“Okay, calm down. Calm down.” He skimmed his hands over her skin, flicking off the tiny red ants.
“I can’t calm down. It hurts.”
“Don’t scratch it.”
Shivers took over her body. She hugged herself. The bites were starting to itch as well as burn.
“What’s going on?” Luis crunched through the bushes. “Ricky, what have you done?”
“I didn’t do anything. Fire ants attacked her.”
“Well, they live out here, Ricky. You know that.”
“But they don’t come in the yard.”
“Of course they do. Did you think they obeyed the property line?” Luis put his arm around Candy’s shoulders and she sobbed. “Come on, we’ll take you back to the house.”
Her jeans were twisted around her ankles and wrapped around her shoes. Luis picked her up and carried her. Candy buried her face in his shoulder, the humiliation burning as bad as the bites. Another couple of seconds and she’d have had her bra off, too.
When Luis carried her through the door, Sharon said, “Holy crow, what happened?”
“Fire ants. Many bites.”
“Ricky! I told you to watch for critters. Take this and go fill the guest room tub with warm water. Put in three cups.”
Candy didn’t see what Sharon handed him because Luis was settling her in a chair at the table. Sharon started untangling her shoes from her jeans. Luis left so at least she didn’t have to be half naked in front of him anymore.
“You poor dear. You are breathing all right. How are you feeling? Do you feel sick or dizzy?”
Candy shook her head. “No, but these really hurt.”
“I know they do. You must have ten. We’ll get you into a Borax bath and that’ll draw the venom out.”
“I can’t believe I stripped off my clothes.”
“Trust me, it’s the best thing you can do. Those little suckers crawl in until they can’t go any further and then they sink their nasty little mandibles into you. Just don’t scratch them because that makes it worse.” Sharon helped her to her feet. “I’ll run your clothes through the washer to get rid of any ants that might still be in them. The bathroom is right down the hall there and down the stairs. Check the bites while you wash up and make sure there aren’t any little ant pieces left in them. There’s some Benadryl in the cabinet. Go ahead and take some, it’ll help with the swelling. Ricky! You get out of the way!” she shouted down the hall.
Candy found the bathroom and stripped off the rest of her clothes. There were no more ants in them she could see, but there was a large welt forming on top of her right breast and another under it, one more on her stomach, four in a row right at the top of her left thigh and two on her back. She swallowed the Benadryl dry before sinking into the warm bath. Immediately, she felt better. The burning and itchiness died away. She lay in the water trying to figure out how she was going to salvage this situation.
Whoever Ricky’s father was, she needed the connection for Tyler. After this, Ricky was either going to want to distance himself from her or he was going to feel bad and try to make it up to her. The latter would be perfect, but chances were good he’d want to forget he ever knew her. So when she got out of the tub, she was going to have to play it cool. Like getting mauled by vicious ants because he didn’t pay attention to what was in his own fucking backyard didn’t bother her. The things she did for Tyler.
When the bathwater cooled to uncomfortable, Candy climbed out and wrapped herself in the white silk bathrobe on the back of the door. Stepping into the hall, she heard voices from the kitchen. As she got closer she heard a voice like honey saying, “Ricky, you should have been paying attention. You know there’s fire ants out there. What would you have done if she’d been allergic?”
“Come on, Dad. I didn’t think there were any in the garden. Luis said he got rid of them.”
“They’re insects. They creep back in.”
Maybe if she rescued Ricky from his dad, he’d be grateful and help her out. All she had to do was say she should have been paying attention, too. Easy peasy. Candy stepped into the kitchen and her mouth dropped open. All thoughts of playing it cool and rescuing Ricky from his tyrant father vanished.
Ronnie Bauer. Ricky’s father was Ronnie Bauer. Why hadn’t somebody warned her? Christ, she was standing in Ronnie Bauer’s kitchen wearing a borrowed bathrobe. “Um, um.”
Ronnie turned and it was as if the sun was coming out from behind the clouds. He had a lot of impact on TV and records, but in real life, it was like being run over by a semi full of raw charm. “Hello, Candy, how are you doing?” He reached for her hand and when she didn’t extend it, he leaned down to take it. “Fire ants are a bitch, but Sharon knows what to do. She said you had ten stings.”
“I—I.” Candy glared at Ricky. “You jackass. Why didn’t you tell me your father was Ronnie Bauer?”
Ricky shrugged. “I thought everybody knew who Dad was.”
“Everybody does, but that doesn’t mean everybody knows you’re his son.”
Ronnie laughed. “I think she’s recovered. You ready for dinner? Your clothes are still in the wash, but Tanya has some things around you can borrow. You look about her size. She won’t mind.”
Tanya? Tanya Bauer? The model Tanya Bauer who was also Ronnie Bauer’s child?
“Ricky, show her where your sister’s room is so she can get dressed and we can have dinner. I’m starved.”
* * * *
“Why didn’t you tell me that was Ronnie Bauer’s son?” Candy wailed when she walked through the front door of Joe’s condo.
“Because I knew you’d freak out and not be able to do your job,” Joe wailed right back before setting aside his drink. “How did it go?”
“Fabulous.” Candy settled on the footstool in front of him. “Ronnie said he’s been talking to the record company about starting up his own boutique label using their distribution and he likes Touchstone. He called Jerry Eland who’s going to listen to the demo and decide if he wants to produce them.”
“That’s great. Who’s Jerry Eland?”
“I have no idea, but Ricky was very excited about it.”
“What happened to your clothes, because that’s not what you were wearing this afternoon.”
“I got attacked by fire ants and Sharon washed them. These are Tanya’s.”
“Tanya Bauer?”
“Yes.”
“Mercy.” Joe picked up his drink. “Before you give them back I want to rub my face on them.”
Candy stood up. “You are a dirty old man. How bad do you need me tomorrow?”
“Why?”
“Ricky wanted to know if I could hang out and I thought it might be a good way to cement the relationship.”
“You really are a quick study.” Joe grinned. “I love it. Go ahead. Maybe you can get him to kiss your stings and make them all better.”
“I don’t think so. I love Tyler. I’m not going to cheat on him.”
“No matter how rich and famous the next contestant is?”
Candy folded her arms causing a couple of her ant bites to flare up, but she didn’t want to show weakness in front of Joe. “Exactly.”
* * * *
Tyler went straight from the job site to Candy’s office. They’d gotten in from LA this morning and she’d said they were going to the office after dropping off their stuff. Jason had started doing a Snoopy dance as soon as Sandy got off the phone with Jerry Eland last night. Tyler still couldn’t believe Candy had stumbled into Ronnie Bauer’s son while hanging out at a record company. Maybe she’d fucked him. Then Tyler wouldn’t have to feel so guilty about Jennifer.
Except he doubted it. Candy would never cheat. No matter what.
There was a parking spot right in front of the building so he took it and waited. Everybody in the band knew. Tessa had been flapping her big mouth before he even got to the dressing room Saturday night. Jason told him he was a
n asshole. Bear told him if he couldn’t keep it in his pants he shouldn’t have a girlfriend. Brian had wanted to know how he could possibly cheat on such a great girl as Candy. Marc just smoked a cigarette, staring and not saying a word. Tessa had yelled at him the entire time he was changing while Connie muttered behind her. Thank God, the usual gang of hangers on had been shut out because they all knew and liked Candy, too. The next morning Sandy had left a message with Tyler’s mom that he was disappointed, which his mother agreed with. Awesome having your mother know you cheated on your girlfriend with some random bar girl too. But if he could get to Candy first, he could confess and make it right before anyone else poisoned her against him.
Candy shuffled out of the building and headed straight to the car. She slumped into the passenger seat without kissing him. “I am so tired. We got on the plane at seven California time, which is like four regular time and flew for five hours. We landed here at nine local time, dropped off our stuff and came straight to the office for an eleven o’clock meeting. And then, I had to start on all the stuff that didn’t get done all this last week because Joe and I were gone because apparently Joe and I are the only ones who actually do any work around here.” Closing her eyes, she lolled her head against the back of the seat.
Good news, she hadn’t heard about his mistake yet.
Bad news, this wasn’t the time to tell her.
She opened her eyes. “Jerry Eland called Mr. Dale. What happened?”
Jerry. She was already using the guy’s first name. He was probably some super hunky, filthy rich beach bum who would sweep her off her feet. And after what Tyler had done, she’d be happy to go. If he were a good guy, he’d be happy to see her go, but obviously, he wasn’t or he wouldn’t be in this mess. “Yeah, he called last night. Somebody’s sending contracts to us.”
“That’s fantastic! Ronnie said he sounded really excited about working with you. He’s got some plans already for things he wants to fix about you.”
“Fix?” Jesus, she was calling Ronnie Bauer by his first name too. Another guy who could sweep her away. He could never measure up to these guys in the hero department. All he had was his youth, enthusiasm, and loyalty. Oh, wait. Tyler’s stomach churned. “What do you mean fix?”
“To make you a little more commercially appealing.” She patted his arm.
“I thought we sounded fine.”
“You do, but we listened to the demo yesterday and Ronnie was pointing out some things like—I don’t know. I could hear it when he said it, but I can’t explain it. Just be professional and take the criticism. Jerry wants to make the best possible album and so does Ronnie. He might even drop into the studio to help. Touchstone is going to be the first jewel in his record label crown.”
Fantastic. Now he not only had to hear about how wonderful Joe was, but he got to hear about how wonderful Ronnie Bauer was. And Ronnie Bauer really did walk on water.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.” He squeezed her hand.
“Oh honey, I don’t know if I’m up for a surprise tonight. I’m so tired.”
“This won’t take long.” If she was that tired, she wouldn’t come to rehearsal. She might go home to bed before Tessa could get to her. Then he wouldn’t have to tell her about Jennifer until tomorrow. Unless Tessa got her in the morning before she left for class. He’d better work it in before either rehearsal or she ditched rehearsal. Maybe over dinner. “I want to show you something before we go get dinner.”
“All right.” She closed her eyes. “Let me know when we get there.”
It wasn’t far, but she fell asleep before he stopped in front of the big white house with black trim on a quiet street off the main road ten blocks from her office and fourteen blocks from campus. The bus stop was right around the corner making it easy for her to get where she needed to go until they could afford to get her a car. “Hey Candy? Wake up.”
“What? What is it?” She looked at him and then at the house. “What about it?”
“That’s my apartment.”
“Your apartment?” She scratched her head. “What do you mean?”
“I rented the attic of that house. I’m going to live there. It’s got a little kitchen and a private bathroom. I move in next week.”
She stared at the house, frowning and blinking. “Why are you moving out of your mother’s?”
“Because it’s impossible for us to be alone together.”
“But you’re going to be going away soon to record.”
“I know, but that could be months from now.”
She sighed. “Did you sign a lease yet?”
“Yeah. I thought you’d be happy.” He reached for her hand. “We don’t have anywhere we can be alone. Now we can come back to my place. It could even be our place. You could move in with me.” She didn’t want to marry him, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t want to live with him.
“You know, I’m too tired to make sense of this. Can we talk about it tomorrow?”
Tyler dropped the car into gear. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“I’m tired,” Candy snapped. “I’ve been up since very early this morning and worked all day. And I worked all week.”
“I’m sure it’s backbreaking following Joe around. I worked all week too and I have to get up early every day.” Tyler jerked the steering wheel, turning the car around.
Candy opened her mouth and then shut it and turned to stare out the side window.
Probably a bad time to hit her with any news. He should have taken her to eat and then home and showed her the apartment tomorrow when she was rested. But then when would he have gotten his confession in? This argument sounded a lot like the ones his parents had had. His divorced parents. He reached for her hand. “Candy, I’m sorry. I missed you a lot and I’ve been missing you a lot even though you’re right here.”
“Yeah, it shows.” Candy sniffled.
“I did and I’m an asshole. I know you work hard. You did what nobody else has been able to do. You got us a recording contract. And we’re going to be going away to record and then we’re going to have to tour for something like forever and I’m going to miss you. I’m just edgy, Candy.”
She turned, pulling his arm around her shoulders so she could lean on him and sob. “I don’t want to fight with you. I love you.”
“You’re tired and it’s been really stressful. It’s okay now.” He stopped at the intersection and kissed the top of her head. “Everything is going to be okay now. Let’s get a pizza and head to your place.” Nobody should be home now. Jason had lessons until right before rehearsal and Tessa had work most nights and studied at the library all the others.
Except when they arrived at Callistos’ with pizza, Jason met them at the apartment door and Tessa was sitting at the table, studying. She jumped up before he’d gotten all the way inside.
“Did he tell you?” Tessa demanded.
“He told me. Where’s my suitcase?” Candy asked.
“I took it to your room for you.” Jason walked out of the hall. “Good trip? You are awesome.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
Jason picked her up and swung her around. “Do you realize the only more powerful person you could have found us was Paul McCartney? I can’t believe you bumped into his son roaming the halls of the record company. You are amazing.”
Tyler ground his teeth. He should have asked Jason what to do. So far he’d handled the whole welcome home thing a thousand times better and they’d just walked in. Lucky for Tyler, she was much more likely to leave him for Brian.
“Yeah. I tried to get him, but he didn’t happen to be roaming around the offices when I was.”
“Next time, try harder.” He set her down and gave her a smacky kiss on the cheek.
“I can’t believe you’re not more upset about this.” Tessa put her fists on her hips, her scowl deepening.
“I’m not happy about it, but what can I do now?” Candy sat do
wn on the couch.
Tyler broke in before Tessa could say anything more. “I got enough for everybody.” He slid the pizza box on the table.
“Oh cool, double meat.” Jason dropped down beside the coffee table.
“How can you be so calm about this,” Tessa shouted.
“Tessa, drop it,” Jason said. “Candy’s not upset.”
“I’d be upset if my boyfriend was fucking another woman.”
Candy had been lifting a piece of pizza to her lips. She had been perfectly calm. He had been about to get away with keeping it from her for another day.
Until Tessa opened her big fucking mouth.
“Jesus, Tessa, will you shut up!” Jason shouted.
Tessa screamed something back at him, but their fight reduced to feedback for Tyler. He was watching Candy.
Candy sat frozen for a long time. Then she very slowly put down her pizza, keeping her eyes on the table. She licked her lips. It seemed to be about a week before she spoke and then she was so quiet he couldn’t hear her over Jason and Tessa. Then she turned her gaze to him. “Well?”
“Well what, baby?” His head was empty. No good reasons, bad excuses, or pathetic pleas for forgiveness. Nothing at all for the woman who loved him so much she was making his dream career come true.
“Did you…do what she said?” Candy’s eyes were huge, begging him to say it wasn’t true.
Tyler opened his mouth to deny it, but nothing came out. Jennifer had been pretty and there, and he’d been lonely and stupid. She’d understand it was a mistake. He’d never do it again. He didn’t want anyone else. He’d…slipped.
“Oh my God!” Candy jumped up and ran for her room.
Tyler chased her and pounded on the door. “Candy, let me explain. Come on, baby. Open the door.”
Nothing.
“Candy, come on. I screwed up. I’m sorry. It only happened once.” He pressed his forehead on the door. “I missed you so much when you were gone and I was so lonely.”
The door whipped open so fast he nearly stumbled into the room. “Are you saying it’s my fault?”
“No.”
“You said you missed me and that’s why you did it.” Her eyes were red and her face was streaked with tears, but she looked so calm.
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