at how many guys were in your Welcoming Committee."

The table laughed as Bree blushed.

The next couple of hours found Zach dancing with each of the women at his table except for Bree. He even danced a slow song with Marsha and several with Stephanie since most of the single guys, along with several married ones, were monopolizing Bree's and Marsha's dance cards.

"You know you don't have to dance with me all the time, Zach," Stephanie said quietly as they swayed to the music.

He chuckled. "But I always enjoy slow dancing with a beautiful brunette."

Stephanie sighed. "That's kind, but you don't have to lie."

Zach stopped and looked into her eyes. "Stephanie, you are still a very attractive woman."

She blushed and he saw tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you," she whispered. "That's the nicest thing I've heard in a long time. Damn, how did Bozo let you get away?"

They danced quietly for few moments before she spoke again.

"I think Marsha would like to make a play for you. You know she's divorcing that asshole husband of hers ... again?"

"So I've heard."

Stephanie giggled. "She just can't figure out how to get away from all those guys so you can dance with her again."

"Story of my life," he said with a slight laugh.

A few seconds later she continued.

"You know, she still loves you."

"Who? Marsha?"

Stephanie choked.

"No dumbass ... Bozo. Hell, she's been staring at you like a lost puppy all night."

"Those days are long gone," he said.

"Whatever happened to the two of you? Everyone thought you would be married and have three kids by now."

"I guess we found out we wanted different things in life. It ended up tearing us apart."

"I'm really sorry, Zach. I guess life didn't turn out the way any of us wanted, huh?"

He didn't respond, only pulled her closer, and held her tightly as they continued to sway.

Soon they were back at the table and listening to the latest gossip.

"Zach?" Marsha asked, "I hear you have a little girl?"

"Oh yeah," he said, beaming with pride, "my little bundle of curls. Shannon is three and she's going to be a heartbreaker!"

"Oh I bet she's got her daddy's heart on a string," Marsha teased.

He nodded and laughed.

"Yeah, but with my luck with women, I'm just hoping to get as many years as I can before it's my heart she breaks!"

"Hey," Kristen said with a fake pout. "You dumped me, remember?"

Then she looked up into Tommy's eyes and smiled.

"Thank God!" she cooed.

Everyone laughed but Bree.

Kristen sprang to her feet as the band began playing Extreme's 'More Than Words'. It was a slow love song that Zach and Bree had once claimed as being their song.

"Oh, I haven't heard this one in years!" she squealed. "Come on, Zach, dance with me."

Grabbing his hand, she pulled him out onto the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled his head down onto her shoulder, and pressed her large, soft breasts into his stomach.

"What's up, big boy?" she teased and giggled. "Has it been so long you don't know how to hold me when we dance?"

"Kristen," Zach began cautiously. "What are you doing?"

He could feel her laugh.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Why are you dancing with me and not Tommy?"

She looked up at Zach, smiled, and winked.

"Oh, Tommy likes to claim me. And I do love being claimed!"

Almost on cue, Zach felt someone tapping his shoulder.

"I believe I'm cutting in," Tommy said in a stern voice.

"Sure, no problem," Zach said and then realized Tommy had been dancing with Bree.

"Switching partners?" Kristen asked coyly. "Ooh, sounds kinky!"

Zach saw the hope in Bree's eyes.

"I think I'll sit this one out," he stated coldly and walked back to their table.

A few minutes later Tommy joined him at the table.

"Damn, Zach, you're such an asshole."

"Yeah, tends to happen after you've had your heart torn out and thrown away like garbage."

"Figures," Tommy said, shaking his head.

Zach looked at him questioningly.

"Kristen said you were holding on to some deep dark pain while you two were dating. She always thought it was from your ex-wife."

Tommy smiled sadly.

"Figures it was from my dumbass sister."

He sat back in his chair and stared at Zach.

"You two really need to sit down and talk, because even if you can't see or admit it, you're both carrying around a lot of baggage! You've got to get rid of that shit or it'll kill you."

"Thank you, Dr. Phil," Zach spat. "Any more words of wisdom?"

"Yeah," Tommy said, grinning. "How's that working for you?"

"I'm surviving," Zach mumbled as he stood up to leave.

"This was a mistake coming here tonight. I need to get back to my daughter. Tell Kristen and your sister we should do this again in about ten years."

Tommy looked at him and shook his head.

"You know, whatever happened between the two of you really tore her up."

Zach glared at him. Tommy raised his hand before he could say anything.

"I know, I know, she probably caused most of it. If it had been your fault we would've never heard the end of it!" he said chuckling.

"Anyway, I know her pain back then wasn't as bad as yours, Zach. It must've been hell for you with what happened between you and Bree and then your father dying. It about tore my family apart since my folks thought of you as one of their own. Them seeing you hurting, and not being able to help, about killed them.

"Of course, when Bree came home for Christmas that year she was totally messed up. Then she went back to State and hooked up with Ty Whitmore. For some reason she followed the jerk to Boston and married the asshole.

"Whatever happened in Boston was bad, Zach. So bad she doesn't talk about it, even to the family. Mom and Dad know more about it and I'm sure Donna does too, but they aren't talking."

Zach nodded as he thought of Bree's oldest sister, Donna. Bree had always looked up to her and always confided in her.

"When things finally fell apart out there, Bree had her accident that left her eye and nose like that. She also spent some time in jail and last I heard, Ty was still in prison."

"I guess life sucks and then you die," Zach said coldly.

"Yeah, seems that way sometimes doesn't it? It probably doesn't matter or help much, but I thought you might want to know your fairytale ending wasn't the only one that turned to shit."

Tommy smiled, "I'm just saying."

Zach tried to make a quick exit but was intercepted by a few old classmates who delayed his departure. Finally, he made it out to the parking lot and as he was about to open the car door he heard her running up behind him.

"Zach? Please, Zach!"

He paused, fighting the urge to get in his car and drive away. If he had, the chain of events that followed might never have happened. However for better or worse, he paused and turned towards her.

"What?"

She stood there with tears running down her face. At a different time, he would've fought through heaven and hell to take away her pain. Now, all he could do was stand frozen and clench his fists.

"I know you don't want to talk to me," she said, wiping away her tears, "you've made that clear. But I need to say some things to you and I don't have a lot of time to do it. I'm leaving this weekend and I doubt I'll be back again. Please meet with me one night this week?"

"No," he replied flatly. "Why would you even think I'd want to meet with you?"

Bree studied him for a moment before answering.

"Because I've something you might find useful. I've information that could help you make better decisions for you and your little girl.

"I know you, Zach, or at least I did. You always wanted to have as much information as possible before you made your plans. It's what makes you good at your job. It's also why you'll meet with me even though you hate me."

"Let it go, Brianna."

"No!" Bree blurted out then regained her composure. "I ... you ... we both need this."

"Since when do you know what I need?" Zach spat.

"You're right. I gave up the right to tell you what you need. This is different, because it's something I caused. I can't take back what I did or even try to justify it, but I can tell you some things you never knew. Things that could help you heal and give you and your daughter a better life."

"And what's in it for you, Brianna?"

She paused, looking uncomfortable.

"It might help me heal some too. Look, Zach, I'm trying to get my life in order. I'm trying to set some things right before I leave."

She paused, waiting for a reaction. He stood there emotionless, his eyes lacking any compassion. She blinked hard several times, trying to fight back her tears.

"I know nothing I say will make you forgive me. In fact, some of the things I need to tell you will make you hate me even more than you already do. Still, you deserve to know."

"I need to get home to my daughter."

"Please, Zach. Meet with me at O'Malley's for a couple drinks? Think of it as a last request from an old childhood friend. I'm staying out at my mom and dad's farm till Friday. Please call me."

"I'll think about it," he mumbled as he got into his car.

"It's Wednesday," Allie said in a distinctly motherly voice.

Zach looked up at her from the floor where he was playing Candyland with Shannon. Well more like playing Candyland with no rules, he chuckled to himself since Shannon would soon start giggling and all the rules would be forgotten.

"So?" he asked confused.

"It's been four days, so are you going to call Bree or not?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Really?" his mother looked offended. "The Olsen farm is only a few miles past the diner and the battery plant. You don't think I see at least one of the Olsens every day?"

Zach saw through his mother's bluff immediately. "So when did Bree talk to you?"

Allie sighed. "Yesterday, but don't get your panties in a bunch, Son, you weren't the main topic. We had a few things we needed to get straightened out. She was like a daughter to me, if you remember, and what happened hurt me too."

"DADDY! You owe me ten, five, seven dollars!"

Zach looked back down at his little girl and was met by her radiant smile and her tiny outstretched palm. She stared at him and held out her hand, waiting for something.

"What, sweetheart?"

"You landed on cupcake houses. Now you owe me monies!"

"Cupcake houses?"

Shannon nodded and pointed at the Candyland game board.

"See? Cupcake houses and I'm Cupcake!"

"Oh great, my daughter is a slum lord!" he said, laughing. "Money, huh? How about I give you a great ... big ... BEAR HUG?"

He growled as he leaned over and grabbed her. She squealed and screamed and then began laughing as her daddy squished her. Allie looked on and smiled.

"Is this a family group hug?"

Zach paused and looked up at her.

"Only if I can get my panties unbunched," he said coldly.

Her smile faded.

"Of course, it would be easier," he continued, "if I didn't have people trying to manipulate me like a puppet on a string. I've got an ex-fiancée trying to lure me into meeting with her and a mother who can't stop pushing me to go fix that part of my life. That about right, mother?"

She sighed as she stared at him.

"I was only trying to help. You get so angry when it comes to her."

Zach whispered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I know what you are trying to do, Mom. You want to push me into meeting with her because you feel it would be the best for me, regardless of what I think. How close is that?"

He saw the pained look on his mother's face.

"All right Zach, you've made your point."

"I doubt it," he said, shaking his head, "but we'll see."

Zach sighed softly. He knew what he was going to end up doing; he just wasn't looking forward to it.

The summer night air was warm as Zach walked out of his office and across the Business Plaza parking lot to the southeast edge of the Town Square. The Brownwood Town Square was the old heart of the city with restaurants and shops surrounding the large park at the center. As Zach walked to the opposite side of the square, he questioned his intelligence for agreeing to meet Bree.

Unlike the reunion, he knew this was the right thing to do, at least for his own peace of mind. Logically it made sense to meet with her, to satisfy any doubts or questions, so he could move on with his life. However, "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men..."

O'Malley's was a historic Irish pub that was a popular hangout with the over-thirty crowd. As he entered the bar, he almost expected the entire bar to stop and yell, 'Zach!' It was that kind of bar.

"Hi, Zach!" came a girl's lyrical voice from out of the crowd.

Not quite 'Norm' but it'll do, he smiled to himself.

A cute, young waitress came over to him smiling. Her long, blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and she had the biggest green eyes Zach had ever seen. She was somewhat chubby but had a very pretty face and was dressed to make full use of her curves.

"Evening, Rose," Zach said, smiling.