Plain Jayne. Lame Jayne.
Sophie and I left our rooms and went downstairs. As we walked, I kept my eyes peeled, ready to slap my hand over her eyes if there was anything happening, but there wasn’t.
I’d never eaten in the dining room at the manor. Never even seen it when it wasn’t covered with dust covers. Servers bustled around, delivering appetizers, fetching drinks.
The room was huge, with high arched ceilings and stone floors. It was also packed full, and the din of voices made it impossible to separate one person from another. Soph squeezed my hand when someone knocked into us, jostling her into me.
The man, handsome in a too-groomed sort of way, turned to face us. Me, he dismissed entirely, but he seemed to recognize my student.
“Sophie!” He leaned over. “Do you remember me? Mr. Leo? I’m friends with your Mama.” Lifting one perfectly arched eyebrow, he waited for her to answer.
“Yes,” she answered in a tiny voice, and sidled a little closer to me. I could only imagine what kind of friend he was, so placing my hands on her shoulders, I moved her behind me. He glared at me until a bright young thing came by and snaked a hand around his waist and down his pants.
I spun Soph fast and took off in the opposite direction, the sound of their laughter following me. Why in the world had Tennyson told me to bring Sophie here? Was he insane?
There were times in my life where I had to make choices that were hard, and this was one of those times. With the little girl’s hand in mine, I marched out of the dining room, past guests who either ignored us or called out to Sophie, cajoling her to join them. I reached the hallway just as Klaus and Tennyson were headed inside.
“Where are you going?” Tennyson asked at the same time Klaus barked, “What are you doing here?”
Glancing down at Sophie, I smiled and whispered, “Cover your ears.”
Immediately, her hands came up and over them.
“Listen to me, you selfish—” I mouthed the word jerk. “I’m not staying here. Sophie is not staying here. It’s not appropriate, and if you want to fire me, go ahead. But you gave me the responsibility for her education and safety, and this? Is not safe.” I tapped Soph. “You can put your hands down now.”
Tennyson stared at me, wide-eyed, and when I looked at Klaus, I thought I saw him smile, but it disappeared beneath a glower a second later. “I’ll send food to Sophie’s room for you both. Go on.”
“Klaus,” Tennyson hissed.
“Seriously?” he growled. “Go on,” he said to us.
Tennyson stared hard at him but then ducked down and kissed the girl’s head. “Sorry, sweet pea. I should have thought.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “But Klaus, hurry up. I’m starving.”
There was nothing else for me to say, at least, nothing I could say in front of her, so we left.
“Are you very disappointed?” I asked, feeling a little guilty that Sophie spent all that time getting ready only to be let down when we got there.
“No,” she said. “I don’t like Mr. Leo, and I don’t like a lot of those people. They were so rude, and did you see Veronica Charles’s dress? You could see right through it!”
“It must have been confusing to you,” I said, shutting the door behind us. I leaned against it and studied her. How much damage control was I going to have to do?
“No,” she said. “The guys are in magazines all the time, and sometimes the models are almost totally naked!” She shrugged. “It’s just fashion. But it’s really cold in the dining room.”
A jaded eight year-old. Rage bubbled in my stomach, and I made a promise to myself that, fired or not, I’d give the guys a piece of my mind. Sure, I’d said in my interview that a family shouldn’t have to be on their best behavior at home, but this was different. This was putting themselves, and their stupid, snotty, trashy, classless…
“Your face is really red,” Soph observed.
I let out a breath and rubbed my temples. If it was possible to actually feel my blood pressure rise, then this was that. It took me a while, but eventually I felt like I could speak without screaming, and just as I opened my mouth, there was a knock on the door.
Unlocking it, I suddenly paused. “Who is it?”
“Diego.”
I turned the handle and opened it. He held two plates and had a couple cans of soda beneath his arm. “Can you grab these?”
I took them and moved aside to let him enter.
“Hey, mija, how are you?”
“Fine,” she said, a little subdued. Diego glanced back at me, and I gave him a wide-eyed, this is all on you, look.
He sighed. “I’m sorry, Sophie,” he said. “Uncle Ten didn’t think before he invited you. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed. Or if it was weird.”
“Your friends are rude.” She wasn’t going to cut him any slack, and I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “They’re mean to Jayne, and Mr. Leo is down there, and I hate Mr. Leo.”
“Who’s Mr. Leo?” Diego looked at me like I was supposed to know.
“Perfect eyebrows, perfect tan.”
He had no idea who I meant.
“The ascot?”
“Oh,” Diego’s eyes narrowed and he knelt on the ground. “How do you know him?”
“He’s Mama’s friend,” Sophie answered, and I saw his shoulders tense.
“Did he talk to you?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered for her. “Until they’re gone, we’re going to keep our distance.”
“I think that’s best.” He stood, facing me and frowned. “Look…” Stopping himself, he glanced back at his daughter and shook his head. “Let’s get you settled.” Whatever else he was going to say was lost as he got Soph settled with her food. In minutes, she was happily munching away and engaged in a show he put on her tablet.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked, gesturing to the window seat.
Nodding, I followed him. He gestured for me to sit next to him, but I pulled up a chair from the desk.
“I don’t want Sophie around anyone from her mother’s circle of friends,” he said.
I almost said, “No duh.” I didn’t hide my reaction well, because he chuckled and shook his head. “Right. I don’t know what you know about Sophie’s life before she came with us, but she saw things that she shouldn’t. And met people she shouldn’t have.”
“And you invited them here,” I pointed out. “Not only did you invite them into your house, but you demanded she engage with them.”
“I didn’t!” he argued. “I had no idea Tennyson invited you.”
“That’s not an excuse when it comes to parenting,” I replied. I was fired up again and unloaded. “You don’t get to blame decisions on the other parent. You all take responsibility for what happens to her. If that guy, whoever he is, isn’t safe, then he shouldn’t be here. And, you haven’t asked for my opinion but I’m going to give it to you anyway—”
He leaned away, his back against the glass and crossed his arms, but he didn’t say anything to discourage me from going on.
“None of these people should be here when Sophie is here. I have her cloistered in this room so she doesn’t see the things that I’ve seen.”
“This is my home—” he started.
“This is her home,” I interrupted. “And her needs trump yours. That’s what you do when you decide to have a child, you put their needs in front of your own. And until you…” I paused and mouthed the word buttholes. “Work that out, then I’ll make decisions about her safety. And my decisions about that will trump yours. So until your ‘friends,’ ” I used finger quotes, “leave. We’ll be upstairs. Unless you want me to bring her on vacation, and I’m happy to do a tour of castles. I’d like to meet the queen.” By the time I was done, I was out of breath and sweating. I actually felt a bead run down my temple, and I wiped it away with my fingers, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
“Are you finished?” he asked.
Somewhere in the room there was
a draft, and it blew across my neck. I shivered and realized my hands were shaking. Clenching them in my lap, I sat up straight and stared at him. “Yes.”
And now comes the part where I’m fired.
Diego scooted forward on the seat and leaned close enough to me that I could see a smattering of dark freckles over his nose and along his cheeks. “I don’t like this anymore than you do, but this is what we do. This is our job. Do you think, just because we release new music that we stay relevant? We have to stay connected, and I don’t know half the fucking people downstairs, but the rest of the world does, and when they want to know what’s cool, they look at them. So if I have to kiss some ass, and take selfies with kids who have names like “Otter” and “Savant,” then I fucking do it because it’s my fucking job.”
His cheeks flushed, and his eyes glittered as he moved so close I could feel his breath over my face. “But don’t ever question my commitment to my daughter. She is my priority and I’d never do anything to compromise her safety. I came up here to apologize, and to thank you. Tennyson would have come himself, but he’s busy getting his ass kicked by Lee and Klaus right now, so the job fell to me.”
Oh.
“Good,” I said, which wasn’t what I’d meant to say, but what followed the absolute brain fart that I had when he finished speaking.
He jerked back, surprised. “Good?”
“Yeah. I’m glad they’re reading him the riot act. And I’m glad she’s your priority. But it doesn’t negate what I said. I get this is your job, but she shouldn’t be here when this is going on. It’s—” Kids could get caught up in things that they shouldn’t, and people, when they had drugs and booze and were surrounded with people who encouraged bad decisions, could do things to them that would have a lasting impact on their lives. “You say her safety is your priority, but all it takes is one person who isn’t in their right mind taking an interest in her.”
The color drained from his face as he stared at me, and I saw he understood what I meant. I wasn’t saying his friends were child molesters, or child murderers, but I wasn’t saying they weren’t.
“So I can’t trust anybody?” he asked.
“You can trust me,” I answered. “I won’t let you make a mistake when it comes to her.”
From across the room, Sophie burst out laughing, and it popped the bubble that I’d somehow imagined around Diego and me while we spoke.
He stood, staring down at me while a slew of emotions crossed his face. I waited for him to say something, argue with me, or put me in my place again, but he didn’t. He turned and went to his daughter. “Listen to Jayne,” he said. “She’s the boss.”
“I know.” She didn’t look away from her tablet as he kissed her head and left.
When the door closed behind him though, she swiveled in her chair to face me. “I still want to meet Blanca.”
Sighing, I leaned back in my chair and wished for something a little harder than a soda. “I know you do.”
18
Diego
I stalked down the hall, ignoring the guests who called out to me and the flashes from cell phones, until I got to the studio.
Klaus broke off whatever it he was yelling when he saw me, while Tennyson glanced at me and then dropped his head in his hands.
“Are you a complete idiot?” I asked.
“Klaus already dressed me down, Diego. I don’t need to hear it from you, too.”
Lee raised his eyebrows and pushed a hand through his hair.
“I just wanted to see her.”
I wasn’t sure I heard Tennyson correctly, and I leaned forward. “Qué?”
“I wanted to see her, all right?” he said a little louder. His face flushed, and he jumped out of his chair, pacing the studio. “I’m surrounded by all these… yes men. Or girls who have their hand down my pants before they introduce themselves, and I just needed some air. I needed to breathe again.”
His words froze the blood in my veins. Breathe.
He was right.
With Jayne, I knew our daughter was safe and I could breathe.
Which was saying something considering the craziness in my life. It was like I could just… hand the keys to her and she’d drive.
And she’d get us where we needed to go.
I let out a breath. “You fucked up, Ten, but I understand.”
“You do?” he asked, and I nodded.
“I do.” I looked at Lee.
He nodded and cleared his throat. “I think it’s time we talk about the elephant in the room.”
“Don’t call my girl an elephant,” Ten said. Now that he’d been forgiven, he was back to being a joker. “She’s a fairy princess. A graceful flower. A—”
“She’s ours,” I said. We’re hers. “Now, it’s been a while, so how do we do this?”
19
Jayne
Sophie fell asleep in my room as we lay together watching a movie from the 1960s. It was a classic Disney film, and one of the few she hadn’t seen. I’d just tucked her in and gotten off the bed, staring at my room to figure out where I was supposed to sleep when there was a knock at my door.
Picturing an awkward interaction with another one of the guys, I rubbed my eyes and walked across the room. “Who is it?” I said in a low voice.
“Mrs. Foster.”
I opened the door to see the older woman dressed to the nines. Her dark hair was perfectly blown-out, and she wore a beautifully fitting dress that showed off her figure. “You look amazing!” I whispered.
“Thank you.” She did a little curtsey and smiled. “The guys want you to go downstairs.”
“You can’t be serious,” I replied. Had everything I said to Diego gone in one ear and out the other? “I’m not leaving Sophie.”
“That’s why I’m here,” she said. “I’ll sit with her until you come back. They have some sort of entertainment downstairs and they thought you’d enjoy it. I was sent with instructions not to let you say no.”
“I’m saying no.”
“I was then told that if you said no, I had to remind you that they were the boss, and this was a job expectation.”
“Going to a party is a job expectation?” I lifted my eyebrows and shook out my hands because I wanted to fist them and then drive them into their rock-hard stomachs.
“Just go,” she said. “It’s a psychic, I guess. I wasn’t supposed to tell you but obviously you’re going to keep arguing with me.”
I looked over my shoulder at Sophie who gave a little snore and then turned onto her side. I was still wearing my dress, and I’d let her braid my hair while we watched the movie, but I wasn’t feeling up to company. Sighing, I opened the door wider so Mrs. Foster could pass by. “Lock the door between our rooms and then this one. I have the key so I’ll let myself in, okay?”
“Okay,” she answered and shut the door, locking it.
“Okay,” I said dumbly and started downstairs. With each step closer to the noise, my dread increased. I didn’t want to do this. Perhaps I could find a corner and hide, and that way, I’d be there, but I wouldn’t really be there.
As soon as I came down the stairs, though, I was noticed. “The nanny!”
A dozen people whipped their heads toward me and began to snicker. Nearby, I saw Warner, who was staring at me with a frown. My foot hadn’t touched the last step when he was next to me. He grabbed my arm and squeezed. “What are you doing here?”
There was a room full of people and somehow my presence offended him.
“I invited her, Warner.” Lee plucked Warner’s hand from my arm. “Now fuck off.”
Someone twittered, and their manager’s face flushed. He turned on his heel and strode away while Lee glared at his retreating form. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.” My arm ached a little from his tight grip, but he didn’t need to know that. “I’m here. Can I go now?”
Someone tsked, and I saw Tennyson behind him. “You just got here, Jaynie. We’ve been waiting for
you to start the fun.” As he stood next to Lee, he exchanged a glance with the other man that I couldn’t interpret.
“That wasn’t necessary,” I replied. “I’m sure you’ll have more fun with your work friends without me being a wet blanket. But thanks for the invite.” I took a step toward the stairs, but Tennyson grabbed my hand. Unlike Warner, his touch was gentle. With a little tug, he brought me closer to him.
“I’m sorry I was rude,” he said. “I tend to act like an ass when you’re around.”
He did, but when I didn’t reply, he waved his hand toward me. “This is where you say, ‘That’s all right, Ten. I understand you’re just a temperamental musical genius, and I’ll cut you some slack.’ ”
“I think you get cut enough slack,” I replied, and Lee chuckled.
“Come on,” he said. “I want you to meet the psychic. She’s done readings for all of us, and she’s waiting for you.” He led me to a heavy wooden door and knocked dramatically. It opened and there stood Blanca, her face red. When she saw me, she narrowed her eyes.
“Who are you?”
“She’s Sophie’s teacher, love,” Lee said, reaching past me to flick her blonde waves over her shoulder. “She’ll have her palm read.”
“Don’t bother,” she told me. “That lady is full of shit.” She glanced down at me, like she was just noticing me. “I can tell you’re a teacher. You all have the same look.” And with that nugget, she shouldered past me hard enough that I knocked into Tennyson.
He steadied me but didn’t say a word as we walked into the room. Inside, the lights had been dimmed. Klaus stood by the fireplace, arm propped on the mantel. He glanced at us as we came inside before gesturing to the woman in the chair. She wore a shawl over her head, and in the dim light, I couldn’t make out her features.
“This is Madame Zelda,” he said.
Sure.
“Sit down and give her your hand,” Klaus directed.
Just Jayne Page 9