Just as Troy threw me one last malicious glare—which I was ready and willing to meet with one of my own—Mandy came running at me. I had to admire her ability to scoot while in heels. Pushing through the people scrambling about, she came at me with a cellphone in her outstretched hand.
“One minute!” shouted the stage manager.
“It’s for you!” Mandy handed the phone.
“Now?”
“Just answer it!”
Pressing the phone to my ear, I ran through a million scenarios in my head, each one worse than the last. “Hello?” I asked breathlessly.
“Ruby?” Hannah asked, equally exasperated.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Hannah moaned on the other end of the phone and I could hear Sam counting evenly to her in the background. “I’m in labor,” she panted.
My mind quickly put everything together, and I sighed in relief. “You’re having a baby now?”
Another groan from Hannah. “Sure feels like it.”
“You’re early.”
“Tell that to the baby,” Hannah snapped.
Harrison came back and handed over my guitar, which I took and carefully tuned, tweaking the strings while cradling the phone in the crook of my neck. “Hannah, I don’t want to cut you short but I’m, um, about to go back on stage. Can I call in fifteen minutes when I’m done?”
“How about I call you?” she suggested. “I’ve got to get this baby out, and then we can talk.”
“Deal.”
“Twenty seconds!” the stage manager announced, grabbing my elbow and pushing me toward a lift that was going to rocket me to the stage in a dramatic finale to my performance. Kiki spritzed the air in front of me with a cloud of perfume, making me sneeze as I walked through.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to be able to smell me from on stage,” I huffed.
“You never know. Better to smell like you made an effort than smell like an old gym sock.” The platform started rising, and Kiki gave me a thumbs up. “Make it memorable, or I’ll forever regret choosing you as my opening act.”
All I could do was smile. It seemed so bittersweet that Heart on Fire was my final solo song. I’d gotten Mr. Drake to agree to put it on after the rave reviews it’d gotten. It may have felt like a stab in the heart that the first time I’d be performing it in concert was the same day I’d been left by not one, but two men, but there was also a sense of pride. It was the only song that hadn’t been written for Monica Best and other than a few adjustments, was all my creation. Plus, now that Troy had bolted, I got my wish and would be performing while playing guitar. I felt like I could truly give all of myself to my fans, and it was going to be epic.
Smoke drifted along the ground, spilling over the edge and a powerful spotlight beamed from above as I rose slowly from the center of the stage floor, strumming the opening chords of the song. The crowd hushed and listened intently as I began to sing ever so softly. Having one of the rare opportunities to stand still, I looked out into the endless ocean of people before me. I found Vanessa in the middle of a swarm of dark haired beauties that were undoubtedly her cousins. She waved and shouted my name, and it took all my willpower not to smile back.
So many of the other faces staring up at me were girls—clusters of them even younger than me. I could see the anticipation in their eyes. That they still believed in love, that happy endings were possible. Though my own fairytale had turned into a nightmare, I could still give this song to them. It was my gift to all those who were innocent, hopeful, lucky in love.
A few rows back, I could see the crowd parting as someone ran forward, weaving around people clumsily but seeming to elicit a smile from everyone he offended. I did a double take as he drew closer. Collin! I nearly choked but miraculously managed to keep singing, mercifully having had enough experience with distractions while performing to know how to school my face.
I could see Collin jumping up and down, waving his arms and cupping his hands to his mouth. I couldn’t hear what he was yelling, but he was steadily weaseling his way toward the stage. Halfway through the song, the music intensified, the volume increased exponentially, and I could hear Kiki on the drums behind me. She was dressed inconspicuously so she could surprise the concert goers when we segued the finish of my performance and the start of hers with our duet. Laser lights and fireworks were bursting behind me, and I rocked the guitar solo, sort of wishing I had more than two inches of hair to whip around.
By the time Collin had reached the front row, a pair of burly security guards were on to him. Vanessa spotted Collin and the two exchanged words, both animatedly pointing and looking between me and the approaching men. Security grabbed Collin’s arms, hauling him away toward the side exit while Vanessa watched worriedly. I lost track of him as Heart on Fire climaxed, and the crowd went wild. I searched for his face but figured he was long gone, dumped on his derriere outside. If he had something to say, now wasn’t exactly the time to talk. A commotion stirred the crowd, and I saw Collin shove one of the guards into the other, dodge around them both and bolt for the stage. They were close on his tail until Vanessa stuck out her foot and tripped both of the guards, who fell hard one on top of the other. Collin leapt spectacularly and landed with a mighty thud on the stage as I played the final chords, panting and watching as this wild scene played out before me. The audience gasped and before I could blink, security was flooding from all sides to drag him off.
Against my better judgement, I stepped between Collin and the bodyguards—part of me wanted to see him humiliated and drug from the stage as payment for what he’d done, but my heart twisted at the thought—curiosity and frankly, intense flattery was winning out. He was putting in an awful lot of effort to speak to me after days of unbearable silence.
“Wait!” I shrieked, too late.
The slew of security couldn’t stop their sheer muscular weight and bowled right into me, knocking me off the stage. I yelped as I tumbled into the crowd, and for the second time that night, I was unexpectedly rescued. Hands from dozens of spectators caught me and safely kept me from the ground while someone shouted in my ear that they were my biggest fan. I was surrounded by dozens of phones, all recording and snapping selfies. I put a bright smile on my face and directed my rescuers to toss me back on stage.
Collin was struggling against the security guards to no avail. Running over to him before they could cart him off and have him arrested, I yelled, “Stop!” With my headset microphone still on, everyone within a five-mile radius had probably heard my command. The hired guards regarded me with confusion. I didn’t need to get into the complicated details of our relationship, so I desperately expounded, “That’s my boyfriend!”
Collin shrugged their hands off and rushed over to me. I could tell he wanted to pull me in close, but he had read in the stiffening of my back and the chill of my demeanor that I wasn’t about to be swooned. Still, when our eyes met, I was hopelessly locked in place, like nothing else existed but us. Even the breeze seemed to be holding its breath. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with Jill.”
“You were right,” he panted, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top of his shirt so he could breath. I forced my eyes not to look down at his throat where the tips of his collarbones met. “She was trying to steal me from you.”
“Jill?”
“She admitted it all. That you weren’t good enough for me, that she and I could be a power couple, which would help both our careers.”
“Over dinner?” I said, a slight cut in my voice.
Unexpectedly, Collin laughed. My frozen heart melted at the happy sound I’d been missing so long. “I bought her a hot dog from a food truck because we hadn’t had lunch and were on our way to another meeting. And even then, it was done on the company card.” He took a step forward and grabbed my hands. “I should have listened to you earlier. I fired her.”
My heart soared at his confession and I smirked, “Who’s going to keep you on trac
k now? And make sure your pants are zipped?”
Another robust laugh from Collin, and he pulled me farther into him, wrapping his arms around my waist. I reminded myself to also thank Kiki for the perfume spritz. Even if I was drenched in sweat, I surely at least smelled like a slightly fruity gym sock. “We’ll worry about that later. I couldn’t wait to tell you that I love you. Only you. Whatever it takes, I’ll prove it to you.”
“I have to tell you something. Troy kissed me. I didn’t want him to. And it was only on the cheek. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I didn’t want to hurt you, and every time I tried, I chickened out. I’m such a coward.”
“Do you love him?”
“Troy?” Collin nodded. “No. Not at all.”
“Then, it’s in the past.”
He ran his fingers over my ear, the way he’d do when he tucked my long strands of loose hair out of my face. Tears pricked my eyes, and my chin wobbled. Collin’s brow furrowed worriedly. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s my…” I sniffled a couple of times, “my hair. I chopped it all off when I thought you left me.”
Collin refrained from laughing at my ridiculousness and instead drew me in close to whisper in my ear, “Ruby, you look amazing. I love every phase of you and can’t wait to see what life brings us next.”
He reached a hand up and clasped the back of my neck, crashing his lips into mine. I sank into the kiss, barely aware of the crowd cheering. They’d seen and heard it all and were eating up the drama unfolding before them. Collin was mine all along, and I couldn’t have been more grateful.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I was in my parents’ backyard, fanning myself with my hand. Sweat was trickling down my skin in the most uncomfortable spots—between my shoulder blades and down into my bra. I squirmed in my dress, a stiff mint green tea length dress.
I looked to the man at my left. Mr. Drake stood, unmoving except for his fingers, which fiddled as he watched down the length of the yard toward the house. The string quartet finished their prelude music, and they began Canon in D. The guests that were seated in their wooden chairs stood as Ms. Osborne came into view. She was a vision in her modest cream gown, looking calm but ecstatic, finding herself finally a bride.
No matter how many times I tried to get myself under control during the ceremony, tears kept refreshing and spilling down my cheeks, much to the annoyance of Hannah. She slipped me a tissue from behind and pinched me to get me to stop. Vanessa, who’d been as good as a daughter to Ms. Osborne since I’d brought her home with me for Thanksgiving, stood behind Hannah, stifling laughter as she watched our sisterly rivalry. Inhaling a deep breath, I slowly released it through my lips and willed my eyes to contain my happy tears. Glancing at the audience, Collin sat behind my parents and next to Sam. He bounced Julia, Hannah and Sam’s new baby girl in his arms while Chloe had cautiously made herself at home, resting her head on his arm after she’d fulfilled her flower girl duties. She’d taken quite a liking to him, and when I told her she had good taste, she sassily rolled her sky-blue eyes and sighed in exasperation, “Duh, Aunt Ruby.”
I looked from Chloe to Collin, who kept his eyes unwaveringly on me. He grinned and winked, making butterflies multiply in my stomach. After he’d crashed my performance in a very memorable way, I’d gone on to sing my duet with Kiki, then immediately sequestered myself with Collin in the dressing room. He’d explained everything that’d happened. The day after the New York/Chicago incident, work had sent him to Europe for a tour. He’d forgotten his phone in his hotel room so he’d tried calling me from other people’s cell phones. All the while, I had thought it was more drunk Abrams calling to try and ask me on a date. We laughed about it, especially knowing Jill was out of the picture, and Troy for that matter, too.
I scanned the other side of the audience where Mandy, Kiki, Harrison, George, Wanda, Casey, and others from Harper Music sat on the groom’s side, all looking on happily as their boss tied the knot.
The wedding was beautiful, simple, and binding. What Ms. Osborne—now Mrs. Drake—had waited for so long had finally come true and she deserved every happiness married life could afford. She had found the one who’d gotten away, and in him, had found complete bliss. The hint of steel was gone from Mr. Drake’s countenance. I’d never seen him smile so widely and sweetly as when he looked lovingly at her.
The reception lasted long into the night, and though the temperatures cooled off, I didn’t sit still long enough to stop sweating. Collin kept me on the dance floor, and I favored the crowd with a couple of songs at the request of the bride and groom while Vanessa and Kiki filled in the rest in a live battle of the divas. It had been entirely too long since I’d felt so carefree, so normal, so human.
“Aunt Ruby! Mom said you were in those trashy magazines they sell at the grocery store,” Charlie said happily. “Did you see it?”
I straightened his little bowtie and shook my head. “I haven’t. I don’t usually read celebrity gossip magazines. They’re only have half-truths in there, anyway.”
“She’s right. Those are time wasters,” Hannah butted in. “Social garbage. That’s why we don’t buy them.”
Ben could barely contain his excitement and jumped up and down, hiding something behind his back. He pulled out a magazine and chimed in, “That’s okay, Mom! We found this one in your room! Ruby’s right there!” He flopped the magazine into my lap and pointed while Hannah reddened slightly.
“Social garbage, huh?” I nudged Hannah teasingly with my shoulder.
“I only have that one because you’re in it. Have to keep it to show everyone what a dork my little sister is.”
“Is Ruby in the rest of the magazines that are under your bed, too?” Charlie asked in complete innocence. A smile of victory spread across my face, and I laughed loudly as Hannah conceded defeat and dropped her head in her hands.
Hannah excused herself to get a slice of cake so I studied my magazine spread. Before me was a rather large, anything-but-graceful glossy photo of me tumbling off the stage into the outstretched arms of the crowd. The caption read, “When a Star Falls, She Falls Hard,” followed by a snippet about the concert tour and a mocking jab at my lack of coordination.
Kiki looked over my shoulder and giggled, “And I thought my candid magazine photos were unflattering.”
“Hey, the bodyguards pushed me off stage,” I muttered. “How old is this magazine anyway? I haven’t fallen off since.”
“What about in Dallas?” Kiki asked as she popped a colorful macaroon into her mouth.
“I was crowd surfing.”
Kiki finished chewing and looked at me knowingly. “On purpose?”
Ignoring her, I showed Collin the second picture, one of us kissing deeply as fans cheered us on. “I don’t think you’ll ever live that interruption down.”
“What can I say? People like a good show.”
Mandy interrupted with the announcement that it was time to send off the Drakes. Everyone lined up along the pathway that ran beside the house, lighting enormous sparklers with each other. Sam handed two to both Charlie and Ben while Hannah shouted at them to be careful and not catch anyone’s hair on fire. Vanessa took an apprehensive step back from them as they flailed around, mesmerized by the streaks of light following their sparklers.
“That was a short engagement,” I ribbed Mrs. Drake when she walked through a tunnel of light on her way to the limo. “What did you make it, all of two months?”
She smiled knowingly. “When you get to my age, you realize that waiting for something that’s been a long time coming isn’t worth it. Time is so short.”
Collin, his fingers laced through mine, squeezed my hand gently and asked, “See you in the office in a few weeks?”
I elbowed Collin sharply and chided him for reminding Mrs. Drake that she was going back to work right after her honeymoon. He’d gone through a few other personal assistants who were good but couldn’t quite keep up with the pace of StarTech. I’d
mentioned Mrs. Drake’s credentials more as a matter of conversation than anything, but Collin had called her up and managed to convince her to come out of retirement. If anyone could handle his scheduling and travel with the same level of meticulousness as Jill without all the hands-on attention Jill wanted to offer, Mrs. Drake could.
“If I don’t show, it’s because I’ve convinced Lyle to stay in Jamaica forever. We have a lot of catching up to do,” Mrs. Drake said, with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.
“Katrina! Ew!” Vanessa squealed.
“Mrs. Drake,” she reminded Vanessa with a firm look. Then she shrugged nonchalantly and said, “Think what you want. It’s our honeymoon.”
I heard my dad stifle a laugh, and exasperated, my mom shot him a look telling him he’d better watch it. Kiki was wiping tears away from laughing so hard, and if I wasn’t mistaken, Mr. Drake reddened from his wife’s bluntness. Still, his whole face smiled with a dopey grin. He squeezed Mrs. Drake in a side hug and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. We bid the newlyweds adieu, and the limo drove off, pulling tin cans and heading in the direction of the airport.
“You hear that, Ruby? Don’t wait for good things,” my mom pointed out.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“She wants you to get married,” Hannah interpreted.
“Mom!” I sighed. “Why do you have to be so pushy?”
“What?” Mom asked defensively. “I still have never had a spring wedding in my backyard like I’ve always wanted.”
“Maybe you and dad should renew your vows in May, then,” I shot back.
“Don’t sass your mother,” Mom snipped.
Collin, ever the peacemaker, interrupted, “I bet your Peruvian Lilies are beautiful in May.” He winked at me and I laughed. Either he was egging on my mom or there was an implication behind his conjecture.
When a Star Falls (Stars Book 1) Page 22
