by Laura Benson
“You can’t mean that, Charlie. It’s us. It’s always been us,” he begged.
“Until it was you and someone else,” I added defiantly.
“It was a mistake,” he said softly. “A completely fucked-up mistake caused by too much whiskey. I promise you it won’t happen again.”
This time I sighed out loud. “Joey, I’m going back to sleep, and I suggest you do the same or whatever it is you’re doing. I have a class first thing in the morning.” I yawned.
He never said goodbye or see ya. He hung up the phone and that was the last conversation I had with him.
I had to shake my head to escape my memories. I wouldn’t allow them to pull me under. I was strong and resilient. I was determined.
I sent all of the information to Matthew in a brief email, along with a request that we have a sober Joey present. Less than five minutes later, he responded.
Charlie,
Of course we can work around these dates. As long as it doesn’t interfere with his rehearsal schedule for the Bowl, we should be good to go. Just let me know the next time you plan to be in town. Still haven’t mentioned anything to Joe. I’ll keep this on the down low for the time being, but not exactly sure what his reaction will be.
See you soon.
Matthew Johns
I closed the lid to my laptop with a stressed but hopeful sigh and watched Paco, my droopy-eyed basset hound, hungrily staring at me. He’d always been good at sensing my distress, and snuggling was his comfort strategy of choice. Unfortunately, a fifty-pound dog isn’t exactly a lap pet.
Still, he turned his drooly jowls and sad brown eyes to me for affection.
“What am I going to do, Paco?” I scratched behind his ears. He turned his head toward my voice. “It’s been a long time, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to help him.” Paco opened his mouth like he was just about to respond, but all that came out was a low howl letting me know that I was indeed scratching the spot that he loved.
I glanced around the apartment, exhaling again. This wasn’t going to work. With an ache in my chest, I realized I was going to have to settle Paco with the parents while I went back and forth to L.A. As much as I hated leaving my little sidekick, I had a job to do, and Dad had expectations that I would be successful. I just wished he knew how much stress I was feeling.
On Wednesday, Dad stopped in my office to interrogate me on my day trip to L.A.
“How’d everything go?” he asked as I puttered around my office, trying to clean off a chair for him. Like my dad, I was famous for stacks and piles and no clue where to put them. However, unlike my dad, I knew exactly what was in each stack. Only thing that drove my Dad crazy was the tapping of my pencil or pen on anything I could. It’d been a quirk of mine since I was little, and it’s become more pronounced as I’ve gotten older.
“I met with Matthew yesterday morning. We had an okay chat. I’ve got some things in the pipeline for Joey. We’ll start damage control as soon as possible. If we stop the bleeding now, he can save face. I’m not expecting it to be easy, but it’ll get done.” I smiled at him.
My father cleared his throat. “Did you see Carino?”
I just shook my head. “We’ve—Matthew and I—decided that we’ll break it to him gently.” I offered, clasping my hands in front of me. “Don’t exactly want him flying off the handle. I think he’ll work with me because he knows that it’s the right thing to do.” I scrunched my nose at him.
Dad just nodded his head, I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, and it bothered me. “You know you can always come to me if anything happens that you can’t control. I’ll pull you off this case if it gets to be too much.” The look on his face softened. I may be a co-worker, but I was still his only daughter.
I slumped down in my chair. Thankfully, Dad was all about comfort for employees, so the chair was very comfortable. “I really don’t think it’ll come to that, but thanks.”
“No problem, kiddo.” He rapped on my desk with his fingertips as he gave me his best impassive face. “Let’s get together late this afternoon to discuss the next course of action.”
“Sounds good. Four-ish?” I asked.
He nodded. When he was gone, I could finally breathe. Only in a professional setting could my dad rattle my nerves. I needed to be strong and show no fear in front of my dad. It wasn’t easy, and I suspected he knew just what I was dealing with. If he had any qualms about this, I don’t think for one minute he’d make me do this. A slight smirk flitted across my face. Dad was smart, and he knew exactly what he was doing.
Finally, Matthew’s assistant got back to me later that afternoon with a definitive date for the record store, and I also managed to make some headway with a local radio station willing to interview Joey and hand out a few concert tickets to lucky winners. Now I just needed to talk to the record company about how to go about getting free or VIP tickets for concerts.
I wanted to book Joey with this station because it was the biggest in L.A., and the morning team was by far the best in the country. People would be listening to Joey as they drove to work and worked out, and hopefully it would provide some buzz for his upcoming concert. If I could garner interest from different outlets in the L.A. area, we’d be on our way to changing Joey’s oft-maligned behavior. It would take some finagling and finesse, but I thought with the things in the pipeline, we’d create a marketing gem.
Throughout the week, dealing with Matthew’s assistant, Debbi, over email or the phone wasn’t ideal. I’d call, he’d be in a meeting. I’d call back, he was at lunch. I’d call and call, Debbi was probably getting sick of me. I was there. I was getting pissed off and people in my office could see my rage in my body language.
Finally, on Thursday at three, Matthew called. “You need VIP tickets?” was the first thing he said.
I blinked my surprise. Stupid fucker. “Hello to you too, Matthew.”
“Hey,” he grunted, which made me want to throw something at him through the phone. He could be extremely frustrating at times.
“I know you’re busy, I’m just as busy trying to clean up your star’s act,” I reminded him. When he sighed into the receiver, I had to grit my teeth to keep my irritation in check. “I just need to shore up these dates, get the information to the printers, to Clara at the record store, and finally beg KLAZ to pick a slot to showcase Joey.” Who put the gigantic stick up his butt?
“I’ll look through his calendar,” he said, sounding bored. “We just have to make sure that he has plenty of time to rehearse. Some of the band members are new, and we need to deal with that. The date that Debbi sent you for the record store is firm. Just book it. I’ll see what I can do about the radio station. I might be able to pull some strings.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “And the concert tickets for winners?”
“I’ll work that out with the station as well. Anything else?” I was being dismissed.
“No, that’s all for now,” I bit out, ready to end the call. If he didn’t want to talk to me, I didn’t want to talk to him. “I’ll schedule a meeting through Debbi for the two of us tomorrow. You haven’t forgotten I’m coming in tomorrow?” From the earlier conversation, I could tell that he’d forgotten. How was I supposed to deal with this guy when he could barely give me the time of day? Rolling my eyes, I was getting more and more livid with each breath I heard through the phone.
“Yes, I remembered. I’ve been busy,” he said, voice thick with emotion.
I was about to question him about his tone with me, but instead said a quick goodbye and hung up before I completely lost my cool. I’ll leave this for another day. I had thought Monday went well, but three days later, and suddenly, it’s a completely different story. He’s a different guy than the gorgeous creature I remembered from the airport. I just shook my head and sighed loudly. Looking at the clock, I realized that I was due to meet with my dad in a few minutes. Closing my eyes, I took a deep, calming breath to bring me a sense of serenity. Dealing with Matthew and
my blood pressure was through the roof. Meeting with Dad? Well, I needed a Xanax.
On Thursday night, I dropped Paco off at Mom and Dad’s. It was the least they could do since both of them thought it would be a great idea to assign me this client. I think Mom knew I was annoyed with everybody, so she stayed quiet during dinner. Dad was his usual self. He was flipping through a trade magazine that was delivered to the house. In his job, he always needed to be on top of his game. Thankfully, Paco had been here thousands of times, so I knew I could leave him in good hands, even if they’d sneak him table scraps here and there.
“Oh!” my mom exclaimed when she was picking up the dinner dishes. “I saw Stefanie Cramer the other day. She asked about you.”
My eyebrows quirked up. Stefanie and I were really tight in elementary school and all through high school until we both went in different directions for college. She stayed here in Arizona and I went to Boston. I hadn’t heard from Stefanie in so long, I’d honestly thought she fell off the edge of the world. “Huh,” I muttered, “how is Stefanie?”
Mom smiled and collected more dishes. How she managed to carry them all and not break a one was a talent that I hoped to have when I was doing this mom stuff because I know that she’s never waited tables in her life. “She’s doing really well. Engaged to a banker in Beverly Hills. I mentioned you were going to be in L.A., and she gave me her number. I thought you could give her a call and have lunch together.”
I grimaced as my dad continued reading the paper. He was absolutely no help. “I don’t know, Mom. I’m going to be busy and lunch with her may not fit in my schedule.”
She headed into the kitchen with the dishes, and I could hear her place them in the sink to soak. When she returned to the dining room, she had an open bottle of wine with her.
She poured each of us a glass. “I think you should consider meeting up with her. You need an ally in L.A., and she was one your best friends in high school.”
I took a giant sip and put the glass down clumsily. “Yes, Mom, in high school. I haven’t talked to her in nearly five years.” Normally I wouldn’t cop an attitude, but the time apart between me and Stefanie was significant. I honestly didn’t know anything about her anymore.
Mom frowned. “That’s what happens when you grow up and apart, but it’s important to have life-long friends who you can depend on, as well.” She gave me that knowing look, and I knew she wouldn’t let up on this subject until she had an answer that satisfied her. My mom was a pit bull on steroids. If she wanted something done, it was done. I loved my mom, and she was a great person to talk to at times, but when she got like this, she could be damn near impossible. As I looked over at her, I realized my dad didn’t have a choice as to who he assigned Joey. Mom had her way, as usual.
I groaned a bit. “I’ll look at my schedule and see what I can do. But I can’t make any promises. Give me her number.”
Mom clapped her hands, and Dad just stayed in his seat, reading his paper. But I could see his eyes crinkle with laugh lines, and he knew exactly who won this one. Bastard. Wouldn’t even save his own daughter. I loved my family, and as much as Mom could nose herself into any situation, I knew that it was done with love and affection. Even if it was misguided. As much as I’d love to see Stefanie, I really needed to expend all my energy on dealing with Joey and Matthew. Looking at my dad, I knew I was being ridiculous in my thinking, but I wanted to prove myself to him. Make him proud of me. I just smiled back at him. Oh, Dad...
I stayed for a bit longer to make sure Paco was settled, then I hightailed it home. I still needed to pack, and I was so scatterbrained that I needed to make a list of shit I needed. I knew I’d need a couple of cocktail dresses, but mainly I’d wear my business attire. Perhaps for the meet and greet, I’d go business casual—nice jeans with heels. I didn’t want to look completely out of place.
When I finished packing, I closed up my suitcase and headed over to my laptop. I hadn’t checked any of the entertainment sites today to see if Joey had been about town in L.A. Going through links, I managed to catch one that was taken earlier in the evening. Joey sat in a local eatery, with a dark-haired woman whose back was to the camera. I could see to the left of the woman and right of Joey, Matthew was seated at the same table. Joey’s smile lit up the page. I clicked through some other links with Joey Carino’s name, and it just brought me back to the same photos I’d already seen. My only question was—if this was a romantic dinner, why would Joey have Matthew around? I never did ask Matthew if Joey had a girlfriend that I should know about. I posted a note in my calendar to ask Matthew when I saw him tomorrow.
Letting out a somewhat irritated breath, I pushed away from the computer. I knew I had no right to be jealous where Joey was concerned, but still the thought of him in a relationship while I wasn’t…well it hurt. Just a bit.
I knew I was going to have to get a handle on how he conducted his private life. Even if this woman was his girlfriend, they’d need to learn that, wherever they went, the paparazzi would be there to capture everything. And by everything, I meant everything.
Rubbing my eyes, I leaned over the table and shut the computer down. This was going to be a long fucking week. One thing that stuck out, though, was that it didn’t bother me seeing Joey with another woman. As much as I had been dreading this upcoming week—and seeing him for the first time in three years—I thought I was ready for it.
Closing my laptop, I stuck it in the bag and headed off to bed, where I hoped I would have a dreamless sleep.
With a minor delay out of Sky Harbor, my flight finally took off, and with just a short hop to LAX, I was there within an hour. Thankfully, I was able to text Matthew that I was running a bit behind. We’d both planned to hit up the record store to meet with Clara and talk to the general manager of the radio station. Ideally, we wanted to get the giveaway going soon and have Joey on the air, either the day or a few days before his big concert. There was some buzz going on in L.A. about him returning to his home turf. Even though we’d all grown up in Arizona, L.A. embraced Joey like their own when he made it big. The dive bars and various other places allowed him to play while making a name for himself.
Walking through the airport, I looked around at other business professionals in three-piece Armani suits and women in gorgeous Louboutin’s. This time, I’d dressed more casually, wearing a pair of skinny jeans, with a bright blue tank top and loose white sweater, along with ballet flats because I didn’t feel like dealing with heels tonight. I knew I should’ve expected Matthew to meet me. No matter how many times I asked for a car service or told Debbi I could take a cab, he was right there in the same location as before. The difference was the smile on his face brightened as I traveled down the escalator.
Watching him watch me was weird. For the most part, we had rarely been able to stay in the same room with each other. But now that we were older, and having to work with each other on a daily basis, I guess I could let go of our past differences. But only if he didn’t start up with his torments and indignation. I was no longer Joey’s girlfriend, so he really didn’t have any reason to be rude to me. And if he was, well, that was going to be a bit of a problem.
I’d never done anything to Matthew, and I was never able to figure out why he disliked me so much. While Joey and I dated, I knew that he hated being the third wheel, but I felt that way too, most times. It wasn’t that Matthew didn’t have girlfriends. The guy was famous for his extra-curricular activities, during school and probably now. But every time the two of us were in a room together, the fireworks would start. I couldn’t figure it out. Why hadn’t things changed? Why couldn’t he move past this, whatever the hell it was about me that bothered him so fucking much?
In the past, it usually went like this: Matthew would say something nasty about me, I’d retaliate, and Joey would try to smooth things over. But eventually, I would storm out of whatever kegger we were at.
Staring at Matthew now, I noticed he was sexy as hell, with his tall frame,
good hair, and nonchalant attitude. He was wearing his typical jeans and T-shirt, but his muscular arms and broad chest created tiny little blips in my heartbeat. I had never reacted to him this way before.
Joey was always considered the ‘hot’ one, with his crooked smile and greener than green eyes that he’d gotten from his pure Irish-blooded mom. But he also received his dark, dark looks from his dad. With Joey’s fiery, Irish temper and his easy-going Italian father’s attitude, he could be extremely unpredictable.
With a shake of my head, I stepped off the escalator, saying to myself what I’d said over and over on the plane—Joey was a client, and I was a professional. Falling back into bed with him would be bad for everyone involved. Before, Joey was everything to me, and even though it’s been three years, my feelings about him haven’t changed much. But I knew that the trust issue would pose a problem. But that was my issue and not his.
“Hey, Charlie,” Matthew greeted me casually.
I smiled, trying not to get lost in his improbable blue eyes. “Hey.” I could feel a blush starting to creep across my cheeks. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. I asked him, “So where are we heading?”
Matthew reached for my laptop bag and started walking through baggage. I’d checked my larger suitcase and needed to wait for it. “I thought we’d hit up the radio station first, discuss how many tickets they want to give away, find out when they want to start the concert, that sort of stuff.”
I nodded, wondering if I should’ve been writing this down on my iPad. “And Hi-Fi Record Shoppe?” We were quiet while waiting on my luggage. I was thinking of questions to ask the radio station, and I also wanted to talk to Matthew about the rehab thing.
