Missez

by Sherryl Hancock

  “I do have school, and some practices,” Ryan said, but his voice held no real conviction.

  “Well, maybe I’ll come by a practice or two,” John said, still eyeing Nicolette and Jerith but making a point of looking to his son.

  Ryan shrugged. “Okay.”

  John looked back at Nicolette. “And you’ll be busy all week?”

  Nicolette nodded, not even bothering to look sincere. Jerith wanted to reach over and pat her on the back. She was handling this very differently than he’d expected her to. He had been half afraid she’d throw herself lovingly into her ex-husband’s arms, or at least cave when he questioned her. He could also see surprise and subsequent accusation in John’s eyes as he looked at him and Nicolette. Jerith made a mental note to find out why.

  Later that night as they lay in bed together, Jerith questioned John’s obvious surprise at her defiance of him.

  “He’s used to me giving him whatever he wants,” Nicolette said, shrugging.

  Jerith eyed her, his expression serious. “Whatever he wants?”

  Nicolette glanced up at him, taking in his look of worry. “Not this time,” she said, her voice very strong and sure.

  “But before?”

  Nicolette was quiet for a few minutes, then nodded. It was obvious from her mood that there was more to the story, but Jerith knew not to push her too much. He let it lie for the moment.

  ****

  The two weeks following John’s arrival seemed to fly by, and before they realized it, Jerith’s departure for LA was imminent. There had been a couple of minor run-ins with John, but Jerith had kept his cool and deferred to Nicolette’s right to handle him. On one occasion, it had become very obvious to Jerith that John was ready to become physical to fight for what he obviously still considered his. Jerith too had been willing to defend his place in Nicolette’s life, but Nicolette had intervened. She had put herself between the two men, facing Jerith.

  “Don’t do this, Jerith, please,” she said, her tone fueling John’s rancor.

  “I’m not afraid of your little boyfriend, Colette. Just get the hell out of the way!” he bellowed, and reached out to remove her from his path. Nicolette surprised both of them by whirling on her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

  “Don’t touch me, you sonofabitch!” she screamed. “Don’t ever touch me!” Her emerald green eyes blazed at John, her face set in a determined line.

  John was momentarily taken aback, but then his eyes narrowed at her. “Don’t scream at me, Colette,” he said menacingly, taking a step toward her.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Jerith growled. John’s eyes went to the other man then, and he saw cold, determined anger there, and was surprised. He had figured Jerith for a player, and that he was just playing Nicolette for the moment. He’d also assumed that when he’d returned, Jerith wouldn’t like the heat being turned on and would leave, but the long-hair had stood his ground. John was ready to take Nicolette by force if necessary, and to that end he again reached to move Nicolette out of his way. Ryan walked in at that moment, and everything stopped. Even John hadn’t been ready to draw blood in front of his son. The confrontation had been averted, and Nicolette had managed to keep the two men apart since then.

  The night before Jerith was supposed to leave to go back to LA, Nicolette came home from work to find him sitting on her bed. She was two hours later than normal, and Jerith was on edge. His blue eyes watched her as she removed her work clothes and got ready to take a shower. He said nothing, and Nicolette knew he was uptight. She said nothing either, because she knew he had a reason to be.

  She took her shower, blow-dried her hair, and put on robe, then walked out of the bathroom. Jerith was still sitting in the same place, staring straight ahead, but the look on his face told her he knew she’d been with John earlier that evening.

  John had showed up in her office as she was leaving. He had told her he wanted to go somewhere and talk. When she resisted the idea, he told her he’d follow her home if she didn’t and that maybe then he could finish things with her new boyfriend too. Nicolette had been loath to allow another confrontation between Jerith and her soon-to-be ex, so she had gone to have coffee with him.

  Now, looking at Jerith, she knew he would have been just as happy to have John follow her home so they could kill each other. Nicolette’s motivation was to keep Jerith from getting hurt. She thought Jerith might be able to hold his own against John, but she wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t willing to risk it. Jerith’s looks were part of his livelihood, and she didn’t want her relationship with him to endanger that in the slightest. John always fought dirty—she was well aware of that.

  Now she stood watching him as his eyes flicked to her.

  “You were with him, right?” Jerith said. It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes.” Nicolette moved to sit down in front of him on the bed. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, so she had to sit farther from him than she would have liked. “He wanted to talk…” she said, trailing off as he nodded slowly.

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice low. “He wanted to talk you into getting back together with him.”

  Nicolette considered his words for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Yes, that was part of it. He also wanted to talk about Ryan. He said he wants Ryan to come to Boston during the summer…” Again she trailed off, this time as Jerith laughed, shaking his head sardonically.

  “I’ll just bet he does,” he said, almost snarling. “Gotta get him away from that bad influence.”

  “Jerith,” Nicolette said appeasingly, “Ryan is his son. Maybe he just wants to spend some time with him.”

  “Yeah, and maybe I’m the pope.” Jerith’s blue eyes flashed as he looked away from her. He was silent for a long moment, and then his gaze fell on her again. “So?”

  “So what?” she asked, looking perplexed.

  “So, did you fall for it?”

  “Fall for what, Jerith?” Nicolette sighed, feeling very tired suddenly.

  “His line, his apology.” Jerith’s voice had taken on an edge in his impatience to know his fate. “Whatever crap he said to try to get you back. Did you fall for it?”

  Nicolette looked at him as if just seeing him for the first time. “Is that what you think, that I’m going back to him?”

  Jerith didn’t reply. He swallowed convulsively, his face taking on a pained look as he nodded, his eyes delving into hers.

  Nicolette stood and moved to straddle his legs, sitting on his lap. She looked down into his eyes. “No,” she said simply, leaning in to kiss him. Jerith’s arms went around her, pulling her closer to him.

  When their lips parted minutes later, they were both breathless. Jerith hugged her to him. His lips were right next to her ear when he whispered, “I love you.”

  Nicolette sat motionless for a moment, digesting what he had just said. Then she moved to look down at him, her eyes searching his. “You do?”

  Jerith’s lips twitched in a lopsided grin. “Yeah. Go figure, huh?”

  But Nicolette didn’t let him off so easy. “But how? Why?” She shook her head. “When?”

  Jerith looked at her for a long moment, as if trying to decide what to tell her. “I’m not really sure how. Why is obvious, and when, I guess tonight—tonight, when you didn’t come home, and I knew you were with him, I realized it. The thought of you going back to him, the thought that I might lose you… It twisted me into a knot.” He looked straight into her eyes. “I’ve never felt that way about anyone.”

  Nicolette was surprised by what he’d said, but she was even more shocked by what she heard herself say. “I love you, too.” Her astonishment was evident in her voice. “I guess I didn’t realize until just now either. Wow…” she said, trailing off as the idea settled on her. She was in love with a man she’d met only slightly more than a month before, and on top of that he was a rock star of international fame, and he lived in a totally different city with a life she knew absolutely nothing about.


  Jerith was grinning at her now. He could see her mind working, and that she was going to tie herself up into a knot if he let her continue. He did the best thing he knew how to keep her from overthinking what they had said to each other—he made love to her for the next few hours. Eventually they lay on the bed, spent and half asleep.

  “When am I ever going to see you?” Nicolette asked, still breathless.

  “Oh, Judas priest,” Jerith said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes ceilingward. “Doesn’t that mind of yours ever shut off?”

  “No,” Nicolette said, propping herself up on an elbow and looking down at him. “And now that I’ve decided that I’m in love with you, I have this strange desire to see you every so often.”

  “You’ll see me.”

  “When?”

  “What do you want, an itinerary?” He widened his eyes at her melodramatically.

  “That would be lovely,” she said sweetly.

  “I’ll have my secretary fax you one.”

  “You have a secretary?” Nicolette asked, sounding surprised.

  “No. I was joking.”

  “See, that’s what I mean,” she said, hitting him on the shoulder. “I don’t even know you, outside of part of your childhood, who you dated last, what high school you went to, and that you’re a car thief…”

  “That’s a lot,” Jerith said, laughing. “Considering the fact that strictly speaking we’re only on about our third date…”

  “Oh, shut up!” She grinned. “That’s all past stuff. I don’t know anything about your life now, what you’re going back to in…” Her gaze shifted to the clock on her nightstand. “About seven hours.”

  Jerith looked at the clock, surprised that it was that late already. He was driving back to LA in the morning. He had to get on the road by about 6 a.m. because he had a meeting with the record company at two o’clock in the afternoon. He looked back at Nicolette and saw the distress on her face. He relaxed against the pillows, pulling her back down to lie next to him. “What do you want to know? Ask me anything,” he said quietly.

  Nicolette was quiet for a long time as she gathered her thoughts. “Well, I know you don’t have a secretary,” she said jokingly. “Okay… Where do you live? LA itself?”

  “No, I live in Malibu.”

  “On the beach?”

  “Above it.”

  “Do you have a dog?”

  Jerith grinned in the semi-darkness; the bathroom light was still on. “No, no dog, no cats, no fish, no birds. Too much maintenance, and I’m never home.”

  “Do you have a maid?”

  “She comes in twice a week, whether I’m there or not.”

  “Nice,” Nicolette said sardonically.

  “Hey.” Jerith looked down at her with a grin. “I’m a big star—I can’t be cleaning toilets and stuff.”

  Nicolette laughed. “Okay, so you have a maid. What about any other type of servants?”

  Jerith raised an eyebrow. “Servants?”

  “I mean, like a chauffeur, or a butler or something.”

  “Chauffeur? You know I love my cars—you think I’d let anyone else drive me around?”

  “Dumb question, huh?”

  “Dumb question.”

  “You said cars—how many cars do you have?”

  Jerith was silent for a moment as he thought about it. “Well, not counting the Corvette back home, I have five.”

  “Five?” Nicolette sounded stunned.

  “Yeah, I have the Z4 you saw, a Maserati, a Barracuda, a Porsche 911, and a ’57 Chevy Nomad.”

  “Wow.”

  “Oh, stop!” Jerith said. “Besides them, the only real money I’ve spent was on my house and my guitars.”

  “I don’t even know if I want to ask how much you paid for the house,” Nicolette said, grinning up at him.

  “Three point two,” he said simply, looking at her pointedly. She knew he wasn’t trying to impress her—that wasn’t what Jerith Michaels was about—but she was impressed anyway, and shocked. She hadn’t really realized how much he actually possessed financially.

  “Million?” she croaked.

  “No, three thousand two hundred. It was blue-light special day in Malibu,” he said sarcastically, but his grin was humorous.

  “Alright, alright, Mr. Michaels, you don’t have to get snippy,” Nicolette said, her tone just as light and humorous. “How many rooms does this mansion have?”

  “It’s not a mansion, and it has six.”

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded. “And what other financial wonders have I not discovered about you?”

  “I have an extensive portfolio of stocks,” he said, mockingly pretentious. “And some money in the bank.”

  “Some?” Nicolette was skeptical of his overly casual tone. “Just how much are you worth, Jerith Michaels?”

  “In liquid assets?”

  “Yeah, just the bare basics,” Nicolette said, eyeing him with a half-grin on her face.

  “About two million,” he said casually.

  Nicolette couldn’t head off the coughing fit that overcame her in her surprise. When she managed to regain her composure, she looked at him from the sitting position she’d moved into. “You have two million dollars at your fingertips?”

  Jerith shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “You have two million in your savings?”

  “No, I have a million and a half in an IRA, five hundred thousand in savings and a hundred thousand in checking,” he replied easily.

  Nicolette just shook her head and lay back down next to him. “And it doesn’t mean a thing to you, does it?”

  “Nope. They could stop paying me tomorrow and I’d still play.”

  “You love the music that much?”

  “Yep,” he said, sounding so serious Nicolette glanced up at him. He was staring up at the ceiling. It was obvious he was very sincere in his passion for what he did. It wasn’t for the money; it was for the music.

  “Good thing you’re good at it, huh?” She leaned over to kiss his chest.

  He squeezed her shoulder. “Helps.”

  They were silent then. Nicolette fell asleep in his arms, thinking that he was so different than the man she’d expected him to be when she’d met him. Jerith fell asleep thinking how much he was going to miss holding her every night once he was back in LA.

  The next morning, Nicolette got up with him at 4:30. She made him coffee, but he didn’t want her to go to the trouble of breakfast. “I’ll grab something later,” he said, pulling her down on his lap and holding her close. It was obvious that he was very tired, and Nicolette was concerned about the long drive ahead.

  “Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said, shrugging. “I’ve done shows on less sleep. Don’t worry.”

  “Sure, no problem.” Nicolette kissed his forehead, her lips lingering there as he held her tight. She couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes; she was going to miss him.

  As if he could sense her grief, Jerith glanced up at her. “Hey, knock that off,” he said softly. “You’ll see me soon, I promise.”

  Nicolette nodded, not looking convinced.

  “I love you,” he said, staring into her eyes.

  “And I, you.” She kissed him on the lips. They were both surprised when Ryan walked into the kitchen.

  “Hey, Kid,” Ryan said, clapping the older man on the shoulder then moving to sit in the chair across from his mother and Jerith. “So you’re outta here, huh?” He glanced at his mother and saw the devastated look in her eyes. “Wow,” he said, smiling at Nicolette. “Mom, it’s not like he’s goin’ off to war. He’s just goin’ back to LA—it’s like an hour by plane.”

  Jerith laughed, looking up at Nicolette with “I told you so” written all over his face.

  “Oh shut up, both of you,” she said, smiling in spite of herself. “It’s not the same thing, and you know it.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Jerith said seriously. “But we’ll make it work,
I promise.”

  The time flew by and before she knew it, it was six o’clock and Jerith had to go. She walked him out, holding his hand. When he got to the car, he turned to her. “How about you come out and see me in a couple of weeks?” he said. He’d obviously been thinking on it for a little bit, and he wanted to hear that she would.

  “I’ll try, Jerith, but I’ve got so much to do at work now… Oh hell,” she said, looking angry.

  “What?” Jerith said, surprised by her change in mood suddenly.

  “It’s starting already, the reasons we can’t see each other, the obstacles, the trouble.” She sounded depressed and angry.

  “We’ll work it out.” He moved to kiss her, his arms around her as he leaned back against his car, pulling her up against him. When they parted he looked down at her. “I got an idea,” he said, reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket. He pulled out his wallet, and from that pulled out a credit card and handed it to her. “You use that whenever you want to come see me. Just hop on a plane and come down.”

  “What if no planes are headed that way when I want to see you?” she said, being purposely difficult.

  “I don’t care if you have to charter a plane. If you need to see me, you come, one way or the other.”

  “And I suppose your record company will just be thrilled with your girlfriend showing up to take you away from your album.”

  “You let me worry about that. I want you to come down whenever you want to, and I’ll try to come up when I can, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said as she looked down at the credit card in her hand, sounding like a recalcitrant child.

  “Hey.” Jerith reached out to lift her face to his. “I love you, and we’ll work this out, okay?”

  “You win,” she said, smiling finally. “I’ll come in two weeks. I don’t care if I have to work double overtime till then—I’ll be there.”

  Jerith gave her the brilliant smile that women all over the world swooned for. “Good. See that you are, Sergeant.”