“That would be a hard one to pick.” Vanessa didn’t say anything for a moment, making Loc wonder if there was more to the choice than she’d said. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Is there a reason you chose that in particular?” Vanessa didn’t answer for a moment, and Lochlan heard the intake of her breath. “You don’t have to tell me if—”
“My little brother Michael died when he was seven.”
A pain shot through Lochlan. “I’m so sorry.”
“My parents spent a lot of time at Vanderbilt with Michael. My brother Chris and I were never allowed to go when Michael had treatments. They tried to keep it from us for a while, but we always knew that Michael was in the hospital when we would stay with our grandparents for a weekend. Looking back on it now, and knowing how awful treatments are, I understand why they shielded us from that.”
“Is that why it’s Vandy for you?”
“I guess. Vanderbilt is one of the top hospitals, but yeah, maybe Michael has more to do with it than I allow myself to believe. I just want to help kids like him. I was young, and I couldn’t help him then, but maybe I can save someone else’s Michael.”
“How old were you?”
“Eleven. Chris was nine.” Lochlan hated the sadness in Vanessa’s voice. “My parents almost didn’t get over it. My mom was a practicing therapist at the time, and she couldn’t even deal with her own grief. She took three years off after his death. She hovered over me and Chris to the point my grandparents had to step in and talk her into getting some help herself.”
“That must have been awful for all of you.”
“It was, but in the long run, it made us closer—stronger. Mom has a more insightful view of her patients that lose children now. Michael gave her a unique perspective.”
“And because of Michael, you will help a lot of kids.”
“I hope so.” Vanessa paused a moment. “So, what about you? Siblings?”
“Two brothers and a sister. Brothers are older, and my sister, Kayla, is younger.” There was a knock on Lochlan’s door. “Come in.”
Jamie stuck her head in the door. “Hey, Loc, we’re pulling out in fifteen. You ready?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right down.” Once Jamie left the room, Lochlan went back to her call. “Hey.”
“I heard.” Vanessa laughed quietly.
“Why are you being so quiet?”
“Mia is still sleeping, but I thought I heard someone outside the door. Hell, it’s six forty-five.”
“I’m surprised that she didn’t want to talk to me too.” Lochlan laughed.
“She doesn’t know I’m talking to you.”
“Why not?”
“I love her, but she tends to have loose lips sometimes, especially when she’s drinking.”
“There you are protecting me again.”
“Just seems to be something I do.”
“I kinda like it.”
“Me too. I like that you see me differently from the other people you meet.”
“And I do.” She took a deep breath, “Okay. I gotta go.”
“Have a safe trip.”
“You too. Will you text me when you and Mia are home today?”
“I can.”
“I would like that.” Lochlan stood and retrieved her bag. “All right, I’m heading out.”
“And away from me.”
“Seems so.” Lochlan thought a moment. “Hey, I’ll be in Charlotte in August. What are my chances of talking you into coming to an amazing concert?”
“What? Is Brinley coming with you?”
Lochlan gasped. “Ouch.”
Vanessa laughed. “I would love to see you in concert. Outside of that acoustic set you did at the fundraiser, I haven’t seen you perform.”
“Ouch, again.” She heard Vanessa laughing. “I normally don’t have to try this hard.” Lochlan stopped and tried to backtrack. “I mean with people…I normally don’t have—”
Vanessa was laughing again. “I understand what you meant.”
Lochlan stepped out of her hotel room and saw Jamie tapping her foot impatiently. “Right, I have to go. Text me later.”
“I will.”
“Bye.” As Lochlan put her phone into her pocket, Jamie was looking at her inquisitively. “It was Kayla,” Lochlan said. And in that moment, where she and Vanessa were both lying to their best friends, she knew things were about to get tricky.
Chapter Four
Lochlan felt her phone buzzing in her pocket and smiled as she answered it. “Hey.” Jamie turned to Lochlan in question.
“Hey. What are you doing right now?”
Lochlan smiled. “I am currently walking over the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago.” Lochlan stopped walking, obviously hoping for privacy.
“I love that place. Oh my God, are they turning the water green for St. Patrick’s Day?” Vanessa asked.
“They did. It’s the first time that I’ve been in the area during March, so I told everyone that I wanted to see it.”
“Well, I’ll let you go. I was just going to tell you that they played the new song on the radio just now.”
Lochlan swelled with pride. “And? What did you think?”
“Are you kidding? Your voice is amazing. The song is very catchy and is a good pre-summer upbeat song.”
“I’m glad that you like it.”
“I do. So, what are your plans for today?”
“We just came from the amazing aquarium that they have here, then we went by the stadium to check things out. So now we’re here looking at the water.”
“Should you be on the streets like that?”
“It’s a cooler day, so I’m dressed in layers, have on a ball cap and sunglasses. I really don’t think anyone is paying attention to me. Everyone is taking in the scenery.”
“Then I’ll let you get back to what you are doing. Just wanted to tell you they played the new song.”
“That’s all?” Lochlan teased her.
“Okay, so maybe I missed talking to you. It’s been three days.”
“I know. I’ve been scheduled for a lot here.”
“How was the baseball game?”
“It was fun. Preseason games are still games and the Braves won, so it was a good day.”
“I saw the pictures on Instagram of you in your Braves shirt. That had to make a good impression on Wrigley Field.” Vanessa laughed.
“It wasn’t like I showed up in a White Sox shirt. There would have been hell to pay for that. The Braves are the closest thing that Tennessee has ever had to a pro baseball team. My fans get it.”
“Okay, go do your thing, superstar.”
“It may be late when I’m done tonight, but I’ll call back maybe tomorrow once we’re back on the road.”
“Sounds good. Have a good show.”
“Thanks.”
Jamie approached Lochlan as she ended the call. “Everything okay?”
Lochlan knew that was Jamie code for asking who the caller was, but Lochlan wasn’t in the mood to hear a lecture, so she vaguely answered, “Yeah, everything’s fine,” as she walked around Jamie, working to ignore that hard stare she received.
✥ ✥ ✥
Lochlan laughed as she looked up at the ceiling of her tour bus. “You get that this is an impossible question, right?” she said to Vanessa, who was on FaceTime.
“No, it isn’t.” Vanessa joined her in a burst of laughter.
“This isn’t easy.”
“It’s just a question. Who is your favorite queer character?”
“Okay.” Lochlan sat up straight. “Mayor Mills,” Lochlan said of her television character girl crush from the series Once Upon a Time.
Vanessa gasped. “You can’t pick her. She isn’t a queer character, no matter how much we all know she should have been. Stick to the rules. You can’t pick Regina Mills.”
“Ugh.” Lochlan moaned. “But she is my favorite.”
“I meant a characte
r who is actually out.”
“It’s not my fault the writers didn’t listen to all the fans. That’s on them. She is my pick.”
“Okay, okay. You can pick her.” Vanessa asked the next question. “Favorite movie?”
“I feel as though you are going to judge me when I say Jaws.”
“I don’t even know why I’m playing this game with you.”
“Because I’m stuck in this house on wheels as we’re going down the interstate and you feel sorry for me. You know that I need you to keep me company.”
“Oh, yeah, that.”
“I am rarely on this bus alone. It’s so quiet.”
“Well, at least Jamie isn’t around to ask you questions or order you to get off the phone.”
Loc winced, but she couldn’t deny that Jamie’s absence made it much easier to talk freely to Vanessa. “Yes, let’s be thankful that it’s Eli’s birthday and she needed to go home.”
“Everyone needs to be home on their birthday.”
Lochlan was quiet a moment. “I don’t remember the last one I spent at home.”
“That’s awful.”
“Yeah, it’s not far from Christmas so I’m usually off doing some Christmas special somewhere.”
“December fourth. It’s marked on my calendar.”
“Did you google me?”
“Maybe.”
Lochlan laughed. “Since I can’t just pull up Wikipedia and learn yours, when is it?”
“April twenty-fourth,” Vanessa answered.
“Wow, that’s just a few weeks away.”
“It is.”
Lochlan grabbed her tablet and entered the date into her calendar. “Will you go home?”
“Not sure. I assume I’ll see my family at some point. Mom always calls me at the exact time I was born.”
Lochlan made an “aww” sound. “That is so sweet.”
“Loc, I was born at seven fourteen a.m. It doesn’t feel sweet at seven fourteen a.m.”
“Still sweet,” Lochlan insisted as she tried to hide her yawn.
“Okay, you need some rest.”
“Probably. I’m not as hardcore as med students.”
“We all have our demons.”
“Call me tomorrow?” Lochlan asked.
“I can. I’m having lunch with Mia and Ty, but after that, you’re on.”
“It’s a date.” Lochlan realized what she had said, “I mean—”
“It’s a date.” Vanessa agreed.
“I look forward to it.” Lochlan yawned again. “Okay, I unfortunately can’t keep my eyes open any longer.”
“Good night, Lochlan. Sleep well.”
As Lochlan ended the FaceTime chat, she thought about what a date with Vanessa would feel like. What they would do? Where they would go? She thought about what she knew of Vanessa and what things she might enjoy. Just before sleep claimed her, Lochlan had a perfect idea.
✥ ✥ ✥
Vanessa woke to the ringing of her phone. “Hello,” she answered groggily.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
Vanessa smiled. “Hi, Mom.” She looked over at her clock that read 7:14 a.m. “Sometimes I wish I was born at noon.”
Her mother laughed. “Well, I wish you had been born during the evening. That way I didn’t have to be in labor for sixteen hours, but here we are.”
Vanessa was grateful that her mom’s tone was playful. “For that, I answer the phone every year at seven fourteen. It’s like my gift to you, Mom.”
“Do you know what a wonderful gift to me would be?” Vanessa knew what was coming next. “To see my baby this weekend.”
It was Friday, so Vanessa still had a few classes to attend this morning. “How about I meet you for dinner tonight?”
“Is that all the time you have?”
Vanessa smiled at the reality of the situation. She couldn’t tell her mother that just last night she received a text from Lochlan that said simply, Do you trust me? When she had replied Yes, a message came to her with a link. A link to an airline ticket and directions to board the plane in Charlotte. A car would be awaiting her arrival at the airport in Indianapolis. She had no clue what Lochlan was up to but was aware Lochlan was playing in Indianapolis this weekend. She remembered there was a question that her mother had asked. “I have plans with friends tomorrow night, so I need to be back here in the morning.”
“So, you’re squeezing me in tonight?” Her mother mocked hurt. “I guess I’ll take it.”
“Good, I really miss you guys.”
“Well, the feeling is definitely mutual. Your dad and I thought when you went to school less than an hour from home that we would see you more, but we understand you took a full load to finish up your prerequisite courses.”
“Yeah, busy, busy.”
“So, what do your friends have planned this weekend?”
Vanessa smiled. “I honestly have no idea. It’s a surprise of some kind.”
“Oh, that’s nice. It says a lot about someone when they take the time to surprise you like that.”
At the thought, Vanessa’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes, it does.”
“Well then, I’ll let you rest a bit more before class. Your brother is joining us for dinner.”
“Aww, great. I miss Chris.”
“I know that you do. Can you at least stay the night?”
Since her flight wasn’t until noon, and she was flying out of Charlotte, which was a short drive from her parents’ house, she answered, “Sure, Mom. I just need to head back around ten in the morning.”
“Wonderful. We’ll have both of you under one roof tonight.”
“I look forward to it. My last class ends at one.” She looked over at the bag that she already had packed for her flight to Indianapolis. “So, I’ll have everything together and ready to leave once class is done.”
“That will put you here around two?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Your dad is leaving the office shortly after lunch and I won’t be far behind him. Chris came in last night, so he’ll be here when you arrive.”
“Sounds good.” There was a knock at the door. “Hey, Mom, someone is at the door.”
“At seven thirty in the morning?”
“You called at seven fourteen.”
“And I am your mother, who gave birth to you at that ungodly hour.”
Vanessa smiled as she went to the door. “Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetheart. Love you.”
“You too. See you tonight.” Vanessa looked through the peephole to only see balloons.
She opened the door to a young delivery guy. “Are you Vanessa Wallace?”
“I am.” He handed her the balloons and an envelope as she thanked his retreating form.
Once inside her room, she looked at the multicolored balloons, with one larger balloon that read Happy Birthday. She opened the card.
You will be delivered tomorrow afternoon to the hotel listed. Here is your check-in information once you arrive, which should be around 1:30. I will be waiting for your call then. Happy birthday and I hope you have a wonderful day.—Loc
Vanessa smiled at the card. Is this really happening to me?
✥ ✥ ✥
“Happy birthday.” Vanessa’s father hugged her.
“Thanks, Daddy.”
As soon as he let her go, she was engulfed in another bear hug. “Happy birthday, sis.”
“Thank you.” She hugged her brother tightly. “Oh, I’ve missed you.”
“You too,” he said sincerely.
“Go ahead and put your things away,” her dad said. “Your mom will be here shortly.”
Chris reached for the bag. “I got that.” He walked alongside Vanessa to her childhood room. “How’s school?”
“Good. And you?”
“Good,” he replied. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you back last week.”
“I’m sure that you’re busy with all the ladies in Chapel Hill.”
“I am.” He smiled. “And speaking of all the ladies, anything new I need to hear? Any of the women in Raleigh looking to make an honest woman out of my big sister?”
“Your big sister isn’t looking for a woman at the moment. She is merely trying to survive school.”
“You being BFFs with Lochlan Paige had to help with the ladies.”
Vanessa threw a pillow at him. “I am not BFFs with anyone.”
He caught the pillow and began a hearty laugh. “Oh my God. You are blushing.”
Vanessa felt horrified. “I am not.”
“You are! You are blushing.” He sat on her bed. “That picture was months ago.”
“Yes, it was. And it was also the last of its kind.”
“But you’re blushing.”
“Lochlan Paige is a very famous woman, who happens to be beautiful. I am a lesbian, in case you’ve forgotten, so yes, I guess I have a small celebrity crush.”
“Okay. I guess that when you’re ready to tell me, you will.”
He stood. “Chris—” He stopped and looked down at her. “There is nothing to tell.”
“Mia texted me yesterday. Said your friends had hoped to surprise you with a birthday party tomorrow night. Asked if I could try to change your mind about not coming back to Raleigh and that I need to give her a call if I could.” He watched as she started to play with her hands. “So, imagine my surprise when Mom tells me that you have to head back tomorrow morning to meet up with your friends.” When there was no response, he added, “So, they think you’re here, while Mom thinks that you’re going back to be with your friends. You get that I have caught you in a lie, right?”
“Chris—”
“You don’t have to tell me. I just want to be here for you. I told neither Mom nor Mia what I knew, and I won’t, but if you need to talk, I’m here. I’m on your side and your secrets have always been safe with me.”
Chris had been the first person Vanessa had told she was gay. He had kept her secret for two years without breathing a word of it to anyone. She also knew that amongst his friends, Chris was the one you could tell anything that needed to be guarded.
Just before he was about to walk out the door, the words rushed out. “I’m flying to Indianapolis tomorrow to meet Lochlan. We’ve been talking for a couple of months and if anyone found out—it’s her career, Chris.”
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