by Julia London
The door suddenly swung open, and light spilled into the corridor. Jack and the dozen girls turned toward the light.
Audrey was standing at the threshold, her hands on the frame, as if she was holding herself back. She looked beautiful. The fatigue that had dogged her on tour was gone. She looked healthy, with creamy skin, eyes as green as Christmas trees, and cascades of silky blond waves. “Jack.”
“Hello, Audrey.”
She flew, flying solo past roadies, over cables, and through the sea of little girls, hitting him with such force that he stumbled backward. She peppered his face with kisses while the girls giggled.
“It’s a dream,” she said. “I must be dreaming. You found me! Oh God, I have missed you. Will you forgive me?”
“There is nothing to forgive, sweet cheeks,” he said, catching her face to hold her still a moment. “But I won’t let you walk away again.”
A look of pure joy washed over her face. “Oh my God, I love you,” she said breathlessly, and began to kiss him all over again while the girls squealed with surprise and giggles.
The feeling, in case it wasn’t obvious to the girls, was entirely mutual. She would never let him walk away, either.
In the Hangar That Love Built
(People) “Love made this,” Audrey LaRue likes to say. In a makeshift recording studio, built in the back half of a rented hangar, LaRue, who is arguably the hottest recording star at the moment, has released her fourth album, a soulful mix of folk and rock. Billboard magazine hails it as “truly unique sound.” “I would never have made it had it not been for Jack,” LaRue says, speaking of her fiancé, Jack Price. “He has inspired me . . .”
Epilogue
This is so cool, Audrey!” Marnie said, holding up the magazine and the picture of Audrey’s face that graced the cover. “It’s a wonderful story, and the pictures are great. The hangar doesn’t look near the dump it is in real life.”
“Let me see,” Leah said, and put down the knife she was using to cut limes to have a look. The TA boys and their significant others had rented a yacht to celebrate Audrey’s spread in People and the fact that her fourth album had just gone platinum.
But they were much more enthralled with the article in People, because a photographer had taken pictures of them as a group. They had been at Audrey’s Malibu beach house one night, sitting around a beach fire, laughing and telling stories and planning Eli and Marnie’s wedding, which had just taken place a month ago. But the picture of them all, one of Audrey’s favorites, was now in the magazine.
She loved it—they looked like a group right out of the movies. All of their faces shone with true happiness. Their collective future seemed to shine through, too, with Leah’s pregnant belly swelling out of her pants with one month to go before baby Raney came into their lives, and Marnie announcing shortly thereafter that she, too, was pregnant.
As Marnie read aloud from the magazine, Audrey looked down at Daisy Raney, Leah and Michael’s infant daughter, who was sleeping soundly in her baby hammock.
Audrey had the picture of all of them framed, and now it hung in her house right next to the picture of her and Jack, taken at Possum Kingdom.
His mother had taken that picture. They were standing on the deck, each of them holding an inner tube, having just come up from the lake. Her hair was wet and hanging down her back, Jack’s messed up after he’d run his fingers through it. They were laughing at something Jack’s sister had said. Of all the pictures of Audrey that had been snapped in the last few years, that one, taken with a disposable camera, was the one that she held dearest. That was the night Jack had proposed to her, the night they had made love under the stars.
“I have to show this to Eli,” Marnie said, snatching the magazine back from Leah. “He wants Jack to build a hangar, but I think this one has some charm.” She waddled up to the deck, her pregnancy nearing the last trimester. The guys were all up top, pretending to fish while they sat around and drank beer and one-upped each other.
“He really needs to build his own hangar,” Leah said to Audrey. “What’s he got—eight students now?”
“Ten,” Audrey said proudly.
“Leah, come up here!” Jill called down. “You won’t believe this sunset. You, too, Audrey!”
Leah grabbed the limes she had sliced for the drinks and checked on her baby. Daisy was out cold. She smiled down at her daughter then glanced at Audrey. “Are you coming?”
“I’ll be right up,” she said, and watched Leah make her way up the stairs.
She stood below deck, a lyric running through her head as she looked at Daisy. Her gaze shifted to her engagement ring, and she smiled. She had never believed she could be so happy, and had to pinch herself now and then to remind herself it was real. It seemed like everything had finally fallen into place—after being alone for several months, she had learned her business, had hired her own people, and knew precisely what she wanted to do.
She knew that she wanted Jack, too. Forever. Just when she feared she’d lost him forever, he came back into her life. That night in New York had been magical. They had reconnected in a way that defied human explanation. It was so right. It was so meant to be.
But it wasn’t just that—her family had changed a little, too. Granted, Mom was still a cold fish, but she’d let Audrey redo her awful kitchen. And Gail had remarried, which Audrey thought was good for her sons. Dad had actually found another investor for his NASCAR venture, and surprisingly, he was doing really well with it. He’d married Hayley. Audrey was getting used to the idea.
Perhaps most surprising of all was Allen. Out of the blue, he’d learned he was a father. Who would have thought after all the stints in treatment and the threats by the court and the counseling that being a father was the one thing Allen needed. Since he’d met that little boy, he’d found his reason for living and he was a different man. He’d held on to his job at the tool and dye, and he’d been sober a whole year.
Lucas was something of a mystery—she hadn’t heard from or seen him in over a year now. She heard about him every so often—someone told her he and Courtney had been an item for a short while. That didn’t surprise Audrey in the least. She also knew he’d joined a band that was touring and opening with a couple of headliners.
Audrey sincerely hoped he was happy. If he could have only a fraction of the happiness she had found—
“What are you doing down here alone, starlight?”
She glanced up from Daisy and smiled at Jack. “I’m not alone,” she said, and laughed.
He believed she was talking about Daisy, of course.
“Did you catch anything?” she asked as he slipped his arm around her shoulders and looked at the sleeping infant.
“No,” he said softly. “I would have if Cooper hadn’t gotten in the way. You would think a guy as talented as he is wouldn’t be such a buffoon on a boat, but he’s hopeless. Come on up, sweet cheeks. We all miss you, and we want you to play a few tunes for us.”
“I would be happy to,” she said. “And Jack? I am happy.”
He grinned and kissed her. “Then that makes two of us.”
Together, they went up on deck to join their friends and their future.