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The Tessarae Inn |
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Dreams In Amber Refrains
CHAPTER 6 Todd was really trying hard not to hate Jake Travis. He took Blair to Key West partly so they could forget that Jake Travis existed. Now though what he had been trying to avoid was standing right next to Blair and looking like he would give up a couple of lifetimes just to make love to her even once. The crowd was in a free fall of adoration. They whooped, yelled, and demanded Blair and Travis sing. Blair looked toward him anxiously but he just shrugged. There was nothing to be gained by making a scene now and she had to come down from the stage sooner or later. When she did, he was going to wrap his arm around her waist, escort her out of CC Ryder with plans never to return to this dump again or to let any of his family near Creedyville for the next century or so. He leaned back in his chair as Blair and Jake started into Wishes for Tomorrow, the song Jake “introduced” at the launch party for JStarr. By some miracle Blair seemed to know all of the words even though he tried to make sure Blair had not spoken to Travis since that party. Things didn’t get better as they sang two other songs from the last CD and then added Leaving Killed My Soul. Todd gritted his teeth, played with his hand and rocked the chair back against the wall only to set it up straight again. From the moment Blair and Travis started singing it was like she had forgotten he existed. He had heard the songs at least a million times but he had never seen Blair and Travis sing them together before. They seemed to be on some plane only they could reach. Everyone else was outside looking in, including him. He couldn’t allow that. He brought the chair down loudly and made a scrapping sound. They all thought he was some kind of Neanderthal anyway. May as well prove them right. It was time for him to go get his babe. Sheri’s hand cut into his arm so suddenly and her fingers dug so deeply that he was startled for a moment. “Don’t do it,” she whispered furiously. He turned slowly and stared at her. She moved her head slowly from side to side. “It’s not worth it. She told me what you found. Don’t make her a liar. Trust her.” He shrugged off her arm but felt all of the energy rush out of his body when he heard Blair and Travis start their rendition of Since I Fell For You. Something about hearing it live made it more real and intimate than he had ever experienced it before. Images and memories flooded his field of reason. He remembered the sense of loss, the sense of emptiness, and the pain, mostly the pain of losing her. The cutting, scraping feeling did not stop until they finished. At first, the crowd seemed stunned then everyone jumped to their feet simultaneously and clapped wildly. He didn’t move. He didn’t clap. He didn’t look at Blair. He waited. Ten minutes later Blair and Travis were standing in front of him. Blair seemed flushed with excitement. People kept coming up and hugging her, congratulating her, and telling her how wonderful she was. He hated how she looked. She was glowing. “We need to talk, Todd,” said Travis. No preamble. No acknowledgement of his position. Todd raised his gaze slowly and locked onto Travis. “What we need is for you to get the hell away from MY wife.” Travis exhaled loudly then leaned closer. “This is business but if you want to make it personal we can do that too. But I suspect that all of that investigating you paid for turned up a few things worth noting.” He had been so intent on getting Blair out of town after the launch party for JStarr that he didn’t even bothered to look at the report Duke Wilson sent him. He suspected though that nothing Duke turned up would be really useful anyway. What was the motto? Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Travis was a rock star, not a saint, and never claimed otherwise. “I already knew you were a piece of shit.” “Worse. And I didn’t grow up in some frilly house or attend a prep school. I learned how to take care of myself on the streets. It’s a hard code and I’ve never forgotten it. When I fight somebody gets hurt.” Todd swallowed hard and stood up slowly. He walked around the table and judged how close Blair was standing to Travis to make sure he had enough clearance so when his fist crashed into Travis’s jaw he didn’t risk hitting Blair. He was going to have to stomp this arrogant mother into the ground and Travis wouldn’t be able to sing to anyone after he finished with him. Blair loomed suddenly and filled his field of vision. “No,” she hissed. “Stop treating me like I’m nothing. I don’t deserve that. I will not tolerate that ever again.” He stopped and stared at her. “Nothing? You’re everything.” “Then act like it. Respect me. This is business. Stop trying to make it something it’s not to show me who I belong to. I know. Weren’t you listening?” He looked down at his hand. She moved next to him, draped her arms around his shoulders and leaned her head next to his. He turned his head so he could look her in the eye then smiled at her. She seemed to release the breath she was holding. “We’ll be there tomorrow at eleven, Travis,” said Blair. “We can discuss everything over lunch. Twelve?” Travis nodded and walked away but he glanced over his shoulder and glared at him for a second. He got the message. This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
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The third floor of the Briscoe house was really only some storage space and one extraordinary room. Windows on three sides blanketed the room and under each window was a window seat. There was no other furniture in the room and when you laid down on the floor that was covered in what Claire told her was shag carpet and looked up out of the windows you felt like you were floating in space. It was a magical room where dreams visited and hopes took shape. Starr had never loved a room as much as she loved this one. Mrs. Briscoe knocked on the door and then came in bearing a plate of cookies and two large thermos-glasses with straws. “Thought I’d make sure you had enough fuel to get through the night. I brought you the left over cookies.” Leftover cookies? Mrs. Briscoe must have made some more because, earlier, she and Claire and her parents sat around kitchen table and had cookies and milk and the only thing left were crumbs. Starr smiled at the memory. She had lots of cookies and milk in her life but she never had them as a “family” experience. The Briscoes were so strange—strange wonderful. She and Claire both lunged forward for the cookies and hugged Mrs. Briscoe at the same time. Mrs. Briscoe was round. In fact, the whole Briscoe family seemed to models of geometric shapes. Claire was like a rectangle, her mother was a circle and her father was kind of like a straight line with an upside down triangle on top—tall and thin with wide-shoulders and a narrow waist. Claire’s older brother was the only one she hadn’t met but he didn’t seem to fit with anything about the rest of the family so Starr just ignored his existence. “Well, Starr, we are sure going to miss you,” said Mrs. Briscoe. “You’ve been a light aplenty around here.” Starr grinned. She couldn’t help it. She loved the way Mrs. Briscoe talked and she was the sweetest woman she had ever met and Mr. Briscoe was the handsomest man she had ever seen other than her father. He had dark hair like Claire’s but he wore it in this most amazing kind of tall long style. It went up in the front then drifted downward in gentle waves. When he smiled his eyes seemed to crinkle up and his laugh sounded like rolling thunder. No one could resist laughing when Mr. Briscoe started laughing. “I’m going to miss everybody too. I can’t wait to come back. I’ll miss the walks.” Claire rolled her eyes. Every evening Mr. and Mrs. Briscoe took a walk along the road. Claire took it for granted because she didn’t understand. How could she explain how great it was to walk with your parents and talk to them about what happened during the day and have them listen to you? Or to run ahead with your arms locked in your “sister’s” knowing your “parents” were behind you making sure everything was safe. “Well, every night we’ll look up at the stars and think about you, Sweetpea,” said Angie Briscoe, “’til life brings you back our way again. It’s been a honeysweet time with you here.” Honeysweet? Well, that was as good a word as any. Whatever it was, the last week and a half had been sweet fun. That night as she and Claire stretched out on top of the sleeping bags and stared up at the stars and the moon, Starr wondered if her parents would let her stay for just a few more days. Nana Em wouldn’t mind and Aunt Sheri kept asking what difference did it make if there were one baby or two. She just needed more time. Everything in Creedyville happened so fast, she met Claire and an hour later they were best friends, but it was the slowest moving place she had ever been to. Creedyville operated by its own set of rules. Starr glanced over at Claire. “Do your parents love each other?” Claire pressed her lips together then shrugged. “Sure, “ she said finally. “Never really thought about it much. My daddy was supposed to marry Jessica Leigh but he didn’t and she left town. My daddy says marrying my mother was the best thing that ever happened in his life and having me and Robbie, but I think he’s lying about Robbie.” “What’s your mommy say?” “She just looks sad sometimes then lets him kiss her.” Claire grabbed an edge of her sleeping bag and fingered it. “Do your parents love each other?” “Yeah,” said Starr softly then studied the stars for a minute. “But sometimes they forget, then things can get really bad.” Claire reached over and touched her hand. For a minute the soft rumbling whirling sound of the ceiling fan was the only sound in the room. “I think Lance Thorpe likes Kathy Flick,” said Claire sitting up and balancing on her elbows. “He’s always next to her or something.” Starr frowned. She didn’t need to be reminded of that. Flicker had all the boys around her like bees and now that she was going to play Cinderella there was no question who Lance was going to say was his girlfriend. “She’s not a very good Cinderella. She can’t even remember her lines. You should be Cinderella, Claire.” “Mrs. Hastings said I was a better stepsister. But I am the understudy. And a stepsister is better than being a toadstool like Connie.” Starr laughed loudly. No one could stand Connie Kansas. No one. She smiled over at Claire, who rolled over on her stomach and so she could look at her directly. “I just wish you were going to play the stepmother but I guess you’ll be glad to get back to your friends. Jason sounds really neat and Susie and Jeremy too. I hope I get to meet them.” “You will. Your mom’s already said it’s okay if you come visit me in Llanview. It’s not as neat as here though.” “But there’s nothing here.” “That’s because you only look with your eyes.” Chapter 7 Dreams In Amber Refrains FAN FICTION |