Realistic or Modern Here's to the New Memories

[decadent-rider]

"Thank you!" She called to him in a sing song voice while she carried on with her work for the day, taking the garbage out before she left that night and sighed a little seeing the five bottles of Jack Daniels in the trash that had been empty just a couple days ago.

Lana frowned some and shrugged, "Where did Daddy go?" She asked her quietly. She wasn't hugely shy but at the same time she was only six and her dad leaving without saing goodbye was freaking her out a little.

 

[Forever6A7X]

Max frowned some and went to make her something to eat "He had to go to work, you want lucly charms again?" She asked softly seeing how she was still a little shy "Its okay he'll be back soon." She murmured

Charlie sighed heavily and ended up writing out his sorrows and anger on his computer passing out in his office from the amount of alcohol he had drunk that day.

 

[decadent-rider]

The next three months for Carmen passed by mostly the same with her routine, ocassionally having the added work of organising book signings and responding to job requests from him for appearances and interviews but she was getting worried. Over time his drinking was truly getting out of hand and the last thing she wanted was to walk in to find her boss dead one morning so she headed into his office that afternoon after exercsing the horses and took the bottle off his desk.

"Is he gonna come back? He's not going to heaven too is he?" She asked her looking at her a little panicked. "I don't want daddy to go to heaven too." She whimpered, starting to cry and held onto Max's shirt.

 

[Forever6A7X]

Max frowned and held the little girl close shaking her head some "No sweetheart no....he isn't gonna go to heaven any time soon." She assured her trying to soothe the small girl. Over the weeks she had become close to Lana making sure she was happy and learning new things but also taking small adventures on the farm as well. However Jeff was still a bit put off towards her. He spoke only when spoken to for the most part and lately he had been getting home so late that Max had already had dinner and fallen asleep with Lana. Tonight was just like that, she lay on the couch watching some random late night cartoon waiting for Jeffrey to get home but when he finally stumbled in drunker than hell she lost it "So thats where you've been all night? Drinking at a bar? Look Mr.Morgan I get that Lana needs a woman figure in her life right now but she also needs her father!"

Charlie got into his office after having a long talk with his agent taking a deep breath. They had finally postponed the book but his publisher was not pleased at all and it was stressing him out beyond belief. He went to his cabinet for a drink but gave a deep frown when he saw it bare "Carmen?! Where are my drinks?!" He yelled through the house going into the kitchen to look for his spare stash but when he saw the empty bottles next to the sink he soon became enraged storming outside to find her near the horses "What the fuck do you think you're doing huh?!" He shouted at her

 

[decadent-rider]

She frowned as the pony next to her farted backwards at the loud noise and she sighed heavily. “Trying to deworm you’re ponies and now they’ve spooked... if this is about the alcohol then yes I poured it down the sink. You can dock it from my wages if you must but you are killing yourself Charlie! I will not stand by and watch you do this.” She muttered. “When I started here you were on several glasses a day... and now it’s several bottles.... you need help.” She told him seriously while she went round to Maple and gave her a brush down to get her out to bed. “Don’t look at me like that.... not after everything I do for you, I’m doing this to look out for you Charlie. Why else would I risk you firing me?” She spat fuming. They’d grown close over the time she was working there and he was now more of a friend than a boss and as a friend she was worried sick about him.

Jeff glared at her and shook his head. She had no idea and he didn’t need to take it out on her but he’d been drinking and his verbal filter had disappeared. “Needs her father? Well that worked out so well for her mother didn’t it? Having me around.” He spat, sitting down on the couch and kicking his shoes off. “I’m sorry I’m mourning my wife on our anniversary. Wasn’t aware you were my nanny too.” He slurred and pointed, or at least tried to, at her with an accusatory finger. “I work my ass off every fucking day for her to make sure she has a roof over her head and she’s got everything she needs. Her mother was the one who left us! Abandoned us when she gave up!” He snapped. “You have no idea... no idea what it’s like... to walk inyour house and hear your daughter upstairs in the bath wanting to get out.... six years old left in the bath on her own! Then you go to the garage and find your wife hanging! She was still fucking swinging when I got there!” He snapped again, not realising he was crying as he took in a shudder breath. “So I’m going to bed. And when I get up I got more fucking work to do to pay the bills in this house.”

 

[Forever6A7X]

Charlie glared at her and shook his head more "I don't fucking care Carmen! Its not your place to do such things with my fucking stuff! I hired you to be my fucking maid not my goddamn wife!!" He yelled before storming off and back into his office locking the doors as he slammed them shut and sighing heavily. He sunk down to the floor and pulled at the necklace chain around his neck looking down at his wife's ring that hung there "I'm sorry beautiful." He whispered before he began to cry silently

Max frowned more as she listened to him giving a heavy sigh. She took a deep breath and sat infront of him going a bit wide eyed when she heard how his late wife died. Lana had always said she got sick, but she never thought it meant in her head. She placed a hand on his knee trying to comfort him some "Mr.Morgan....I know you love Lana, and I know you think you're doing best but Jeffrey...she needs you here. She needs to know that you love her and that she isn't alone. I know she has me but I can only do so much to comfort her on the death of her mother." She explained in a calmer manner.

 

[decadent-rider]

Carmen flinched as he yelled at her more just shaking her head some and walked out to the barn to take a minute to breathe, finishing up with the horses after that and instead of doing him dinner like she usually would she just went straight home, going to lay on the couch instead. It had been a risk but she was scared for him and she didn't know what else to do.

Jeff glared at her a little not answering her just got up and stumbled up to bed, falling into his sheets and passing out after he pulled his jacket off, snoring loudly through the rest of the night. He woke up to the lights already on and small hands on his face just groaning a little and slowly opened his eyes "Lana... Turn Daddy's lights off please." He told her quietly.

 

[Forever6A7X]

Lana frowned some as she tried to wake her dad up going to turn the lights off beforr going back to him "Daddy where were you? I didn't get to say goodnight." She said pouting at him and crossing her arms before she climbed onto the bed and wiggled her way into his arms cuddling him some "Daddy you smell funny." She said smelling the alcohol on him from last night

Charlie took a deep breath trying to fix himself up before he went out to the kitchen finding no dinner at all. He sighed heavily and looked in the fridge for simething settling on cold pizza and went back to his office.

 

[decadent-rider]

The next day she was in and out before he'd even gotten out of bed. She'd done the horses and left him a list of his schedule for the day that he had no meetings or anything but she didn't come back until late in the afternoon to do the horses again, this time walking into the house and looking at him in the kitchen with some coffee. "I have spent far too long being treated like dirt by my employers to let it happen again. If you were that mad at me about yesterday you need to calm down before you come at me like that. Or I will walk and good luck finding someone who will work those horses and keep them as well as I do." She pointed out to him.

"You didn't huh? I thought I called?" He mumbled, pulling her in close to his side and closed his eyes "Oh yeah? You smell funny too... You wanna go to the park today?" He asked her quietly. Last night wasn't a complete blur but he half wished it was. "Max is gonna come over this afternoon okay? But it's you and me this morning." He mumbled tiredly

 

[Forever6A7X]

Charlie frowned some and listened to her before sipping his coffee again taking a deep breath "When they told us about the cancer I had hope, they said stage one we could fight it, and we did....Laura did everything she could. Next appointment they said we still had hope the chemo seemed to be working, we were excited, hoping she would be in remission soon I had started the process of adoption since she couldn't be pregnant at the time. We were doing good for the first few months and then it took a turn for the worst....the chemo wasn't working more...it spread to her brain....next thing I knew it was a month later and she was gone and I lost all hope. I continue to feel this pain and the bottle was the only way I didn't feel it. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday, I know I was out of line." He said quietly to her before he lit up a cigarette sighing heavily "I'm not firing you, but I will ask that you help me find some kind of anonymous rehab that the media won't get ahold of."

Lana nodded some cuddling into her dad some more "Yay! The park is fun!" She said happily smiling as he mentioned Max "Daddy? Can Maxxie stay for dinner again? I like it when she stays with me."

 

[decadent-rider]

She just nodded at him and got herself a soda out of the fridge, "Good... I already have the list printed for you to pick from on your desk." She told him quietly, going over and squeezing his shoulder, "You brought me on as a groom Charlie... but I consider you a good friend I happen to work for at this point." She told him seriously, "I only want to help." She assured him before heading out to get them fed again.

Jeff smiled some, "I can ask her okay? Go get some clothes picked out." He told her quietly while he went to take a quick shower, getting cleaned up and dressed then headed downstairs to sort out breakfast, getting her some jam on toast and himself a bowl of cereal while he sat and ate, glancing at his emails to see if they could be left until later.

 

[Forever6A7X]

Charlie frowned some and gave a small nod "Thank you Carmen...seriously." he said softly pulling her into his arms and hugging her tight before he let her go off and he went to his office to look through the suggestions she had printed out

Lana ran to get dressed brushing her hair how Max had taught her smiling when she saw Jeff in the kitchen "Look Daddy! I brush mt hair just like Maxxie taught me too!" She said happily feeling very proud of herself

 

[decadent-rider]

By the time she was finished with work that afternoon she was ready to get out of there to have a break before the probable madness would ensue trying to keep everything under control while Charlie was in rehab. So she headed over to her friend's house and rang the doorbell, running a hand through her hair while she waited.

Jeff smiled at her some, "Hey good job pumpkin, come sit and eat then we can get going okay?" He smiled, ruffling her hair before carrying on with his e-mails to try and get as much done as possible before they left

 

[Forever6A7X]

Max opened up her door smiling some as she saw Carmen out there "Hey girl! What are you doing here? I thought you had work?" She said letting her inside smiling as he dog ran up to jump on her and lick her.

Lana giggled some and nodded eating happily tugging on his arm when she handed him her bowl "You help me wash it?" She asked remembering Max always told her to try and rinse off her plates when she was done with them

 

[decadent-rider]

He frowned some, "Pop it in the sink kiddo, I'll do the dishes in a bit, you wanna go get your backpack then we'll go okay?" He murmured to her, closing down his phone and putting it back in his pocket sighign heavily as he stood up and went to get his shoes on to go out.

She smiled some crouching down to give the dog some attention, "Well... I did... And now I don't for the rest of the day.... Charlie's going into rehab... I poured his liquor out and lined the bottles on the countertop... He almost fired me but I think I got him to notice that he needs help." She told her, "How's the little kid doing?"

 

[Forever6A7X]

Max forwned some shaking her head a bit "Well I hope that helps him out in some way. Lana is such a great kid girl, I mean she sweetest little girl in the world." She said happily smiling as she thought about her "Her father.....he loves his daughter but he isn't there for her and its really hurting Lana."

 

[decadent-rider]

She frowned some, "Yeah I know... He's probably still processing to be honest.... If you have a kid, there's no time to grieve." She pointed out quietly, going and getting a drink from the kitchen then sat down in the lounge and caught up with her for hours

 

[Forever6A7X]

Max looked at the time after chatting with her friend for hours and went wide eyed "Oh shit! I'm gonna be late!" She said quickly getting her things "Here stay as long as you want you know where the spare key is." She said before rushing to drive to Jeff's place. She got there with no time to spare knocking on the door almost out of breath from running up his long drive way "Hey...I'm so sorry I'm late."

Charlie sat at home sighing heavily feeling more alone than ever at the moment. He pulled out his phone and dialed Carmen hoping she wasn't busy. She was right, their relationship had grown and just as he was to her, she was a close friend to him as well.

 

[decadent-rider]

Carmen nodded and watched her go smiling some while she hung out with the dog for a bit before her phone rang, "Hey, did I leave my coat there again?" She asked him as she was fairly prone to leaving her coats and hoodies all over the place and often got phone calls that she needed to collect it all up when she came in the next day.

Jeff smiled some, "It's alright, she's asleep right now anyway." He told her "You want anything to drink?" He asked her going to get himself a beer from the garage

 

[Forever6A7X]

Max nodded some "Yeah a soda please." She said sitting down with him on the couch "I'm sorry about last night....I over stepped my boundaries." Shr said softly as she watched him a bit. He was definitely an attractive man no matter the age difference they had, but she knew she really shouldn't be thinking about that.

Charlie chuckled some shaking his head "No no, I um...I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner." He said running a hand through his hair "Gets a bit lonely here sometimes."

 

[decadent-rider]

Carmen smiled some and nodded, forgetting he couldn't see her for a moment, "I can definitely do that, I'll pick something up." She told him and agreed to see him soon before hanging up and leaving Max's place locked up, going to get them a pizza and took it over, using the key he'd given her and walked in, "Food has arrived.... And so have I." She called to him smilng to herself a little.

He frowned some shaking his head, "No not at all... I apologise for how I spoke to ou... it was out of line." He said to her as he passed her a drink and went to sit down, working on his laptop some to get the work signed off "She's been asking about you all day." He chckled quietly

 

[Forever6A7X]

Charlie came out and smiled some at her "Hey follow me." He said taking her to home theater he had revealing snacks and sodas for the two of them "Thought we could watch a movie." He said happily

Max sipped her drink some giving a small nod "Well I'm still sorry so accept it." She teased smiling at him when he said Lana had been talking about her "You have a great daughter Jeff, I hope you know that."

 

[decadent-rider]

She nodded and rolled her eyes some. “Charlie... I didn’t even know this was in your house.” She laughed some as she sat down, setting the pizza box down on a small table between the two seats. “You hiding any other secrets I should know about? Any chance you have a room full of men ripe for the picking?” She teased as she stood a slice.

Jeff nodded some and sighed heavily. “I know... she’s more and more like her mother every day.” He mumbled. “I can’t begin to understand how bad it must have been for her to do that with her little girl in the bath upstairs but.... for all her mistakes and... what she did.... she did everything she could to raise her as well as possible” he mumbled tiredly

 

[Forever6A7X]

Charlie laughed and gave a small nod "Yeah made it for myself whenever I had watched the game, Laura always hated how rowdy I got sometimes." He said and chuckling again "Afraid not, shouldn't be a problem for you to find a man though. Woman like yourself, any guy would be lucky." He admits

Max gave a small nod biting her lip gently "Yeah...she did a good job with her." She murmured sipping her drink again "So what do you do for a living?" She asked knowing he must make good money to have this place and all the animals.

 

[decadent-rider]

She smiled some, "You'd be mistaken.... My working hours? I keep too busy to have time unfortunately." She mumbled watching him pick a movie out while she stuffed her face with the pizza, "Did you pick anything out?" She asked meaning the pile of brochures she'd left on his desk for rehabs. She hadn't missed that he'd had another bottle while she'd been away that afternoon but she wasn't about to bring it up

He nodded and checked on the food in the oven, turning it around then looked over at her, "I work for a production company. We do TV and movies, mostly movies but I'm ... I mean... Without trying to brag I've made it pretty high up the ladder ... so it takes up a lot more of my day than it used to." He explained, looking up as he heard feet coming down the stairs and watched Lana run over to Max and hug her super tight 'you said you were gonna bring your doggy next time' Lana was pouting up at her now and he chuckled, "You leave a dog alone all day while you're here? Why don't you just keep it with you all the time... We got enough space, Lana's good with animals." He suggested