Chapter Five: Time Changes Everything
" 'Bye Mommy," Starr said, starting forward to take her Aunt Cassie's outstretched hand. She hesitated a moment, then ran to Todd who was standing by the kitchen sink and threw her arms around his neck as he crouched to meet her. "'Bye Daddy," she added softly, clinging to him.
" See ya later, Shorty," Todd said, gently disengaging from Starr's arms. "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I promise." He gave a slightly frowning Cassie a sardonic twist of his eyebrows as he stood up.
Cassie looked at Todd warily, still shocked at the sight that had greeted her when she came into the penthouse to pick Starr up for school. Todd, Blair and Starr had all been laughing in the kitchen, and Cassie had almost had a heart attack at the sight of Todd Manning anywhere. "Todd," she said neutrally, nodding her head at him as she took Starr's hand. She turned to Blair. "I'll see you at work later, okay?"
Blair nodded and smiled, waving good-bye to Starr. As she and Cassie left the kitchen, Blair turned to look at a surprised Todd. "Work?" he asked.
Blair smiled creamily at Todd. "Yes, Todd, work. Cassie works for me now, at my paper, the Sun. She left the Banner when she left Kevin and found her back-bone."
Todd laughed, leaning back against the counter. "Cassie left Kevin? Got more sense than I gave her credit for. That's the best news I've heard since I came back to Llanview." He popped a grape in his mouth, still grinning, and spoke, his voice indistinct as he talked while he chewed, "What's this 'your paper' crap? As I recall, the Sun is also Max and Kelly's paper?"
"Which is another reason I am totally furious with you," Blair snapped. Then, her features smoothed, and she crossed her legs fluidly and looked up at Todd. "Two years is a long time, Todd. Things have changed. The reason I say 'my paper' is that I own 98% of the Sun." Her smile broadened as his eyebrows lifted. She shook her finger at him. "Todd, Todd, Todd. Did you really think that I was gonna play nice and share? Kelly and I came to a mutual agreement; in exchange for her 49% of the Sun, I gave her 49% of my shares in Melador which was more suited to her particular — talents anyway. Kelly is, after all, my cousin. We simply figured out what would be best for all the Cramer women, and everything ended up just peachy."
Todd snorted at that. "Whatever. What about Holden? He roll over and play dead for you too."
"Max still holds 2% of the Sun. Not that it does him much good when I own the other 98%. But, he sends in his vote like a good little boy, and he always, always sends in his tax information so that he can get his share of the profits." Blair glanced up at Todd. "He moved down to North Carolina with the twins over a year ago."
"Guess that clears up one question. Not that I care or anything."
"What's that?" Blair asked in a do-I-really-want-to-know tone of voice.
"I guess good ol' Sam won out in the who's sharing Blair's bed sweepstakes," he said, looking back at Blair with an unreadable expression on his face.
Blair whirled around furiously and tossed an empty styrofoam box right in Todd's face. "You asshole!" she spit out. "What right do you have, Todd?? God," she said, more than exasperated, "you always do this!! You have this sick need to constantly condemn my life. What, you don't want me, but you don't want anyone else to have me either??"
Todd started to respond then caught the words before they left his mouth, thinking better of them. He paused, then rephrased. "Look, Blair, you know me, alright? I'm not exactly the soul of tact. What I was trying to say, before you threw a fit, was how's Sam?"
Blair sat still a moment, still angry, but letting it drop for now. This issue, though one she meant to deal with, was not one she wanted to hash out now. "As far as I know Sam is fine. We stopped seeing each other shortly after you skipped town. And, no," she added sharply as a knowing expression crossed his face, "it was not because of the stupid red tape; we worked that out. I just—I decided that I was more in love with the idea of being in love than with Sam himself. So, I called it off, and we really haven't crossed paths that often since. Sam was, I convinced myself that he was the 'right choice', the kind of man I thought I should be with, but he wasn't the man I wanted." Blair stopped abruptly before she went too far and said something she wasn't ready to say or even feel.
"Sounds familiar," Todd said, almost involuntarily, his eyes faraway.
The room was silent for a long moment before Blair broke the silence in a surprisingly gentle tone, considering the subject. "Téa's married, Todd." She sat in silence a minute longer, as Todd went still and expressionless. "She married Andrew about six months ago. Starr was even at the wedding if you can believe that."
"What, you didn't make the guest list?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"No, I'm afraid dancing at Téa Deldago's wedding isn't my idea of a good time. I'm never gonna like her, and I will never forgive her for the things she's done to me. And, hell, I'm sure she'd say the same about me. But," she shrugged, "for whatever reason, Starr loves her. And when you left, our little girl needed consistency in her life. So she spends every Wednesday with Téa; it was only natural for her to go to the wedding." Blair shook herself slightly and stood up. "As pleasant as our little chat has been," she started to put on her coat, "I have got to get to work. Big story brewing with our beloved police commissioner, John Sykes."
Todd stepped towards Blair, holding her coat for her. "Yeah, well, I better get to work too," he said, with a grin.
Blair spun around to face him. "What are you talking about, Todd? The Sun is mine; I thought we were clear on that."
"Yeah, well, WVL isn't. Hey," he said in answer to her lifted eyebrows, "I own the damn station, might as well act like it. Who knows? I just may be good at the radio business. Look what I did with that rag of Dorian's I used to own."
"Hmmm," she said noncomittedly, reaching across the table for her purse. As she straightened up, her face was suddenly inches from Todd's. Blair froze as he slowly stretched out his finger towards her cheek.
He lightly brushed the corner of her mouth with his forefinger, then let his hand drop to his side. "Had a little bit of chocolate," he said slowly in explanation, his gaze fixed on hers.
"Thanks," she breathed, barely moving her mouth. "Todd. . ."
Blair suddenly made an abrupt movement towards the door, wrenching her eyes away from Todd's by pure force. "Gotta get to work," she said over his shoulder. "Lock the door behind you on your way out. I'll -- I'll see you later."
Todd stood in the middle of the kitchen that used to be his, watching the woman who used to be his leave. He remained still for a long moment, then shrugged his shoulders and headed out the door. "Watch out Llanview," he muttered. "Todd Manning's come home."
