The Unexpected Life of Carnegie Lane

by Virginia Higgins

  Sienna was sound asleep before they left the restaurant, around 1am, and Connor was clearly withdrawing from lack of X-Box time when the limo, containing Carnegie and the kids, Nate bowman and two of the band members turned into her street. They pulled into her drive. Nate picked up the still sleeping Sienna in his arms and carried her inside.

  “Well” Said Carnegie when she turned on the lights. “This is home. Sienna’s room is this way.” She walked ahead of Nate and turned on her bedroom light. He gently put her down on the bed and Carnegie began taking off her shoes.

  “Thanks for the great night. The girls are so happy. I can’t remember when I last saw them this happy.” She looked up at him. He was now standing with both of the girls either side of him. They just couldn’t get enough.

  “Before you go, come look at our room Nate.” Olivia was dying to show him her shrine.

  Carnegie got up and followed them into the twins’ room. Nate couldn’t believe their collection.

  “Would you believe, I never took any notice of this ever until they pointed it out to me it was you.” Carnegie was desperate to let him know that she didn’t know.

  Nate laughed a little. “Well, that is one dedicated collection I must say. Thanks for supporting my music girls, and thanks for a great night. You’re both lovely. Your mother must be proud.” He looked at Carnegie and smiled. She smiled back.

  “Well, I better go, I need to get some sleep, or try to. And tomorrow we have a concert to attend. Don’t we?” He said, looking at the twins.

  “Absolutely!” They chorused together.

  Nate hugged them both and walked out to the door, Carnegie saw him out.

  “Nate…thanks again. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said.

  “Yep you will. I’ll call you.” He reached over and kissed her on the forehead. The girls were watching from the bedroom window. Both let out a slight gasp.

  “Night …” She said gently, as she waved to the other people in the car and smiled gratefully at the driver.

  She watched as the car backed out and made its way down the street before stopping to indicate at the corner. They turned onto the main road heading back toward the hotel and were gone. Across the road, one of the neighbors had woken their husbands and was trying to tell them that a limo had just dropped off the ‘strange ones’ across the road. By the time he woke up, enough to get out of bed and have a look, it had gone. Both of them went back to bed grumpy.

  After Carnegie went back inside the house, a stationary car sprang to life and drove off. Tye Markem had the picture he had been waiting for. He drove back to the hotel, was cleared by security who still had no idea who he was and went to his room. He uploaded the pictures onto his computer and sent them to Richard.

  One was a tender moment, standing beside a limo, with Nate Bowman kissing Carnegie Lane gently on the forehead. He also sent a detailed message covering the events of the night, where they went for dinner, who was there and photos of the twins with Nate Bowman, then more pictures of the entire family out with the band and guests. He had taken photos of the area Carnegie lived in, including her impoverished small home.

  She was up reasonably early, considering the rather late night they all had. The local paper was delivered to all the houses and Carnegie went out and retrieved it from her lawn. On the front page was a picture of her girls either side of Nate Bowman. The headline read.

  SHEEVAS DECIPLES AND NATE BOWMAN ARRIVE IN TOWN

  Under the photo, the caption was “Local girls and family friends of Nate Bowman, Sobian and Olivia Lane stand for a photo with the star before heading out to a private dinner with the band and crew.”

  The main story was mostly an interview with the headmaster, given at the restaurant. He explained that all proceeds from the concert were to go to the acquisition of more instruments for the schools music program. He also expressed how proud he was of Sobian and Olivia, and what a joy it was to have them at his school. They were A students with a great future.

  Basically, his position in the world had been greatly improved from this visit, and he now understood that the reason it had happened was because of two girls, that two days ago, had been the brunt of bullying and considered liars. Even he had heard the rumors. It appeared they had told the truth all along, and he would now move heaven and earth to correct his opinions.

  Carnegie laughed a little as she made her first coffee for the day. Sienna bounded out of bed not soon after followed by Connor. Oddly, the twins were up relatively early. Once they were dressed for school, eager to go for a change, they sat with Carnegie and recapped the night of their life. They carefully cut out the article and picture in the paper and added it to their wall of fame. Then, they bounded out the door, happy as could be.

  Carnegie Lane watched her four children walk to the bus stop. Then she turned and made her way to the stereo. Today was a day of celebration. Today, she would clean her house loudly. Today, Carnegie Lane would perform without flaws to the statues that were waiting for her attention. Today... She was a star.

  Right now, Carnegie Lane, Idol to inanimate objects, mother of four and almost author. Was suddenly and unexpectedly… the most remarkable person on the planet.

  In front of total strangers won’t you kiss me

  Flowers for no reason but you miss me

  Oh I want to be in love

  I’m looking for a heart of gold

  I’m looking for a hand to hold

  A happy end

  Strong and kind

  Somewhere to rest my troubled mind

  In front of total strangers won’t you kiss me

  “I want to be in love”

  Written by Melissa Etheridge

  Melissa Etheridge – Skin Album 2002

  10

  Katalie Bowman had all the information from the publishers, including the line editor that would work with Carnegie directly. The deal was set. Now she would send the complete offer, including the offer for the second book to Carnegie Lane. She would be introduced to her editor, and between them, they would make her story shine. She put it in an international express courier bag, and sent it with the satisfaction of a task well done.

  Kat had done a great job, getting the story this far this quickly and she knew it. She was working on setting up a web page for Carnegie, which would involve media shoots, interviews, then eventually book signing tours. She had to get her ready for all of this and was considering bringing her to London for a few weeks to prime her for what was to come. Kat knew she also had to make the time for Carnegie to write her second book within the twelve month deadline as well as make the arrangements for promotion of the first. Everything seemed to be falling into place. That was until her boss knocked on her door.

  “Hi Ross.” She said happily.

  “Hey Kat, how’s it all going?” He questioned. He got the feeling Kat had no idea where her brother was right now, and he was hesitant to upset the perpetual motion she had been in for the past couple of weeks. Although, he knew he had to.

  “Great. I’m just putting all of the information together now. I was thinking…it might be a good idea if we bring Carnegie Lane to London, get her ready. You know what I mean?”

  Ross smiled. He had thought the same.

  “Yes, I think it’s a good idea. She has children, so you will need to give her some degree of notice I suspect. Don’t arrange anything until you get an available date from her, then try to work around that.”

  “Oh yeah… good idea, didn’t think of the kids.” She said thoughtfully.

  “Oh and listen, Kat. I don’t want to alarm you, but I had a call today, from Richard Toll. He was asking questions.”

  Kat knew well who Richard Toll was. There was many a time he had tried to get information out of her regarding her brother. Rarely did she give it unless she was confirming a fact she knew her brother would allow. She didn’t have a lot of time for him, because she knew what he was capable of.

  “Why did he call you? He has my numb
er if he wants to know the ins and outs of my brothers schedule, not that I would tell him much.”

  “Well, it wasn’t just about your brother. By the way, do you know where he is right now?”

  “Um… think he is still in Italy, planning on going to Brisbane Australia soon to start the next leg of his tour.” She sounded confident since he hadn’t told her any different.

  “Well, no. He isn’t in Italy, he’s already in Australia, and he’s in Bundaberg. Tonight he is doing a concert at the same high school Carnegie’s kids go to. You weren’t aware of this I gather?”

  Kat just stared at Ross, blank faced. “No idea…” She answered flatly. ‘I’ll kill him!’ was what she was thinking underneath the blankness of her expression, she was seething.

  “Well, you better look into it. I’ll email you, he has pictures of them together, now I’m not sure in what capacity or what is going on, although I suggest you get a handle on it and fast. The last thing you need now is negative media attention surrounding your girl or any that links her to Nate before the book is at least released. If there is any media surrounding it now, it will look like the only reason you took it on was because of your brothers’ influence; it won’t do her any good, or you.” He smiled sympathetically at her, knowing how much this would hurt her.

  Katalie put her hands in her face then closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair groaning a little as she did.

  “Thanks for the heads up Ross. I’ll get onto it. Oh, by the way? What did you say to him in your email?”

  “I just told him that there would be a statement from this office in the next few weeks regarding Carnegie Lane’s involvement with Nate Bowman and that all further enquiries regarding this were to go directly to you.”

  “Ok, I’ll deal with it.”

  All she wanted was for Ross to get up and leave so she could call her brother and blast him right out of the water. She looked at the time, and figured that if he was doing a concert it would nearly be the right time there for it to start. She decided to calm down before she called, and send a text instead. As soon as Ross was out of the office, she grabbed her mobile phone and started to text furiously at her brother.

  I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS.

  GUESS WHO IS ON YOUR TAIL NOW.

  RICHARD TOLL! OF ALL PEOPLE!

  CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU CAN.

  I’M NOT IMPRESSED!

  CARNEGIE LANE IS MY CLIENT!

  NOT YOUR FRIEND.

  Nate was ten minutes from beginning his unplugged concert for a hall full of eager people. He read the text and felt a slight ping of guilt, although he believed he could smooth the situation later, he also knew she was wrong about one thing. Carnegie Lane was his friend, and somehow his little sister would have to get used to it. He sent her a quick text in reply, hoping to calm her a little, not sure if he needed to apologize for not telling her in the first place.

  KAT…Calm down. I’ll explain later.

  I’ll call you tonight after the show.

  I love you.

  Nate xx

  She received the text at the same time Ross sent through the email from Richard. In it there were photos of Carnegie arriving at Nate’s hotel, pictures of her daughters with Nate. The most incriminating, was a picture taken in the dark with her brother kissing Carnegie Lane on the forehead. She read her text from Nate, although it didn’t calm her down, as for him calling her later and explaining… As far as Kat was concerned, he had gone way too far. Not only had he compromised her working position, it was the first time he had gone out of his way to conceal something from her that concerned both of them. She felt hurt and betrayed by the one brother she loved the most out of all of them.

  Kat went back to her emails, she avoided Richards for the moment, she didn’t need to see it twice and was certainly in no frame of mind to answer his questions. She sent an email to her other brother, Jason, hoping he would have an ear to listen to her vent all over him at the expense of their “perfect” older brother. Although Jason could be annoying, he was usually a good listener, and proved to be the mediator in more than one family situation.

  Jason was in Missouri, visiting their oldest sister at the time. He read the email and could come to only one conclusion. It was time for him to go to England, and help ease the situation by helping Kat. He felt needed. He walked out into the lounge room where his sister was folding clothes and the children were playing their play station games with their dad. He had an announcement to make.

  “Lilli, I know I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, but I’m going to have to go. Kat needs me.”

  “So soon?” Lilli was overjoyed, although she knew she could never let it show.

  “Yep, she emailed me. Something has come up. And I think it’s only right if I go and be with her in her time of need.”

  Lilli became slightly concerned for her younger sister, although, it was overruled by her joy at the fact Jason was leaving. He had done his time, everyone was over him, but it was impossible to tell him that. He meant well, and as annoying as he was, she loved him.

  “She’s not pregnant…is she?” Lilli thought for a moment. She was the only one so far with kids, that she knew of anyway.

  “No…she’s fighting with Nate. She’s just really sad and she needs me.”

  “Well, Jason, if that’s what you need to do, then I’ll help you pack.” She jumped up and went to the spare room. The smile on her face was obvious, and the one thing she was sure of, Kat and Nate would never fight for long, so there was no problem that needed to concern her.

  She was pleased that he was walking behind her and couldn’t see the happiness that lit up her face. In the lounge room her husband and the kids all stopped playing and just looked at each other. They were stunned. They were also relieved. They had done their time. It would undoubtedly come again, but right now… they were about to free themselves from Uncle Jason who had an uncanny knack of scratching play station games and overriding saved checkpoints and being embarrassing at weekend soccer games. Thanks Aunty Kat, they thought.

  The concert was a screaming success, quite literally. Nate Bowman and his band smiled for the cameras and mobile phone shots with a horde of love struck fans, they then made statements to the press about how good they felt doing a show that benefited the school and their music program.

  Leonie, Nate’s assistant and the publicity manager for the band, was pacing nervously at the back of the hall. She had received an email from Kat, who was clearly, not impressed, trying to figure out who was the mole for Richard Toll. It hadn’t taken her long to figure it out. There was only one other staying at the Hotel, since they booked it out in its entirety, except for that mysterious guy in that one room and he had strangely appeared in a couple of different locations at the same time as they did. She looked around, trying to see if he was here at the concert. Sure enough, he was there watching eagerly along with everyone else. She walked over to him and sat down.

  “Was a good show wasn’t it.” She said, attempting to strike up a conversation without alarming him.

  “Yeah, it was great. I didn’t know the band was so heavily into supporting education.” He replied, fishing for information.

  “Oh we do it occasionally, different things, for different schools.” She was lying, although not entirely, they usually just donated money to the schools where their relatives had kids attending.

  “That’s such a good thing to do. What made you choose this school?”

  There was now not a doubt in her mind who he was. She had to be careful how she worked her answers, although some degree of honesty here was the best policy.

  “Nate has good friend that lives here in Bundaberg, a writer actually. Her girls are in their final year of school and we decided that since we were in the country for the concerts, we would come and do something special for them. Their exams start in a fortnight, and a lot of the kids who would like to come to Brisbane wouldn’t be able to make it.”

  She stoppe
d talking to allow him to think about what she said.

  “Oh I see. And she is a writer, did you say? Anything published?” He had never heard of Carnegie Lane, so she either worked under a different name, or was reasonably new to the industry. It was how she knows Nate Bowman and in what capacity that interested him the most, he wasn’t much of a reader to care about what she wrote, nor did it matter.

  “Not sure, I don’t know her that well, she’s just a friend, no big deal. Well I’ll see you back at the hotel I guess, I better go round this crew up. Bye…err, sorry I didn’t get your name. I’m Leonie.”

  “Oh, hi Leonie, I’m Tye, Tye Markham.” He put out his hand and shook hers politely. Tye Markham she thought to herself a few times, just long enough for her to remember his name.

  Tye watched her as she walked back over to where the band was, she was careful not to bring any attention to their conversation, not yet. She knew how to play this game, years of heading off potential gossip columns had served her well.

  The reality with Tye, was he was green. This had been a case of “beginners luck”. He didn’t see it that way or recognize that it was now he who was being played. He was a little disappointed that Leonie had told him as much as she had in a way. It shot the secrecy out of the water, although Richard was bound to see it differently. He settled in and continued to watch the crowd and the band as they signed autographs and had their photos taken for the local paper.

  He watched Carnegie Lane closely. She was sitting with Sienna, who was talking constantly in her ear. Olivia and Sobian were standing with their apparent “new friends” who they had acquired magically overnight, although neither of them seemed that interested in their attention. After a while, the crowds began to subside, and the band went back to the Hotel, along with Carnegie and the kids. Tye made his way back also and was met, coincidently, in the foyer, by Leonie.

  “Well, we meet again.” She said to him with a smile on her face. She had been waiting for him, and hoped he would arrive soon.