Buried Notes (Brothers of Rock #4) (13 page)

“Whatever the case,” Deb said, “you
two are as beautiful as your mother. Now, I think we better get back to work
here. The orders won’t stop coming in.”

Becky forced a smile and then got
to work. The passion for baking faded with her mother’s ability to live and was
close to a complete death right then. The thought of mixing just one more cup
of flour made Becky want to scream.

It had been burning inside her for
a long time. So long that she had already talked to her lawyer.

Something she planned on bringing
up in a month or two. But the way she felt she knew it wouldn’t be that long at
all. If she forced herself to keep baking like this, the quality would suffer.
And the last thing she wanted to do was ruin the name and image that they all
had worked so hard on for so long...

Customers started coming.

The daily customers for their
routine of stopping in the local bakery for something sweet to eat and five
minutes of gossip. Of course the talk was dominated by their mother and all the
memories everyone had to share. By noon, Becky was out of tears. By one, she
was out of care for baking. She pulled Deb aside and asked if she could just
take the rest of the day off and take care of the counter and the customers.
Deb understood and Becky knew her sister-in-law would chalk it up to grief.

But it wasn’t grief.

Becky wanted nothing to do with the
business or baking anymore. In fact, Becky didn’t know anything anymore. She
felt like she was floating, much like she did back in her twenties. But back
then it was easy to feel that way. Life seemed so promising and so full of
hope. There always felt like there was time, but not anymore. The death of her
mother proved just how fragile time was.

Right around two, just as Becky
started eyeing up a fresh batch of chocolate chip muffins, the last batch of
muffins she made, Mrs. Parsons came walking in with her cane and smiling face.
Her husband had passed away three years ago from cancer and everyday Mrs.
Parsons came to the bakery for a single muffin. It was her routine because
that’s what her husband used to do everyday up until he died. She was the true
testament to a life of love and what a real marriage meant.

A
real marriage.

It made Becky roll her eyes.

“Hello, Mrs. Parsons,” Becky said
and smiled.

“Hello to you,” Mrs. Parsons called
to Becky in her elderly voice.

She struggled to walk with her
cane, always looking injured. But there was a rule with Mrs. Parsons. Nobody
was allowed to help her. Ever. The only exception - if completely needed -
would be in winter and even then it would have to be if someone didn’t put salt
on the sidewalks.

Once at the counter, Mrs. Parsons
hooked her cane to the glass. Becky always cringed but never had the nerve to
say something about it. The woman was eighty years old, who would dare tell her
not to do something?

“I’m really sorry about Barbara,”
Mrs. Parsons said. “I haven’t had a chance to see you, Rebecca.”

“Thank you,” Becky said. “Mom was a
good woman.”

“A terrific woman. Makes me wonder
what’s happening above us, you know? Here I am, an old bat, missing my husband,
and your dear mother has to...”

“That’s just life,” Becky said.
“Mom always told me that. We have a path and it ends when it ends. We can’t
question it, we can only walk it.”

Mrs. Parsons blinked. Becky swore
she saw a tear in Mrs. Parsons’s eyes. The moment quickly passed, which was
good, because it wouldn’t have taken much more to make Becky cry also. She had
her own reasons. Damn good ones at that.

“What can I get you today?” Becky
asked. “I have apple cinnamon muffins, fresh chocolate cupcakes with a peanut
butter frosting.”

“Did you make them all?”

“Not all, but I won’t tell you which
ones.”

Mrs. Parsons looked around. “I’ll
know which ones.”

She winked and Becky smiled. Mrs.
Parsons always knew how to make Becky smile.

At least for a moment.

“I’ll get to my order in a second.
But there’s someone looking for you.”

Becky raised an eyebrow. “Someone
looking for me?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Parsons said. “A man.”

“A man?”

“A man. A handsome man at that. Oh
my. He was something.”

“Where was this?”

“At the post office. I went there
for a book of stamps. Margie was behind the counter, chatting away, and I saw
this man walk in. I never saw him before and I let him in front of me because I
wasn’t done chatting with Margie. He was looking for you.”

“A man looking for me?” Becky
asked.

The question wasn’t directed
towards Mrs. Parsons as much as it was herself. Becky couldn’t figure out why
someone would be looking for her. Everything for her mother’s funeral and
burial had been settled. And all that would have been local.

Unless...

Did her mother have some kind of
secret? Maybe she had been secretly married too.

Becky frowned.

“Don’t worry dear, I took care of
it.”

“You took care of it?” Becky asked.

“Yes. I stepped right in. Oh, and
did he smell good. A nice, tall strong man. Perfect for you. He had papers with
an address on them.”

“Papers?”

“I wasn’t sure about the papers but
I knew the address. It’s for little Kevin.”

“Little Kevin... wait, Kevin, the
lawyer?”

“That’s him,” Mrs. Parsons said.

Becky froze.

No
way.

“I told him you owned this place,”
Mrs. Parsons said. “He said he’s coming to talk to you. He wants to see you.
Hasn’t seen you in a long time. My goodness, Rebecca, a man that handsome...”

“You know, Mrs. Parsons,” Becky cut
in, “I’m very sorry but I just remembered I have to be somewhere.”

Becky stormed from the counter to
the back and found her sister first. She grabbed Rachael by the arm and started
to breathe heavy and stammer on her words.

“What’s wrong?”

“Mrs. Parsons is here... she...”

“Oh no,” Rachael said. “Is she
okay?”

“She’s fine,” Becky said. “Fine.
But she said she saw Chris and he’s here looking for me.”

“Chris who?”

“Chris,” Becky said and widened her
eyes. “Chasing Cross...”

“Oh my,” Rachael said.

“I can’t do this,” Becky said. “He
was supposed to sign the papers and send them back. Not deliver them in person.
I can’t handle this today. I’m leaving.”

“Wait, what do I do?”

“I don’t know.”

“He’ll ask about you.”

“Tell him I’m beautiful and happy,”
Becky said.

“He wants to see you,” Rachael
said. “Let him see you in your business...”

My
business
, Becky thought.

The business she didn’t want
anymore.

She wanted her mother back.

“Rachael, please.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to
tell him.”

“Just tell him I had to run out.”

“What if he waits?”

“What if he doesn’t?” Becky asked.

“You’re stubborn.”

“You don’t know what it’s like,”
Becky said. “I’ve thought about this moment for years. But not right now. Not
today.”

“What’s wrong with today?”

“I don’t know,” Becky said.
“Just... help...”

Becky turned and walked out the
backdoor. She made it three steps before she realized she forgot her keys. She
ran back into the bakery and found her keys but not her sister or
sister-in-law. An eerie feeling came over her. She stared for a few seconds and
seriously considered leaving for good. She could pack a bag and hit the road.
Go wherever it went.

By the time Becky got into her car
and started to drive, she was crying again.

After all the years of waiting,
living in that rockstar fantasy, it was now coming back. But Becky wasn’t sure
if she could handle it.

(15)

Chris had the directions memorized.
The sweet elderly woman at the post office had pinpointed Chris right where he
needed to be. And that put him three cars back, parallel parked, looking at the
wooden sign hanging out from the small bakery, gently moving with the soft
breeze. The town reminded him of a perfect small, old kind of town. Where
everyone knew everyone’s name, business, and the like. It made Chris wonder if
he was an enemy here.

There would be no way of finding
that out unless he got out of the car. And even if people weren’t fond of
Chris, the man and husband, over Chris, the bassist for Chasing Cross, he’d
have to take it. What happened between he and Becky had been romantic and fun,
but now, years later, it felt tainted.

Chris climbed from the car, leaving
the divorce papers on the passenger seat. For a man who had been on stages in
front of forty thousand fans, as he walked the sidewalk, passing people, hoping
they didn’t recognize him, Chris was nervous. His palms were sweating. Thoughts
bounced through his mind faster than he could process them. Half the thoughts
were of how much Becky was going to hate him. How happy she was with someone
else. The other half of the thoughts were of what his life could have been with
Becky. The fun things. The moments. Maybe they’d have a house right there in
Plesent. Maybe a kid, or two.

When Chris got to the door of BRB
Bakery, he hesitated and took a breath. He pulled the door and a small bell
tapped against the glass. He was overwhelmed by the smell of warm ovens,
chocolate, sugar, and bread. He could definitely get into trouble.

A woman looked at him from the
counter.

Tall, skinny, some of the features
of her face - her lips and eyes - reminded Chris of Becky, but it wasn’t her.
No way. This woman didn’t have that firecracker look in her eyes. And when she
smiled she didn’t have the same dimples that Becky did.

It made Chris pause.

He remembered something like
Becky’s dimples?

It had just come back to him, like
a hidden memory.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked.

The closer Chris moved to the
counter, the more the woman’s demeanor changed. She stiffened. She blinked
more. She swallowed hard. She even took a step back from the counter. The woman
acted as though Chris was there to rob the place.

“I was here for one reason,” Chris
said, “but I think I need to get something else.”

“Okay.”

“I hope I don’t sound rude here,
but do you know who I am?”

“Am I supposed to?” the woman
asked.

She was afraid of Chris.

Chris put his hands to the counter,
hoping to show a sign of peace.

“I’m here to talk to Becky,” Chris
said.

Why mess around any longer?

“Becky? You mean Rebecca? My
sister?”

“Yes,” Chris said. “Rebecca. Sorry.
I always called her Becky.”

“She hates being called that.”

“I know,” Chris said and smiled.
“Is she here?”

“Actually, no.”

Chris nodded. He wasn’t sure
whether he wanted to believe the woman behind the counter or not. Being the
type that didn’t take no for an answer, Chris remained at the counter.

“Look, I can tell you know who I
am,” Chris said.

“A little conceited, aren’t we?”

Chris laughed. “I can definitely
tell you and Becky are sisters. I’m Chris. Yes, I play bass in a band, but I
mean, I can tell you know who I am and what’s going right now.”

“Sure I do,” the woman said. “You
married my sister in Las Vegas and then convinced her to keep her mouth shut.”

“When you say it like that...”

“Is that how it happened?”

“No, not at all,” Chris said. “I
never forced Becky into anything. To be honest, having this between us kind of
kept me from completely losing her.”

“Losing her? You didn’t even try to
get in touch with her.”

“I did, actually.” Chris kept his
composure. But he wouldn’t just back down to anyone. “Becky moved and never
told me. Not that she was supposed to. I just couldn’t get in touch. Until she
sent the papers...”

“You’re rich,” the woman said. “You
could have found her.”

“Yes, I suppose I could have.”
Chris leaned over the counter a little. “But did she want to be found?”

The woman swallowed again and
adverted her eyes for a few seconds. She let out a long sigh and blinked as
Chris saw tears come to her eyes.

“Have I upset you?” Chris asked.

“No,” the woman said.

She took a few seconds to collect
herself and Chris grew more and more nervous, hoping that something wasn’t
wrong with Becky. He had been silently wishing for days now that Becky wasn’t
with someone, even it was their agreement to end their marriage if someone fell
in love or wanted to get married. Now it seemed that maybe there was another
reason why... what if Becky was sick?

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Chris
said, “but I need to know... is Becky okay? She’s not sick or anything, is
she?”

“No,” the woman said. She wiped a
tear from her eyes. “No. Our mother recently passed away. Breast cancer.”

Chris closed his eyes. He felt the
air sucked from his stomach. Of all things. How many shows did Chasing Cross
play for cancer benefits? How many people had Chris met in his lifetime...
those suffering, those recovering. Those with the hope to just be normal again.
Those with the hope to feel no more pain and just let go.

And here it was, right in front of
him. The woman he married... her mother...

“I’m so sorry,” Chris whispered. “I
wish I knew before...”

“You didn’t,” the woman said.

“I never meant for this,” Chris
said.

He opened his eyes. He looked into
Becky’s sister’s eyes and knew this would be perhaps his only chance. It was
obvious this woman was Becky’s older sister. The protective sister, something
like how Johnnie took care of Danny all the time.

“We had fun,” Chris said. “Okay? I
never met someone like your sister in my life. She was beautiful. She was
witty. She was smart. She captivated me. She left me speechless and breathless.
I didn’t want to leave Texas that morning and when she showed up in Vegas, I
was in shock. Something inside me just clicked and I wanted to do something to
make her never leave again. It was dumb rationale, I know, but we both did it.”

“And you ran off to be a big
rockstar,” the woman said.

“I went where I was told,” Chris
said. “I have a boss. I have fans. I have a band I have to think about all the
time. Not that it’s an excuse for anything. I wanted to help your sister too.
If we got divorced right then, the storm of press would have driven her mad.
That wouldn’t have been fair to her. People taking her picture. People trying
to talk to her. She’d be some kind of celebrity for all the wrong reasons.”

“So this is you being a hero now?”

“Not at all. I’m just being honest.
And when I left the hotel that day, I told her at anytime she could do what
felt right. But we had an agreement... if one of us fell in love or wanted to
get married...”

“You’d end it,” the woman said.

Chris nodded. He knew how hopeless
he must have looked, standing in the bakery like he was.

“You’re not married. Do you have a
girlfriend?” the woman asked.

“No,” Chris said. “I haven’t... I
haven’t come close to feeling the way I felt when I was with Becky.”

“Why now then?”

“Because I always thought I had
time,” Chris said.

The brutal honesty even shocked
him. He stood tall right then and watched as the woman touched her face.

“I know that’s hard to hear,” Chris
said. “I’m truly sorry for yours and Becky’s loss. But that’s the truth. When I
went on the road after Vegas, things just exploded. The band became everything
we wanted it to be. And the days and weeks and months, they all collected into
years. Then something changed. I watched the lead singer of the band fall in love.
I watched my bandmates begin to experience real life changes, off stage, off
tour, and it just shakes you to your core. Then I got divorce papers served to
me right before a show...”

The woman nodded. She took a deep
breath in. Silence fell, leaving the faint sound of a radio playing in the back
and someone singing along with it.

Chris took a step and the woman
pointed. “That’s not Rebecca. That’s our sister-in-law, Deb.”

“You sure?” Chris asked.

“I wouldn’t lie. Which is why I
need you to do something.”

“For Becky? Anything.”

“You sign lots of autographs,
right?”

“Of course,” Chris said.

Maybe there was some kind of fundraising
even in honor of their mother. Chris would call the rest of the band on the
spot to do something.

The woman pointed at Chris. “Autograph
the papers, Chris. You want to help my sister? Then sign. She hasn’t been able
to actually date someone, fall in love, commit, because of you.”

Chris fought the urge to smile. The
bell on the door behind them rang. Chris knew he didn’t have much time left at
all.

“Wait a second,” Chris said. “Does
that mean Becky is single?”

The woman opened her mouth.

“No.”

Only it wasn’t the woman’s voice
behind the counter. It was a voice Chris had been dreaming about for a long
time. He looked over his shoulder and saw her standing at the door, the years
better to her than they were to him. Instead of aging she became more
beautiful. More of a woman. A strong, capable woman still with the same set of
eyes. Those eyes that stole Chris’s heart.

Becky.

**

Becky had made it less than a mile
before she turned around. She knew she had to turn around and face this. She’d
been the one to send the divorce papers, twice. She and Chris never agreed to
anything really, other than marriage. If he wanted to see her, so be it.

Right?

The logic settled in, Becky
realizing that Chris wouldn’t have just come to Plesent for a quick trip and
then leave. He’d linger. He’d wait. She could just sense it.

Becky had parked out back but
walked to the front of the bakery. The second she stood at the door and saw the
back of Chris at the counter talking to Rachael, it all came back to her. His
wide shoulders. How she held those shoulders as he catered to her body’s needs
and desires. No man ever came close to what Chris did to her and for her. In
fact, if she had to admit it to herself right then, no man ever pleasured her
like Chris. It was like she had been given the greatest two nights of sex in
her life, and then was punished with mediocre sex there on out.

But Chris stood, right there.

Wearing jeans. Black shoes. A dark
blue t-shirt.

He looked like the same Chris.

When Becky saw her sister cry, not
once, but twice, she knew she had to suck it up and go inside. This was her
mess to finally face. Her heart raced as she opened the door, the small bell
giving away her presence.

Then came the question that shook
Becky.

Chris asked, “Does that mean Becky
is single?”

And Becky knew then she had to
answer the question herself. She could be honest and walk that path or she
could go with her feelings. And her feelings were to find a way to see just how
much Chris still cared about her. How far he’d go for her. She was worth it,
right? She deserved it...

“No.”

Chris looked over his shoulder at
her and the shock settled in.

His eyes were beautiful. Their
darkness sort of the same as before, only with years of touring, life, and hope
lingering in them. They slowly came to life and it in turn gave Becky hope. It
was like seeing him for the first time again. Last time he’d been facing a
large guy ready to beat him up. Now he faced Rachael. As Becky thought about
it, she knew Chris was better off facing the big guy from those years ago.
Rachael would claw him to death if need be.

“Becky,” Chris said. “Oh, Becky...”

Becky put a hand out. “Wait a second.”

“Sure. Anything.”

Becky wasn’t sure what to say. She
thought about this moment for a long time. It sometimes ended in happily ever
after, sometimes ended in heartache.

“Look,” Chris said as Rachael
tended to a customer who had brushed right by Becky. “I just wanted to see
you.”

“You came all this way to see me?”
Becky asked.

“Took a private jet from Syracuse.
I have the papers in my rental car.”

“Oh,” Becky said.

Her heart felt deflated even more.
She couldn’t believe he would come all this way just to hand her the papers.

“They’re not signed,” Chris said.

He half smiled and Becky let out a
small sigh. “I need to sit down.”

“Yes. Please. With me.”

Becky couldn’t believe what she was
doing. She sat at the back table of the bakery, trying to be as hidden as they
could be in the small store. But Becky knew better. Anything said would
probably be heard. The change from secrecy to honesty was a little more than a
shock but Becky had to endure it.

“I can’t believe you’re here right
now,” she said. “I thought I’d send the papers and...”

“I couldn’t do it,” Chris said.
“I’m not going to play games, Becky.”

“I still hate that name.”

“I know you do. I’ll never stop
calling you that.”

Becky rolled her eyes. Chris still
had the same charm. And his looks were even hotter. The boyish, innocent look
was long gone, replaced by all man.

“You came here to do what? Aren’t
you supposed to be touring the world?”

“Did that already,” Chris said. “A
few times, actually.”

“Good for you.”

“And you settled in North
Carolina?”

“Settled. That’s a good word. My
mother...” Becky swallowed. She wasn’t going to cry in front of Chris. “My
mother opened this place and when she needed help she called me. So here I am.”