by Deanna Roy
I figured Murphy’s Law meant I would go to all four stores and it would be the last one that had the information I needed. So when I got in the taxi, I instructed the driver to take me to the one farthest away. Maybe I could cut to the chase, cheat ol’ Murphy.
But when I arrived in front of the chain guitar store, it felt all wrong. Chance wouldn’t go here. It was glitzy and aimed at amateurs and hobbyists. Not somebody who would play across the country.
I didn’t even get out. I told the driver the next name on the list.
He turned around, his short cropped hair peppered with gray, like his mustache. “You sure?” he asked. “That’s a pretty tough part of town, darlin’.”
His accent was so much like Chance’s that my heart pounded. “Well, I’m looking for a place that would sell a pretty rare but brand-new guitar. Some place that would cater to serious musicians.”
“I know the one,” he said. “Everybody who’s anybody in this town buys their gear there.”
“Have you?” I asked.
“Not me,” he said. “But Chattanooga ain’t a big city. There’s only so many places, and I’ve lived here a long time.”
I sat back on the seat, looking out. “It’s a pretty place.”
“There’s two parts of Tennessee,” he said. “The flat dull parts. And here, all green and mountains. This is what a lot of folks think of when they picture it. But the city they think of, Nashville, isn’t like this at all.”
“It’s not green and pretty?”
“Not a lick.”
“Can we see the river that runs through town?” I asked. It was one of the few things Chance had mentioned.
“Sure,” he said. “We’ll take Veterans Bridge right across the island and go up Riverfront. We’ll pass all the tourist spots. The aquarium, museums. There’s a cruise you can take up the river.”
I doubted I’d have time to sightsee, but I was fascinated by the town Chance called home. I wondered if I could find his family. What they’d think of me. I had on the blue and white maxi dress. My suitcase was full of jeans. I had one killer outfit in the bag, to use only if necessary. And it would probably be necessary.
I had tucked my dreads into a big sun hat so they weren’t too prominent. I’d whip it off at the guitar store if I thought the look would score me points in getting what I needed.
But I was probably not the girl you would normally bring home to Mother.
Particularly if I was knocked up.
My belly fluttered again, and nausea rolled in. I had to get control of this or I’d be too green in the gills to get what I needed from the stores.
We passed through the tourist district the driver had talked about. It looked like a lot of interesting things for typical visitors. Just not me. The only thing I wanted wore Grateful Dead T-shirts and jeans that hugged his butt just the right way.
I had no idea if I would find him, but I would sure as hell try.
Chapter 34: Jenny
I stood in front of the guitar shop, mentally preparing myself to go in. Maybe I should have gone to the other stores first, to practice what I would say.
Looking at the images of the local musicians whose event flyers plastered the front windows, I could see that taking off the hat was a wise idea. I wished I didn’t have a suitcase to drag behind me, as it looked odd, but maybe I could incorporate it into my story. I had started to form one as I looked at the door. It would work. It had to.
I pulled off the hat and hooked it over the handle of the suitcase. Then I took a deep breath, and opened the door.
It jingled with my entry. A man with a long brown beard sat behind the counter, diddling on a guitar. The place was packed wall to wall with equipment. Amps. Cases. Shoulder straps. Two rotating racks were filled with picks. One wall was dedicated to strings.
A room to the left had its doors thrown wide, and inside I could see guitars hanging floor to ceiling. I was drawn to it for a moment, so many colors and sizes, the warm wood of the acoustics and shiny gloss of electrics.
The man behind the counter finished whatever he was playing and asked, “Can I help you?”
I turned to him. “I hope so. I flew down to Tennessee to meet with a guitar player I discovered in LA. He’s from here. He bought a beautiful rare wood Seagull from this shop and raved about it.”
“We have a lot of ’em,” he said.
I pressed on. “I apparently left my phone on a charger in the LAX airport and now I can’t contact him. You are literally my only clue on how to meet up with him here.”
“What was his name?”
This was the tricky bit. “Chance,” I said. “He has the most delicious accent. He had picked up a gig with a band called the Sonic Kings at a Hollywood party I attended.”
The man hit the mouse on his computer. “Did he buy the Seagull recently?”
“It looked pretty new, but he’s been on the road for five months, so it would have been before then. It’s such a rare guitar, I thought he might be easy to spot.”
He scrolled through pages. “You play?” he asked.
“Oh, no, I have zero talent for any of it. But he was — wonderful. I have some friends who want to hire him. I work in the movie industry.” Hopefully, I thought.
“Okay, I see him. He picked this up literally five months ago. I guess for this tour you’re talking about.”
I leaned on the counter. “Makes sense. I had his phone number. I hate that cell phones mean we don’t write anything down!”
“He didn’t give me that, but he lives just a few streets down from here.” The man looked me over, head to toe.
“Great,” I said. “Although I hate to pop in. Maybe I can just leave a little note with how to reach me. He’s probably calling my missing phone, thinking I’m blowing him off.” I put on my best distressed look.
“He’s across from the middle school,” he said, and gave me the address and rough directions. “Tell him I said hello.”
I couldn’t believe I did it.
I had an address.
I thanked him and dragged my suitcase out of the store. I really wanted to get rid of the suitcase as soon as possible, so as soon as I was certain I was out of view, I pulled out my phone to call the taxi service.
I hadn’t been gone long, so the same driver picked up the fare. I was sort of glad to see his friendly face again.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked as I got in.
“Yes. Are there any hotels near here?”
“Sure. We can drive by and you can take a look-see.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I stayed by the window to really take in all the places Chance once knew. I felt like I was getting to know him a little, seeing the shop where he got his guitar, and now going to where he lived. Or did. I wasn’t sure if he’d pulled out completely when he left town. It might be a dead end. But if nothing else, I had a place I could send a letter and ask to be forwarded. It was something.
We drove by two nondescript chain hotels. “This one’s fine,” I said. “I really appreciate your help.” I handed him the fare.
“Have a nice time here in Chattanooga,” he said. “If you want me for anything, you can call and ask for Dan. They’ll tell you if I’m on duty.”
“Thank you,” I said. It was nice to feel like I knew someone here, even if it was a taxi driver.
I checked into the hotel and called my mom to let her know I had an address for Chance, even if it was an old one. She told me to be careful and asked if I was feeling sick.
I told her as long as I stayed calm, I wasn’t nauseated. After we hung up, I sat on the bed with the phone against my heart, glad at least somebody in the world knew everything. I appreciated her more in that moment than I think I ever had in my life.
I went in the bathroom to survey my appearance. I figured there were three possibilities for what I would find.
1. Chance himself.
2. Chance’s family.
3. A new
oblivious occupant.
The last seemed the most likely. But I had to brace myself for any of the others.
I took a second to Google the address to see if I could drum anything up. I found a rental listing from two years ago. Judging from the lack of lawn and family-friendliness, I assumed this had been where Chance had lived, not his parents.
It hadn’t been listed since, so maybe he had roommates that were still there.
That might be the easiest scenario. His friends would tell me where he was. Surely.
Just in case it WAS his mother, though, I smoothed my dreads back into a ponytail and hid them under the hat again. Not to mention, it would be a dead giveaway to anyone who might have seen the video that I was the naked girl.
I felt prepared to face all the eventualities.
Maybe.
Chapter 35: Jenny
The house didn’t look a whole lot different from the listing two years ago. Brown scraggly yard. Three trucks crammed into the driveway. So Chance had called this place home.
I gripped my purse strap tightly and headed up the walk. This was the worst part, hands down. But when I stepped on the porch, a buff cowboy in jeans, a plaid shirt, and a Stetson came out the front door.
“Oh, hey there,” he said, his expression lighting up. “Who brought you here?”
My voice caught. Could this be a brother? Or just someone who knew Chance? I couldn’t find any words.
His eyes were light blue and danced with amusement. “Quiet one, eh? You Redmond’s new girl? You look kinda pretty for that scoundrel.”
I took a deep breath. “Actually, I was wondering if Chance was back yet.”
He took a step back. “You know Chance?”
“I met him” — I decided not to mention LA — “while he was traveling.”
He squinted his eyes at me. “Are you that girl from the video?” He walked around me to look at the hair peeking out from the hat. “Bloody hell, it IS you!”
He opened the front door. “Redmond! Ace! You won’t believe who is on our porch.”
Shit. My heart hammered and my stomach turned over. Nausea flooded me. No, no, no, I could not throw up on their front stoop. I tried breathing slowly and carefully, wishing I had eaten some crackers.
Another guy came out, this one in workout clothes. “What are you talking about?” He stopped dead when he saw me. “Well, lookit that.”
The third one pushed between them to take a gander at me. “It’s dreadlock girl!” He was short and squat and watched me with suspicion. “Things not work out with your movie director?”
He had done his homework.
“Believe everything you read in a tabloid?” I shot at him. “Because I have an alien love child back home who wants somebody to probe.”
The first guy slapped his leg, laughing with a deep boom. “This one’s a corker. No wonder she flew all the way here chasing a ghost.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Chance ain’t been here in five months, and he hasn’t written a-one of us back the whole time,” the first guy said.
Short Boy said, “And he didn’t respond when we pointed out he’d made the news, either. He just doesn’t care.”
I held on tight to my purse. “Isn’t there anyone he’s willing to talk to back home? I really need to find him.”
The boys looked at one another.
“Well,” the first one said, “there’s Charlie. She works at the facility where his sister is staying, so he’ll talk to her. I don’t think he’s speaking to his mother, so Charlie would be your best bet.”
“A facility?” I asked. “Who is his sister?”
The boys all looked at the floor of the porch. “Her name’s Hannah,” the first one said. “Hannah McKenzie. She’s at the rehab place on Mercer Street. It’s sort of an old folks’ home, but they let Hannah go there.”
Holy hell, I had his last name. Just hearing it made my heart sing a little. One more piece of information. McKenzie. Chance McKenzie.
“Is she okay?” I asked.
The boys looked at one another again. “We don’t really know. We’re not allowed to see her. Chance’s mother is pretty tight-lipped and Charlie won’t talk to us.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I’m not talking about this,” the short one said. “I don’t want anything to do with this at all.” He went back inside.
“Don’t mind Ace,” the first guy said. “He was friends with Carl, and so much shit went down after the accident. He’s just sick of it.”
“Accident?”
“Our friend Carl hit Hannah’s car while he was mud running,” the guy who must be Redmond said. “It was a bad, bad night.”
“Lots of bad feelings came out of it, and of course, Hannah got hurt pretty bad,” the first guy said.
“That was five months ago?” I asked.
Redmond tugged on his workout shirt. “More like six. Chance stuck around for a bit, until it was clear Hannah wasn’t going to wake up. He and his mom had words over her care. She’s real religious, and she wouldn’t take her off life support. Chance didn’t want to see her suffering on that ventilator, wasting away.”
Wow. No wonder he was running.
“I’ve got his number,” Redmond said. “But two weeks ago, it started giving us an ‘out of service’ message.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m thinking he changed it after that little dustup with you on the beach.”
“Oh,” I said.
The first guy squinted at me. “So he didn’t want to talk to you either?”
“We didn’t exchange numbers at the time,” I said carefully. “It was just going to be a one-night thing.”
“So you changed your mind,” Redmond said.
“I did.”
“Good enough for me,” Redmond said. “We can go see Charlie. You want me to drive you?”
“I can do it,” the other one said.
“Back off, Pete,” Redmond said. “I’m about the only one here Chance doesn’t have a beef with.”
“He’s not exactly taking your calls,” Pete shot back.
I took a step back. “I can call a cab.”
“It’s fine,” Redmond said. “Let me get my keys.”
Pete leaned against the column. “You sure came a long way to find him,” he said. “Must be important.”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t let them figure out what was going on.
“True love,” I said. “And maybe he has something of mine.”
“Oh ho,” Pete said. “How was he, when you saw him?”
I breathed a little easier knowing I had diverted his questioning. “All right. Seemed happy. He was playing with a band who’d picked him up hitchhiking.”
“So you really don’t have this other guy?”
“No,” I said, knowing everything I said would be hashed over. “We were done. Chance was sort of a — rebound.”
Pete nodded. “Well, I figure if anybody can find him, it’ll be you. You’re not his usual type, but I can see why he might get hooked.”
Redmond came back out on the porch. He’d changed into jeans and a shirt and his black hair was damp. “Let’s go before Charlie’s off. I recall she only works days.”
He passed me and headed toward one of the pickups in the drive.
I followed him and gave Pete a little wave. As anxious as I was, this was going better than I thought.
Chapter 36: Jenny
We pulled up to the facility, which had a few spots near a big circle drive under an overhang.
“Is this a nursing home?” I asked. It looked like one.
“Sort of,” Redmond said. “They do some rehab things. I think they have a few other patients like Hannah, sort of in limbo.”
“So what exactly happened?” I asked.
“It was a terrible car accident. A clusterfuck of shit that went down when everybody drank too much.” Redmond stared out the windshield, his wrist over the steering wheel. “Changed everything.”
“Is that why Chance took off?”
“He said he needed to see the country, live by the seat of his pants. He quit his job.” Redmond pulled the keys from the ignition. “Running from demons, I guess. I don’t blame him for blowing us all off. We deserved it.”
“But his mom?”
“I hope he’ll come around about her. She’s a good lady, just a little preachy is all.”
I touched my dreadlocks with trepidation. “She’s not going to like me, is she?” I asked.
“If you can get her son back here, she’ll love you.” Redmond smiled and I could see why girls might fall for him. He had the same lazy grin that Chance had. It made me miss Chance all the more.
“Let’s go find Charlie,” Redmond said. “She’s not going to speak to me, so you’ll probably have to plead your case. She’s kind of a tough one.”
I nodded and opened the passenger door. I was getting good at these hard introductions.
We wandered into the visitors’ area. A couple elderly women were seated by the window, their wheelchairs angled close. One of them lit up at seeing Redmond. “My boy is here!” she said.
Redmond walked right up and kissed her hand. “Hello, Mrs. Tate.” He nodded to the other. “And Mrs. Johnson.”
The old woman beamed. “I see you have a lady friend. Do you have some news for me? A wedding, maybe?”
“Not with this one,” he said. “But I’ll let you know.”
“I want some grandbabies!” she said.
“I’ll work on it. See you soon.” He squeezed her hand and came back to me. We wandered toward a big round information desk.
“Is that your mom?” I asked.
“Oh, no,” he said. “She thinks every young man who comes in is her son. I don’t see any reason to correct her.”
“Oh.” I was starting to like Redmond.
We approached the friendly big-haired woman at the desk. “Is Charlie around?” Redmond asked.
“Yeah, I think she’s in the break room. She’s leaving early today.” She sat up a little straighter as Redmond leaned on the desk. He was definitely a charmer.
