Danielle Steel - Full circle

“I mean, look at you both, you're so goddamn complacent I could cry.” The three of them were having lunch, and neither Tana nor Jack looked concerned.

She looked up at Jack with a smile. “Hand him a handkerchief, sweetheart.”

“Nah, let him use his sleeve. He always does.”

“Don't you have any decency? What's wrong with you?”

They exchanged a bovine glance. “Just decadent, I guess.”

“Don't you want kids?”

“Haven't you ever heard of birth control?” Jack looked at him and Harry looked as though he wanted to scream as Tana laughed.

“Give it up, kid. You aren't gonna win this one with us. We're happy like this.”

“You've been dating for a year. What the hell does that mean to you both?”

“That we have a lot of stamina. I now know that he gets homicidal if anyone touches the sports section on Sundays and he hates classical music.”

“And that's it? How can you be so insensitive?”

“It comes naturally.” She smiled sweetly at her friend and Jack grinned at her.

“Face it, Harry, you're outnumbered, outclassed, outdone.” But when Tana turned thirty-five six months later, they surprised Harry after all.

“You're getting married?” Harry barely dared to breathe the words to Jack when he told him they were looking for a house, but Jack laughed at him.

“Hell no, you don't know your friend Tan if you think there's even a chance of that. We're thinking about living together.”

Harry spun his wheelchair around, glaring at Jack. “That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. I won't let you do that to her.”

Jack roared. “It was her idea, and besides—you and Ave did it.” His daughter had just gone home, and it had gotten very complicated going back and forth from his house to hers for a month. “Her place is too small for both of us, and so is mine. And I'd really like to live in Marin. Tana says she would too.”

Harry looked miserable. He wanted a happy ending, rice, rose petals, babies, and neither of them was cooperating with him. “Do you realize how complicated it is to invest in real estate if you're not married?”

“Of course I do, and so does she. That's why we'll probably rent.” And it was exactly what they did. They found the house they wanted with an overwhelming view, in Tiburon. It had four bedrooms, and was dirt cheap compared to what it might have cost, and it gave them each an office, a bedroom for them, and a bedroom for Barb when she came to town from Detroit, or if they had guests. It had a lovely sun deck, a porch, a hot tub, which looked out at the view, and neither of them had ever been happier. Harry and Averil came to check it out with the kids, and they had to admit that the setting was beautiful but it still wasn't what Harry had hoped for her, but she only laughed at him. And worst of all, Jack shared all of her views. He had no intention of getting hooked into marriage again, by anyone. He was thirty-eight years old, and his little escapade in Detroit twelve years before had cost him dearly.

Jack and Tana did Christmas dinner that year, and it was beautiful, with the Bay below, and the city shimmering in the distance. “It's like a dream, isn't it, sweetheart?” Jack whispered to her after everyone went home. They had exactly the life that suited them, and she had even finally given up her own apartment in town. She had hung onto it for a while to play it safe, but in the end, she had let it go. She was safe with him, and he took good care of her. When she had appendicitis that year, he took two weeks off from work to take care of her. When she turned thirty-six, he gave her a party in the Trafalgar Room at Trader Vic's for eighty-seven of her closest friends, and the following year, he surprised her with a cruise in Greece. She came home rested and brown, and happier than ever with their life. There was never any talk of marriage between the two, although once in a while they talked about buying the house in which they lived, but Tana wasn't even sure about that, and secretly Jack was leary of it too. Neither of them wanted to rock the boat that had sailed along so comfortably for so long. They had lived together for almost two years and it was perfect for them both. Until October after the cruise to Greece. Tana had a big case coming up, and she had stayed up almost all night going over her notes and the files, and she'd fallen asleep at her desk, looking out over the Bay in Tiburon. The phone woke her before Jack did with her cup of tea, and she stared at him as she picked it up.

“Huh?” She looked blank and Jack grinned at her. She was a mess when she stayed up all night like that, and as though hearing his thoughts, she turned her eyes toward him, and then suddenly he saw them open wide and stare at him. “What? Axe you crazy? I'm not … oh, God. I'll be there in an hour.” She put down the phone and stared at him as he set down the cup of tea with a worried frown.

“Something wrong?” It couldn't be anything back home if she'd promised to be there in an hour, it had to be work … and it wasn't for him. “What happened, Tan?” She was still staring at him.

“I don't know.… I have to talk to Frye.”

“The district attorney?”

“No. God. Who the hell do you think?”

“Well, what are you getting so excited about?” He still didn't understand. But neither did she. She had done a fantastic job. It just didn't make sense. She'd been there for years … there were tears in her eyes when she looked at Jack and stood up at her desk, spilling the tea across her files, but she didn't even care now.

“He said I'm being fired.” She started to cry and sat down again as he stared at her.

“That can't be, Tan.”

“That's what I said … the D.A.'s office is my whole life.…” And the saddest thing of all was that they both knew it was true.

Tana showered, dressed, and drove into the city within the hour, her face set, eyes grim. It was obvious that it was an emergency. She looked as though someone had died. Jack offered to go with her, but she knew he had his own problems that day, and Harry had been out of the office a lot recently, so everything rested on him.

“Are you sure you don't want me to drive you in, Tan? I don't want you to have an accident.” She kissed him vaguely on the lips and shook her head. It was so odd. They had lived together for so long, but they were almost more friends than anything else. He was someone to talk to at night, share her problems with, talk about her cases with, as she worked on her strategy. He understood her life, her quirks, he was content with the life they shared and he wanted relatively little from her, it seemed. Harry claimed it was unnatural, and it was certainly different from what he and Averil shared. But she felt Jack's concern now as she started her car and he watched her leave. He still couldn't understand what had happened to her, and neither could she. She walked into her office, feeling numb, half an hour later, and without even knocking walked into the office of the D.A. She couldn't hold the tears back anymore, and they rolled down her face as she looked at him.

“What the hell did I do to deserve this?” She looked stricken and he felt instant remorse at what he'd done. He had just thought it would be fun to give her the news in a roundabout way, but he never realized she'd be so heartbroken. It made him all the sorrier to lose her now. But he had been sorry anyway.

“You're too good at your job, Tan. Stop crying and sit down.” He smiled at her and she felt even more confused.

“So you're firing me?” She was still on her feet, staring at him.