by Karina Bliss
Dimity straightened. “This is a roller coaster?”
“And to answer your question,” Stormy said as the train began to move, “I feel sorry for you because I’m building a life independently of Zander, and you don’t have a life outside your job.”
Dimity said hotly, “I’m more independent than you’ll ever be!”
Stormy felt her body press into the soft vinyl seat as the train climbed vertically to the top of its arc. “Oh, please, you’re as hungry for Zander’s approval as I used to be. You’re waiting on his convenience, same as I was. Being taken for granted, same as I was.” She parroted the PA’s earlier sarcasm. “Have I missed something?”
“Zee and I are equ… Aaaaagh!” The car plummeted backward leaving Stormy’s stomach somewhere in the clouds, alongside Dimity’s scream.
“Are you scared of roller coasters?”
“Of course not.” Color returned to Dimity’s knuckles as she loosened her grip. “It caught me by surprise, that’s all.” Her eyes widened as the car reached the top of the second arc and they hung momentarily suspended, facing the ground below before swooping to earth. Dimity screamed again.
To hell with her. Stormy lifted her arms, relishing the free fall. Her life was finally on the right track and that was all that mattered. Clouds massed like cotton candy. Below, the park popped with color and she caught the occasional heated whiff of fried food and spun sugar.
Three more times the train swung around its track. At the end of the ride, she looked at Dimity and giggled. The PA was disheveled and mad, with her blond ponytail askew, but when Elizabeth called, “Playing nice with Stormy yet?” she defiantly folded her arms and stared straight ahead.
“She won’t keep this up,” Dimity muttered, “she’s too soft.”
At the end of the second ride, she looked a little green, but remained silently defiant. Halfway through the third, Stormy was shaking her head at her, astounded by her continued stubbornness. “But mostly I feel sorry for you,” she said, picking up the conversation, “because I can swallow my pride and accept help when I need it. You can’t even ask for help.”
“Fine, I’m asking,” the PA snarled, as the train rumbled to a stop at the platform, “Help me fake this.” Stormy sighed, but leaned in close. Touching heads they gave Elizabeth a big smile.
“Aww, sweet.” She handed the attendant another two tickets. “Next time, mean it.”
“I just remembered, I’m pregnant,” Dimity yelled as the roller coaster left the station.
“Not anymore,” was the biographer’s cheerful reply.
“That woman is a goddamn sadist,” Dimity ranted as the train began its climb. “I can’t believe I ever thought she and Zee should…” Her voice trailed off.
“Get together,” Stormy finished. It hadn’t taken her long to see the attraction was mutual. It would have hurt more if either Zander or Elizabeth understood where their relationship was leading. Stormy took a grim pleasure in being the only one smart enough to see they were soul mates. “Wait.” She glanced at Dimity. “Are you actually trying to protect my feelings?”
“Only while I’m at your mercy,” Dimity said. “Get me off this thinnnnnng!” She scrunched her eyes shut as the car took its first plummet.
“When I first met you, I so admired you,” Stormy mused as they caught their breath through the straight. “You had the looks to manipulate men, but you weren’t interested. You were in a job you loved, you were being paid the big bucks and you got respect for what you did. In a way, I probably idolized you more than Zander. Only then I realized that for all your education and your connections and your high salary, you were snooty, snappy and mean. No wonder you haven’t got any friends.”
“I have plenty of—”
“You resent Zee helping me although I haven’t earned it, because for you everything comes down to account balances and who owes who. I accepted help from him because I didn’t have a choice if I wanted a new life, but you’ve always had an easy life with lots of choices and advantages. Try being kind for a change.”
“My life isn’t easy. Most of my salary goes toward keeping Mom afloat, so don’t tell me I’m not kinnnnnnnnnd!”
Stormy waited for the car’s next climb. “I thought your family was rich?”
Dimity unfurled her fingers one by one from the rail and shook the circulation in. “We were,” she snapped, “until my father ditched us for an ambitious bimbo he’d got pregnant and screwed my mother over in the divorce settlement.”
“Now I get it. I remind you of the gold-digging mistress who stole your daddy away.”
“No, you remind me of my martyred mother who refuses to take responsibility for herself and is sucking me dry emotionally and finan—” She clapped a hand over her mouth and stared at Stormy.
“It’s okay,” she responded dryly. “Your mom can’t hear you from here.”
The car nose-dived. Dimity scrabbled for the rail, found Stormy’s hand instead and hung on for dear life. Stormy started to laugh, it was so ridiculous.
When the car stopped and began its slow crawl to the top, Dimity seemed to realize she was holding Stormy’s hand and dropped it like a hotcake.
“And now you apologize for being a mean girl,” Stormy prompted. But the PA was craning her neck to look behind them.
“I hate backward,” she moaned.
With a sigh, Stormy recaptured her hand. “If we’re getting off this fucker, we need to make it look like we’re having fun,” she said and hauled Dimity’s arm upright as the car plummeted to earth.
The PA’s scream nearly pierced her eardrums.
* * *
You’re late. Where are you? Zander texted. Before pushing Send, he paused to enjoy the rare sensation of being the offended party.
Elizabeth replied immediately. Sorry. Meet u at Kayla and Jared’s suite. 201.
He frowned. Why?
No reply. Grumbling about mountains having to come to Mohammed, Zander caught the elevator down to 201. His day hadn’t gone well. As expected, his manager and bandmates had been royally pissed by his refusal to book extra shows. And he’d gotten used to being liked.
Privately, Robbie had suggested the engineers could set up sound support if Zander was worried about vocal strain. Zander was still fuming about that. He was a rock ‘n’ roll hard man, not some lip-syncing sugar shaker.
Distracted, he only realized he’d walked into an ambush when Elizabeth dragged him into the hall, whispered details of marital mayhem at the theme park, then asked for his help with that expression he’d come to dread. Trust. Her insistence on seeing him as a socially responsible human being drove him crazy.
She waved his lecture aside. “We haven’t got time for that now. This is serious, Zander. Kayla’s even talking about going home. I don’t think Jared realizes how seriously he screwed up today.”
“Fuck. Where is he?”
“At the cocktail party that Musique Magazine organized.”
“Right.” He’d had Dimity decline his invitation; there were only so many “promising newcomer” events a veteran could stomach.
“Jared’s texted Kayla half a dozen times, but he can’t leave because he’s getting an award.”
Zander sighed, and surrendered to the inevitable. “Where is she?”
Elizabeth indicated a door. “I’ll check on the kids.”
“Isn’t Stormy here?”
“She and Dimity ditched me.” She grinned when he raised his brows. “Long story, I’ll tell you later.” Doc disappeared toward the sound of the blaring TV and Zander knocked.
“I’ll be out in a m…m…moment.”
Pathetic. “I’m coming in.”
Kayla was sitting cross-legged on the bed in semidarkness, hugging a pillow. She looked hopefully toward the door, probably expecting Jared. Seeing Zander, she bowed her head. “I don’t know why Elizabeth called you.”
“Me neither, but we’re stuck with it. Shouldn’t you be at the party with Jared?”
“My dates don’t expect me to change.”
He switched on the light and Kayla winced and shielded her eyes. “You never really wanted us on tour,” she said, “so at least you won’t try and talk me out of leaving.”
“That depends on your motives. If you forgot to turn the iron off, fine. If you’re rushing back because there’s an opening at a correctional school for that scary daughter of yours…even better.”
Her lips quivered into a smile.
“But if you’re conceding the field, then you’re playing right into the hands of that pretentious Gallic kiss-ass.”
Kayla straightened. “Jared’s so gullible, it makes me sick,” she confided. “But it’s not just her. I’m tired of having to compete for my husband’s attention. Tired of ignoring everyone’s surprise when he introduces me as his wife. I can see what they’re thinking. ‘That short, fat chick, seriously?’”
“Who gives a fuck for the opinion of groupies, hangers-on and posers?” Zander curbed his impatience. “Jared sure as hell doesn’t see you that way.”
“No,” she said bitterly, “apparently he sees a nagging, critical shrew.”
“And is he wrong?” Zander asked and had to duck the pillow she threw at him.
“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Elizabeth said from the doorway.
Undeterred, Zander sat on the end of the bed. “Your husband is surrounded by women telling him he’s wonderful. You don’t counter that by constantly reminding him of his faults.”
Kayla bit her lip. “I married him because he was a ten to me.”
“Yeah, but for them he doesn’t have to earn it.”
“They don’t want him, though, do they? The man I fell in love with. All they see is money and reflected glory and sex with a rock star… He could be anyone.” Her eyes flashed. “I shouldn’t have to compete. I’m his wife. He’s mine!”
“Then quit wimping out and go stake your claim. You think anyone messed with Sharon Osbourne?” Zander eyed her bird’s-nest hair. “But fix yourself up first.”
“You mean turn myself into something I’m not.”
“I mean wash your face, brush your hair and change into something that’s not covered with baby drool.” He had no time for self-pity. “Be the woman who talked me into auditioning her husband, instead of somebody’s mommy. Ever think some of your insecurity might be down to missing that person as much as he does?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Probably,” she gulped.
“So suit up for battle.”
Kayla scrambled off the bed and stopped halfway to the en suite. “Stormy’s not here. Who’ll take care of my kids?”
“The hotel will organize a sitter,” he said.
“I’m not leaving them with a stranger.”
“We’ll look after them,” Elizabeth reassured her and, satisfied, Kayla disappeared into the bathroom.
“We?” Zander repeated.
“Rocco loves you,” she said. “Stay for half an hour until I get him settled.”
“First I’m the agony aunt, now I’m a babysitter,” he grumbled, rising from the bed. “No wonder saints are martyrs if one good deed only leads to another.”
“You were awesome,” she said, eyes shining. “Your bedside manner needs a little tweaking, but—”
“My bedside manner is the best thing about me,” he corrected. Damn but she was gorgeous with shining eyes. “And women overcomplicate relationships. Every interaction between couples comes down to a single question. ‘Do you want me?’”
Their gazes locked, then remembering his decision to be sensible, Zander broke eye contact. “Besides, I can’t have romantic strife affecting Jared’s performance through the tour. It’s all about me, after all.”
“Right,” Elizabeth said solemnly, “I keep forgetting.”
“Tie some string round your finger,” he suggested and went into the living room before he threw her on the bed and to hell with waiting. There were cartoons on the TV. A cat chased a dog across the screen. Everywhere the natural order was in chaos.
“Mommy’s sad,” Madison said, without taking her eyes off the screen. As always, the hostility in her voice implied it was his fault.
“You guys are staying, isn’t that great,” he said, already regretting his intervention. From the play mat on the floor, Rocco cooed at him, Madison turned round to glare.
“Mommy wants to go home to ’merica.”
“She’s going out to meet Daddy, you can talk to her about that tomorrow. Tonight, Elizabeth and I are looking after you.”
Her scowl darkened. “Do you know how to look after little kids?”
“No idea.”
Her expression grew speculative. “We get ice cream for dinner.”
Zander kept a straight face. “Okay.”
“And we have a swim in the pool.”
“Would my hot tub do? People would keep asking me for my autograph if we went to the pool.”
“I s’pose,” she said begrudgingly. “An’ I go to bed when I want.”
He was only here for an hour, then they’d be Elizabeth’s problem. “Sure.”
Kayla came in on a waft of scent, in a little black dress and with her hair piled high. “Magnificent,” Zander said.
Elizabeth followed. “Gorgeous, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” he said, no longer looking at Kayla.
Madison sensed a jailbreak and got all whiny. “I don’t want you to go, Mommmmy.”
“What flavor ice cream?” Zander asked her. “Chocolate, hazelnut, deadly nightshade?”
“Oh no ice cream.” Kayla gave her appearance a last check in the hall mirror. “They’ve already had one today.”
“Got that.” Elizabeth handed Kayla her wrap.
“And bed by seven.”
As Madison opened her mouth to protest, Zander caught her eye and winked. She paused, her small brow contracting in a frown. Then she giggled.
Smart kid.
Chapter Seventeen
Elizabeth remembered her Friday night Skype date with Pat about twenty minutes after Kayla left. “My elderly neighbor looks forward to it so much,” she told Zander. “I can’t cancel at such short notice.”
The baby on his lap, he glanced up from the couch where he and Maddie were playing Snap while Elizabeth restored some order to the chaos. “Bring your laptop here.”
“It’ll be quieter in my room.” And after the dramas of the day, she needed to regroup. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes to put the kids to bed.”
As though a conversation and a whiskey with an Irishman ever ran short. By the time she returned to Kayla and Jared’s suite, an hour had passed. There was a note propped on the coffee table. Party moved to my place.
Glancing at her watch, Elizabeth packed up pajamas and diapers. Zander didn’t answer his door, but when she tried the handle it opened. She stepped inside to an eerie silence, a room service trolley blocking the hall and the overpowering scent of synthetic strawberries. “Hello?”
“In here.” Moving the trolley, she followed the sound of Zander’s voice, opened another door and was enveloped in a billow of escaping steam.
The mirror-tiled bathroom was dominated by an enormous spa bath. Clusters of iridescent bubbles dotted every surface, and overflowed the tub like a frozen glacier.
Wearing a pink bathing suit and a tiara, Madison stood amidst the bubbles eating daintily from three bowls of ice cream balanced on the bath’s wide rim. His bare shoulders punching through the foam, Zander lounged at the other end, balancing a diaper-wearing, ice cream-smeared Rocco on his raised knees. Tattoo transfers decorated the rocker’s cheekbones—a butterfly, a frog, a raccoon in a party hat. Rocco held a wand and, seeing Elizabeth, he shrieked happily and batted at the bubbles.
The movement dislodged the heart-shaped tiara perched on Zander’s head. “Looking after kids is easy,” he said, straightening it. “Y
ou just let them do whatever they want.”
Laughing, Elizabeth leaned against the doorjamb. “Love the tiara.”
“It’s a crown when it’s on a boy,” Madison corrected. Finishing one bowl of ice cream, she raised it to lick it clean.
“My apologies, Your Highnesses.”
Zander dodged a wild swing of Rocco’s wand. “Welcome, wench, to the Kingdom of… What are we called again, Princess Madison?”
Madison’s face reappeared, ringed in banana yellow. “Fairydragons,” she said. Dumping the empty bowl, she picked up a sheet of tattoo transfers wilting over the rim and waded over to Zander.
He watched her approach warily. “Aren’t I pretty enough yet, Princess?”
“One more.” She pressed a word tattoo to his left cheekbone and climbed out of the tub to assess her handiwork.
Elizabeth burst out laughing again. “Girl Power.”
Unperturbed, Zander switched Rocco to his other knee. “I’ve always been a feminist.”
Straight-faced, Elizabeth said, “You did tell him they take a week to wear off right, Princess Maddie?”
Water spilled over the bath as Zander jerked upright. “What?”
“But you like tattoos.” The little girl leaned over to pat the angel wingtips cresting the bubbles and knocked the bowl of strawberry ice cream into the tub. Two pink scoops bobbed to the surface and started melting into the suds.
Rocco lunged for one and Zander tightened his grip. “You’ve had enough, buddy.”
Madison frowned at the spreading pink slick. “I can’t get into that now,” she complained. Seeing her opportunity, Elizabeth grabbed a towel, warm from the heated rail. “Let’s get you in your jammies and I’ll read you some bedtime stories.”
A muffled voice came from the towel. “But Zander said I could stay up as late as I want.”
Zander rose from the bubbles. “And that’s my exit cue.” He turned and dipped Rocco to his neck into some uncontaminated water, and his boardshorts dipped low.
Tearing her eyes away from two perfect cheeks, Elizabeth concentrated on drying Madison. “You’re not leaving me with two sugar-enhanced demons.” She planted a kiss on the little girl’s forehead to show there were no hard feelings. “Your pajamas are in a bag in the hall. I’ll help Zander clean up your brother.”