Release Me

by Farrah Rochon

  There was a slightly bigger crowd waiting at the theater. Aria lowered the back window and waved as they drove through toward the back entrance. The first act, The Loner, was already on stage, belting out a soft Bon Jovi ballad from the mid-80s.

  Kellerman greeted Toby and Aria in the aisle. He took Toby’s hand in a firm shake.

  “You two arrived earlier than I’d expected with that delay in Arizona you had to endure.”

  “The limo driver made up for it,” Toby said.

  “Well, this is it.” Kellerman swept his hands around, showcasing the Kodak as if he’d built it with his own two hands.

  “This is amazing,” Aria breathed, turning slowly, awe in her voice. “I still think someone is going to pinch me and I’m going to wake up and find this was all just a dream.”

  Toby pinched her. “It’s real. Embrace it.”

  She giggled, rubbing her arm. “I just have to make sure I don’t do anything to ruin it tomorrow night.”

  “That’ll never happen,” Kellerman assured her before Toby could tell her the same thing. “Half the people who will fill this theater tomorrow will be here to see you, Miss Jordan. There’s nothing you can do to disappoint them.” Kellerman lowered his voice. “In my opinion, tomorrow night is just a technicality. This show is yours.”

  “That doesn’t mean you don’t have to be prepared,” Toby warned. “You need to get ready for your rehearsal.”

  “Listen to your manager,” Kellerman said. He motioned for a woman wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard. “This is Allison. She’ll show you to your dressing room and let you know when its time for you to get out on stage.”

  Allison shook both their hands. “Are you Tobias Holmes,” she asked. Toby nodded. “There was a call for you about five minutes ago. The person said they’d been trying to call your cell phone, but it was going straight to voicemail.”

  Toby took the phone out of his pocket, looking at a blank screen. “I forgot to turn it back on after we got off the airplane. Did they leave a number?”

  “The woman said you knew the number.” Toby’s heart started a fast beat at the thought that it was Sienna who’d called, until Allison continued. “She called from Holmes Construction. She said you need to call your brother, Alex, as soon as possible.”

  He didn’t feel like talking to Alex, but if his brother had called him here, it must be important.

  Toby flipped through the numbers in his cell phone until he found the number for Alex’s construction company. The receptionist answered on the first ring.

  “Hey, Jennie,” Toby said. “Alex needed to speak with me?”

  “Oh, Toby, thank God. Give me one minute while I get him.”

  “Wait, Jennie. What’s wrong?” His heartbeat ramped up again, but with fear instead of anticipation as he heard the urgency in Jennie’s voice.

  “You need to talk to Alex. Just hold on, he’s right outside.”

  The few moments it took for Alex to get to the phone felt like an eternity. A dozen horrible scenarios went through Toby’s mind as he waited for his brother to pick up the other end of the line.

  “Toby?”

  “Alex, what’s going on?”

  “It’s Mama,” Alex said.

  Toby’s stomach dropped. “What happened?”

  “We don’t know where she is,” Alex answered.

  “What do you mean you don’t know where she is? It’s Monday morning. She should be home,” Toby said.

  Okay, this wasn’t as bad as what he’d expected to hear. Still, they’d lost Mama?

  “We know where she should be,” Alex returned. “But that’s not where she is. Eli talked to Mrs. Lewis across the street, and she said Mama told her she was going on a trip. Mrs. Lewis said Mama got into a white car this morning with two luggage bags.”

  “And she didn’t tell you or Eli where she was going?”

  “No,” Alex answered.

  “What about Monica?”

  “No,” Alex said again. “Nobody knows where she is, and we can’t think of how to find her either. How do you go about looking for a grown woman who, apparently, left under her own will?”

  “Did you call her cell phone? I know she doesn’t use it all that often, but give it a try.”

  “You really think I’m stupid, don’t you?” Alex said. “Of course, I’ve tried her cell phone. It goes straight to voicemail.”

  “Then start calling airlines, and train stations, and everywhere else you can think. This doesn’t sound like something Mama would do.”

  “Toby!” Toby looked up to find Aria waving him toward the door she’d entered to go to the back of the theater. He needed to be in two places at once, and didn’t want to choose between the two. But he was in L.A. for a reason.

  “Look, Alex, I have to go.”

  “I know, man. I know. I didn’t want to worry you with all you have going on, but I knew you’d want to know about Mama.”

  “Of course I want to know. Call me if you hear anything. Call me even if you don’t hear anything. I want to know either way.”

  “I promise, man. And good luck tomorrow night.”

  “Thanks,” Toby answered, and disconnected the call.

  Where in the hell could Mama have gone? Toby tried to come up with even one reason his mother would have left without saying anything to any of her sons, but it was so uncharacteristic of her. Now, on top of everything with the show and Sienna, he had to worry about Mama’s disappearing act.

  As he followed Allison to Aria’s dressing room, Toby said a silent prayer that Mama had just forgotten to tell them about some church outing. But why would she need two bags of luggage for a church outing?

  Toby tried to ignore the tingling at the back of his neck. He refused to think that anything bad had happened to his mother. In fact, he refused to think about this at all anymore. Alex and Eli were back at home. They could handle this.

  “What did Alex want? Is something wrong?” Aria asked when he walked into the dressing room. It was pretty nice, with a couch covered in that fake suede-looking material, and a huge lighted mirror.

  “Nothing for you to worry about,” Toby answered. Aria had become pretty attached to Mama these past few weeks. She didn’t need the added stress of knowing she’d gone missing.

  “What do you think of all this?” he asked, coming up to where she sat in front of the mirror.

  “It’s amazing. Thanks for the flowers.” She lifted a rose from the bouquet Toby had ordered before leaving New Orleans. He felt confident Aria’s infatuation with him was buried, and while he wanted to start off this new working relationship on a professional playing field, he also wanted her to know he considered her a friend.

  “Are you nervous?” he asked.

  Aria sat up straight, and seemed to contemplate her answer long and hard. A slow smile began to spread across her lips. “You know, I’m not. I’m excited, but not nervous. I have Sienna to thank for that. Where is she, anyway? Did she decide to come in on a later flight?”

  Toby’s chest started to ache at the thought of Sienna back in New Orleans. He’d wanted her out here with him, had booked her flight and everything. But she never showed up at the airport. He’d tried calling yet again, but as he had since yesterday, all he got was her voicemail, both at home and on her cell phone. But today was Monday, a workday. Maybe he could get her at the office.

  “She couldn’t fly out with us because something turned up at work,” Toby lied.

  “She has to get here before tomorrow night. I cannot imagine going on stage without her out there in the audience.”

  “She’ll be here,” Toby said, and prayed he wasn’t telling another lie.

  He stepped out into the hall and dialed Mulholland, Davis and French’s main number, just in case Sienna had Caller ID on her direct line. Toby gave a tired laugh. Just a couple of days ago neither one of them wanted to get out of bed together, and now he had to worry about her avoiding his calls. But he, of all people, knew that
life could change within the blink of an eye.

  The receptionist put his call through to Sienna’s extension, but she was either not in the office or had developed telepathic capabilities that told her he was on the other end of the line.

  He would go crazy if he didn’t talk to Sienna soon.

  He would go crazy if they didn’t find Mama soon.

  Maybe he’d already gone crazy, and was just figuring it out for himself.

  Toby resigned himself to carrying the heavy weight that had settled in his stomach with him for the rest of the day, but he wouldn’t let these ancillary worries cloud his mind. He had a job to do. And as the old cliché proclaimed, the show must go on.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Organized pandemonium.

  It was an oxymoron, but Toby could not think of another way to describe the incredible scene unfolding before the entire country. Every one of the three thousand four hundred seats of the Kodak Theater was unoccupied, because everyone was on their feet.

  Toby stood with the rest of the audience, pride tightening his chest as he watched Aria give the performance of a lifetime. She commanded the stage, poise and confidence exuding from every sway of her hips as she moved from one side of the stage to the other, captivating the audience. Her camera shyness seemed to have dissipated, as well. Aria did just as much to win over the home audience as she did for those here at the live show.

  When her performance ended, the ovation lasted throughout the two and a half minute commercial break, and into the next segment.

  Toby felt sorry for the guy who had to follow Aria’s performance. He’d been portrayed as “The Jock” on the show, and while he had the type of voice that could make it as a member of a boy band, he had nothing on Aria.

  During the final commercial break, all of the contestants were lined across the stage. Two guys with headsets stood on either side of them. When the stagehands gave the signal that they were returning from commercial break, Toby sucked in a huge breath and had to force himself to let it out.

  This was it. The rest of his career—his life—hinged on what would transpire on this stage in the next two minutes. One by one, the contestants were picked off until Aria stood side by side with the girl who was originally pegged as the show’s Sex Kitten.

  A thunderstorm roiled in the pit of Toby’s stomach. His skin was tight, tingling. The lights in the theater dimmed until only two spotlights remained: one on Aria, and the other on the Sex Kitten. A roar built dramatically from the tympani in the orchestra pit.

  “And the winner of A Week in the Life of a Wannabe Star is,” the host paused for effect, “Aria Jordan!”

  The audience erupted. Toby jumped out of his seat and pumped his fist in the air. “Yeah,” he hollered.

  The crowd started chanting Aria’s name. Metallic confetti rained from the rafters as a montage of her performances from the past week played on the gigantic screens behind the stage. Toby turned and let his eyes roam over the sea of adoring fans, all with excited smiles, some holding homemade poster boards with We Love You, Aria written in glitter.

  Toby turned back to the stage, his chest once again swelling with pride as Aria graciously accepted the acclaim. Tears streamed down her face. The music started back up, but Aria could barely get the words out as she tried to sing the show to a close.

  The headset twins indicated that the show had gone off the air, and Toby took his first calm breath in weeks.

  The crowd started filing out of the theater, no doubt to get prime spots in the autograph area that had been sectioned off outside. All of the contestants had an additional two hours of smiling for pictures and interviews with the major entertainment and tabloid shows.

  “I guess you’re on cloud nine.”

  Toby didn’t have to turn around to know whom it was who’d stepped up behind him. During Aria’s segment tonight, the cameras had cut to Isaac Payton sitting in the front row almost as many times as they showed Aria. Even though tonight’s audience was filled with some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, no celebrity had had as much impact on the show’s success as Payton, and everyone knew it.

  Toby needed to remember that, as well. As much as he hated to admit it, he owed Payton. Even after Toby had given the guy a black eye, Payton still went to the media to save Aria’s reputation. And in the process, he’d changed what could have been the biggest blow to Toby’s blossoming career into the biggest boon. Toby had enough savvy to understand that just the miniscule hint of scandal involving a big name like Isaac Payton had been the thing to boost Aria ahead of the pack. If her little indiscretion had not been caught on camera, tonight’s show could have been anybody’s game.

  Toby turned, and swallowing past the lump of resentment in his throat, held his palm out to his former teammate.

  Payton looked at it for a few seconds before accepting Toby’s gesture. “What’s this about?” he asked.

  “All of this,” Toby said, gesturing at the stage. “Aria would have won this show either way, but she wouldn’t have had this kind of success if not for you turning things around after that incident the other night.”

  “Yeah, about that incident—”

  Toby shook his head. “Not my business. Aria is a grown woman. I just advised her to be a little more discreet next time around.”

  “That kiss was as far as it went,” Payton said anyway. “And I wasn’t the one who initiated it. Aria came on to me that night. I would never have kissed her out in the open like that, especially knowing they had those cameras there.”

  Toby was still skeptical, and he let it show on his face.

  “Don’t believe me if that makes you feel better,” Payton said with a shrug.

  “Forgive me for not rushing to trust you,” Toby said. “The Isaac Payton I know has always been a whore for attention.”

  Yet, the Isaac Payton he knew would not have come out that way for Aria, either.

  “You, above all, should understand that people can change. Just look at your girlfriend. The woman I met at Jonathan’s club is nothing like the scrawny girl you described back when we were at St. John’s.”

  Toby’s hand fisted, but he wasn’t sure if it was because he resented Sienna’s name being on Payton’s lips, or because what the man was saying was true.

  “And, just to set the record straight, if you want to thank the person who’s really responsible for all of this, thank Sienna.”

  Toby’s head jerked up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Truth be told, I was going to let the media run with it. You’re right, I am a whore for attention.”

  “But Sienna talked to you?”

  Isaac nodded. “She made me realize a few things.” Payton glanced to the side then looked back at him. “Look, Toby, I know you think what I did back at St. John’s was wrong.”

  “It was.” Toby crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I was within my right to pull out of the deal,” Payton argued.

  “Without telling me? I trusted you, man.”

  Payton shifted from foot to foot. “You just let Sienna know we talked about this, okay? I promised her I would.” Payton looked him in the eyes. “She’s a good woman. You’re lucky to have her.”

  “I wouldn’t call myself lucky,” Toby muttered, thinking about how he had destroyed his and Sienna’s relationship. Toby doubted he would ever learn the true lengths Sienna had gone to in order to make this show a success. God, he owed her so much.

  Payton stuck his hand out again. “I’m happy this is working out for you. I know we’ll never be friends again, but I just wanted to congratulate you.”

  “Thanks.” Toby clasped his hand, grudgingly accepting the fragile truce.

  Toby watched Payton head up the aisle. His cell phone started vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. It was Alex.

  “What’s up?” Toby answered.

  “Congrats, man.”

  “Thanks.” Toby smiled. “You definitely
deserve to say ‘I told you so’ now.”

  “Nah, I think you’ve learned your lesson. Always listen to your big brother. Alex knows all.”

  “Whatever.” Toby laughed. “Hey, any word on Mama?”

  “I talked to her just a few minutes ago,” Alex said.

  Toby’s shoulders drooped in relief. “Where is she?”

  “At a spa resort in Gulf Shores with a couple of ladies from her church.”

  “Gulf Shores, Alabama?” Toby asked. “Mama went all the way out there without telling anybody?”

  “She said she told Eli when he stopped over the other day, but Eli said he doesn’t remember. You know how he can get when things get busy at the hospital. It probably went in one ear and out the other.”

  “As long as she’s okay,” Toby said.

  “She is. Don’t worry about Mama. You just worry about enjoying this night.” Alex paused. “I’m proud of you, Toby.”

  Toby’s chest tightened with a mixture of gratitude and relief. “Thanks, man,” he answered. To have Alex say those words to him meant a lot. His oldest brother had sacrificed so much for him. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Toby closed the phone and stuck it back in his pocket.

  The theater had nearly cleared out, with most of the VIP’s heading to the huge after party Cardinal Studios was hosting at some posh hotel just down from the theater. Toby had purposely left his clothes back in his hotel room. He wanted an excuse to go back there and wallow for a couple of hours. He would make an appearance at the party later. The spotlight would be on Aria. No one would miss him.

  The irony of the day wasn’t lost on Toby. Everything he had done over the past year had been leading up to this moment. Every hope, every sacrifice. Everything. A year and a half ago, when he’d started in this business, he had never imagined all his dreams coming true in such grand fashion. He’d finally made it.