Holding his phone beneath the table, he started sending her a string of text messages. Maybe she was too upset to talk but would still read his texts.
Toni, the woman who answered my phone this morning was my mother.
She was just joking with you.
She didn’t know you were my girlfriend.
Please answer your phone.
You’re killing me.
I know I once said I didn’t know if I could be faithful to one woman.
But I can.
I can if that one woman is you.
Toni.
Please respond.
Please.
Toni.
He might as well stop typing his guts out to her. The messages weren’t going through as delivered anyway.
“Are you feeling okay?” his mom asked, even checking his forehead for fever.
“Just worried about Toni. Can you take me back to the hotel? Maybe she’ll answer if I call her from a landline.”
“I’m sorry I messed things up for you,” Mom said.
“I’m sure it’ll work out. She’s a reasonable person. I just really need to talk to her and explain things.”
“Of course.”
When they pulled up to the hotel lobby about twenty minutes later, Mom grabbed Logan’s arm to keep him in the car a moment longer.
“I don’t want to hear any excuses out of you when I invite you to our Labor Day barbecue this year. You’re coming.”
“I’ll have to check my schedule. If I remember correctly, we’ll be touring in Indonesia in September.”
“You can’t keep blowing me off. I need to see you more often,” she insisted.
He smiled. He never thought he’d hear her say that and believe that she meant it. “Definitely.”
“And I need to meet this girl who has you out of your head.”
Logan laughed at his transparency. “Definitely.” He leaned over and kissed his mother’s cheek and hugged her the best he could given the hindrance of her seat belt.
“Please offer Toni my apologies for upsetting her.”
Staring into his eyes, Mom pet his curls as if he were her favorite lap dog. He didn’t mind in the least.
“You’ll have to do that yourself when you meet her.”
If Mom ever got to meet her. First he had to set things straight and if Toni didn’t answer her phone or read his texts, he was going to have to hunt the woman down and reassure her—and himself—that everything was all right between them.
On the elevator, he checked his phone, praying he’d somehow missed a text or an email or a call. Nothing.
The elevator stopped on the third floor and the door slid open. Logan had never been more happy to see Butch in his entire life, and the man had gotten him out of some real jams in the past.
“Butch! Are you busy?”
“Never too busy for you.” He grinned crookedly beneath his mustache. Logan wondered how quickly the band would fall apart if this man ever left them to their own devices.
“I need to use the jet after the show tonight,” Logan said.
“Let me guess,” Butch said with a wry grin. “You want to go to Seattle. And you want a car waiting with gifts of chocolates and flowers and sex toys and socks.”
Logan laughed, not even caring that he was so easy to read. “Actually, I thought I might head to the Caribbean for some parasailing, but I guess I’ll go with your plan.”
“You’re damn right you’ll go with my plan. Do you know how hard it was for me to force that little sweetheart to leave? It broke my heart to make her cry. And then to find out that whole mess wasn’t her fault?” Butch shook his head. “If you don’t go get her, I will.” He grinned again. “And I’ll buy her a whole busload of socks if that’s what it’ll take to have her forgive me.”
“I could go now,” Logan said.
“You’ll never make it back in time for the concert tonight.”
He had half a mind to say fuck the concert. He had more important things to do.
The elevator doors opened on the top floor, and they stepped out into the corridor.
“She won’t answer her cellphone,” Logan said to Butch. “Can we get her home number? Office number? Send a carrier pigeon? Something?”
“Carrier pigeons are extinct,” Butch said. “But I’ll get a message to her somehow. What do you want it to say?”
Heat flooded Logan’s face. Was he actually blushing? Lord. “Uh. I love her. It was my Mom who answered my phone this morning. I’m not cheating on her.”
Butch’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “She thinks you’re cheating on her?”
Logan sighed and nodded.
“No wonder she won’t answer her phone. I thought she must still be upset about being accused of selling you all out to the tabloids.”
“I told you I straightened that out last night. This is a whole new fuck-up.”
Butch chuckled. “I guess I’ll add a florist and chocolatier to my speed dial. I have a feeling I’m going to need their numbers often.”
Butch was probably right, but Logan shook his head at the dig.
“I’m still going to try to get a hold of her, but yeah, I need everything ready to go so I can head to Seattle directly after the concert.”
Butch shrugged. “No problem. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
Logan was certain Butch had thousands of better things to do, but the man was Logan’s hero and had yet to let him down. “Thanks for having my back, dude.”
“One of these days I’m going to call in all my favors. And then you won’t be thanking me.”
Logan doubted that. If Butch helped him get Toni back, Logan would owe the man his every happiness.
And he’d pay in any currency Butch demanded.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
* * *
Toni was about five miles from home when she realized she’d left her cellphone in her desk drawer at the office. She was truly having a shit-tacular day. Driving up the long drive to the A-frame wood cabin she’d called home for the past fifteen years made her heart ache. How could Mom even consider selling the place? Toni simply could not let it go. And Toni wouldn’t let her father go either. It wasn’t time to move on. It would never be time to move on. There was plenty of room in her heart for both the living and the dead. Especially now that the mistreated organ had a gaping hole recently carved into it by a certain cheating son of a bitch.
The sun was already setting behind the pine trees, casting long spear-like shadows on the walls of her home. Gravel crunched beneath her feet as she made her way up the driveway, and she reveled in the little nuances of the place that she usually took for granted. The scent of the pine forest, crisp and clean. The soft clucking of the hens settling into their nests for the night. The picturesque sight of the snow-tipped hunk of craggy granite in the distance. And the feeling, the comforting feeling of home. No place on Earth could compare. She had to figure out a way to keep this place. For Birdie’s sake, yes, but also for her own.
Toni climbed the steps to the deck that surrounded the entire house and let herself into the mudroom. She figured she could fall asleep standing up until the mouth-watering scents of garlic, oregano, and basil filled her nose. Her grandmother must have spent the entire day cooking. Toni closed the door behind her and dumped her messenger bag and laptop case on the floor with a weary sigh.
“Eloise?” Grandma called from the connecting kitchen.
“No, it’s Toni,” she said.
“About time you came home. These delivery guys are about to drive me nuts. Ringing the doorbell every hour on the hour like clockwork.”
“Delivery guys?”
Toni came around the corner into the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening and mouth dropping open with shock. Vases of flowers were perched on every available surface. The fragrant and colorful blooms ranged from a simple dozen red roses to several arrangements of mixed flowers to a bouquet of brilliant pink a
nd white stargazer lilies that was as wide as the table that bore its weight.
“What in the world?” Toni said.
“You better call that young man and forgive him for whatever he’s done. I don’t think the next batch will fit through the door,” Grandma said. “And don’t get me started on those damned balloons.”
“Balloons?”
“I told Birdie to take them to your room. It isn’t safe to have them floating about in the kitchen while I’m cooking.”
Over the sound of water boiling on the stove, Toni could hear Birdie giggling and the playful yap of one of Grandma’s Pomeranians.
“Are these all from Logan?” Toni wondered aloud. She reached for the card on the closest bouquet.
Grinning at Toni, Grandma tapped the vase closest to her. “Unless you have more than one man who is crazy in love with you, I’d guess so.”
The card read: Please call me, Toni. The woman who answered my phone this morning was my mother. Logan
“His mother?”
Toni snatched the card from the next bouquet. Toni, I swear didn’t cheat on you. I would never do that to you. Please call. I need to hear your voice. Love, Logan
She went around the room, reading one card after another. The next one seemed a little angry. What do I have to do to get you to answer your damned phone, Toni? Answer it! Now. Stop fucking ignoring me.
Then pleading. Please call me, Toni. Text me. Email me. Something. Please. Even if it’s to yell at me. I can’t take your silence.
Desperate. I’ll do anything to win you back, lamb. Just tell me what to do.
Insulting. You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met. Will you just talk to me?
Threatening? I’m going to track you down and kiss you until you see reason. We are meant to be together. Don’t you get that?
Just . . . I love you.
I love you, Toni.
That has to be enough. I love you. Desperately. Unconditionally. Forever.
Resigned. Well, this obviously isn’t working. I give up.
Clutching his little notes to her chest, she allowed tears to stream down her cheeks. Tears of happiness—he hadn’t cheated on her. Tears of exhilaration—he truly loved her. Tears of empathy—the poor guy had been completely miserable all day. Her cellphone was still over an hour away in Seattle, and unfortunately she didn’t have his number memorized. How could she reach him?
“Well?” Grandma asked.
Blurry-eyed, Toni spun around, still clutching Logan’s notes. “He loves me.”
Grandma smiled. “In that desperate I’ll-die-if-I-can’t-touch-you kind of way or the more settled I-can’t-notice-anything-but-your-absence-when-you’re-gone kind of way?”
“Both, I think.”
“Lucky you. So you’re going to forgive him and make amends?”
Toni choked on a laugh. “He didn’t do anything wrong to begin with. It was just a misunderstanding. But yes, I’d forgive him. I’d probably forgive him anything. Just don’t tell him that.”
Grandma patted Toni’s shoulder. “I guess you’d better call him and let him off the hook. Unless you think you need more flowers.” She glanced around the room at the abundance of blooms.
“I have more than enough flowers, but I left my phone at the office.” Toni gnawed on her lip, trying to decide on her best plan of action.
“Is your mother still there? Maybe she can bring it home with her.”
“Good idea!” She was still upset with her mother, but Toni was desperate enough to ask her for a favor.
“You just caught me on my way out,” Mom said via her office line. “I’ll bring it with me.”
“Thanks.”
“But wouldn’t it make more sense if I looked his number up in your contacts and read it to you? Just give me your pass code.”
Toni almost jumped on that idea, but remembered that Logan had recently changed his icon to an X-rated close-up of his cock, and she didn’t want her mother to get an eyeful of that.
“Uh . . .” She nibbled a fingernail. “No, that’s okay. Just bring it home. I don’t need it that desperately.” She cringed at her total lie.
“By the way, I’ve set up some home viewings for tomorrow,” Mom said, turning Toni’s moment of jubilation to bitterness. “I’d like you and Birdie to come with me to look at condos.”
Condos? Oh God, no.
“I might be busy,” Toni said. Actually, she would make it a priority to be too busy to view condos, no matter if she ended up hurrying off to Logan or not.
Toni frowned as she turned to help Grandma put the finishing touches on dinner.
“She’s not bringing it?” Grandma asked.
“She is,” Toni said.
“Then why so glum?”
Toni glanced toward the stairs, no wanting Birdie to overhear. She was surprised her little sister hadn’t come down to greet her. Toni supposed playing with dogs and helium balloons was far more interesting than she was.
“Mom is going to sell the farm,” Toni said in a hushed tone.
Grandma’s eyebrows shot up and she dropped her wooden spoon in the sauce, splattering red flecks on the stove. “Oh no, she’s not!”
“She needs the money to keep the business afloat. And, well, she never really liked it out here in the sticks.”
“If she’s selling, I’m buying. This is the only place I still feel connected to Phillip. And I’ve been so happy here with Birdie this past week. I thought I’d finally found a place to call home.”
“I thought you liked roaming the country with your dogs in your little RV.”
“I did,” Grandma said. “But I’m over all that. You and Birdie are the only family I have left. I don’t want to waste another moment being alone.”
Toni hugged her. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to stay, but even if we pool our money together, I don’t think we can afford to buy this place. It’s prime acreage.”
“I have money saved up, and selling the RV will bring in a little more.”
“Daddy left me some money. I’m all in. I just don’t think it’ll be enough. I’m sure we’re talking a few million dollars, Grandma.” Toni didn’t have even close to that much money and was pretty sure her grandmother wasn’t drowning in cash either.
“You could always let your boyfriend continue to think he’s in trouble and open your own flower shop.” Grandma leaned away and stared into Toni’s eyes, patting her cheek affectionately.
Toni laughed. “That might work.” She was joking of course, but there had to be a way to keep their home. She just needed time to think of a plan.
“Toni!” Birdie yelled from the kitchen doorway. “I didn’t know you was home! Come see all the balloons. Logan gave them to you. Your whole room is full of balloons. Red ones!”
“It’s time to eat dinner, Buttercup,” Toni said. “Grandma made your favorite.”
“Sketties!”
Grandma kissed Birdie’s forehead when she came within reach, and Birdie smiled brightly. It melted Toni’s heart to see such affection between them.
“Grandma says we should get a baby goat!” Birdie said.
Grandma cringed at being outed.
“That would be fun,” Toni said. “But are you prepared to take care of it? It would be your responsibility.”
“Oh yes!” Birdie carefully placed a napkin next to each plate on the table. “I saw a gray baby goat on Ameridas Funnest Home Videos. I want a gray one.” She continued to jabber about gray baby goats for several minutes. “Can we go upstairs to show you the balloons now?”
“How about after we eat?” Toni had nothing better to do while she waited the hour it would take her mom to get home with her phone.
“Balloons, balloons, balloons, balloons,” Birdie intoned as she placed silverware on the table. “Toni has balloons. Balloons. Balloons. Balloons.”
“Why don’t you go see your balloons so she’ll stop fixating?” Grandma suggested. “I can finish up here.”
So G
randma already understood how Birdie tended to fixate on one detail with infallible concentration. Toni wished Grandma had come to stay with them ages ago. Then Toni might have been able to build a more far-reaching life for herself without the constant guilt.
“All right,” Toni said. “I’ll go see the balloons.”
“Yay!” Birdie grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the stairs.
The entire vaulted ceiling of Toni’s large bedroom was completely concealed by red balloons. Just the sight made her smile. Remembering the last time she’d been given red balloons made her ache with longing for the man behind the gesture. The two Pomeranians jumping in the air trying to grab the dangling strings made her laugh. Her laughter died when she noticed a familiar, presumed-lost journal lying on her bed. How in the hell had her diary gotten here?
Toni darted across the room and lifted the pink journal from her pale green coverlet. Thumbing through the pages, there was no doubt it was the same journal she’d been writing in while on tour with Exodus End. The final entry was dated May 8 and the remaining pages were blank.
“I tried to read your book, Toni, but it was too much squiggles. I can’t tell what it says. So I gave it back.”
Toni turned to stare at her sister in disbelief. Birdie had taken her journal? If that was true, how had the tabloid gotten hold of the band’s personal information?
“Where did you get this, Birdie?”
“I found it in your bag at Denver and I hide it in my pocket. Are you mad I taked it?”
“You shouldn’t take things without asking first.”
Birdie frowned. “I sorry. I thought it was a princess story ’cause it’s pink.”
“I’m not mad. Just ask next time you want to borrow something, okay?”
“Okay.”
Toni tried to remember when Birdie had been with her bag in Denver. In the conference room while she’d given her presentation, maybe? That had to be the case.
“Did anyone else read my book, Birdie?”
“No,” she said, tilting her head and shrugging. “Not even me. Toni, you have bad handwriting.”
Rock Star Romance Ultimate: Volume 1 Page 49
