Vanni had wanted to take her for a picnic in the park to celebrate her birthday. He remembered how she had always wanted to be on his arm in the open, and could think of no greater gift.
However it was Andy who shied away from the public scrutiny of being seen together. As much as she wanted to be with him, fully and really with him, she knew that their relationship was tenuous at best. There were still so many hurdles in their way.
So Vanni did what any rock star of his magnitude would do: he had the concierge buy them some disguises. She got a long black wig and he got a baseball cap that barely concealed his flowing locks. The hotel provided them a picnic basket and they walked arm in arm through the park to the boathouse.
She giggled as he rowed them out into the middle of the lake. Under their coats and cheap costumes she felt like they were playing a couple of parts in a movie. She called him Fred and he called her Lucy, and they fed each other finger foods like cheese and fruit under a gray sky.
He made her laugh even more as he pulled out a ukulele and sang silly, old fashioned love songs. By the time they rowed for shore Andy was pleased they took the chance to go out into the world for what she knew would be the most unique birthday celebrations in her lifetime.
She wanted to go with Vanni to the studio for moral support, but Holly finally convinced him to allow her to come along. He figured if she could see he was sober and everything was fine then she’d leave him alone the rest of the trip – or possibly go back to L.A. entirely.
So Andy waited at the hotel while Holly met with Vanni in the lobby of the studio. Her ever present smile widened when she saw him. She looked so relieved that he was not only sober but looked happier than she remembered him being. “New York is good for you,” she said as he lifted her up in a friendly hug.
“It’s home,” he said with a smile.
“And things with your dad? Are they okay?”
He shrugged. As hurt as he’d been the last two days with Andy had done so much to heal his spirit. “We’re on our way to okay,” he said, and for the first time he truly believed it.
Now that he and Andy were together, he believed there was nothing life could throw at him that he couldn’t handle.
He even managed to hug Angelo for the cameras and recite many of the things Andy had helped him realize about his dad over the past day. He understood he had an illness, and he truly felt at the time he was doing the right thing by removing himself from their lives given the state he was in. They talked about how he gone from being homeless and even in jail to being a model employee for the market where he worked, as well as a tireless volunteer for those with substance abuse.
By the time the interview wrapped even Vanni believed the sunny happy feel good story they sold. Though he was itching to get back to Andy, he allowed Holly to talk them all into going out for a late dinner at a popular all night diner.
He watched as Holly immediately bonded with Angelo. He knew it had to be hard for her to see this relationship turn out so well when her relationship with her father hadn’t. Every time she looked up at Angelo she looked like an orphaned puppy hoping to find her way home. Vanni felt that instant urge to protect her, so he indulged the hour they spent chatting together.
In the end he was glad to have had that time with his dad, looking at him through her eyes.
He finally excused himself to make a call, leaving Holly and Angelo together briefly. Angelo gave her a warm, grateful smile. “I’m so happy that my Giovanni has got so many good friends looking out for him. He’s a good man. I can see why so many love him.”
She gave him a big smile in return. “Oh? Who else have you met?”
“I’ve only met the one staying with him in his suite. Andy, I believe her name was.”
Holly’s smile faded. “Are you sure that was her name?” she asked.
He nodded. “It’s hard to forget a woman named Andy,” he said with a chuckle. “Even for an old man like me.”
She smiled again, only this time with much greater effort.
Vanni approached the table. “Hey, listen. I have to get going. I’ve got an early interview tomorrow morning. I’ve taken care of the bill. You guys can stay as long as you like.”
Angelo scooted around the side of the booth and stood to hug his son. “Thank you, Giovanni,” he said softly. “For everything.”
Vanni just nodded and waved goodbye to Holly on his way toward the door.
He still felt really good about things as he opened up the door to his suite where his lovely lady waited. She was working on her novel when he came up behind her. The minute he touched her, the writing was forgotten.
Life was so much more exciting when she was in Vanni’s arms.
He picked her up and carried her to their bed. They only had ten minutes left of her birthday. He was going to make every minute count.
Chapter Seventeen
October 23, 2010. Los Angeles.
Andy
The previous days had floated by like a dream. As always when she and Vanni finally got together, any months apart vanished like wisps of smoke. They knew each other well, yet somehow always found ways to discover something new. Theirs was an exciting love affair, one Andy was so happy to have salvaged after such a rotten year.
It seemed as though nothing could break them apart. Somehow, some way, they always found a way back to each other.
She watched the country speed under her from the window by her first class seat on an airplane bound for Los Angeles. Though she knew their relationship would have to be kept undercover for many more months, and their hours apart may outnumber those spent in each other’s arms, she felt confident that they had finally passed their greatest test.
She didn’t even bother wearing any kind of disguise as she boarded the plane at JFK straight to Los Angeles.
After their magical time together she felt they were, for lack of a better term, bullet proof.
Which may have been why the flurry of cameras exploding in her face as she went to retrieve her baggage from the carousel at LAX took her by complete surprise. “Comment for PING, Miss Foster?” “How was New York?” “See much of Giovanni Carnevale?” “Does Graham Baxter know how you spent your birthday?”
Each question hit her like a blast to the chest. She held up her arms like a shield as she grabbed her bag and scurried from the terminal, with all the paparazzi press in tow. She ran down a cab and paid extra for him to take the scenic route back to her hotel. When she finally made her way back to her suite, she went immediately to her computer to get the scoop on how she and Vanni had been scooped.
In the very first search results she found links back to photos taken in New York. There were endless images, photos of her checking out, her in the window of her hotel, her and Vanni in a boat in Central Park, holding hands as they left the hotel, cuddling as they arrived.
Even in their cheap disguises it was clear to see who they really were when PING provided irrefutable proof they were both staying in the hotel by tracking down their credit card charges.
The gossip mill speculated that she was cheating on Graham and he was cheating on Holly of all people. Though they had been seen together quite a bit, Andy had no idea that the press had made them an “item,” one that helped polish his tarnished image.
And now he was screwing the boss’s squeeze in NYC like the scum of the earth he really was. PING made it clear there was no love lost and they obviously relished trying to take him down.
Meanwhile it stoked the anger of the Wilke family. Donny, Baylee’s angry older brother, was seen flipping off the paparazzi as they snapped photos of him going in and out of the hospital with his mother Raelynn. They were quoted quite a bit on how they felt about his high living in a fancy New York City hotel while their beloved Baylee clung to life support.
With a sinking feeling she realized that there was no way Graham had missed all this coverage, and surely knew now she had been lying through her teeth about her trip to Nashville.
She grabbed her purse and decided to confront the issue head on. Surely he’d understand… he always understood…
The difference was she had never lied to him before.
Her heart dropped like a led weight into her stomach. No matter how she had justified it before she knew deep down that she took this trip to NYC to be with Vanni. It wasn’t just because he needed her; it was that she needed him.
She always had.
And now she had to go face another man she had grown to love in a very different way and further break his tattered heart. There was no future for her and Graham, not the way he wanted it.
It was high time they both faced that.
She didn’t even call Vanni. She knew that he would tell her to wait so they could confront him together. She couldn’t add that to Graham’s pain. This was about her and this was about Graham. And it needed to be done without further delay.
She ducked past the people she instantly recognized as PING stooges hanging around in the lobby so that she could make her way to the parking garage. Typically they had scoped out her car, a modest hybrid that she had registered under her name like any other normal person. But she wasn’t normal anymore, and she knew she could never forget that again. People she had never met were suddenly very invested in her comings and her goings, rendering her prisoner to their morbid curiosity. She couldn’t even get into her own car in a public parking garage without causing a scene.
The whole thing was ridiculous. How did they even know she was in New York? She supposed anyone could be paid into tipping them off, it was impossible to know who had been the one to make the call.
As mad as she was at them for being parasitic vultures bound to pick Vanni’s bones clean, the real culprits were the ones who ate up every nugget of juicy gossip. They were able to do what they did because they had customers in line to buy their wares. If they didn’t get paid – well – to do what they do, they wouldn’t do it.
They truly were a force to be reckoned with, and it broke Andy’s heart they were playing with the emotions of good people just to make a name for themselves.
She tightened her jacket around her and made her way back upstairs to the valet, who called for a taxi. She felt like a spy living in her own country as she sped toward Graham’s house in Malibu.
When Maggie opened the door, Andy knew that she knew. Her face was drawn, whether in anger or disappointment Andy couldn’t be sure. But she was not happy to see Andy and it showed.
“Is Graham awake?”
Maggie opened the door a little further. She scoped out the front yard, no doubt for any stray wannabe paparazzi who might sniffing around to get the first shot of the devastated cripple at the heart of this new triangle. “He’s not well,” Maggie finally said as she shut the door behind them.
“I know,” Andy said softly. She couldn’t imagine how he would be.
“No, you don’t know,” Maggie corrected, a bit sharper than Andy was used to. “He’s developed pneumonia.”
Andy’s mouth fell open. “What? But he was healthy the last time I saw him.”
“A lot can happen in a week,” Maggie said. “Especially when someone in Graham’s condition has his whole life implode for the world to see.”
Andy turned to walk to Graham’s bedroom but Maggie grabbed her arm. “He doesn’t want any visitors.”
“I’m not just any visitor,” Andy said.
“He doesn’t want to see you,” Maggie clarified as she crossed her arms across her chest.
Though it killed Andy to know that all of this was her fault, she held her head high. “I see. Is that why you didn’t call?”
“Maybe we were waiting for you to call,” Maggie suggested. “But I gather you’ve been busy.”
“My personal life is none of your concern,” Andy snapped as she reached for the door, but Maggie grabbed her wrist.
“It is when it affects my patient. You told me you loved him, Andy. Those aren’t just words you can throw around casually. To a man in Graham’s position love is a promise, something he can depend on when he needs it most. The problem is you said those words for you, not for him. You did it so you could assuage your guilt, not because you were willing to live up to them. And that wasn’t fair. In fact it was the cruelest thing you could have done.”
Andy cringed with each word that exploded from Maggie’s lips, words that she had held back for far too long. But Maggie was terrified for Graham’s survival now, not to mention a little guilty herself for exposing Graham to a potentially deadly virus after he’d been isolated for so long. She should have known better but she let herself get caught up in his infectious enthusiasm. After long lonely years it felt nice to be treated like a woman again.
After losing Mitchell she understood there were no risks worth taking when someone’s health was already compromised. Just one wrong choice and it could all be over; no one knew that more than Maggie.
Uncharacteristically she took her fears on Andy because the words were true regardless. And they needed to be said. Maybe if they were issued harshly they’d finally sink in. “Don’t you know how hard he has worked so he can walk to you a renewed man? When things get hard you are this ideal, the one who pulls him through. He needs to know that you will be there, that you will love him through all the tough times ahead. Imagine what it is like to rely on something, on someone, as much as he relies on you and then being betrayed so cruelly. You took the gift of his survival and just threw it away when it was no longer convenient. This is bad enough by itself, but you did it for the whole damn world to see. You leveled him, Andy.”
Andy’s chin trembled. The words hurt because she knew they were completely and totally true. She had promised she would be there for Graham and she had let him down. And for what? A romantic weekend she virtually stole? “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t tell me,” Maggie snapped. “Tell him. Maybe it’ll be the one thing that will bring him back from the brink you drove him towards. And you know what? Even though you don’t deserve it he will forgive you anyway. Because that’s what real love does. But if you ever hurt him again, you’ll have to deal with me. You got that?”
The angry redhead spun on her heel and disappeared down the hall.
Andy inched toward Graham’s room feeling the weight of her betrayal on her shoulders. She didn’t even bother to knock before she slightly opened the door.
There he lay on the bed, pale and wane, hooked up to an IV. God really punished her this time, she thought as she walked silently over to his bedside. She paid in instant karma for her lies and her selfishness. He was healthy a week ago. Now he looked like he didn’t even want to hang onto the shell of a body he had left.
She sat on the chair next to him and took his hand in hers. The torrent of tears broke free as she sobbed quietly, holding onto him tightly trying to force life back in through his fingers. His dark eyes opened as he glanced over to where she sat.
“What are you doing here?” he croaked. Even his voice was weak and ghostly. It was more than she could take.
“I’m back,” she told him. “I’m never going anywhere again,” she promised without even thinking about it. There was no promise greater anymore. If Graham died it wouldn’t be a bullet that did it, it would be her stupid, selfish choices and her damnable lies. She simply couldn’t bear it. “Just don’t leave me, Graham.”
“What about Vanni?” he asked.
Her heart threatened to rip in two. “He’ll have to understand,” she finally said. She slipped off her jacket and slid into bed with Graham and took him into her arms.
As she lay there, listening to the steady, reassuring rhythm of his heart from the monitor, she already knew Vanni would never understand.
Their time together in New York would most likely be their final goodbye and they never even knew it. Had she really
boarded that plane this morning feeling like she finally owned the world? What a fool she had been. A stupid, selfish fool.
There were tears in her eyes as she whispered, “I’m sorry,” repeatedly. She apologized to Graham… to Vanni… and most of all herself.
She stayed there with Graham until the sun peeked in the window the next morning. Maggie said nothing to her as she came in to check on him. Her friendly demeanor was reserved for her patient only; Andy she practically ignored.
So Andy took the opportunity to leave the room and take care of some immediate business. She called the hotel so they would package all her things and deliver it to the house. She wasn’t sure what she’d do about the car yet but she had other, more pressing matters to attend.
Her phone had several texts from Vanni, who was still in the protective bubble in New York. He wasn’t flying home until today. A lot of good their covert travel plans had accomplished. They fooled no one, but he had no way of knowing.
Instead his texts were loving, flirty and sexy. He wanted her to come to the beach house and stay for the weekend, to keep their pseudo-honeymoon going. He had no idea how impossible his life would be when he returned to Los Angeles, where the paparazzi waited to splash the intimate details of his life all over the covers of magazines, on TV and on the Internet.
She didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone but she couldn’t see how it was possible to wait until he got back to L.A. So she called him as he was packing and preparing to come back home to her.
“Hey, baby,” he said in that softened bedroom voice of his. She closed her eyes and prayed for strength – a trait that was always sorely lacking when it came to her resolve to stay away from Vanni.
“There are some problems,” she stated cryptically.
Immediately he knew something was seriously wrong. “Such as?”
She sighed. “We’ve been busted,” she said. “PING knows everything. They’ve printed it far and wide. They pounced me as soon as I got off the plane last night. No doubt they’ve surrounded your house and are waiting for you too.”
The Complete Groupie Trilogy Page 48
