sixwordstories | (no subject)

Same.

May I ask how you dealt with it?

I feel like I should be grieving much more than I am, but it's hard for me to mourn someone I never knew in the first place.

I can't bring myself to care for someone who gave me away.

I feel the same way. She never came looking for me and I never needed her. But it feels strange not to care.

You'll get used to it. I have a whole bunch of people I specifically don't care about.

I'm trying to put it behind me but I also inherited everything. [A soft laugh.] Can I get you a drink? I might have another one.

I'll have a scotch. Neat.

What did you get?

[Tasha orders a new round and leans back in her chair when the drinks arrive.]

A house in Annapolis, the car, a bank account. My boyfriend suggested I could keep the house but I don't see myself going back to Maryland -- that's not my life. If that makes sense.

It does. I know the feeling.

Sell it, take the cash and do what you want to do.

I honestly just want to get back to my life. Between my ex making an unexpected appearance and now this, it's been a strange two months.

[She takes a long drink.]

Part of me feels like I should go see my actual parents now just to even things out.

You just found out about your mother?

I just found out that she passed. I've known I was adopted for a long time, but never knew anything about her. I never wanted to.

[Shrugs slightly.]

It's only because of the estate that I heard anything.

Estates can be a pain in the ass.

I didn't know I was adopted until I was in my 30s.

Did you stumble on it or did someone tell you?

I knew; I've just never thought it mattered when she was never in my life. I didn't even tell my best friend until he walked in on me with the letter from the lawyer.

Which was a great way to start work.

[At least it was Rob who she trusted to see her like that and not someone else.]

I stumbled on it. I think I would have found out eventually; my brother knew.

Now that I know who my biological parents are, who they were, it's easy not to care. They were terrible people.

The important thing is we're happy with the families we have, isn't it? My parents -- my adoptive parents -- have been wonderful. My mom offered to fly out here if I needed her to.

[Chuckles.]

They're the people I care about.

My adoptive parents weren't much better. Family doesn't mean much to me. But if we're counting found family...

If you want to talk about that, I'm here for it.

My best friend is extended family after almost 20 years. Even though everyone keeps asking if we're sleeping together.

Thank you, but I'm fine.

People are so unimaginative.

Especially since he was married for a portion of that.

[She can still to this day recall the look of annoyance on Rob's face when they were asked that question on national TV with him quite clearly wearing his wedding ring. It's the only time she thought he might kill someone.]

I should've introduced myself by now. Tasha Benedict.

Tess Mercer.

What do you do, Tasha?

I'm the executive chef-owner at Diamant in Las Vegas.

What about you?

[This is a mouthful.]

I run a multi-national corporation specializing in weaponry for national defense.

That sounds very complicated. How did you get into that field?

That's complicated in and of itself. Let's just say I'm where I belong.

That's the important part.

I never thought I'd open a restaurant in Las Vegas but I've never been happier honestly.

There must be a lot of competition. What do you specialize in?

We call it Modern American, but I add in different international flair when I can. I don't like being in too strict of a box.

And there is, but I like competition. [Smirk. She thrives on it and finds it fun.]

[Tess doesn't. She'd rather outright win than play the long game.]

I'll have to look for it when I'm next in town.

It's at Park MGM.

And that's pretty much all the family I need. My staff, my boyfriend, and my boss who treats everyone like we're related.

I have my friends. Well, friend and sort of friends. I'm not really good at relationships of any kind.

I can't talk. I carried around a crush on my now-boyfriend for six and a half years. And the only reason I did anything about it was that he kissed me first.

[She can kind of laugh at it now.]

Oh, romance is so not my thing. I don't even remember the last time I had a boyfriend. Besides, I have too much work to do.

I'm actually enjoying myself. It's only been about seven months, but aside from dropping all this on him, it's been really good for me.

I suppose it can be nice. But I'm busy and apparently intimidating.

I'm very frequently holding a knife, so I get that.

[Chuckles.]

My schedule is almost always packed. But I've got it down to a very specific balancing act now after five years of back and forth. It also helps that we work together.

I wouldn't want to date the people I've worked with. And now I'm the boss, so that doesn't work out, either.

There's nothing wrong with that either. Everyone's different. Ross and I just have a very long and awkward story that worked out in the end.

My long and awkward story is married to someone else with a child.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Tasha didn't even want to do the cliche "plenty of fish in the sea" thing because she knew that wasn't necessarily true. The feelings she had for Ross were one-of-a-kind, even when she had been in a good relationship elsewhere. Tess' situation could be the same thing.]

Should we find another subject to talk about?