Before I could say anything else in my defense, he swatted his hand through the air as if dismissing the topic.
“Anyway, I don’t give a damn about any of that. What’s done is done. And right now we need to figure out what the hell to do now.”
The waitress returned with Rick’s drink. He held up his finger to her as he took a long sip.
“Better bring me another one of these, honey,” he said. “I’m going to need it.”
Again, she nodded and hurried off.
“What do you mean ‘what the hell to do now’?” I asked. “We tell him. What else would there be to do?”
Rick sighed, shaking his head.
“You think it’s that simple, don’t you?” he asked. “But it’s not. Things are never simple when there are millions of damn dollars on the line.”
Another sigh.
“This is insider information, so keep it to yourself—Johnny’s about a hair’s breadth from dropping Redemption.”
I raised my eyebrows. He’d told me that he wasn’t happy, but I had no idea that he was looking to drop his label. This was big news.
“But,” Rick went on, “he has already worked something out—an arrangement that’s going to work out great for him and me and the rest of his band. And if you barge onto the scene, letting him know that he’s about to be a damn daddy, then everything’s going to go to shit.”
The manager killed his vodka right as the waitress returned with his second.
“If he does,” I said. “That’s his decision to make.”
“Actually, it’s not,” he said. “Because he’s not some singer-songwriter playing at coffee shops anymore, free to come and go as he pleases. Johnny’s got responsibilities, obligations to everyone affected by that contract. And I’m not about to let him drop everything so he can play house with some random groupie.”
“I’m not a gr—”
Rick didn’t let me finish.
“Doesn’t matter what you are,” he said. “I spent the flight from LA thinking about what to do you with you, and here’s what I got. Ready?”
“I don’t care ‘what you’ve got’ unless it involves telling Johnny,” I said.
“You’re going to provide me proof that you’re pregnant,” he said, steamrolling ahead as if I hadn’t said anything. “That’s for damn certain. Then, if you’re telling the truth—”
“Which I am.”
“Then you’re going to keep your mouth shut. Redemption has a slush fund for stuff like this. In exchange for your silence, and for you providing proof that the baby is Johnny’s, once the baby arrives, we’ll cover your medical bills all through the pregnancy, even get you set up in one of the high-end private hospitals in the city. And then we’ll be giving you a monthly stipend to cover costs on top of that.”
Then he leaned in and added, “For the rest of Memphisto’s tour. However long that might be.”
“What?” I asked.
“That’s how long Johnny’s on the hook with us,” he said. “And I don’t want him to have any distractions while he’s still got his responsibilities to Redemption.”
“You want me to go my entire pregnancy, and maybe even longer than that, without telling him that he’s got a son or daughter? That’s awful!”
“That’s how things go in this business,” Rick said with a shrug. “Johnny knew what he was getting into when he signed the dotted line.”
“Doubt he had this in mind,” I said, my voice taking on a hard edge.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Because it’s what’s going to happen.”
I clasped my hands together under the table and spoke.
“And what if I say no?” I asked. “What if I decide to tell him anyway?”
His eyes narrowed.
“First of all, there’s no way, knowing what I know now, that I’m going to let you anywhere near him. As far as you’re concerned, he’s as off-limits as the president. And even if you did manage to tell him, I’ll make sure he’s clear that you’re just some groupie trying to get his attention and money.”
“But—”
“And if you did somehow manage to talk to him, and somehow managed to get him to believe you, and he ended up doing us all dirty by breaking the contract, I’d make sure you were on the hook for that.”
Rick went on. “I’d muster up all the legal power at Redemption to sue you hard for lost revenue.”
He took a sip of his drink.
“I looked up your label on the way over,” he said. “Nice little outfit you got going. Bet it took years for you to make it what it is. And I could wipe all of that away with a stroke of the pen. You’d spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to raise a kid while paying millions of dollars to Redemption. Probably not the future you imagined for yourself, huh?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would,” he said. “I take my work very, very seriously, Miss Peters. And I’m not going to let my best artist just walk away because he suddenly got all emotional about fatherhood. No fucking way. And I’m not done. It wouldn’t be just you paying the price. I’d go after Johnny too, stripping him and his band of royalty rights. No more income, and whatever he’s worth now would go right back into my pockets to pay legal fees. And I’d make sure that he was blacklisted from any label worth a damn.”
I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say, but Rick wasn’t finished.
“Hope he’s itching to get back into busking, because that’s how you two would be paying your bills from then on out.”
His hard expression softened.
“Or you could do the smart thing. Keep your mouth shut, accept the very, very generous offer that I’m making for you, and have a happy little reunion in a couple of years. And then Johnny can screw off and do whatever he wants until the non-compete clause kicks in five years down the road.”
“What?” I asked. “You have him on a non-compete clause?”
“You bet I do,” I said. “No chance I’m going to sit around and watch some other record label make money off of him. But don’t you worry—he’ll be making plenty from his royalties.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. And the worst part was there was nothing I could do. Even if I wanted to take this to court, it’d take all the money I had to fight Redemption, and all they’d have to do would be to tie things up for long enough to bleed me dry.
“So,” he said, clasping his hands together. “We got a deal?”
There was nothing I could do but accept.
“Deal.”
Chapter 23
Kendra
November
I let out a yelp as the nurse applied the ultrasound gel onto my stomach.
“Told you it was going to be chilly,” she said with a smile.
“I know,” I said. “Just a little more than I was expecting.”
“You’ll forget about all of that as soon as you see the little guy on the screen. Or girl.”
Excitement tingled in me.
“Now remember,” I said. “I want to be surprised, so don’t me if it’s a boy or a girl.”
“You got it,” she said, flashing me another warm smile.
The nurse powered up the ultrasound and took the wand into her hand. As she did, I glanced down at my round belly, now shiny with the gel. It’d been a few weeks since my pregnancy began to show, but it was still so surreal. I couldn’t believe that there was a little person inside of me getting bigger by the day.
Then I turned my attention to the screen as I rubbed my palms with my fingertips. I was excited, but also scared. What if there was something wrong with the baby? It had been a fear in the back of my mind for some time, but now I was going to find out.
“Okay,” said the nurse. “You ready?”
“Ready,” I said.
She took the wand and placed it on my belly, the metal as cool as the gel.
“So,” she said. “You’re about to see him or her on the screen. All signs so far are th
at you’re going to be having a healthy little kiddo, but now we’re going to know for sure.”
I nodded, too nervous to even speak.
The nurse moved the wand around on my belly, and the screen soon filled with the image of a blurry, baby-shaped little being, all in black and white.
“Oh, my God,” I breathed.
Slowly, the image took shape on the screen. The anxiety quickly faded and was replaced with pure excitement.
“That’s him?” I asked. “Or her?”
The nurse smiled. “That’s right. And from the looks of things, your little one seems to be in perfect health.”
Tears formed in my eyes as I watched the baby on the screen, the shape moving around inside of me. What I felt was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Seeing my baby instilled in me a sensation of love that I could hardly believe I was capable of.
“How are you doing?” asked the nurse.
“Amazing,” I said. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“It’s one thing to be pregnant,” she said. “It’s a whole other thing to actually see the baby like that, right?”
“Mhmm,” I said, quickly wiping my tears away. “But the baby’s okay?”
“The baby’s just fine,” she said. “Nothing we’ve seen so far would make me think that you have anything other than a healthy boy or girl to look forward to. And if you keep coming in for your appointments, we’ll make sure of that.”
“Can you print this out for me?” I asked.
“We most certainly can.”
I watched the ultrasound for several moments longer, the sweet warmth of love flowing through me. I knew that the circumstances with my pregnancy were hardly ideal, but at that moment I didn’t care. All I wanted was to hold my baby in my arms, to lavish him or her with the love I felt.
After a time, the nurse finished up the scan.
“Now,” she said as she cleaned me up. “If you want to make sure that the baby comes out as beautiful as it looks now, make sure that you’re avoiding alcohol—”
“Check.”
“Taking your folic acid.”
“Check.”
“And staying away from any sources of stress.”
“Um, check,” I said, glancing away.
The nurse raised her eyebrows in a concerned, but good-natured way.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m trying to keep a cool head about this, but between my work and going it alone…”
“I get it,” she said. “It’s hard when the father’s not in the picture. But I’d say so far you’re doing a hell of a job.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little better.
Ten minutes later, I was back out on the sidewalk with the ultrasound photos tucked into my purse. The air had a pleasant chill to it, the slate-gray sky above a clear sign that summer was over and fall was just about here.
I started toward my apartment, ready to get home and decompress when my phone buzzed in my purse. It was a text from Blaire, asking if I wanted to grab a coffee.
A nap sounded good, but sharing the wonderful news of the ultrasound with my best friend sounded even better. I shot her an affirmative and thirty minutes later we were both seated next to the window at Clyde’s, one of my favorite local coffee places.
“Oh, my God!” she cried out as she looked over the photos. “It’s…it’s right there!”
She clapped them down onto the table, nearly spilling my decaf latte. “How excited are you?”
“So excited I can hardly stand it,” I said. “I’m actually going to be a mom.”
“And you’re going to be so good at it,” she said. “I can just tell.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said.
Silence fell for a moment, and I could tell that there was something on Blaire’s mind.
“Okay,” I said. “What’s up?”
“I don’t know,” she said, tracing the mouth of her mug with her fingertip. “Just wondering if you’re still planning on keeping this a secret from Johnny.”
I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my belly.
“What choice do I have?” I asked. “I told you what Rick said to me.”
I’d known that I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about the pregnancy—at least who the father was. But I was going totally crazy from keeping it to myself and had to tell someone. My best friend seemed like the logical choice, and I knew I could trust her with my secret.
“I know, I know,” she said. “But it seems so shitty. To have him out there with no idea that he’s about to be a dad. I mean, I know it’s out of your hands. But still.”
“Believe me,” I said, wrapping my hands around my mug. “If it were up to me, I would’ve told him the second I found out. But I can’t put it all at risk. If I told Johnny, then Rick would take away his band, his money, my label… I’d be dead in the water.”
“But you two could figure something out, right?” she asked. “All you’d need is each other.”
“That sounds nice,” I said. “But you also need money. If Rick made good on his threats, Johnny and I would be raising our baby in the alley behind a convenience store.”
“I bet you two could make it work,” Blaire said.
I shook my head. “I want to believe that, really I do. But who knows if he’d even want to be in the kid’s life? I mean, it’s been months since we spent that weekend together and he hasn’t sent me so much as email. Maybe he’s onto some new girl.”
“I doubt it,” said Blaire. “There was something really special between the two of you. I could tell by the way you talked about him.”
“I hope that’s true,” I said. “Anyway, I’m trying to focus on the good for now. The baby’s healthy. I’ve still got my label, and all I have to do is wait for Johnny to finish his tour. Then I can tell him.”
“How much longer is that?”
“A few more months,” I said. “He’s on the East Coast now, then Europe after that.”
“Stalker,” she said with a grin.
“Hey, I like to know where my baby’s daddy is at,” I said, matching her grin with one of my own.
We chatted for a little while longer, going over possible baby names and discussing which parts of the city we’d love to live in to raise a family. After an hour or so, I decided it was time to get back home.
I spent the walk thinking about what Blaire had said. As much as I knew I was being practical by keeping the pregnancy a secret, I could only imagine how nice it would be to have Johnny by my side. I knew I had it in me to go through it on my own, but the secrecy didn’t sit well with me at all, enforced or not.
There was nothing to be done, however. And what I’d said was true—how did I even know if Johnny wanted to be a part of this? What if I went to all the trouble of finding him and telling him, only for him to run screaming at the idea of being a father?
Right as I approached my apartment, however, I spotted someone—a man—standing in front of the entrance. He had a slim but built figure that struck me as familiar even from a distance.
Could it be…
I picked up my pace, hurrying to my building. With each step I took, I became more and more certain of who it was, who was waiting for me.
It was Johnny. Flowers in his hand, his blue eyes flicked up to me as I approached.
“Hope you don’t mind me dropping by uninvited.”
Chapter 24
Johnny
The expression on her face was priceless.
“Um, um, no,” Kendra said, her gorgeous green eyes wide with surprise. “Of course not.”
“Good!” I said. “Because I’d love to take you out to dinner.”
I opened my arms and pulled her in for a hug. She threw her arms around me, but she kept her hips back, away from mine. It was strange, like one of those sterile hugs that you’d give some aunt you hadn’t seen in a long time.
“That…that would be great,” she said.
I handed her the flowers. “Should prob
ably put these in water first.”
Kendra brought the bouquet up to her nose and inhaled the sweet aroma.
“Like them?” I asked.
“They’re beautiful,” she said. “And yeah, let’s get inside.”
She opened the entrance door, and we were soon in her apartment, that cozy little space where I’d spent one of the best weekends of my life. Wordlessly, Kendra filled a vase and placed the flowers inside, setting the arrangement in the middle of her table.
Then her eyes shot up to me, and she spoke the question that had likely been on her mind since the moment she saw me.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
“I hope you’re asking that in a good way,” I said with a grin. “Otherwise, my feelings might be hurt.”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s really, really good to see you. It’s just—”
As she spoke, she was in the process of taking off her black pea coat. But stopped in the middle of it.
“Um, hold on,” she said.
“Su—”
Before I could finish the word, she rushed out of the living room and into her bedroom. She returned moments later without her coat and wearing a thick gray sweater, one that covered up her figure.
“Sorry,” she said. “Just needed something warmer to wear.”
I wondered for a moment if, between the odd hug and this, she was trying to make things as unsexual as possible between us. But I put it out of my head.
“How about we walk and talk?” I asked. “There’s a Thai place down the street I heard is supposed to be awesome.”
“Sounds good,” she said, hurriedly putting her coat back on.
Something was up, but I was too excited to see her to really think about anything other than that.
“Okay,” she said once we were back outside and on our way. “You’re in Seattle.”
“I’m in Seattle,” I said.
“What’s the occasion?”
“We’re about to head to Europe for the next leg of the tour, but Rick thought it’d be a good idea to do some secret shows before we left the country. Our last one was in Portland, and I figured that was close enough to Seattle for me to come up to visit.”
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