The Widow and the Rock Star

by J. Thomas-Like

  As soon as I hung up with her, my phone vibrated with another incoming call. I contritely listened to Jake Rushmore as he shamed me for disappearing for two days, nodding my head even though I knew he couldn’t see. He was on his way to pick me up and would arrive at the hotel in fifteen minutes. Giving him a solemn oath, yet again, that I would be waiting, I hung up and rushed back inside the room to change clothes. Will still hadn’t moved and I could hear him snoring softly, which gave me a pleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach. I scrawled a quick note telling him where I’d gone and that I hoped to see him when I got back.

  My entire body tingled as I stared at him while pulling on a pretty little scoop-neck dress with a flower print and black wedge sandals. I was glad he didn’t wake up because I would have surely broken my promise to Jake. How embarrassing would that be to have him pounding at the door while I attacked the lead singer of Static Neverland? On second thought, my agent would probably be thrilled.

  Chapter 26

  Pepper yanked on a pair of jeans, plain white tee-shirt, and her favorite pair of worn, holey purple Converse high tops. Pulling her long blond hair into a ponytail, she looked around for her cell phone, purse and keys. Juggling all three, she left her apartment and managed to drop the phone into her purse before it could crash to the pavement and shatter, like her last three phones.

  She hopped into her beat-up, old Jeep Wrangler and took the quickest route to the Ritz Carlton Hotel, which was only about twenty minutes away under normal circumstances. Rush hour traffic was something she had planned for and, forty-five minutes later, she pulled into the driveway, allowing the valet guy to drive it away.

  “You don’t have to bring it back,” she shouted after him.

  The doorman chuckled when he held the door open for her. Breezing her way through the lobby, she saluted the staff at the desk with confidence, just like she belonged there. Impatiently tapping her toe, she rode the elevator to the 12th floor then strode to the room, banging on the door loudly. It only took about 30 seconds before Will swung open the door wearing only boxers and messy hair.

  “Good morning, sunshine!” Pepper said cheerily, inviting herself into the room.

  “Good morning to you, too. Where’s Vivienne?” he mumbled, following her in and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

  “She’s at her meeting. She must not have woken you up.” Pepper scanned the room, spying the note left by Viv. She picked it up and read it aloud, then took a seat in one of the soft leather chairs. She reached for the phone on the table and snatched it up, dialing room service.

  “Hello, this is Vivienne Stark in room 1223. Could you please be so kind as to send up an extraordinary amount of coffee? No, nothing to eat right now. Just coffee. Yes, thank you.”

  “Stealing identities now, are we?” Will asked as he plopped down on the couch across from her.

  Pepper smiled cheekily.

  “So, I think someone owes me an apology, don’t you?” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down as she peered at him.

  “Fuck off.” There was no malice in Will’s voice to Pepper’s amusement. He grinned as he said it, then yawned.

  “I thought you weren’t going to hook up with Viv. I thought you said you didn’t do that anymore.” She shook a finger at him in jest and then jumped up to cross the room, flinging herself on the couch beside him.

  “God, it’s too early for this. Can’t we wait for the coffee?” He closed his eyes and he threw his arm over them.

  “Pffft,” she spat. “Come on, Will, talk to me. I know you’re more awake than you’re pretending.” She poked him in the ribs with her finger, making him flinch. Will had stayed with her more than a dozen years ago, for a short period of time, while he figured out where he wanted to live. It was back when the band signed their first contract and he finally had money to spend on a home. Even though it had been so long ago, Pepper remembered all of his habits and quirks.

  Uncovering his face, he opened one eye.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I’m awake. I was lying in bed wondering where Vivienne was when you so politely rapped upon the door.” He pulled is legs up and swung them around her into a sitting position. “I apologize, Pepper. I know I said I wasn’t going to hook up with Vivienne, but I changed my mind.” He didn’t sound the least bit sorry to Pepper.

  She slapped her hands on her knees and whistled.

  “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist her. Apology accepted.”

  “It’s weird, though. I swear to you, I had no intention of sleeping with her. Even after you left to crash, we just talked. I wasn’t turned on, I wasn’t drunk, and I wasn’t stoned. I was yammering on with her like she was one of my buddies.” Will clasped his hands and leaned on his knees. “Then she told me about her husband.”

  “Oh no,” Pepper breathed. “It wasn’t pity sex was it? Viv would be mortified.”

  “No, it wasn’t even that. It was just like…” he stopped. “It’s like when I plug my guitar into the amplifier and I hear that first humming and feel that first vibration as the juice runs through the wires. She was looking at me, I was looking at her, and I felt that vibration, so I just kind of jumped on her.” His face was strained with the admission.

  Pepper rubbed Will’s arm and leaned into his line of sight.

  “It’s okay, Will. You make it sound like a bad thing.” She put on a light and airy tone of voice to inspire him to find the humor and fun in the situation.

  “I know. It’s not bad. It could have been bad, but it turned out okay. She really beat herself up about it the next day, though.”

  “I knew she would,” Pepper admitted. “But in the end it was worth it. I think it was something she had to go through.”

  “You make it sound like I was therapy for her.”

  Pepper sighed.

  “Well, to be honest, it probably was. How much did she tell you about her husband?”

  “Not a whole lot. They met in college, married young and he was killed.”

  “Did she tell you she hasn’t had sex since he died?”

  Will’s head whipped around.

  “What?”

  “Whoops! I guess not.” Pepper grimaced. “It’s true. She hasn’t been with anyone since Bruce was killed. Now she’ll kill me for telling you that, but I think it’s important for you to know.”

  Will stood up and paced around the room, running his fingers through his hair. “Dammit, I wish I’d known that before now. I never would have slept with her.”

  “Why not?” Pepper demanded.

  “Because now she’s going to—I mean, I bet she’ll—aw, fuck!” Will sat back down heavily beside Pepper.

  “How does this change anything?” Pepper kept her voice calm.

  “I said some stuff last night…” Will stopped and Pepper frowned.

  “Go on.” Just then, room service arrived with the coffee. “Hold that thought,” she told him, and then rushed to let in the waiter.

  While she poured and he drank, Will told Pepper about the awkward parting at the hotel and how he had come back. He told her about the bathtub conversation, and his half-assed way of confronting Vivienne about the whole affair meaning too much or too little.

  “I don’t know if I should see her again. Maybe I should get the hell out of here and let it go.”

  “You most certainly will not!” Pepper hollered. Never had she seen two people who were on the exact same page, but had mistakenly found themselves in totally different books. “If you’re worried Viv is going to become obsessed with you, become your newest stalker, don’t. She’s not like that.”

  “No, but, shit,” Will swallowed more coffee. “I guess it’s like she was a virgin again and I took that.”

  Pepper gawped at Will and then burst into laughter. She held her stomach and flopped onto the couch, tears squirting out of her eyes. Will glared at her but remained silent. When Pepper was finally able to get control, she continued to giggle as she wiped her eyes.

 
“You have got to be kidding me,” she spluttered. “Are you serious?”

  “Well—”

  “Get over yourself. I might not know from personal experience, but you are not God’s gift in the sack, Will.”

  Will hung his head at the rebuke.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how that would sound.”

  “Don’t even think it, Will. You’re not that kind of guy.”

  “Well, not anymore, I hope,” he admitted. “I fall off the wagon now and then.”

  “Yeah, and that was a hell of a fall you just took.” Pepper scowled at him and shook a finger to let him know she wasn’t really that angry. “You both have been agonizing over what you think the other one is thinking and you haven’t even bothered to ask each other!” She sat up straight. Unable to help herself, she went on. “You’re worried she’s too vulnerable and is falling in love with you. She’s worried you’re falling in love with her. Neither one of you is in love with the other!”

  Secretly, Pepper wasn’t so sure about that. She knew if they weren’t in love with one another yet, it was only a short matter of time before they were, if they would just let themselves fall. But she preferred to deal with the present.

  Pepper sighed. “Viv only feels guilty about what she’s done because she waited so long to get over Bruce. She doesn’t want you to feel used. She likes you a lot, but doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

  Will looked like he was considering her words, so she continued.

  “And listening to you, it sounds like you think the same thing. You’re worried that she’ll feel used and discarded. You like her a lot, but don’t want to hurt her feelings. Am I right?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I think you were on your way to getting there in the conversation last night, but you got a little sidetracked.” Pepper leered at him.

  Will had the good graces to blush and nod his head.

  “Yeah. I was too uncomfortable to go farther than the ‘let’s be friends’ thing.”

  “That’s your problem, Will. You’ve never been able to take that next step. And when you did once, with Lucy, you got burned. Don’t go back to the way you used to be when you were twenty-five and all the little chickies were throwing themselves at you,” Pepper warned. “That’s not who you really are.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “And don’t worry about Vivienne. She’ll find her way. She’ll go back to Michigan and her life. She’ll figure out what she needs and wants and now she’ll finally be free to go out and get it. Be glad you’re the inspiration for that.”

  Will grinned.

  “Now do I get to smack you in the face because you’re the one who told the truth?”

  Pepper grinned right back.

  “Try it.”

  Chapter 27

  I got back to the hotel around 2:30 in the afternoon and Will was gone. I was disappointed because I hoped he would still be asleep, or at least lounging around the room watching TV. He left his number, though, and I was anxious to call him to make sure we were still okay. I controlled myself with a fair amount of effort, calling Pepper first.

  “What’s up?” she asked casually.

  “Will’s gone.”

  “And that surprises you?”

  “No. Well, kind of. I don’t know.” I stared around me at the empty suite.

  “Did you really think he’d hang around all day waiting for you to get back? He’s got other obligations, too.” Pepper’s tone was more flippant than I expected.

  “Of course he does,” I snapped. “I’m sorry. The meeting didn’t go well and I was looking forward to seeing him because he has a way of cheering me up.”

  “Orgasms will do that,” Pepper chided.

  “D’oh!”

  “You still do the best Homer Simpson.” She tittered. “Did he leave his number?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then call him.”

  “No, I’ll wait. I haven’t seen you in a while. Want to come over for a swim?”

  “Oh, so I’m second fiddle to the swingin’ dick?” she teased.

  “Stop that!” But I couldn’t help laughing. Pepper was always the same and I knew I could count on her for it.

  “Actually, I’m right in the area so I’ll meet you by the pool. I’ve got a suit with me, just give me fifteen minutes.”

  “Great! I’ll save us a couple of seats.”

  Feeling better, I changed into my bathing suit and what Pepper called my “granny cover-up.” It was a black-cotton, knitted jacket thing that tied in front. I was a whirling dervish of activity, slipping on some flip-flops, grabbing my sun hat and throwing the sunscreen, my phone, the iPod, a notebook and pen into my bag. I rushed from the room to get to the pool before Pepper.

  When I walked out into the bright sunshine from the dimly lit hotel, I had to shield my eyes, having forgotten my sunglasses. I looked around for a good spot close to the bar and I almost dropped my bag when I saw Pepper sprawled out on a chaise lounge holding a drink. Beside her, in the next chair, was Will. He wore a pair of black swim trunks with red, orange and yellow flames along the side and dark aviator sunglasses. They were both doing a Queen Elizabeth wave at me. I almost tripped in my cheap dollar store flip-flops, but managed to save myself from looking like too much of an idiot, I hoped.

  “What are you guys doing here?” I tossed my bag onto the lounge on Will’s other side, which happened to be perfectly positioned beneath a large umbrella.

  “I called Will to check on him,” Pepper said, “and he told me he was here. I came by to wait for you with him.”

  I couldn’t help but smile and I sat down with that dopey grin on my face.

  “I’m so glad to see both of you.”

  Will leaned toward me and it took me a second to realize he was waiting for a kiss. I obliged, but kept it chaste.

  “Welcome home,” he said.

  “How rude, Will! Get this woman a cocktail! She looks like she could use one.” Pepper whacked him on the arm.

  Will gave a two-fingered salute, then obediently rose and trotted off to the bar.

  “You’re awful.” I shook my finger at her.

  “Yeah, so they tell me.” Pepper rolled her eyes. “So what happened at this meeting?”

  “Ugh,” I spat. “It too was awful. They went on and on about their vision for the film, but they changed so much it wasn’t even remotely close to the story I wrote.”

  “Jake warned you about that.”

  “Yes, I know. But they changed my age, they gave me two kids, and they changed the end. They wanted my mother to be dead but my father alive. They added about four subplots that didn’t even relate to the theme.” I threw my hands up in exasperation. “If they wanted something so different, why not just write their own independent script? Why waste all the cash they’re offering to buy my book?”

  “So go with EJR, then.” Pepper shrugged.

  “Then they brought up the foundation scandal, making me feel like a jackass. Jake handled it beautifully, but he was not happy.”

  “All the more reason to go with EJR.”

  “I s’pose.”

  Will returned and handed me a gin and tonic with extra lime.

  “There you go. I made sure they didn’t use too much ice. No sense letting all that frozen water soak up the gin.”

  “Thank you.” I sipped until a third of the liquid was gone then smacked my lips.

  “Viv was just telling me about her bust of a meeting.”

  “Yeah?” Will tried to look interested but it was impossible to tell behind those dark glasses.

  “It sucked.” Another third of my cocktail disappeared down my throat.

  “Oh.” He stopped trying to look interested and put his glasses up on his forehead. “That’s Hollywood for ya.”

  “Indeed.” I yanked my sunscreen out of the bag and began to liberally slather my pale skin. “What about you? Don’t you have anything better to do than hang out here? No big rock sta
r crap to manage?”

  Will laughed and settled himself more definitely in the chair.

  “You’re looking at it. I’m having a beer while sandwiched between two gorgeous women. That’s all we celebrities do, don’tcha know?” Will emphasized the point by taking a deep swig of his beer and resting it on his stomach.

  Pepper snorted and dipped her fingers into her drink, flicking it at him. I swatted him with my sun hat. The afternoon was definitely looking to go better than my morning.

  *****

  A few hours, a swim and a couple of cocktails later, Pepper was tapping and swiping along on her iPad when she felt her stomach flip flop. Here we go, she thought. Pictures of Will and Vivienne’s evening out were all over the Internet. OMG, Inside Edition, TMZ— they all had various shots and blurbs to match.

  “It’s official,” Pepper said. “You’re really famous now, Viv.” She nudged Will’s arm and he lifted his head off of his crossed arms. He was sprawled on his stomach on the chaise and had been snoring. She passed the device to him and he squinted at it.

  “Yeah, that’s us,” he mumbled, handing the iPad to Vivienne. He put his head back down.

  “What?” Vivienne’s face grew paler, if that was possible, and her mouth opened wider and wider. “‘Will Foster was spotted on the town with hot new novelist Vivienne Stark yesterday evening. Stark wrote—blah, blah, blah—Is this Will’s latest conquest in a long line of celebrity babes? If so, Miss Stark is a far cry from the luscious bombshells of Foster’s long history.’ Oh my God! Pepper, this is terrible!”

  “No it’s not,” Pepper and Will said in unison.

  “I look like a deer in headlights! And I’m a ‘far cry’ from your usual bimbos. Fuck!” Vivienne seethed. “Jake is going to kill me.”

  Will groaned and flipped onto his back to sit up. He elevated the chaise and looked irritated.

  “Stop it, Vivienne. It’s okay.”

  Pepper glared at him and kicked his shin, not appreciating his blasé attitude.

  “It’s not okay!” Vivienne wailed. “I look like a troll!”

  “Calm down,” Pepper hissed when other people in the vicinity glanced over at them. “Don’t make a scene.” She got up to sit beside Vivienne. “So what if you had a few pictures taken? Will’s a pretty big celebrity. What did you think was going to happen?”