CHAPTER SEVEN
**
Paranoia dogged my footsteps as I prepared to head home. I secured my hair on top of my head and hid behind a pair of oversized shades and a cap I found at the bottom of my overnight bag, praying I could slip out without being recognized.
Leaving my room key on the nightstand, I hurried to the elevator, and out into the nearly empty parking lot, not relaxing my guard until I was belted into my seat with the doors locked and the motor running. As I backed out of my parking spot and headed toward the street, I relaxed.
“Callie! Wait!”
Hearing my name, I glanced out my passenger window as I pulled into traffic—and groaned, recognizing the multi-hued tresses on the wildly waving girl running toward me from the front parking lot of The Blue Orchid. It was Julie…and on her heels, a crowd of reporters—and Jessie. Shit! I kept my foot on the gas, pretending I didn’t see them.
“No, no, no, no!” I whispered, as panic emptied my mind of everything except the need to get away. “I can’t do this. I’m not ready.”
I spent more time staring in the rearview mirror than I did out the front glass. My shoulders ached from the tension of constantly scanning the streets around me and the skies over my head, but I refused to relax until I flew onto the interstate and watched the New Orleans cityscape fade behind me. Free at last, I set my cruise control and turned the radio up loud.
Lucy was at my car door as soon as I pulled into my driveway. “How was your trip?”
“Geez, let me get out of the car and stretch my legs. I didn’t stop once, all the way back, and I need to take a leak before I pop.” Heading for Mom’s house, I added, “If it can’t wait five whole minutes, you’ll just have to follow me into the bathroom.”
“I can do that. You think I won’t?” She stayed glued to my heels, yelling at my surprised mother and son as she slammed the bathroom door behind us, “We’ll be right back. She has to go potty.”
Refusing to be embarrassed, I glared at her. “Can you shout a little louder? Mrs. Lee, three doors down, is hard of hearing. I don’t think she heard you.”
“Haha.” She perched on the edge of the bathtub. “Seriously, tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out.”
“What do you want to know that you didn’t see on TV? According to you, they showed the whole debacle on the news.”
“They did, and I guess I can understand why you don’t want to talk about it, but there’s one thing I have to know.”
“What is it?” Sighing, I dropped my head forward, resting my chin on my chest, wondering what was going to come out of her mouth.
“Where’d you find Rainbow Barbie?”
I raised my head and squinted at her. “Where did I—? Rainbow—oh, you mean Julie. She drove down from Arkansas, hoping to find a scalper selling tickets. When I bumped into her, I felt so bad for her, cuz she’d been crying, and her mascara was everywhere.”
“Couldn’t find any scalpers?”
“Nope.”
“Let me guess…you gave her my extra ticket, didn’t you?”
I tucked my head between my shoulders. “I tried to, but she insisted on paying me what she could afford for it.”
“What? Ten whole dollars?”
“You’re such a bitch.” I laughed at her. “Actually, she gave me eighty bucks.”
“Not bad. I only paid a hundred each for them.”
“Yeah, well I hope her trip home was uneventful, because that was all she had other than what she set aside for a room and gas.”
“That what she told you?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Good point. Why wouldn’t you?” She shook her head. “It’s one of the things I love about you, but your Achilles heel, as well. You’re so gullible. You trust everyone. I’m surprised you kept the money. What happened?”
I stood up, dropping my eyes, “Why are you so sure something happened?”
“Callie…”
“Fine.” I raised my voice so she could hear me over the faucet, as I washed my hands, “The concert started before I could try to give it back; then he saw me, and I ran and hid in my room. Satisfied?”
“No. I’d be a pretty fucked up friend if I was, since I know you’re probably kicking yourself in the ass for running away.”
“I am.” I watched my lips tremble and my eyes fill with the hot shimmer of tears in the mirror over the sink. “Because I ran, not just once, but twice.”
She connected the dots, and her sympathy was almost my undoing as she pulled me close, rocking me, comforting me, and rubbing tiny soothing circles on my shoulders and back. “He was still there this morning, wasn’t he? Aw, Callie…honey, don’t beat yourself up over it. If he was there, news crews probably were, too, hoping for a reunion story to boost their ratings.”
“They were.” My voice was muffled against her shoulder as the tears I fought to control leaked out and dampened her shirt. “Julie was, too. Her yelling my name as I pulled onto the street was what caught my attention.”
She pushed me away, murder in her eyes, “Let me get this straight—little Miss Rainbow Barbie wannabe, who drove from somewhere up in Arkansas, hoping to get a ticket, not only distracted him while you got away, but was still there, outside the Blue Orchid with him when you left the inn? Uh uh, girl, something don’t smell right. I bet you anything that that little opportunist is after your man.”
“She’s the one who yelled—did you miss that part? Besides, he’s not mine.”
“His actions say different—that interview said different—and a bunch of his songs do, too. That man cares for you.”
“Then how come he never tried to find me?”
She shrugged. “That’s something you’ll have to ask him…but, in order to do that, you gonna have to face him and talk to him.”
“I know.” I opened the bathroom door and found my legs tackled by my son as he nearly bowled me over.
“Mommy! You came back!”
“I did, didn’t I?” Lifting him high for a hug, I added—to her, “I’m working on it.”
“Well, don’t take too long. There are opportunists at every concert, just dying to wiggle in close to your man. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
“I won’t.”
“See that you don’t.” She smiled at my mom. “Nice seeing you, Mrs. Rhodes. I gotta get home. I think I left my door unlocked. I’ll let myself out.”