Crazy For You (35 page)

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Authors: Sandra Edwards

Tags: #fiction, #romance, #beach, #80s, #revenge, #redemption, #rock fiction, #80s music, #rock music, #contemporary romance, #movie stars, #rock lit, #rock band

BOOK: Crazy For You
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“Let me talk to Jason. I’ll see if we can set
something up for the first of next week.”

“Sooner is better.” Frank slammed the receiver down
onto the phone’s cradle.

The nerve of that guy. The nerve of the two of them.
Both Jason and Jerry. Who did they think they were? Did they really
think they could keep him away from her, forever?

***

Chapter 30

O
n a nice, warm November
afternoon, Rich and Candy were grilling steaks in his back yard. A
crisp breeze blew in from the lake, carrying with it the scent of
jasmine.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought,” Candy said,
playing with the meat on the grill.

“What’s that?” Rich said vaguely, while relaxing in
a lawn chair. Idly, he was taking in the scenery around the
lake.

“What to give Frank for his birthday.” She hadn’t
overlooked the fact that Frank’s birthday was also his and
Roxanne’s first anniversary.

“So what’s your surprise?” Rich asked, paying more
attention now.

“I think we should give him what he wants.”

“What he wants is for Roxanne to wake up.”

“Besides that.”

“Well besides that...he wants you and me to get
married.” Rich didn’t give much thought to the idea since he knew
marriage wasn’t in Candy’s cards.

“Well,” she said with a mischievous smile. “Why
don’t we go get ourselves a marriage license then?”

“Geez…” Rich laughed nervously. “What kind of a
romantic are you? You don’t just say, ‘why don’t we go get a
marriage license?’ Somebody should propose to somebody.”

“Okay.” She dropped to her knees.

“What are you doing?” he questioned her with an
anxious laugh. “Get up.”

“Would you just shut up? I’m trying to ask you to
marry me.”

The shock of what she was doing hit him full force.
Candy was serious.

“Richard Hollander…” She slipped her hand around
his. “Would you do me the honor of becoming my lawfully wedded
husband?”

Rich looked at her intently. Seeing those emerald
green eyes sparkle with sincerity gave him assurance that
everything was going to be okay. “Candice Simon…” he said, tossing
out a serious tone. “If you try to back out of this…or if you
decide to run away and disappear…there will be no place on earth
where you can hide from me. I will hunt you down if it takes the
rest of my life.”

They laughed playfully. Rich pulled her into his
lap. “I love you, girl,” he said, running his fingers through her
golden-blonde hair.

Candy wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I’ve
always loved you. I just never deluded myself that I could replace
you.” She brushed her lips against his.

“J
erry,” Jason said
nervously into the telephone. “We have a problem.”

“You’re telling me,” Jerry said with biting
laughter.

“Has he called you too?”

“Frank?”

“No. Kirk Bronson.”

“Kirk Bronson?” Jerry wasn’t talking about him. In
fact, he hadn’t given Kirk much thought in years. Not since Roxanne
stopped talking about him.

“Yes. Kirk keeps calling me. He’s eager to come to
the States to see Roxanne, even though I keep telling him that
nobody can see her.”

“Just ignore him.”

“I’ve been avoiding his calls for about a week now.
But it’s only a matter of time before he shows up here in New York.
Or maybe even there in Florida.”

“I have a news flash for you, my friend,” Jerry
said. “Kirk Bronson is the least of our worries.”

“What?” Jason didn’t like the sound of that.

“Frank Garrett is insistent upon taking Frankie to
see his mother. I put him off until next week, but he’s
determined.” Jerry was still in awe over Frankie’s perception. “It
seems that Little Frankie contends his mother isn’t in the hospital
at all. He says she’s conscious and somewhere at the beach …and
Frank is determined to take him to the hospital and show him
differently.”

“You’re kidding? Where did Frankie come up with
something like that?”

“Apparently he’s been dreaming it.”

F
rank felt lucky that Rich
and Candy had decided to get married on his birthday. That way, he
had something to preoccupy himself with, rather than having all the
time in the world to think about the fact that he and Roxanne were
unable to celebrate their first anniversary.

Rich and Candy got themselves a marriage license,
and since there was no waiting period in Florida they were free to
marry immediately. They found a Justice of the Peace who came to
Rich’s house to perform the ceremony.

Their wedding, like Frank and Roxanne’s, was a small
gathering. In the end, aside from Frank and Little Frankie, the
only other people in attendance were Jameson, Rose, Glen, and
Glenna.

“Who gives this woman?” the judge asked, breaking
into Frank’s concentration. Or was it self-pity?

“You can skip that part,” Rich said.

“Wait a minute,” Frank butted in, not about to miss
the chance for a little fun. “Who gives this woman?” He laughed
skeptically. “Hell…we’re not giving her away.”

Frank glanced at Rich. He swore there were tiny
little fire-tipped daggers shooting out from Rich’s eyes. It made
Frank’s laughter rumble inside.

“We might trade her for a good amp or something,”
Frank said, willing to bargain. “But we’re definitely not giving
her away.”

The judge cast a startled look over the faces of the
guests, as if to say, “
someone please take control of this
man
.”

Candy started giggling. After that, everyone
laughed.

“Go ahead,” Frank said, on the verge of laughter.
“Marry them.”

Within moments Rich and Candy were pronounced
husband and wife.

“I guess this sort of makes us brothers-in-law,
doesn’t it?” Frank said, witnessing the marriage license.

“Guess we’re stuck with each other now,” Rich said
with a smile.

Candy noticed Glenna had wandered off and now she
was standing alone with her head hung low. “Glenna,” she said,
going to her side. “What’s wrong?”

“This may seem selfish of me,” Glenna said slowly.
“But this just reminds me of how much I really miss the band.”

“We all do,” Candy said. “But Frank refuses to play
anymore. And Rich is determined not to play if Frank won’t.”

Candy and Glenna both knew there was only one person
who could put the band back together again, but she wasn’t
there.

“Damn it!” Glenna’s frustration blew out with her
words. “Why doesn’t she come back to us?” She searched Candy’s face
for some hint of comfort.

“Nobody wants that more than me,” Candy said.
“Except maybe, Frank.”

A
fter talking to Jerry,
Jason caught the first flight to Tampa. If he got out of New York
before Kirk Bronson showed up, he’d consider himself lucky. But
Jason had more important things to worry about right now. Like the
fact that Frank expected to see his wife, next week at the
latest.

With this turn of events, Kirk’s nosiness seemed a
bit trivial. Of course, he might have felt differently had he known
Kirk was headed to Tampa at that very moment.

J
ason rushed into Jerry’s
office. “Are you ready?”

“I’ve been waiting on you,” Jerry said.

“Well, let’s get to the airport then. Our plane
leaves in an hour.”

O
nce Kirk arrived in Tampa,
he rented a car and headed for the address he’d found for Jerry’s
office. He couldn’t get any information on the hospital Roxanne was
in, but he’d get the address out of Jerry, one way or another. He
laid his hand on the handle, preparing to open the car door when he
saw Jerry and Jason rushing out of the building.

What was Jason doing here? And where were they in
such a hurry to go? Kirk decided to follow them.

He was surprised when he ended up following them
back to the airport. Trailing them inside, he watched them board a
flight headed for Kingston, Jamaica.

What the hell is going on
? He watched their
plane take off and tried to make some sense of what he’d witnessed.
Vaguely, he remembered Roxanne once saying something about Jason
having a vacation home in Jamaica.

A little voice inside Kirk’s head urged him to
follow them.

Kirk went to the ticket counter. “When is the next
flight to Kingston?” he asked casually, even though he had no clue
why he was considering going there.

“We don’t have another flight until tomorrow
morning,” the ticket agent replied. “Would you like me to check the
other airlines for you?”

“Yes, please.” He gave her a flirtatious smile.

“You’re in luck. Delta has a flight leaving in an
hour.” A star-struck look crossed her face, suggesting she
recognized him. “Would you like me to book you a seat?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Kirk grabbed his ticket and
boarding pass, then headed for the cocktail lounge to have a drink
while he waited to board his flight.

There was something fishy about the whole thing with
Jason and Jerry. Kirk couldn’t put his finger on it, but he was
determined to find out what. He’d forgotten something though.
Something he hadn’t realized until he got off the plane in Jamaica.
He had no idea where to look for Jason and Jerry. Frustrated, he
went down to the beach and got a room for the night.

He did nothing but stare out the window until late
in the evening. He tried to figure out why Jason and Jerry had left
Tampa so quickly. A lot of wild ideas ran through his head, but
none of them were viable enough to get stuck there. The only thing
left for him to do was go back to Tampa.

The following morning he booked a flight scheduled
to leave later that afternoon. He figured once he arrived back in
Tampa, he’d go find Candy and talk to her about Roxanne. She would
tell him the truth. The whole truth. He counted on it anyway.

In the meantime, he needed to blow off some steam. A
great way to do that, he figured, was a walk on the beach.

Casually, he strolled along the water’s edge with
his hands in his pockets. Mainly directing his attention out over
the water, he wondered what he was going to do now. Silently, he
scolded himself for running off on this wild goose chase in the
first place. This was definitely one of the dumber things he’d done
in quite a while. Turning his attention back up the beach, he
mindlessly stared straight ahead. Why did he have this compulsion
to see Roxanne? And after all this time. For Christ’s sakes, she
was married now. To
him
of all people. Still, Kirk felt an
overwhelming need to see her again just to make sure she was
okay.

Up the beach about fifty yards he saw a girl
sunbathing. Her light brown hair and long slender legs reminded him
of Roxanne.

Stop it
! Kirk knew better than to compare
other women to Roxanne. But ironically, the closer he got to this
girl the more she looked like Roxanne. Less than twenty feet away,
an eerie sensation swept over him. The resemblance was remarkable.
Moving closer, the peculiar feeling turned to confusion. This girl
was an exact replica of Roxanne. The more he looked at her the more
he realized something—something that made no sense at all.

It was Roxanne.

This is impossible
. Roxanne was in Florida.
In a hospital. In a coma.

“Roxanne…” his weak tone shredded her name.

The girl opened her eyes and immediately shaded them
from the glare of the sun.

Kirk had seen her eyes though. They definitely
belonged to Roxanne. That violet-blue color was virtually
impossible to replicate. He’d seen many try—and fail.

But this wasn’t possible. She was supposed to be in
a hospital in Florida. What the hell was going on? “Roxanne?”

She sat up. “Do I know you?”

“Of course you know me.”

She covered her eyes with her sunglasses and then
stood up. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head, sounding exasperated.
“What’s your name?”

“It’s me. Kirk.”

She shook her head, saying, “I’m sorry, but I don’t
know you.”

“Roxanne…Roxanne Simon? That’s your name,
right?”

“Yes.” She agreed, but there wasn’t a single,
solitary hint of recognition in her expression. She truly had no
idea who Kirk was.

***

Part IV

***

Chapter 31

April

Seven Months Earlier

A
lmost a month after the
overdose, Roxanne came out of the coma. When she did, she opened
her eyes as if she’d been startled awake. Eyeing her surroundings,
she quickly realized she was alone in a hospital room. She went to
sit up, but was trapped by these wires leading to all sorts of
contraptions.

What the hell’s going on
?

A nurse walked into the room. “You’re awake!”

“What’s going on?” Roxanne asked. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. Do you know your name?”

“Well of course I know my name. It’s Roxanne.
Roxanne Simon.”

“Do you know what year it is?”

“Look...” Roxanne wasn’t in the mood to play these
silly games. “Why don’t you just tell me what happened? What am I
doing here?”

“You had a little accident.”

“Oh, no...” Roxanne moaned, thinking the nurse meant
car wreck
.

“There’s no need to worry,” the nurse said. “I
suppose you’re all right now.”

“When can I get out of here?”

“Your doctor will be the judge of that,” she said.
“But your family’s going to be very happy that you’re
awake...especially your husband.”

Husband? “That’s a pretty sick joke, considering my
husband is dead.” Roxanne filled with repulsion. “Not funny. Not
funny at all.”

“On the contrary, Ms. Simon. Frank Garrett is very
much alive.”

Frank Garrett?
Roxanne let the name rattle
around in her head. But it meant nothing. “When is the doctor going
to be here?” Maybe then she could get some straight answers.

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