Rock Legend

by Tara Leigh

  “No. No, I’m not. But I understand why you’d think that.” I listened closely, but his voice sounded genuinely contrite. “Even if your mom doesn’t want to go, I’d love to see you.”

  Suddenly I wondered if my mother hadn’t answered truthfully when I asked if she and my father were healthy. “Dad, are you okay? Is there something I should know?”

  “What? No. Of course not. I’m fine. I just thought it might be nice, is all. A family vacation—”

  I didn’t have a chance to muffle the snort of derision that rose up from deep in my chest. “We’ve never taken a family vacation.”

  To his credit, he didn’t hang up on me. Instead he said something that surprised me nearly as much as his congratulations. “Maybe we should start.”

  The air left my lungs in a rush. Maybe we should.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Piper

  Mom, what’s your rush? The restaurant is open all day, I promise they’re not going to run out of food.”

  She rolled her eyes at me, pushing me out the door. We were meeting Delaney for lunch. I didn’t want a baby shower or a big party, but I knew they wanted to do something fun to celebrate. A casual ladies’ lunch with my mom and best friend—I could handle that.

  Things had changed a lot in the past few months, especially my expanding bump. My mother had sold the house I’d grown up in and moved into a condo like she’d planned, although her divorce from my father was on hold. She hadn’t flown to Palm Springs for that long weekend, but I did meet up with my dad for dinner one night while he was there. He’d looked good, but sad, and a little lost. Lonely.

  He’d looked how I felt.

  Apparently, once he had to live without my mother, he’d finally realized what he had lost. He’d been trying to woo her back, and we were building our relationship, too. The kind we’d never had. It was nice having a father, and I was getting to know a side of them both that I’d never known existed.

  The downside was realizing that my child might never know their own father. Landon had gone completely off the radar, and I hadn’t heard from him for months—not since I left him in my apartment with Shania and the echoes of my angry accusations.

  Office gossip was that he’d gone to rehab—but that could be code for anything. These days, rehab was mostly a generic, one-size-fits-all excuse, not an actual destination. I could probably find out the truth, but it would be like picking off a scab that had just begun to heal. I needed to move on, let Landon go. He was the one who had turned into a ghost, while I was right where he’d left me. Well, technically, I’d been the one to walk away last time. A distinction without a difference. If Landon wanted to find me, he knew exactly where I was.

  As best I could figure, he’d brought Shania to Harmony, and then taken off. I had a feeling Harmony knew where he was though, and Landon had definitely been in touch with Travis, because my boss had made several overtures to ensure I had everything I needed, plus some, when it came to my pregnancy. He’d given me a raise and a promotion, too. At first, I’d been afraid those had come from Landon, but I had a friend in payroll look into it. She confirmed that my salary increase wasn’t coming from Landon, and since I was working my ass off dealing with Verity Moore—a client everyone in Travis’s firm was terrified of having to take over when I went on maternity leave—I wasn’t about to turn it down.

  I actually liked working with Verity. She was smart and ambitious. But she was also impulsive and unpredictable, and drawn to trouble like I was to pistachio ice cream.

  Verity insisted she wanted to keep the drama in her life to a minimum, but every time I turned around I was putting out another fire she’d inadvertently started. Verity drove me absolutely crazy, but at least she kept me busy.

  It was bad enough that I dreamed of Landon every night—awakening to an empty bed, feverish with need—but my mind ran to him every free minute, too.

  I missed him so damn much.

  If I could, I would have taken back every word I’d thrown at him. Not that they weren’t true. Perhaps he would have responded better if they hadn’t come in the form of an ambush.

  Boom—I’m pregnant.

  Boom—you’re the father.

  Boom—you’re a useless addict.

  Boom—I don’t want you around.

  How many men wouldn’t have staggered away from the stench of my verbal vomit?

  Not many. And not Landon.

  But I wasn’t going to think about the legendary Landon Cox today. No. Today I was going to have a nice ladies’ lunch with my mom and Delaney. Tea and pasta and crème brûlée.

  I’d been looking forward to it all week.

  And by the time we left, I would know whether the baby swimming inside my belly was a boy or a girl. I’d finally asked Dr. Huang to send my mother the gender, so we would have something to celebrate today. Until recently, I’d been adamant about keeping it a surprise. Mostly because it felt wrong to find out without Landon by my side, and maybe because I had visions of him striding into the hospital when I went into labor, like a knight in shining armor.

  Except that legends were just made up stories about people that didn’t really exist.

  Landon was merely a sperm donor, not a father.

  He would never be mine.

  And we would never be his.

  The first sign today wouldn’t be an intimate ladies’ lunch with my mother and my best friend should have been the pack of paparazzi clustered around the entrance of the restaurant. I’d asked Delaney to pick someplace that wasn’t known for being a celebrity hot spot, and she had.

  They peered inside my car, quickly dismissing my Mini as unworthy of their interest. I parked, and if my mother hadn’t practically leapt out of the passenger seat, I would have suggested we call Delaney and meet up elsewhere.

  “Come on, sweetheart. I’m starving,” she said, barely giving me time to put the key fob in my purse before locking her arm within mine and propelling me across the parking lot.

  I heard a few camera clicks as we passed—insurance in case the paps found out later that we were worth the space on their memory cards.

  “Hi, this is my daughter, Piper,” my mother greeted the hostess, speaking so loudly I checked the woman’s ears for a hearing aid. “We’re here to meet her friend, Delaney, for a very special lunch.”

  I wriggled out of my mother’s grasp, turning around just in time to see the exaggerated wink she attempted.

  But the hostess took it in stride. “Right this way.” I was about to point out that she hadn’t grabbed any menus from the stack where she’d been standing, when I nearly peed my pants. Not that peeing my pants was an unusual occurrence these days. It happened nearly every time I sneezed. But having twenty people yell Surprise! did the trick, too.

  Clutching my chest, I gaped at the crowd in front of me, realizing immediately why there were so many paparazzi outside. Verity Moore was grinning at me, nearly dwarfed by Jett and Dax on either side, and Delaney was wrapped in Shane’s arms.

  What happened to a ladies’ lunch? My eyes skipped over the people in front of me. I noticed Travis and my father, too.

  My heartbeat sped up, the saliva evaporating from my mouth as I looked for one other person. The hair that had risen up on the back of my neck meant he was here, even if I couldn’t see him yet.

  I spotted a couple I didn’t recognize, and beside them—

  Landon Cox.

  A sudden ache in my chest clawed its way up my throat, squeezing tightly. But I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Damn, the man was gorgeous. Painfully so.

  But there was something different about him today. A substance behind the swagger. A seriousness behind his smile.

  Like the legend had finally become more man than myth.

  Landon

  I’d had nothing but time these past few months.

  Three and a half months.

  Fourteen weeks.

  Ninety-eight days.

  2,352 hours.

&nbs
p; 141,120 minutes.

  8,467, 200 seconds.

  But at the sight of Piper Hastings…time stopped.

  In a room full of people shouting, laughing, breathing—there was only her.

  My Pippa.

  Our eyes met and the energy in the room spiked, charging through me. If I looked down, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see singe marks below my feet. But I wasn’t looking anywhere but at the woman who stole my breath. The woman who made me feel alive.

  My gaze dropped to her sweetly rounded belly.

  Inside was a tiny human in the making, one half of each of us. A physical representation of the fact that we were, and always would be, connected.

  Before I realized what I was doing, my feet were moving. One step after another, each one taking me closer to the love of my fucking life.

  I stopped a few inches away from Piper, wanting so badly to touch her but feeling the weight of all that had been said the last time we spoke. And the weight of all that had gone unsaid for too long.

  I could have sworn there was joy in her face, but the closer I got, the less sure I was. Mostly, I detected a guarded wariness. Like she was afraid of what my presence meant. Both for her and the baby she didn’t yet trust me to know.

  All those minutes and hours and days and weeks—I’d thought about what I wanted to say, practiced it in my mind and out loud. To mirrors and nothing but open air as I hiked in the desert.

  But now, all my passionate declarations, my ardent apologies, they were gone. Erased so completely it was as if they’d never been there at all.

  I had no words.

  What I did have was a heart bursting with emotions. Love. Passion. Fear. Want. Joy. Desire.

  What didn’t I feel for this girl?

  The older woman standing beside Piper gave her shoulder a squeeze and pushed her toward me. “Go talk for a few minutes. I’ll get everyone settled and we’ll wait for you.”

  I gave her a grateful smile and extended my hand toward Piper, pulling her to the other side of an enormous fish tank.

  She yanked it away the second we were hidden from view, her face flushed, fury radiating from her eyes like blue flames. “How dare you just show up here after three months. Did you do this?” She gestured to the other side of the restaurant. “Did you have Delaney turn what was supposed to be simple lunch into some kind of welcome home party for you?”

  I could only shake my head. “No, the party was Delaney’s idea, I think. And she told me I wasn’t allowed to come. I showed up on your mom’s doorstep last week to beg for an invite.”

  “You went to see my mom—”

  I dropped to my knees, pressing my forehead to the swell of her belly. “’Course I did. I want the world to know what I’ve finally fucking realized. Been waiting my whole life for one person, Piper. You. I love you, and I’m not letting you go, ever again.”

  My voice vibrated with longing as I looked up at the woman who had rocked my world—for the better. “I’m clean, Pippa. Ninety-eight days without a single pill or drink. You were right, I didn’t need them. I was abusing them. I’ll tell you everything you want to know, later. But I’m here now, and I’m not leaving. Ever. My world is on your axis, babe.” The doubt clouding her beautiful blue eyes killed me. “Piper, I went away so I could come back. It nearly killed me, but I had to leave you. I had to leave…so I could learn how to stay.”

  She made a hiccupping noise in the back of her throat. “I don’t know what to say. This feels like an ambush.”

  “Don’t send me away yet. Give me a chance to prove that I’ve changed. Let me introduce you to the Coxes. And Jake, too.”

  “Your family—they’re out there?”

  I stood up, wrapping my hands around Piper’s waist and pulling her into me. “Yeah. But my family starts right here.” I gave her a squeeze, feeling a distinctive tap just below my belt buckle.

  I looked down. “Was that…?”

  Piper pressed her lips together, trying to stifle a laugh. “The baby?” Her brows arched upward, two shades darker than the thick waterfall of gold cascading down her shoulders. “Yes.”

  “Our baby.” Another wave of adoration rocked into me. “I’ve never stopped loving you, Pippa, even when I couldn’t admit it. Six years ago, I didn’t realize—I don’t think either of us realized—how little we really knew about each other. But I swear, you seeped into the marrow of my bones the very first time I held you in my arms. It’s taken me longer than it should have to figure out that’s exactly where you are, exactly where you’ll always be. Inside me. A part of me.” My hand curved around her belly. “Just like there’s a part of me inside you right now.”

  Piper

  My heart was beating wildly inside my chest, struggling to keep up with my frantic thoughts. Damn Landon for showing up when I least expected him…and for finally saying everything I’d ever wanted to hear.

  Jesus, I was such a cliché.

  The knocked-up pregnant girl who swooned the second her man came back around, making all kinds of empty promises.

  Except…they didn’t feel empty. Staring at Landon now, his face was full of regret. Full of hope, too. And he looked good, so damn good. Not just hot, but healthy. His gaze was clear and direct, searching mine for answers I didn’t have.

  Tears stung my eyes and I blinked them away. “I don’t know, Landon.”

  One slipped down my cheek anyway and Landon lifted his other hand to my face, stepping close as he swept the tear away with his thumb. “Give me today, Pippa. I swear on my life I’ll give you everything you’ve ever asked of me, everything you deserve. Honesty. Trust. Loyalty. Love.”

  I bit down on my lower lip, trying to fight the magnetic hold he had on me. “What if I’m not enough for you? I haven’t been so far, what’s changed?”

  He winced, tiny worry lines spreading out from the corners of his eyes. “Not enough…That’s what you think? You’re more than enough. You’re everything. What’s changed is that I’m finally man enough to realize that I’m not a prisoner to my past. What’s changed is that I’ve spent the last three and a half months—more than that—without you. And that’s no life. It’s nothing. Without you, I’m nothing.”

  His head dipped and he pressed his lips on mine as if sealing a promise. “Let me love you, Pippa. Let me love you today, and I swear on my life I’ll earn every day that follows.”

  Terrified I was making the wrong choice, but believing in my soul I owed it to the baby inside of me to give Landon this chance, I took his hand and walked on trembling legs to the other side of the restaurant. This time, I barely noticed the small crowd of family and friends.

  Because all I saw was a sea of pink balloons. One in particular caught my eye, its sparkling letters right in front.

  IT’S A GIRL!

  Epilogue

  Piper

  Worshipping a porcelain god is infinitely more preferable than invoking the names of everything holy while in stirrups.

  “Jesus Fucking Christ, get her out of me!”

  They’ve been trying. I know they’ve been trying—because so have I. For the past nineteen hours.

  Nineteen hours.

  Machines beeped and buzzed as the nurses cheered me on. The doctor was nowhere to be seen, because I still wasn’t ready to push. Correction. I was ready to push. My little firefly- turned-watermelon, not so much.

  I squeezed Landon’s hand in a white-knuckled grip. “Please, reach up and grab your daughter. Pull her out. I can’t do this, I can’t.”

  The whites of Landon’s eyes were showing as he leaned down to kiss my forehead. I was scaring him. I was scaring myself. “You’re almost there—”

  “Fuck almost there. You do some of the heavy lifting. Get. Her. Out.” Blood throbbed against my eardrums, pulsing hot within my veins. I felt like a parked car with a brick on the accelerator. Engine revving, going nowhere.

  We were in Cedars-Sinai. And even though a part of me was worried being back here would set off memori
es of Landon’s own hospital stay, along with it the urge to self-medicate with prescription drugs, I knew I was being irrational. He’d been my rock ever since showing up at my surprise baby shower. He wouldn’t leave me now, not when I needed him the most.

  I’d been in labor for so long that my parents had already arrived from New York and were both outside in the maternity ward’s waiting room. Landon went out to see them not long ago and he said they were holding hands. My parents, holding hands? It almost made me want to see for myself.

  Another contraction hit, a deep twist and pull from the depths of my engorged belly. They had turned down the epidural over an hour ago, saying that I would be pushing any minute. That it would all be over soon.

  It. Wasn’t. Over.

  I nearly bowed off the bed in pain, shrieking as I squeezed Landon’s hand tighter. If it didn’t end soon, there was a good chance I’d inflict more damage to his grip than any drunken backflip.

  The contraction had barely faded before there was another one, right on its heels. And another one after that. The room blurred, and even Landon’s face—the most perfectly put-together collection of angles and planes and hollows—went vague.

  The lock holding me to this room, to Landon, to the overwhelming, unrelenting pain simply unclasped. I was loose, untethered. Closing my eyes, I drifted away from the bright lights and sharp sounds, from the anxious tone of Landon’s voice as he called my name.

  I tried to resist the darkness that gathered at the very edge of my consciousness, remain connected to the man I loved more than life itself. Memories flashed, like shooting stars across an inky sky. Cutting the cake at our baby shower, so filled with love and hope and fear I couldn’t even taste it.

  The look on Landon’s face as the crib he’d spent the entire day building, using a newly purchased drill and all of urban dictionary’s foulest curses, fell apart just as he was proudly showing it off.

  Landon and Jake drumming together, side-by-side in the music studio of his home. Our home.