Mommy Loves the Rockstar

by Shanae Johnson

  Maybe that was why Jett didn’t struggle so hard to free himself from his comforter this morning -or correction; this afternoon. But the phone kept ringing.

  Jett groaned as he untangled his arms. He was in no hurry to return to his old life. This job at the middle school was the first real, enjoyable vacation he’d been on in years.

  He reached over to grab the phone, wondering who it could be. Just a few days ago, he’d been eager to hear from his agent. But he knew it was nearing the holidays and no decision about the next step in his career would be made until the New Year.

  Scrubbing his hand over his face, Jett saw it wasn’t his agent. It was Davis. He clicked the CALL button.

  “I need a favor,” said Davis. “Maggie is taking the kids on a play date and I need to stop into the hospital.”

  “It’s Sunday.”

  “The pharmacy is open for a couple of hours and I need my medication. But as you know,” Davis’ voice was singsongy, reminding Jett of their days together as boys in their hometown church choir, “I can’t drive.”

  “Seriously, man? A guilt trip? Have you no shame?”

  “If the shoe can’t get on my foot…”

  Jett chuckled at the mangled cliché. Davis had been good-natured about the whole ordeal after the accident. That hadn’t stopped him from cracking every manner of joke he could about the situation.

  “I’ll be there in twenty,” Jett said and then hung up.

  He rolled out of bed, took a bird bath, and was out of the hotel in ten minutes.

  “How are things going at the school?” Davis asked once he’d climbed into Jett’s rental and they were on their way. “You gonna be ready for the concert?”

  “The kids are amazing. I can’t wait for you to hear what we’ve worked on.”

  “You’ve told me about your new arrangements already,” Davis said. “I think the concert is going to be a hit.”

  “Yeah,” Jett beamed. “Me too.”

  “But hey, don’t go and steal my job.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  But Jett wasn’t so sure that statement was true. He’d missed working in a group. He’d been carrying all the weight of a solo career for years now and it was taking its toll.

  He missed harmonizing with other voices. He missed arranging the instruments to play different parts of the melody. Did that mean he wanted to form another boy band?

  No, he realized letting the idea melt in his mind like the snow on the side of the road. That was not what he wanted at his age. So, what was he hungering for?

  As Jett turned into the hospital, his phone rang from the car holder. He saw that it was his agent. Jett let the phone keep ringing and go to voice mail as he parked the car. Then went around to help his friend out. That was what was important at this moment.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Push,” Kiara encouraged. Her voice was raspy and ragged from the strain, even though she wasn’t the one doing the hard work. It was just that Kiara had been up for nearly twenty-four hours straight coaching women to push a little harder to bring new lives into the world.

  But the woman in the hospital bed looked back at Kiara in tears. There was hardly any push left in the expecting mom. Kiara held her hand, squeezing to lend the young woman what strength she had left. She pressed her cheek to the patient’s head as the woman in labor whimpered. Childbirth was hard work. Even harder when it was done all alone.

  The mother-to-be took a deep breath and sat up. Clutching Kiara’s hand, she pushed with all her might, gritting her teeth and grunting with the effort. The diamonds on the woman’s gold band felt like sharp ice as they pressed into Kiara’s palm.

  Mrs. Leon was not like the teens who came into the hospital, bellies swollen under oversized sweatshirts as they prepared to enter into adulthood with a shortcut that would prove harder than they could ever imagine. Neither was Mrs. Leon like the grown single women who drove themselves to the hospital to have their babies stoically on their own, with no need of any man.

  No, Mrs. Leon had been driven in by her husband. He’d come to a handful of the prenatal appointments. But each time he’d been barely paying attention to the doctor’s instructions, so engrossed in his handheld was he.

  The Leons had arrived late last night when her contractions had started. Hubby had been mostly by her side unless he was dozing in the chair. Which, if Kiara was honest, was over seventy-five percent of the time. Then as soon as the sun had come up, Mr. Leon had stepped out of the room and began taking calls from his handheld device. Kiara wasn’t so sure it was a phone, it was so massive it nearly covered his whole head as he held it to his ear.

  The sound of a wailing newborn mixed with a mother’s tears brought Kiara back to the present. Kiara hated to let go of Mrs. Leon’s hands. The woman was going to need all the support she could get. But Kiara had to let go and focus on her job, which was to tend to the baby.

  She cleaned and weighed the new life that had come into the world. The little boy was a beautiful sight with his mother’s pale blue eyes. Or possibly his father’s, Kiara had never had the occasion to look into Mr. Leon’s eyes since they were always cast downward at his device.

  The infant’s wails hushed the moment he had skin to skin contact with his mother. Mrs. Leon’s tears stopped the moment she looked int her son’s eyes. They were definitely his mother’s eyes. That was good. They’d have to be enough for each other.

  Kiara finished cleaning up the room and left the two to get to know each other. Out in the hall, the new dad was ending a call. He barely glanced up at Kiara as she neared him.

  “Any progress?” he asked looking down at his watch, his lips were pressed into a grimace of annoyance.

  “Your son was born ten minutes ago,” she said in a clipped tone.

  The man’s eyes lifted. His brown eyes sparkled, and his brows perked up. “That’s great.”

  Perhaps Kiara had been wrong about him? Perhaps now he’d change and…

  Mr. Leon’s phone rang again. He held up his finger to silence Kiara. Then he turned his back and took the call, walking away from the door where his wife and newborn son lay waiting. Kiara saw red.

  The red of the favorite tie of Matt, her ex-husband. He’d yank that tie out of baby Camille’s hands any time she reached for him. Kiara would see the tie sway in the wind whenever he walked away to take a call or leave out to go to a meeting.

  Kiara was the one walking away now. Away from this clear absentee dad who was already missing out on his son’s most important moments in life. The beginning of it. She doubted he’d be around for the middle. She wanted to go back and comfort his wife, but that wasn’t her job. There were more babies to be born in this world.

  She turned when she heard her name being called. The man running up to her, smiling as he did, was the last man she thought she’d see today.

  “Jett?”

  “Hey, I thought that was you.”

  His grin was so wide, so happy, so infectious that it wiped Kiara’s foul mood away.

  “Winnie the Pooh today?” he said.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Your scrubs. I’ve become fascinated to see what you’ll be wearing each time I see you.”

  Kiara’s cheeks warmed. Here was a man who frequently stepped out with women in designer gowns. Yet he was interested to know which scrubs she’d wear each day?

  “What are you doing here?” she asked to cover her flustering.

  “I’m here with Davis - Mr. Cohen.”

  “Oh, how is he?”

  “He’s a pain in my leg,” Jett chuckled. “But he’s getting better. He’ll be able to return to his official duties on time.”

  Kiara’s grin wobbled. Mr. Cohen would be returning to the music department soon. And when he did, Jett would be leaving.

  “We never set a date for dinner?” Jett was saying.

  “Oh, you don’t have to.” She waved the offer away. It had been days since they’d talked. She’d assumed
he’d forgotten about his offer, that it had just been said in passing.

  “I want to,” he said. “I’d like to.”

  Kiara hesitated. She’d sworn she’d never date a man who would leave ever again. But this wasn’t really a date? It couldn’t be the start of a relationship if he was leaving.

  He was just being nice to her. This dinner wouldn’t lead anywhere. It was never going to in the first place. Jett would be leaving soon. Truth be told, she’d love to spend more time with him until he did.

  “I’m free tomorrow,” she said.

  “Great. I’ll pick you up around six? We’ll go somewhere nicer than the teacher’s lounge.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Pulling up to Kiara’s house, Jett took in a deep breath. He may have been famous at one point, with women falling at his feet, but it was different with her. She was someone he wanted to get to know and build something with.

  He knew he couldn’t spend all his time sitting in his car outside her house. So, he steeled his nerves and stepped out of the car into the freezing air.

  All of Saint Judith was pleased the snow had stopped, but the freezing temperatures remained.

  He carefully walked up the partly cleared, snowy pathway to the red front door of Kiara’s white two-story house. He took a breath before ringing the doorbell. A few seconds later the door swung open to reveal Camille, who stood in pajamas.

  “Hey, Mr. Anderson.” She gave him a cheerful smile as she allowed him inside the house. Then she turned and yelled up the stairs. “Mama! Mr. Anderson is here!”

  Hearing a set of giggles coming from the room beside him, he looked over to see another of his students, Alison, sitting on the couch. The two girls were inseparable. He never saw one without the other at school.

  “Hi, girls. I see you two are having a party.” He nodded to the coffee table which was covered in pizza, sodas, and a package of Oreo cookies.

  “Sleepover!” Alison cheered excitedly.

  Jett’s attention was quickly stolen by the woman making her way down the stairs. Kiara looked like she had stepped out of his dreams. A stunning vision in a crimson sweater-dress, black tights, and deep brown, knee-high boots. Her hair was down in bouncy curls around her shoulders, with just a touch of make-up on her face. A goddess on Earth, he couldn’t wait to take her out on the town and show her off.

  “Hey, I’m ready to go if you are.” Kiara gave him an innocent smirk as she grabbed her coat from the banister it was hanging over.

  He took her coat to help her slide into it. As she slipped her arms into the coat, he took a whiff of her. She smelled like roses, sweet red roses. Which was silly, because he’d never noticed the difference between the smell of one rose to the next. But he’d sure that Kiara, with warm colored skin and her dark, red-coated lips, would smell like the sweetest in the whole bunch.

  She turned to face the girls in the living room who were on the couch watching them as if it was some reality television show.

  “Don’t eat too much,” Kiara said. “Don’t answer the door for anyone. And don’t do anything crazy. If you need me, I’m always a phone call away.” She sternly reminded the girls who both nodded in unison.

  Jett was impressed with her skills as a mother. She obviously did it all without help and he admired her.

  Leaving the house, they strolled in silence down the icy path to his SUV. He opened the door for her, waiting for her to get situated before closing her door and jogging around to his side, anxious to get out of the cold.

  Getting in the car, he turned on the heat and started up the road. For once, the cat had his tongue. After being locked in the school with her, he wasn’t sure how to start a conversation with her.

  “I’m so glad the snow stopped, but now I need it to warm up,” she spoke, breaking the silence in the car.

  “I agree. Living in California for all these years, I’m no longer used to this kind of weather. I’ll be grateful for warmer weather.”

  “This isn’t even the worse it’s been. Growing up here I’ve seen some good storms come through. When Camille was born, I was still in New York. A blizzard hit in the middle of March. I was in labor and we had to manage to get to the hospital in a snowed-in New York City.”

  “Wow, that’s wild,” he commented as they neared their destination. He’d picked the little Italian restaurant in town most of the school staff went on and on about. “I hope you like Italian?”

  “I love it. I’m guessing we are going to La Cuchina? I love that place. It is one of my absolute favorites.”

  Her happy tone set him at ease. He was afraid he’d picked the wrong place.

  Parking the car close to the restaurant, he opened her door and helped her out of the car. They walked together and she told him a few facts about some of the places they passed along the way like Mike’s Soda Shop, which was a 1950s style diner known for its root beer floats. It also happened to be the place she and her friends had spent time together after school.

  As they walked up to La Cuchina, it already smelled delicious and he was even more reassured of his restaurant choice. He paused, opening the bronze door for her, and waited for her to step inside before he followed her, placing his hand lightly on her back.

  They were greeted as soon as they entered and seated in a booth in the back. For the dinner service, he was amazed at how empty the place was. But then again, he was sure with the current weather no one wanted to be caught dead out in this cold unless they had to be.

  Once seated, Kiara flipped through the menu. Everything sounded amazing to him. But he settled on getting their signature “World Famous Lasagna.”

  “What are you getting?” He glanced across the table at her, waiting for her to look up from her menu. He smiled when she peered over the folder, her eyes sparkling in the dim light of the restaurant. He loved the golden hue in her brown eyes. Her face softened as she peered back at him and her cheeks tightened.

  “I think I am going to get the ravioli,” she said. “I really love that. Sorry for being awkward. For seeming awkward? Gah, this is awkward for me. I haven’t been on a date since Cam’s dad. So, a really long time.”

  She looked down at her hands. She wrung her fingers slightly as though she waited for him to stand and walk away. Of course, he didn’t.

  He looked at her and let out a little laugh. “No way are you the awkward one. I’m the awkward one. I’m so excited to be out with such a strong woman. It’s a little daunting really, but exciting.”

  She looked shocked at his confession.

  He was speaking his truth to her. He didn’t play games when it came to the truth. Honesty was his number one rule, and untruthfulness was not a game he played with anyone. He hated being lied to.

  “I’m a little taken aback and a little proud you hold me in such high regard,” she said. “I try to show my strength, but I always feel like nobody sees it.”

  “Oh, I see it. It radiates from you and it entices me more. I adore it. It is part of why I asked you out tonight. You wear it so well and I admire you for that and how you’ve done so much alone. It’s obvious how much Camille and her education means to you. I was in awe from the first time I met you.”

  It wasn’t the candles that heated her cheeks. He was sure it was his words, and his chest heated at her reaction. They chatted amicably, picking up where they left off after their night at the storm. Talking to Kiara was as easy as finding the right melody for a song.

  They were stuffed upon leaving the restaurant. Even though it was cold out, they still decided to take a walk. Their steps meandered toward the nearby park. Letting his hand slide toward hers, he slipped his fingers between hers, intertwining their hands.

  She stopped walking as they passed a man on a bench with a guitar. The man strummed along gently, playing a soft melody Jett knew. First, he began to hum the tune before the words emerged from his mouth.

  They were new words, words he’d never written down. They came from somewhere deep in his soul
, a well he had never tapped. Likely because he had never realized it was there.

  That was probably Kiara’s doing. Somehow this woman had opened him up. The words flowed from that place, passing through his heart, and then out of his lips so that she heard them. The words to this new song were meant for her.

  Jett peered over at her as he sang the song about searching for a place to belong, for someone to understand him, for him to find himself again. Kiara couldn’t stop smiling at each of the words he sang, so he placed his hand on her shoulder while he continued to hold her hand.

  Taking the lead, he led her around the small square. They danced in the cold while he sang to her, serenading her in the night. His eyes never left hers and he knew then, she felt it too.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next morning, Kiara found herself humming the song Jett had sung to her on their first date, again. She’d noticed last night that the tune hadn’t been the words to the familiar tune that the musician had been playing on his instrument. It hadn’t been a song from any of the Boy Tide records. What Jett had sung to her was something new.

  She’d lain awake all night committing the words to memory. She’d played them over and over again in her mind. She couldn’t help but wonder if some parts of the song were in reference to their time together. That some of the song had been about the two of them.

  Feeling her cell buzz in the pocket of her scrubs, she pulled out the phone as she walked back in the direction of the nurse’s station. It was a message from him. He was coming over that evening and wanted to share his excitement to see her.

  “Somebody just got a text from the boyfriend,” Xihara, joked as she approached the nurse’s station staring at Kiara’s phone with a huge smile on her face.