Jane's Harmony (Jane's Melody #2) (19 page)

“Tristan and Isolde? Didn’t he die a sad and tragic death before they even got married?”

“I don’t know”—Jane shrugged—“I only saw the movie once. But the costumes were to die for.”

“So you’d cast me as the doomed prince for the dress?”

“And a castle,” she said. When he rolled his eyes at her, she added, “Hey, a girl’s got to have her priorities.”

She left him to look at socks while she went to the MAC makeup counter and restocked on the things she needed. Night cream, foundation, blush. The saleswoman was ringing her up when she asked Jane if there would be anything else.

“You know what,” Jane said, “I could use some eyeliner. What’s your best smoky look?”

The saleswoman turned to look at the selection. “I’d say MAC Eye Kohl in Smolder. The color really lasts.”

“But is it edgy?” Jane asked. “Like the young kids wear.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s pure rock and roll in a pencil.”

“I’ll take two, then.”

They lunched at a mall café and each tried to push their leftovers off on the other, arguing playfully about which of them had lost more weight. Jane blamed walking all over town; Caleb blamed nerves. After lunch, Caleb pulled her into a mall arcade and bought tokens for Dance Dance Revolution, then challenged Jane to a dance-off.

“You want an eighties remix or nineties?”

“Do you even have to ask? The eighties were so much more fun. Wait, you weren’t born yet, so you wouldn’t know.”

He just grinned at her and set the machine. “Prepare to go down,” he said.

The music started, the arrows lit up at their feet, and they were dancing to an electronic mix of “Do It Right.” But Jane knew without a doubt that she was doing it wrong. Caleb was busy busting a move beside her like a pro, but while he racked up points, all Jane saw on her side of the screen was red. She was still laughing and having fun and by the time the song ended, they fell into each other’s arms, both out of breath.

“You could have been a gentleman and let me win.”

“I was trying, baby. But there’s no way I could have lost to you unless I’d sat down.”

Jane punched him in the shoulder. Then she noticed a boy standing in the corner watching them. He was very short and very heavy for his age, and he had a funny hat pulled down almost to his eyes. Jane got Caleb’s attention and pointed.

“I think you’ve got a fan,” she said.

“I’m not signing any autographs,” he told her. Then he nodded to the kid. “Hey, kid. You wanna play a round?”

The kid nodded and stepped forward without a word.

“Let him win,” Jane whispered in Caleb’s ear. Then she stepped aside and let the kid take her place on the dance platform.

Caleb pumped tokens into the machine. “You got a song preference, kid?”

The kid shook his head.

“How about a level?”

The kid stepped forward and pointed at Expert.

Caleb chuckled. “How about we go with Difficult, okay?”
He set the machine and took his place on the dance pad. Then he sized up his young competition.

“Don’t think I’m going easy on you because you’re a kid.”

The kid dismissed his comment with a shrug and pulled his hat down tighter on his head. Then the music began and the kid’s feet took off as if he were standing barefoot on hot coals. He had one hand up on top of his hat to keep it in place, and he was dancing like some cartoon kid version of Fred Astaire, his feet moving so wildly and crazily that Jane could hardly take her eyes away. When the song ended, the kid had a near-perfect score.

Caleb shook his head. Then he shook the kid’s hand. “You got a name?” he asked.

The kid pointed to the high-score player list. The top name read Tommy Two Shoes. Then he drifted back to his corner again, presumably to wait in the shadows for his next victim.

As Jane and Caleb left the arcade, Caleb must have heard the chuckle that Jane was trying desperately to contain.

“Knock it off,” he said. “You told me to let him win.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, letting out her laugh. “That kid danced the pants off of you.”

“He sure did,” Caleb admitted, adding, “You’d think he’d be more fit, though, wouldn’t you? Dancing like he does.”

Jane elbowed him. “What’s wrong with you? My Caleb doesn’t go around insulting kids about their weight like some kind of caveman.”

Caleb scooped her up and carried her through the mall, her legs dangling along with the shopping bags.

“Put me down,” she said, kicking. “What are you doing?”

“I’m carrying you home to my cave so I can dance the pants off of you.”

When Jane emerged from the bathroom after her shower, Caleb had candles lit and music playing. He took her hand and led her into the bedroom. He sat her on the bed, then crawled up behind her and massaged lotion into her shoulders. The lotion smelled of lavender, and his hands were warm.

“What’s all this for?” she asked.

“I just want our last night together to be special.”

“You make it sound like you’re going away for good.”

“No, baby. Not for good. But it’ll be five weeks if I go to the finale, and even a day away from you is too long.”

She turned her head around to look at him. “I’m going to miss you.”

He kissed her, pulling his lips away just long enough to softly say, “Shh . . . let’s not talk about me leaving. We have tonight, and tonight can last forever if we want it to.”

Then he peeled away her towel and laid her back on the bed. She shimmied up until her head was resting on the pillow.

“This isn’t fair. I’m naked and you’re still dressed.”

“I’ll be naked plenty later on, trust me. But I want this to be about you right now. So close your eyes and relax.”

She did as he asked. She lay on the bed with her eyes shut and her heart open, doing nothing and feeling everything. His hands roamed her body, gently massaging lotion into her skin. He slid his hands down her arms and worked the insides of her palms with his thumbs. He moved to her legs, massaging from her thighs to her toes. He was attentive and patient, as if he wanted to commit each section of her body to the memory of his touch, as if he wanted to leave some mark of his love on every inch of her flesh. It was nurturing and sexual, and it turned Jane on.

Caleb’s hands roamed back up to her inner thighs, and she raised her hips to signal that he should work a little higher be
tween them. Then his hands left her for a moment and the next thing she heard was vibrating. She smiled but kept her eyes closed. Whatever he had, when he put it between her legs, it sent shivers up her spine to the crown of her head and down to the tips of her toes. She let out a little moan to let him know she liked it. She could feel the warm lube, the silicone vibrating, and she could feel the fingers of his free hand working in tandem with the toy. He must have been watching with his face close because his hair grazed her thigh.

She reached down and showed him how to position it, and together, hand in hand, they worked it until she was lying there quivering with pleasure, with just the soft sound of the vibrating audible beneath her moans.

He crawled up and kissed her. When he pulled his lips away, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Where did you get that?” Jane asked.

“It’s a little going-away gift I picked up for you. I’ve got another going-away gift for you in my pants when you’re ready. Only this one doesn’t vibrate.”

She shook her head. “It’s my turn to pleasure you. Get undressed.”

Without getting off the bed, Caleb peeled off his shirt and shimmied out of his pants. Then he flopped down onto his back with his arms behind his head and smiled at her. She let her eyes roam the length of his naked body. Then she straddled him and uncapped the lotion.

“Close your eyes,” she said. “And just relax.”

Jane worked the lotion into his chest first, kneading his pecs. His muscles seemed larger when they were beneath her small hands. She worked up to his shoulders, marveling at the striations in the muscle there. She worked down to his legs, his thighs, his calves. He laughed when she reached his feet.

“Does that tickle?”

“Yes.”

“Good. How about that?”

“Stop it.”

She was working her way back up between his legs when her eyes caught sight of the pink toy sitting on the edge of the bed. She snatched it and turned it on.

“Hey now,” he said.

“Just close your eyes and relax, baby. I’m in control.”

She heard him suck in his breath the second it touched his skin. His legs kicked a little. She knew he had lube somewhere, but she didn’t want to look, so she set the toy down and squeezed more lotion into her palm. Then she picked the toy back up and brought it to his most sensitive place, then wrapped her other hand around him and began to stroke. Caleb was like warm stone in her hand. She laid her head on his thigh and enjoyed the close-up view while she worked—one hand sliding up and down, the other working the toy, slowly inching it lower. She thought she heard him say her name above the sound of the vibrating, then his quad muscle began to twitch beneath her cheek. She expected him to protest, but instead she felt his legs spread slightly more.

She worked her other hand faster, enjoying seeing him lose control, and when he came it was in a flood that shot so heavy and high that she watched it rise into the air and turn to fall again. Some landed on his belly. Some landed on her cheek. She tried to reach it with her tongue. Then she just lay there, feeling him pulse in her hand and listening to the toy vibrating where she had dropped it between his legs.

Eventually, she picked it up and switched it off, then scooted up to join him at the pillows. She thought he looked more content than she had ever seen him, as if he had no care in the
world. Smiling, she laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heart pounding in his breast, the thunder of a life she loved more than her own, a life she would do anything to protect. She stretched her arm over him and hugged him tight. Without intending to, she sighed.

“You okay, babe?”

“I’ve never been better.”

“Then why the long sigh?”

“I’m just going to miss you. That’s all.”

He caressed her hair. “I’m gonna miss you too. But I’ll be home soon. And lose or win, either way, it makes no difference to me as long as I have us to look forward to. And we’ll find a way to have your big Tristan-and-what’s-her-name wedding and live happily ever after.”

“Do you think there is an ever after?”

“I suppose we all die someday. But until then, sure.”

“But what about after we die? Do you think there’s anything then?”

“Are you getting all existential on me again, baby?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should go back to doing Sudoku. It kept my mind off stuff like this.”

She played with his fine chest hair, lifting it in her fingers, then blowing it away with her breath. “I guess sometimes I just miss Grace. And I miss Melody. All the time, I miss her. I wonder if I’ll ever see them again.”

“I’m sure you will, baby. I’m sure you will.”

“You really think so?”

He kissed the top of her head, softly saying, “I do.”

A few quiet minutes passed, and then she said, “I saw that you packed your bag already. I have to work the morning shift tomorrow, so I can’t take you to the airport.”

“I know. I plan to catch the bus.”

“I can leave the car and have Marj drive you.”

“I’m fine with the bus, baby. I like Marj, but not enough to sit in traffic with her.”

Jane looked up at him, then glanced theatrically at the wall and held her finger to her lips. “Shh . . . remember, she can hear through these walls.”

“I thought you got her earplugs.”

“I did, but I have a suspicion she likes to listen.”

“That’s creepy.”

Jane shrugged. “Wouldn’t you if you were all alone?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

She laid her head back on his chest and almost on cue they heard Buttercup bark. Both of them started laughing. When Caleb wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, she closed her eyes and let the love in. She was right where she wanted to be. Right here. Right now. Forever. With him.

Chapter 16

S
he was gone when Caleb woke. He wandered into the kitchen and found the coffee already made, and next to the coffeepot he found a note:

You looked too peaceful to wake, so I whispered in your ear that I love you more than life itself. And it’s true. I do. You smiled in your sleep. So cute! Go get ’em, superstar.

He drank his coffee and reread the note. The apartment was quiet; he missed her already. He flipped the paper over and wrote her a response:

To the angel who whispered in my ear, I smiled because I was dreaming of you. Thanks for the great send-off last night. I love you. Signed, your man in la-la
land.

The airport was crowded and the security lines were long. He was exhausted when he finally boarded the plane. Nothing seemed right. The number of the seat he sat in was printed on his ticket next to his name, but he felt all wrong. As if he were the wrong guy in the wrong clothes heading to the wrong place to live the wrong life. Shouldn’t he be excited? he asked himself. After all, he was going to be on live TV with a chance at a cool quarter-million dollars and a recording contract. Shouldn’t he be thrilled at the opportunity?

He watched out the window as the tarmac slipped away beneath them, and all he could think about was Jane. His entire
life he had felt edgy and alone, but when he met Jane, everything had fallen into place. And when he was around her, he felt fine. His breathing slowed to synchronize with hers, his mind got quiet, and his entire being opened in a fundamental way. It was as if their hearts beat a rhythm that rhymed, their souls strolling together forever in some place beyond space and time, step for step, humming a sweet tune of hope, her voice and his, a harmony neither could deny.

As an artist, he had always been interested in love. As a man, he had always been fearful of it. But when he thought of Jane, he knew what true love was, and he knew beyond any doubt that it had the power to see anything and everything through.

When the
FASTEN SEAT BELTS
sign turned off, he stood and excused himself, and retrieved his pad and pen from his duffel in the overhead bin. Then he returned to his seat and settled in for the long flight. And when he finally heard the melody he was listening for, he opened to a blank page and began to write. Two voices composing in harmony, words that flowed straight from his heart. It was a song he had always wanted to write but had never had a reason or even the courage to start.

Caleb set his guitar on the floor, tossed his bag on the bed, and looked around the room. Same hotel, same floor, but everything was different. A queen bed instead of two doubles. No dirty socks on the floor. No crazy roommate to possibly barge in. He considered jumping on the bed for a photo to send to Jane, but he didn’t feel up to it. He sent a text message instead to say that he had arrived and that he missed her.

He decided to unpack this time, and as he opened his duffel and laid his clothes out on the bed, he found a package from Jane. A thin box with a piece of paper wrapped around it se
cured with a rubber band. He pulled the note off and saw that it was eyeliner. The note read:
Just don’t let Jordyn borrow it!

He took the eyeliner into the bathroom and practiced putting it on. It was more difficult than he might have guessed and by the time he gave it up, his eyes were red rimmed and watering and he looked like some crazy crying clown. He knew Sean would never let him live it down if he were there, and the thought made him miss his roommate. He pulled out his phone and composed a text to him.

Back in Tinseltown, but not the same without you, dude. I hope you’re still making music and painting and raising hell and all that stuff. Don’t get lost in all those Iowa cornfields. And don’t have sex with any cows.

Almost immediately after he sent it, there was a response.

Dude, I’m pissed. Been watching the show and apparently you’ve been having a thing with Jordyn right under my nose. Ha-ha. JK. I know they’re full of shit. She only has eyes for me. You’re gonna kill it, man. I’m playing a coffee shop tonight. Love my life. :-)

He was working on song lyrics later that evening when a knock came at the door. It was a production assistant with a welcome basket and instructions for the following day. As they spoke in the doorway, she kept staring at Caleb strangely. When he said good-bye and closed the door, he caught his reflection in the mirror and realized why. He went to the bathroom and washed his face, two passes with soap and water, until the eyeliner was gone. Then he settled in to eat the goodies from his welcome basket and watch some TV.

Later, he tried to sleep. But it was two hours earlier, Austin time, and he had a lot on his mind. He tossed and turned and stared at the ceiling. There seemed to be tiny lights everywhere in the dark room. A red dot on the TV, the green glow of the alarm clock, a blinking LED on the wall smoke alarm. And they all seemed to be eyes staring at him from the dark—watching him, judging him, tormenting him.

He sat up in the bed and reached for the phone, then called down to the front desk and asked if they had any electrical tape. The man spoke broken English and seemed to be confused. He said he could send up maintenance if there was an electrical problem. Caleb gave up and hung up, then pulled on his jeans and his shirt.

He was halfway to the elevator when he saw her and stopped. She was sitting on the carpet next to a room door with her back against the wall. There were covered room service plates on the floor next to her, as if she had been banished to the hallway to eat her supper alone.

“Hi, Panda. You all right?”

She looked up at him, her eyes red, as if she’d been crying. “Oh, hi,” she said. “What’s up, Caleb?”

“I couldn’t sleep so I’m heading to find some tape.”

“Find some tape?”

“Lights are bothering me,” he said. Then he nodded to the room service tray. “What are you doing out in the hall, having a little party?”

She pointed a thumb at the door behind her. “My dad and stepmom are fighting.”

“What about?”

“Same thing they always fight about. Money.”

“Oh. That sucks. I think there’s a vending machine down the hall. You want to get a soda or something?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, standing. “That sounds cool.”

They walked down the hall to the nook with vending machines, and Caleb pulled bills from his pocket and fed them into the machine to buy them each a soda—she chose a Pepsi, he chose an Orange Crush—then they stood in the deserted hotel hallway and drank them. It was strangely quiet for so many people being so near. Like a hallway between worlds.

“That caffeine’ll keep you up,” Caleb said.

She looked at the can of Pepsi in her hand and shrugged. “I can sleep anywhere.”

“You can?”

“Yeah. I can even sleep standing up.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said.

She set her soda on the ground. Then she stood perfectly still and closed her eyes. Several seconds passed and nothing happened until she just tipped over. Caleb lurched to catch her with his free arm, balancing his soda in the other. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Then she started laughing.

“You little sucker,” he said. “You got me.”

She pulled herself upright, using his arm, then retrieved her Pepsi and stood beside him sipping on it. A minute passed before she looked at him again.

“Do you really like Jordyn?”

“You’ve been watching the shows, huh?”

She nodded that she had.

“No, I don’t like Jordyn. Not like they showed. They’re just doing that because it makes for interesting TV.”

“Good,” she said. “Because she’s not right for you.”

“She’s not?”

She shook her head. “No way.”

“Well, then, who is right for me?”

She blushed and looked at her feet. “I dunno. Maybe someone more like me.”

“Well, that’s very sweet,” Caleb replied. “And I think you’re
right because I’m engaged to be married to an amazing woman, and in some ways you remind me of her.”

She somehow managed to look happy yet defeated at the same time. They stood quietly for a few moments. Then a door opened down the hall and a man’s head popped out and looked around. He spotted them and called out in a hushed voice.

“Amanda. You get back in here right now.”

She looked up at Caleb and rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the soda.”

“You bet,” he replied. “Thanks for the talk. It was just what I needed.”

Her father watched as she trotted down the hall toward the room. But she stopped short of the door and turned back.

“What’s her name?” she asked.

“Her name’s Jane, and I hope you get to meet her.”

She smiled. “I hope so too.”

She disappeared into the room, and the father cast him a long look before pulling his head in and closing the door.

Caleb stood in the quiet hall and finished his Orange Crush.

Caleb woke to someone knocking on his room door.

He sat up and looked around, but the room was pitch-black. He reached for the lamp and turned it on. Then he peeled the tape off the alarm clock and looked at the time.

“Oh shit!”

He pulled on his jeans and went to answer the door. The production assistant took one look at him and shook her head.

“I overslept,” he said. “I’ll be right down. I promise.”

“Fine,” she answered. “But don’t bother doing your makeup, there’s no time.”

“Very cute,” he replied, closing the door.

They were all down in the banquet-hall-turned-rehearsal-room, drinking coffee and snacking on fruit and baked goods from a continental spread on a table against the wall. He saw Panda and her parents. He saw the production assistant talking to members of the stage crew. He saw the other artists sitting together at a table, eating and chatting. And he saw Jordyn. She was standing by herself looking at her phone. He was torn between going to greet her and going to get something to eat. Each choice seemed equally awkward. He decided to get it over with, since they were going to be partners.

“Counting all your fans?” he asked.

Jordyn looked up at him. There was a moment when he couldn’t read her expression, an uncomfortable silence when he wished he’d gone for a bagel instead. But then she smiled and leaned in to hug him with her free arm.

“Good morning, partner. I was actually just reading a Twitter thread about what a cute couple we make.”

“Well, I’m glad I’m not on there to read that shit,” he said.

“Oh yes, you are. I even tweeted at your handle last night, and you’ve already got three thousand followers.”

“I don’t have a Twitter account.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve got a Facebook page now too.”

“This is bullshit, Jordyn. I didn’t give you permission to put me out on social media like some kind of stooge you can use to get more fans.”

“Relax, Caleb. I didn’t do it. The producers made accounts for you. Read the paperwork. You gave them permission to manage your social media during the show. Don’t worry, though, you’ll get it back when it’s over.”

“Well, I don’t want it.”

“You might.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hey, my album on iTunes has been selling like crazy since the first episodes aired. And now all my fans want to know about the hottie I fell in love with on the show.”

Caleb looked at her for a moment—a cunning mind and a pretty face, a very dangerous combination.

“I hope you didn’t have anything to do with the way they’re portraying us on TV, Jordyn, because I don’t know if I could forgive you if you did.”

She shrugged his comment off. “I’m only playing around. I was as surprised as you were. But whatever gets us America’s votes. That’s what I’m here for.”

“I’m sure,” he said, believing that part at least.

Then her eyes lit up as she saw someone enter the room. She grabbed Caleb’s arm and spun him around. “I want you to meet someone, Caleb.”

She was a fair-skinned and dark-haired girl about their age, maybe a little older, and she looked to be all business in a pencil skirt and white blouse. She wore black-rimmed glasses and carried an iPad and an enormous purse. Ignoring Caleb, she went straight into talking to Jordyn about downloads and post conversion rates. But Jordyn cut her off and turned to Caleb, who was standing at her side.