CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
When I wake up the next morning, Ty is sitting on the edge of the bed looking at his telephone and frowning. I angle up onto my elbows. “What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head. “You don’t want to know.”
I sit up more fully, pulling his arm over so I can look at his phone with him. He’s reading a news headline, and my picture is right on top of the article.
“What the hell?” At least my hair looks good.
He pulls his phone away. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”
I hold my hand out. “Give it to me. I need to read it.”
He passes me the phone and stands. “I’m going to jump in the shower.” He hesitates, standing over me. “Promise you’re not going to get upset about anything you read there. It’s just people trying to sell their newspapers or get clicks on their websites.”
“No promises,” I mumble.
I read the article, which is full of conjecture and out-and-out lies. Apparently, I’m some sort of gold digger who has crawled out of the woodwork to claim my rightful throne as the heir to the Red Wylde fortune. They’ve dug up all kinds of stuff on me including where I live and the fact that I have two sisters who are the same age.
I cannot believe I dragged my family into this garbage. Who told these reporters all this stuff? I can’t imagine anyone in the band or my family saying anything. I put Ty’s phone down and grab mine from my bag that’s on the floor next to the bed. There are two missed calls from my sisters waiting for me.
I press the green button and chew on my thumbnail while I wait for someone to answer. My call goes into voice mail. I press the red button and then dial the house number. After three rings, somebody picks up.
“Hello?”
“Barbara?”
“Who the hell is this?” She’s pissed.
“Mom, it’s me; it’s Amber.”
“Prove it.”
I’m not sure I heard her correctly. “Excuse me?”
“I said prove it. I’m sick and tired of you reporters calling here and making up stories, pretending to be my daughter.”
No wonder she’s so angry. How dare they! “I’m the beekeeper and the wheeler-dealer at the farmers’ market.”
She lets out a long sigh. “Thank God.”
“Mom, what is going on over there?”
“Well,” she lets out a bitter laugh, “the shit has hit the fan, as they say.”
“Why? How?”
“Apparently, somebody let the cat out of the bag. I think half of New York City is camped out in our backyard right now.”
My heart sinks. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I wish I were. The good news is, we have completely sold out of all of our honey, jams, and jellies. And at this point, I’m going to start pulling things out of the barn and selling them as antiques.”
“Mom, don’t.” I feel sick to my stomach.
“Hey, don’t be upset. Now you know why we chose to leave when we did. We had a feeling this was going to happen eventually. It’s just happening a lot sooner and more quickly than we thought it would.”
I picture all those strangers ruining our grass and leaving their trash behind as they conjure up gossip about my family. “Kick them out! Tell them they can’t stay.”
“That’s not who we are, you know that. Our home has always been available to anybody who wants to be here.”
“But they’re vultures! They’re not people who want to stay there and get in touch with themselves or nature.”
“Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t. Who am I to judge?”
“They’re going to use you, Mom. They’re going to take advantage of you.”
“Listen, sweetie . . .” She sighs. “I know what I’m doing. I spent a couple years living the life, okay? I know how to handle reporters.”
I’m grouchy now, knowing she probably does know what she’s doing, whereas I am a complete nincompoop when it comes to public life. “Well, that only makes one of us.”
“Hey, I hear you didn’t do too bad, actually.” She sounds proud.
“Oh yeah? Then how did they find out all the stuff about the family? I must’ve done something wrong.”
“No, that’s got nothing to do with you. Somebody’s feeding them information, and I know it’s not my girl.”
The first person who jumps to mind is Lister. If he were standing in front of me right now, I’d set his pants on fire. “I am going to kill him.”
“Who are you going to kill?”
“Never mind. Do me a favor: tell Rose and Em that I’ll call them later. I have to go take care of something.”
“Don’t do anything rash,” she warns.
“You do know who you’re talking to, right?”
Her voice softens. “My little gladiator. Just don’t take anything too personally, okay? No matter what you see or hear or read, know that it really has nothing to do with you. It’s just people’s egos getting in the way of their common sense.”
“I know. The only people who really know me are you, Carol, Sally, and my sisters. Everybody else can go eat worms.”
Ty walks out of the bathroom just in time to hear me say that.
“I gotta go. I love you.”
“Love you too. Bye-bye.” She hangs up.
“What’s going on?” he asks, his expression impossible to read. He’s holding a wet towel around his neck on either side; another one is draped around his hips.
“I have to go see Lister.” I jump out of bed and start pulling on my clothes, finding them in heaps around the room.
“Don’t you want to take a shower first?”
“No, I don’t have time. I need to go kick some ass and take some names.”
“Can I come watch?”
At first I’m going to say no, that this is between me and Lister, but then I decide I’d rather have Ty standing by my side than be alone. I can trust him. “Be my guest.”
Ty rubs his head with the towel from his neck. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.” He disappears into the bathroom as I rake a brush through my hair. I know I look like a crazy fool with yesterday’s clothes on and old makeup, but I don’t care. The look matches my mood. That Lister better look out, because I’m not going to put up with any of his lawyer crap. Things are about to get real.