Bad Case of Loving You

by Deborah Cooke

  “I hope NY wins!” cried one as he headed for the front desk.

  “Then vote!” he replied, and they laughed together.

  “This is awesome,” Cassie murmured. She was striding along beside Theo. “Look at the shop. It’s never busy at this time, but Deanna can’t take their money fast enough. How’s registration?” she asked Sonja, who was standing by the desk.

  “We have some takers already. The card we’re handing out includes a discount.”

  “And it’s on the QR code, too.” Cassie gave her a hug. “I’ve taught you so well.”

  “We’re going to miss our flight,” Reid said as he arrived at the desk.

  “But there are lots of flights to Chicago,” Cassie protested. “I want to see Kyle’s pop-up.”

  Reid held up a finger. “And only one more flight tonight from there to Montrose River. I don’t want to sleep at O’Hare.”

  Cassie mocked a scream. “I can’t stand it! You’re all doing this awesome thing and I have to get on a plane!”

  “We promised,” Reid reminded her and she nodded agreement.

  “I know, I know. Let’s get our bags.” She was on her phone again. “I can’t wait to see what Kyle does.”

  The big screen mounted over the front desk flickered to life and there was Kyle, grinning and as cocky as ever. He was wearing a black F5 T-shirt and San Francisco Bay sparkled behind him. Cassie stopped to stare, then pivoted to look at Theo with a questioning expression.

  “Pre-recorded,” he mouthed and she nodded, before turning to watch again.

  “I’ll get the bags,” Reid said and headed for the elevators when Cassie nodded. She was staring at the big screen, rapt.

  “Are you ready to vote?” Kyle asked and the people gathered in F5’s lobby cheered. “Theo’s done his first pop-up, and if you were at Wollman Rink in Central Park, you might have seen it. The official video is coming up in moments. But keep your eyes open, San Francisco! F5 West is going to bust some moves...” He checked his watch, then looked at the camera again. “But here’s our first official video from F5 in New York.” He counted down with his fingers. “Five, four, three, two and one!” He winked and the screen spiraled into the official video of the pop-up Theo had just done.

  Uptown Funk rang through the lobby and the people gathered there sang along. Some of them mimicked Theo’s moves and he saw that Sonja was tapping her foot as she watched.

  This video team was fast.

  To Theo’s relief, the video was really good. The editing was brilliant. Cassie gave him a smile of approval and he hoped Blaine’s team could keep to the same high level of quality. People filmed themselves watching the official video at F5 and those videos were uploaded, as well.

  “Brilliant,” Cassie said under her breath. “We’re going to be the talk of the town.”

  “Two towns,” Theo corrected and they laughed together. He wished her a good trip, then headed for the elevators as the lobby filled with applause. He had to get showered and changed for the spot with Kyle after both pop-ups were done. They were going to film that one live, and he’d decided to wear a suit.

  He’d wear his best suit. He’d learned from Ty that a great suit was like a suit of armor and he felt like he needed the defense of a polished appearance. Being recognized was unnerving and new, but he had to get used it.

  Shaking things up was the point of making a change.

  Was that why Lyssa had been wearing that huge hat? Was it part of her plan to be incognito? She hadn’t been wearing any make-up either, but then, she hadn’t when he’d known her in college. Did she only wear it for work now? He had to guess that she was recognized all the time, no matter where she was, given her modeling success.

  Their lives couldn’t be more different.

  What did she want to talk about?

  Theo had exactly no time to think about Lyssa Monroe but that didn’t push her from his thoughts at all. He licked his lips in the elevator and the unexpected taste of her reminded him all too well of how hot it had been between them. Everything within him tightened and he couldn’t believe he had to wait more than a week to find out whether she’d show or not.

  Exasperation didn’t begin to describe his feelings. He wanted to growl. He wanted to have a big fight with Lyssa and hash it all out, say all the things they hadn’t said before and maybe repeat a few that they’d said before.

  Then spend the rest of the night making love to her.

  Theo was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen.

  And if it did, it just meant that he was every bit as dumb as he’d been eleven years before. He punched the elevator button again, recognizing the impatience that he hadn’t felt since Lyssa had walked out of his life. He wasn’t entirely sure that he was glad of its return.

  Because it wasn’t just impatience and frustration: it was excitement. His life had been given a shock and Theo distrusted that he felt so fired up with the knowledge that Lyssa was back.

  She was just going to break his heart again, and he was going to let her. One more time, he believed that he could convince her of the merit of love and romance and forever.

  If that wasn’t dumb, Theo didn’t know what was.

  Three

  “No way,” Logan said as he and Lyssa walked through Central Park together. They’d stopped to see the goats at the children’s zoo for a few minutes, even though Lyssa was carrying her son’s bag. It weighed a ton, more or less. He wanted to see the polar bears, but she’d promised they’d come back for that.

  She was feeling happy but unsettled, tingly and excited. She remembered that Theo had always left her with this mingled sense of anticipation and dread—the dread was worse this time because instead of fearing that a good thing wouldn’t last, she knew it wouldn’t, and that she’d be the one to destroy it.

  But that kiss. There was no way that she could feel anything less than spectacular after that kiss. She certainly couldn’t regret it.

  “Way,” she replied and Logan gave her a skeptical look.

  “The whole holiday break with just you and me?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “That’s why there’s no limo.”

  “Got it in one. I thought it might be nice to walk.” Of course, that had been before she’d realized that Logan must have packed his brick collection.

  “Why?”

  “Because you were right at Thanksgiving. We need to do some normal stuff together and be like normal people. We need to change things up. That starts now.”

  He pursed his lips, considering this. For the zillionth time since his birth, Lyssa was reminded of Theo. It was downright spooky how many of Theo’s gestures and expressions Logan echoed, without them ever having met. She’d been prepared for physical resemblance, but the rest always took her by surprise. “No Mercedes?”

  Lyssa shook her head. “She’s on vacation.” She’d decided to tell her publicist in the new year that she was downsizing her staff. The day before Mercedes came back, Lyssa would make a couple of calls and try to have a job set up for her already. That would soften the blow—if she did it sooner, Mercedes might learn the truth through the grapevine.

  “No Justin?” Logan demanded.

  “No Justin.”

  “For how long?”

  “For good.” Justin would hear the news at the same time as Mercedes.

  Logan stopped in the snow and turned to look at her. “That can’t be. He’s always around, always bugging you...”

  “Well, he was my manager. It’s a manager’s job to bug me about bookings and appointments, and to make more.”

  “Was,” Logan echoed, his eyes narrowed. He had that gift of honing in on a detail that always amazed her. He looked as unwilling to believe her as Theo had been on the rink.

  “Was. I don’t need a manager anymore.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since I decided to retire so we can live here like normal people, just the way you suggested. Come on. I’m hungry.” Sh
e picked up the bag and continued walking.

  She wouldn’t have to join a fitness club. She’d just have Logan come home every weekend and carry his bag. She’d burn enough calories to eat whatever she wanted.

  The prospect made Lyssa smile.

  So did the sound of his running footsteps behind her. “You can’t be hungry. You never eat anything.”

  “Well, that’s changed, too. I’m going to eat all the things.”

  “And skip twice as much.”

  “Nope. Normal people don’t live on five hundred calories a day. I’m changing that up, too. ”

  Logan laughed, surprised into it. “You only take one little bite of everything.”

  “Not any more. You’ll see.”

  “What does retiring mean, exactly?”

  “That means that you and I are going to hang out together this week, and it means that we’re going to find an apartment we like and buy it, right here in the city. It means that I’m not going to be flying all over the world doing photo shoots anymore.” Giving voice to her plan, even though she’d been thinking about it non-stop since Thanksgiving, was nearly enough to make Lyssa’s heart stop cold. She didn’t do long-term, but had to change for Logan’s sake.

  She could do this.

  She would do it.

  “Whoa,” Logan said. “So you won’t have a job?”

  “I will. I’m going to be a mom.”

  “You were a mom before.”

  “But now I’m going to do it full-time. I’m going to take cooking classes maybe, or join a gym.” For the first time, Lyssa began to realize that she wouldn’t be running to keep a schedule anymore. She’d have vast amounts of time.

  No, that had to be an illusion. It would be filled up with grocery shopping and decorating and just living. Wouldn’t it? Terror rose within her.

  “Does that mean we’ll have no money?”

  “Maybe not so much after we buy an apartment here,” she said, then noticed his alarm. “That was a joke. No private jets but we’ll do okay. It’s expensive here, but I like it on the other side of the park. I thought it might be fun for you and Simon to live kind of close to each other. We won’t need a car, either.”

  “Simon says his mom wants him to go to school here next year.”

  Lyssa nodded. “Sandra told me that, too. I think you two could go to the same school together.”

  Logan grinned. “Really? This is twenty million kinds of awesome. Can I tell Simon?”

  “Tomorrow. Hang out with me right now and put your phone away.”

  He did as she asked, his brow furrowed as he thought. “What kind of apartment?”

  “The kind with windows and doors, a bathroom and a kitchen,” Lyssa said and he threw a snowball at her. She laughed and threw one back, bending to scoop up the snow in her free hand. They had a bit of a battle, and it felt good to put down that damn bag.

  “How many bedrooms?”

  “Two,” she said, holding up two fingers.

  His eyes lit predictably. “My own bedroom? With my own stuff?” Lyssa nodded, not having the heart to tease him. “And Simon can come over and it won’t be at a hotel?”

  “Of course.” They walked on together and she could almost hear the wheels turning. It would be non-stop questions until he fell asleep but she didn’t care. His excitement was infectious. “I thought we might go to the American Museum of Natural History tomorrow...”

  “I want to see these apartments,” Logan said, interrupting her with resolve.

  “Whoa. Instead of the big whale?” That was a surprising measure of his interest. They visited that museum every time they were in Manhattan, often repeatedly, and she was sure Logan had the entire collection memorized.

  “Instead of the whale.” He looked determined. “I want to find the apartment.”

  “It’s not so much fun,” Lyssa warned him. “We have to trudge along with the real estate agent and you can’t touch anything. You have to take your shoes off at each place...”

  “I don’t care. I need to pick a good room. It’ll be my first one ever. It has to be right.”

  Lyssa smiled. “Okay. I’ll call her when we get to the hotel and we’ll do it.”

  “And you need to prove to me that you’re really going to eat all the things.”

  “How would I do that?”

  “Let’s have pizza tonight.”

  The very bane of her existence. Cheese and bread together. Her son knew how to test her.

  Lyssa took a deep breath. “Okay, but don’t start thinking that you’ve got me wrapped around your little finger, mister,” she warned in a mock-stern voice. “We’re celebrating having the holidays together, but we’re not going to start living on fast food. I’m still your mom...”

  “And you still get to tell me what to do,” he said, finishing her sentence with a grin. He seized her hand. “Thanks, Mom,” he said and she squeezed his hand.

  “You won’t miss the travel?”

  “I’ve been there and done that,” he said, his manner so offhand that Lyssa smiled. “I’ll miss Franco and Giancarlo, though.” Ever since Logan’s birth, Lyssa had taken him to Italy at Christmas, and they’d spent the holiday with her friends. Franco was a photographer and Giancarlo, his partner, was a designer. Christmas at their home in Tuscany was just about perfect.

  “Me, too. It’s probably a lot warmer in Tuscany.”

  “Can you learn to cook like Giancarlo?”

  “I can try.”

  “Then they can come and visit us next Christmas.”

  Lyssa smiled. “That would be great.”

  “We have to call them.”

  “We’ll Skype tomorrow. It’s all arranged.”

  “Can I choose what color to paint my room? Will there be room for my books?”

  “Yes and yes.”

  “Hey! I just remembered. Simon’s dad is going to show the Harry Potter movies on New Year’s Eve on their big screen television. It’s got speakers and everything, like a home movie theater. Can I go?”

  “Yes.” Actually, that perfectly solved the issue of her making an appearance at F5.

  It took Logan only a moment to add the next inevitable question. “Can we have a home movie theater in our apartment, too?”

  “Probably not,” Lyssa said. “But definitely a television.”

  “I get my own room!” he cried as they entered the lobby of the hotel and Lyssa had no doubt that she was making the right choice.

  Kyle did his first pop-up to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way.

  Theo was waiting in his suit when the official video was posted and played on the big screen there. They’d set up a pair of black leather chairs on one side of the F5 lobby for these interview spots and he had a good view of the big screen. He was very curious to see what Kyle did.

  The video started in black and white, with swirling mist, then the mist cleared to show a pier in the pouring rain. The rain was the real thing, but he figured they used some dry ice for the mist. There was a steamboat docked on one side of the pier, and the city of San Francisco was partly obscured by fog in the background. A person in a black trench coat with a black umbrella walked toward the camera, his face obscured by the umbrella and the city behind him, as the music started. Theo wasn’t certain when the video changed from black and white to color, because the transition was so gradual.

  Lady Gaga sang the first lines as the mist swirled and the shot zoomed in on the man. Then the music started and Kyle tipped back the umbrella. His eyes were startlingly blue.

  “Because we’re all superstars,” he lip-synced to the camera, then he winked. He dropped down the umbrella to hide his face again and spun it as the camera took a wider angle.

  “He never doubted it,” Sonja murmured and Theo smiled. His foot was already tapping and his anticipation rising. He recognized the location as Pier Three and the paddleboat as the San Francisco Belle.

  The wider angle revealed that four dancers had joined Kyle, two on either side, on th
e wet pier. They were all dressed the same way, and they all spun their umbrellas as they danced. Theo spotted Rachel right beside Kyle and recognized the others as employees of F5W.

  The camera spun to reveal that there was a line of people waiting to get aboard the steamboat: they’d turned to stare in astonishment. Theo spotted the boom box on one side of the pier as the camera circled around the dancers. It was a dizzy choreography between cameras and dancers, but that made it impossible to look away.

  When the chorus started, the five dancers peeled off their raincoats to reveal that they were in black bodysuits. They turned to the right and the back of each raincoat was unzipped by the dancer behind. The raincoats dropped to the pier. The entire team was in great shape as well as pumped up and the bodysuits showed that off. They also were a more heavily tattooed and pierced group than the east coast team, and their hair was both more colorful and more creatively cut. They looked great.

  Theo smiled as the people watching in the F5 lobby wolf-whistled.

  “I’m on the right track, baby...” Kyle seemed to sing as they danced in a line, spinning their umbrellas. They spun and the camera pivoted, showing that five more dancers had joined them. They wore the same black bodysuits but carried yellow umbrellas. With each verse, five more dancers joined the group, appearing out of the mist. The next group had orange umbrellas, then red, purple, and all the colors of the rainbow. The dance steps had them moving between each other so that the spectrum ultimately appeared in order.

  The people on the pier were clapping and singing along, just as people had at Wollman Rink, many of them filming the pop-up on their phones. The camera soared overhead, undoubtedly mounted on a drone, and filmed the dancers from above. They lifted their umbrellas in unison and spun them, forming a moving pride flag that undulated down the pier as they danced.

  “I was born this way!” The final line was sung loudly as they dropped the umbrellas and punched their fists to the sky.

  Theo was the first to clap, standing up to do it. Kyle blew a last kiss at the camera as the shot zoomed down to focus on him, then the video spun to a close.