CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
After Meg bathed Quint the following morning, she realized that she was nearly out of diapers, so she bundled the baby up and went to the local supermarket. As she maneuvered the cart through the aisles, she noticed people staring and pointing at her. She overheard snippets of whispered conversations as she passed by.
“It was only a matter of time…”
“She was never going to be able to hold onto him.”
“He’s always been a horndog.”
“She should have tried harder to lose the baby weight.”
Meg muttered under her breath as she reached the cashier. “What’s with everybody today? I’m beginning to feel paranoid.”
As she began to unpack her cart onto the conveyer belt at the checkout lane, she caught a glimpse of a tabloid. The photo was grainy, but clear enough that she was able to recognize her husband with his arms around Larissa as they climbed the stairs into his bus. The headline screamed, “Sky Johnson Turns Up The ‘Heat’ With Tour Mate Larissa Townsend”.
“Oh my God,” Meg said. Her face turned red, her chest constricted, and she struggled to breathe. “Oh my God.” She grabbed one of the tabloids and added it to her purchases.
The cashier tried to get her attention. “Ma’am? Are you okay?”
Meg didn’t answer. She quickly swiped her credit card, grabbed her bags, and ran out to the parking lot. After securing Quint in his car seat, she sped home.
Once home, her cell phone and the house phone rang non-stop, and Quint began to cry. She placed the baby in his play yard, and opened her laptop. She clicked on the Trashville website, where there were more photos posted from the previous night of Sky with his arms around Larissa as they entered his tour bus.
She slammed the laptop closed and flung it across the room. “God damn you, Sky! I leave you alone for one night and you cheat on me.” She collapsed to the floor in tears. “Oh my God, what am I going to do?”
Both phones started to ring again. Meg looked at the caller i.d. on the house phone, and recognized Sky’s cell phone number. “Like hell am I going to talk to you,” she screamed, as she threw the handset against the stone fireplace, shattering it in pieces.
She grabbed her cell phone. She ignored the dozens of e-mails, texts, and voicemails that had accumulated in the last hour, and instead dialed a number she knew by heart. Tears streamed down her face as she spoke. “Jen, I need your help. I need to come home and be with the family.”
Three hours later, Jennifer’s private jet touched down in Nashville. Meg strapped Quint’s car seat into place, and once it refueled, the jet took off for East Hampton airport.
Jen was there to meet Meg when she landed. As she drove towards Southampton, she asked, “Where do you want me to take you?”
“I don’t know. Where can I go that is safe from photographers and the press? Someplace where Sky won’t track me down.”
Jen glanced at Meg and shook her head. “First, Sky is going to track you down. You know he will. And, besides, you can’t keep him from seeing his son.”
Meg burst into tears. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to talk to him. I can’t believe this is happening to me.” She doubled over as she continued to sob. “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” she repeated.
“Shh…we’re all here for you,” Jen said, rubbing Meg’s back with her free hand. As she continued driving, she added, “Your father’s house isn’t going to work. He doesn’t have a fence or a gate, so photographers would have a clear shot anytime you went outside. And the farm…I’m not so sure that’s a good idea either. Sky knows where it is and how to get there on his own. So…that leaves my house. I have gates, security, plenty of room, and Mary, our nanny, can help you with Quint. Are you okay with that?”
Meg nodded her head while blowing her nose. “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you.”
“No need to thank me. This is what family is for.”
Jen drove through Southampton village and past the gates of Fair Fields, her estate on Ox Pasture Road. As soon as she brought the SUV to a stop, Pablo, Lucy and Mary materialized in the driveway and began unloading Meg’s bags.
“Please put Meg’s things in the large guestroom upstairs, and the baby’s things in the room next to it,” Jen said to her staff. “And, Mary, can you take Quint inside and get him settled? I want to have a bite to eat with Meg.”
“Thanks, Jen, but I don’t have an appetite right now. And, besides, Quint has to be fed.”
Jen took Meg by the arm and led her into the house. “I’ll bet you haven’t had anything to eat all day. And don’t worry about Quint – I have stockpiles of frozen breast milk. Mary will feed him.”
“He doesn’t like bottles.”
“Well, he’ll have to get used to them,” Jen said. “And so will you. You can’t have him attached to you all the time.” She turned to Mary as they passed through the door and into the house. “Please take care of Quint for us. Thanks.”
Drew was setting out platters of cold chicken, grilled vegetables, and warm bread when Jen and Meg entered the kitchen. He rushed to Meg and wrapped her in his arms, and when she began to sob again, he tightened his grip and shot a worried look at his wife.
Jen bit her lip and shook her head, then wrapped her arms around Drew and Meg. “Come, sit down at the table. You’ll feel better if you have something to eat and drink.” She poured Meg a glass of lemon water from the pitcher on the table, and watched while she drained her glass. “Good girl,” she said, brushing the hair out of her cousin’s face. “Now, try to eat something.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat.”
Drew agreed. “Just try to eat a little.” He filled a plate and placed it in front of Meg.
Meg let out a long sigh, and began to pick at her food. They ate in silence for a few minutes, until she placed her utensils down. “Can I ask you a question?”
Jen and Drew answered in unison. “Sure.”
She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. “Am I over-reacting?”
“It’s hard to say, since we haven’t heard Sky’s side of the story yet,” Jen said, treading lightly on her words. “It could all be a misunderstanding.”
Tears began to roll down Meg’s cheeks. “But the pictures…there’s no denying them.”
“There were plenty of pictures when the tabloids tried to destroy us,” Drew said. He reached out and took Jen’s hand in his. “But there were explanations for them. Some were old, and others were completely taken out of context.”
“And the most important thing we did was communicate with each other,” Jen added.
Meg hung her head. “I don’t know if I can. It’s too raw right now.”
“Just don’t let it fester. If you go too long without talking to him, it might end up being too late,” Jen offered. “Why don’t you go upstairs and check on Quint? We’ll be outside by the pool if you need us.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Meg ran up the stairs, and found Mary standing outside Quint’s room. She was startled by the lack of crying and fussing. “Is he sleeping?”
“Yes. He was so hungry, he took the whole bottle, so I gave him a little bit of rice cereal too.”
“Rice cereal? The pediatrician said I could start him on it next month. Are you sure it isn’t too early?”
“He’s a big boy, Mrs. Johnson. Raising children isn’t always by the book. And look how well he’s sleeping.”
Meg tip-toed over to the crib. She gazed at her sleeping son, before retreating from the room, closing the door behind her, and rejoining Mary in the hallway. “I wonder if the reason he cries all the time is because he isn’t getting enough to eat.”
“I don’t know. But he definitely had enough tonight, and he’s sleeping soundly.”
“Thank you for taking care of him,” Meg said. She covered her mouth but was unable to stifle a yawn. “I’m so tired. Please tell Jen and Drew that I decided to turn in for the night.”
Backstage before the show that night, Sky scrolled through the mountain of texts he received since the morning, before listening to the voicemail messages that had piled up on his phone. He winced at the terse message from his father expressing disappointment in him, and his stomach dropped when Fiona described the shattered phone and laptop she found when she went to the cabin to check on Meg and the baby. “I’ve got to try her again,” he mumbled, as he dialed his wife’s cell phone.
“Shit!” He punched a nearby wall when he got Meg’s voicemail again. He had been trying to reach her since he learned about the tabloid fiasco earlier that day. “Goddamn it Meg, answer the phone. Please, just call me back.” He ended the call and shoved the phone into the pocket of his jeans.
“Hey, buddy. Still can’t reach her?”
Sky spun around and came face to face with Jack and Becky. “No, she won’t answer the phone, and she’s not returning my calls. I don’t know where she is, or where our son is. It’s like she’s disappeared into thin air. She hasn’t used any of her credit or debit cards since this morning at a store in Nashville. When Mrs. B. checked the house, she found a smashed phone and lap top, and most of their clothing gone.”
“I’m so sorry.” Jack sighed, and added, “I met with the band, and we pulled “Heat” from the set list. Maybe we should have cancelled the show tonight.”
“No. It would only validate what the gossip mongers are saying. I’m not gonna go into hiding, and I’m not gonna let the fans down.”
Becky crossed her arms in front of her. “Is there anyone in her family you can talk to? Someone has to know where she is.”
Before Sky could answer, Mac interrupted them. “Show time, guys.”
The band played the set with their usual intensity. Sky made a valiant effort, dancing around the stage and belting out one hit after the other, but when he strapped on his acoustic guitar to sing “When I Met You” he broke down in tears.
Instead of turning away from the crowd, he wiped his eyes, swallowed hard, and addressed the scandal head on. “By now, many of you have heard the rumors and gossip that came out about me this morning. Let me assure all of you that what was insinuated, and what you read and saw, was and is totally untrue.” He paused to wipe his eyes again. “For the record, I love my wife. And if you can hear me, baby, this song’s for you, just like it’s been every night since we met.” He strummed his guitar, and began to sing:
The world stopped turning when I met you
For just a moment I was lost in time
I knew right then that I had to have you
I knew right then I had to make you mine
When he finished the ballad, the crowd erupted in the loudest cheers of the night, giving Sky the strength to finish out the show with a burst of energy. After the encore, he left the stage and tossed his guitar to the guitar tech. As he bolted from the arena, he said aloud, “I’m coming for you, Meg. I’m gonna find you. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna find you, and fix our marriage.”