No credit cards, no money, no passport and no cell phone.
That was two days ago.
Last night while she was sound asleep on a public bench, another crook managed to steal her one suitcase.
At this moment Joey was convinced that she would sell her soul for a Tic Tac. The country may be beautiful, but the locals didn’t look too kindly upon the homeless, and it was getting harder and harder to mask that was what she was: homeless, or rather hotel-less.
Since cell phones ruled the world, Joey was amazed how difficult it was to find a single payphone in the whole damn town. By the time she found one, she didn’t know what she should tell her family. If she called and told them what she did, her sisters would be on the next thing smokin’ to Italy. Call her crazy, but she wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
And then she saw him: Dr. Laurence Benson, her ex-almost-fiancé. She spotted him and Ms. Boob Job exiting Principe di Savoia Milano. They were arm-in-arm, smiling and laughing about something--probably Joey. Chances were that all of Milan was talking about the foreign black American girl who stole coffee and slept on public benches.
She sighed as she stared at them. They were the pin-up interracial power couple and looked like they’ve recently enjoyed a hot shower.
Joey’s face twisted with misery. She wanted a hot shower, too. She was beginning to offend herself. More important, she couldn’t approach Laurence looking like she looked or smelling the way she smelled.
She needed another plan--one that would actually work.
As night descended...again, she struggled to remember how long a body could go without food. Not to mention how cold it was at night. Instead of falling asleep, Joey felt more as though she was being induced into a coma.
If she committed a crime, at least she would be able to sleep in doors for a night. She walked with no destination in mind, but her stomach followed the wonderful aromas wafting from a nearby restaurant.
She approached and plastered her face against the restaurant’s glass walls. The elegantly dressed men and women dined merrily off plates that looked more like works of art than dinner. Joey drew a deep breath and imagined what the food must taste like and how smooth the wine would flow down her parched throat.
She closed her eyes and let her imagination go wild.
“Will you just look at that woman?”
Ryan turned his head and his gaze followed where most of the patrons stared at a woman writhing against the window.
“What the hell do you think she’s doing?” Zach asked.
“I don’t know.” Ryan squinted. “But I think I know her.” He pushed back in his chair and tossed the napkin from his lap onto the table. “Excuse me for a minute, won’t you?”
“Ryan--”
“I’ll be back,” he said absently, and stood. As he made a beeline from his table to the front door, he tried to convince himself that the woman outside the restaurant was not, could not be who he thought it was.
Stepping out into the cold night, Ryan’s footsteps slowed as his heart sank. “Joey?”
Her head jerked back and her eyes zoomed toward him.
Ryan blinked. “Oh, my God. It is you.” He rushed over to her. “What happened?”
“Ryan?” She said his name as though she was almost afraid to believe. “Is that you?”
He reached out and touched her matted hair, while his gaze took in her dirt-smudged face and the large bags under her eyes. “You look...”
She hand-pressed her hair down and buttoned her denim jacket.
“...different,” he settled on saying.
“Well, I know I’m not exactly presentable at the moment.” She laughed weakly and then frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Eating.”
“Oh.” Her eyes turned dreamy. “That sounds nice.”
He cocked his head, while he warred with whether to be amused or concerned. “Would¾would you like to join me for dinner?”
Joey’s hand shook as it fluttered to her throat. “I…I don’t think I should. I, uh...” She glanced back toward the window and was astonished to see she had an audience. “Thank you¾no.”
Her stomach growled in protest¾and it wasn’t a little growl. It was a long mountain lion that went on for a full thirty seconds.
“You know--” Ryan reached into his dinner jacket and removed a cigar. “You can’t eat your pride.”
She stared at him, warring with whether she stared at an angel or the devil. “I don’t have any money,” she confessed while her ears burned in protest.
“I think I can cover the tab.”
She held up her chin, thinking of all his past sexual innuendos. “What’s it going to cost me?”
“I probably deserved that.” He also lifted his chin and lit his cigar. “Tell you what. Dinner is on me. No strings attached. You have my word as a gentleman.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I can even put it in writing if you like.”
Joey smiled, but before she could respond to his offer the mountain lion returned.
“C’mon,” he said, taking her by the arm. “I’ll never forgive myself if I let you stand out here and starve to death.”
She allowed him to tug her into the restaurant. Once inside, the diners issued a round of applause and completed Joey’s embarrassment.
“I think introductions are in order.” Ryan held out a chair. “Zachary Griffin, Joey Adams. Joey, Zach.”
“Nice to meet you.” Joey smiled without showing her teeth. After all, it had been three days since she had brushed them.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Zach’s gaze held a trunk load of questions while it shifted to Ryan.
Ryan smiled and signaled for the waiter. “Bring us a bottle of your best white Pinot.”
“Very good, sir.” The waiter scampered off.
Joey’s eyes landed on the untouched baked bread in the center of the table. Her fingers inched to snatch it and shove the entire thing down her throat.
“Help yourself,” Ryan gestured.
She told herself to gently reach for the bread, but what happened was more like an attack. She tore, shoved, crammed, and nearly choked on the soft bread.
Horrified, Zach stared.
Fascinated, Ryan smiled behind the back of his hand.
The waiter returned cautiously with their wine. His expression was a barely controlled masked of concern.
“Thank you,” Ryan said, and signaled for him to pour Joey a glass.
The minute he filled it, Joey snatched it and chugged it down like a seasoned, college-frat student.
“So, how is it that you two know each other?” Zach asked, unable to pulled his gaze away from their guest.
“We met in a men’s room,” Ryan said.
Zach jerked his gaze to Ryan. “Come again?”
Joey came up for air. “It’s not as seedy as he’s making it sound. I was trying to break into The Blue Diamond in Los Angeles.”
“Oh, well. That’s much better.” He frowned and continued to stare at his friend. “Not seedy at all.”
Ryan remained content to stare at Joey.
The waiter cleared his throat. “Are you ready to order?”
“Give us a few more minutes. Ms. Adams hasn’t had a chance to decide.” He handed her the menu.
Joey hesitated while her eyes glossed with tears. Food.
“Trust me.” Ryan winked. “We ate here last night. The food is divine.”
Accepting the menu, she leaned forward and whispered, “I promise. I will pay you back.”
Damn right you will. Ryan smiled.
Joey’s greedy eyes roamed over the eight-page menu. Each dish sounded better than the last. For a moment she had a renegade thought of ordering everything.
The waiter returned to the table four times only to be told that they needed a few more minutes.
“How about I chose something for you?” Ryan asked after feeling his own hunger rise.
“Maybe that is best,
” she agreed, and handed back the menu.
Zach placed everyone’s order while Joey attacked the second loaf of bread delivered to the table.
“It’s nice seeing a woman who’s not afraid of carbohydrates for a change,” Zach said, lightening the mood.
Ryan chuckled. “I happen to like a woman with a healthy appetite.”
Zach’s eyebrows leaped to the center of his forehead.
“You like anything with breasts and a pulse,” Joey mumbled.
“Ow.” Ryan dramatically withdrew an imaginary knife from his chest. “An unprovoked attack.”
Suddenly ashamed and embarrassed by her thoughtless barb, Joey reached for his hand. The moment she touched him another crackle of kinetic energy surged through her and she quickly snatched her hand back.
“I’m sorry.” She cleared her throat. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Forget about it.” He eyed her as he puffed on his cigar. “Sooo. How are things with you and the great Dr. Benson?”
Joey shrank a little in her chair as she glanced at Zach. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Now, I officially feel like the third wheel.”
A team of waiters appeared with their meals.
“I think I would just like to have mine in a doggy bag,” Zach informed their main waiter.
“As you wish, sir.”
“No.” Joey sat up straight. “Please, you don’t have to leave on my account.”
“It’s okay. I have an early day tomorrow and it seems you two have a lot to catch up on.”
“But¾”
“I’ll see you in the morning.” Ryan smiled unable to hide his pleasure of being left alone with Joey from his friend’s well-trained eye.
“Yes, we have a lot to...go over in the morning.” Zach stood. “It was nice meeting you, Ms. Adams. Maybe I’ll see you around again?”
“Not likely, but then again I can’t seem to shake Mr. Donovan, either.”
“And here I thought I was growing on you,” Ryan snickered.
“Actually, I’m starting to think that you’re some kind of guardian angel,” she confessed, reaching for her glass of wine.
“I may be a lot of things, Joey. But I’m no angel.”
“Amen.” Zach laughed and walked off before Ryan could toss back a rebuttal.
“Would the signora like to add some cheese?” the waiter asked.
“Yes, please.” Joey’s eyes widened at the serving size of her pasta dish. She let the waiter grate a ridiculous amount of cheese to her meal before calling a halt.
Ryan lost interest in his own food. He became amazed on just how much food such a small woman could eat. “You don’t have a tape worm or something do you?”
“Uh?” Joey dabbed her mouth but kept going. “What did you say?”
“Nothing.” He propped an elbow up on the table and just watched. Twenty minutes later her plate was empty and he had a sneaky suspicion that if he weren’t sitting there, she would lick the plate.
Finally he leaned forward and braided his fingers beneath his chin. “I take it the food met your approval?”
“It was the best meal I’ve ever had.” Dropping back against her chair, she unabashedly undid the top button of her jeans.
“No room for dessert?” he asked, taking his first bite of his meal.
She moaned as her eyes turned dreamy again. “I think I can squeeze in some cheesecake.”
“Then let’s get you some.” He started to lift his hand, but then thought better of it. “On one condition.”
“I knew it.” Her eyes narrowed. “What happened to that talk about being a gentleman? Well, you can forget it. I’m not sleeping with you for some lousy slice of cheesecake.” Though I might consider it for a hot bathe.
“On the condition that you tell me what happened to you and Dr. Benson.”
She certainly didn’t see the big deal in that. “You have yourself a deal.
Chapter 14
The Adams family was seized with worry. Each individual called every acquaintance, friend, and boyfriend Joey had ever had--twice. All with no luck.
LAPD requested a recent picture and was given enough photos to papier-mâché the whole precinct. Still there was no luck.
“She has to be at a conference or something,” Peyton reasoned aloud as she stepped away from Joey’s wardrobe closet.
“Then why isn’t she returning our calls?” Michael challenged in a voice tight with fright. “We’ve left at least a hundred calls on her cell phone.”
“Maybe she’s somewhere she doesn’t want us to know about?” Flex interjected. Worry set deep grooved lines into his forehead and around his eyes. “Joey can be very secretive at times.”
“You mean she can be a little flighty.”
“Sheldon!” Frankie snapped.
“What?” Sheldon rubbed her belly. “Joseph has a problem of not thinking things through before she does them. That’s no big secret. We all know that.”
No one spoke, in silent affirmation.
Lincoln knocked on Joey’s open bedroom door before he entered and handed a steaming cup of coffee over to his wife. “I just brewed a fresh pot if anyone is interested.”
Everyone nodded their heads and filed out the junky room.
“How are you holding up?” Lincoln asked Peyton.
“Still warring with myself with whether we’re overreacting.” She sipped her coffee and relished the instant warmth added to her body. “Joey could’ve just forgotten to tell us about a business trip.”
Smiling, Lincoln slid his muscled arm around her waist. “It’s more than likely.”
She nodded and gently pulled out of his arms to follow her sisters to the living room.”
In their over-zealous concern, the family had ransacked the place for clues as to Joey’s whereabouts. Now Peyton grew concerned about Joey hitting the roof when she saw the place.
“Maybe we should clean this place up?” Peyton suggested, glancing around.
Everyone followed her gaze and looked as though it was the first time they noticed the mess.
“Couldn’t we just hire someone?” Frankie asked.
The rest of the family rolled their eyes and went to work. Frankie’s allergies to manual labor were well known.
Marlin sat mute on the sofa. As the patriarch he remained calm and reserved. In the past three days he’d also held the opinion that Joey was just being Joey.
After all, last year Joey had moved to Los Angles from San Jose without saying a word to anyone. It was Joey’s way of avoiding the sisters’ network where everyone expressed their opinions of what someone should or should not do with their own lives.
Even Flex had been guilty of the maneuver--that’s why he moved to Georgia.
Nevertheless, Sheldon, Frankie, Michael and Peyton always sounded the alarm when a member of the family broke protocol or abandoned ship.
Marlin just hoped to make it back home in time for his poker night. Knowing his daughters, he suspected that it would all work out in the end.
Flex grabbed a few cushions from the floor and tables and returned them to the appropriate chairs. He picked up a toss pillow from an end table and noticed the answer machine’s flashing red light.
“Did anyone check Joey’s machine?”
“Hell, I know I left several messages,” Peyton said, returning books to the bookshelf.
“We all have,” Sheldon amended, removing the vacuum cleaner from the hall closet.
He shrugged. “Yeah, but there may be a clue on here where Joey had gone.” Flex pushed the play button.
You have fifty new messages. This mailbox is full. Please delete your messages.
Michael laughed. “I guess we left more than a few messages.
“Hello, Jo-Jo. It’s Laurence...”
“Oh, hell,” Frankie murmured. “Did anyone call this jerk?”
“He’s out of town,” Michael replied, her own dread seeping into her voice.
Everyo
ne fell silent as they inched closer to the answer machine.
“Joey, are you there? Pick up.” Laurence’s deep exhalation floated over the recorder. “I, uh, oh hell. I don’t really know where to begin¾other than tonight when I saw you, I don’t know.”
Michael rolled her eyes. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Shhh!” the family hissed.
“I’m confused,” Laurence admitted. “I thought I’d made the right decision...but now. I’m not so sure. I mean, this is crazy, I leave for Milan tomorrow and--” he sighed “--I think...I still having feelings for you...I mean I still love you and--”
“Laarrry.”
“Larry?” Sheldon glanced at everyone. “Who in the hell is calling him Larry?”
“Shhh!”
“I’m coming,” Laurence’s muffled voice called back, but then it turned crystal clear when he spoke back into the mouthpiece. “Look, Joey. I better go.” There was a long pause before he added, “Bye.”
Peyton hit the stop button. “Did he say something about Milan?”
“As in Italy?” Sheldon asked.
“She couldn’t have gone to Italy. She doesn’t have that kind of money,” Michael reasoned.
Frankie eyes bulged.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Peyton nodded. “She wouldn’t have.”
“She couldn’t have,” Sheldon agreed.
Frankie dropped her head into the palms of her hands and croaked. “She did.”
#
“So let me get this straight,” Ryan adjusted his weight in his chair. “You’ve been here for three days and you haven’t talk to him yet?”
Joey bit into her second slice of cheesecake and moaned as if her soul had a G-spot.
Ryan made another adjustment in his chair. Despite looking as if she’d slept the last three days in a gutter, she still was able to get the blood pumping in all areas of his body.
And that was a good thing.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet--but I will.”
“Let me guess. You have a plan.” Ryan chuckled while his eyes danced around her beautiful face.
“Actually, I’m still working on one.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Does it include a shower?”
Her next bite of dessert stopped inches from her mouth. “What are you saying?”
When You Were Mine (Adams Sisters) Page 9