ODDS OF LOVE SEASON TWELVE

Episode 52

Zipp opened the door to his hotel room and was pleasantly surprised to see Ethan standing there with a big smile on his face and a cup of coffee in his left hand and a bottle of Zipp's favorite imported water in his right.

" For me? ," he asked, feeling like a very young child as he reached out for the water. He didn't even wait for an answer. He just unscrewed the top of the bottle and took a long greedy swallow.

" Of course it is," Ethan laughed as he settled himself on the bed , drinking his own coffee. " You know I don't drink overpriced water when we have it flowing out of the tap for free. "

Zipp wiggled his nose as he put the bottle down on the nightstand and sat on the bed next to his friend cross-legged. " But the stuff from the tap doesn't taste as good. Flower always....." Then his voice trailed off as his mind realized that he probably had no right bringing up the woman who had made it obvious he had no place in her life. He had just received a text message from her about the funeral which he showed Ethan.

Ethan looked at it and glanced at him with concern evident on his face. " She doesn't want you there? She can't do that to you. You were Diamond's father. The child adored you. Just ignore this. You have a right to be there."

Zipp shrugged his thin shoulders. " I..... She's right. I do get too emotional. She doesn't want me embarrassing everyone at the funeral. "

Ethan pursed his lips. He liked Flower but not as a life partner to Zipp. First the union was too unequal and second Flower tended to rule over the man. It was like she had two children; Zipp and Diamond. " Funerals are for being emotional. It's about the loss of life." He hated funerals himself. He didn't even like the concept of death and dying but he didn't hide from the reality of it. Even when Nigel Norland had essentially been trying to manufacture a new spouse for Richard if he had passed on. Ethan was glad that the man had a new heart, according to the paper, but for one brief second he had been fantasizing about what it would have been like being married to Richard. " You have a right to be there, Zennis. And you will be there. Are your parents coming? "

Zipp nodded. He looked so young and innocent as he sat on the bed cross legged , his hair ruffled like he had been running his fingers through it. " Yes. They don't like what Flower , we , have planned though. It's going to be a green funeral. No chemicals in our little girl. No expensive box. We want her placed naturally in the ground like nature intended. "

Ethan sipped on the coffee and listened to Zipp talking. The man seemed more focused today. Which was good. A more focused Zipp was an easier Zipp for others to deal with really. Heck. It was easier for Zipp himself to deal with himself better this way.

Then Zipp stopped talking and glanced at him shyly. " Thank you. "

" For what? "

" For being my friend. For being here. Although a lot of people have been. In their own way. Volkouv Enterprises even sent flowers. At least that's what Flower said in the text. They came to the house. I don't think they know I'm here. At this place right now. "

Ethan smiled slightly. " Of course I am your friend. I always will be. "

It was not like he had many of them left in his life, Ethan pondered.