Learn to Fly (24 page)

Fueled by her
frustration and irritation in the impending events, she barely
noticed the disdainful looks given by the wait staff when they
entered the restaurant.

“
Miss
Evans, we've been expecting you.” The host greeted her, eying
her group suspiciously.

“
They’re
with me, Louise,” she knew she sounded bitchy. She hated
herself for it. He nodded reluctantly and motioned to a girl
standing nearby. The girl proceeded to lead them to a table in a
private room towards the back of the crowded restaurant.

The room was empty
except for a flurry of waiters rearranging the table and settings to
accommodate the group they hadn’t expected. The girl who had
seated them took their drink orders and disappeared.

The guys began to
relax somewhat and the table buzzed with hushed conversation. Lenny
sipped her water and sat perfectly still, staring at the center of
the table in deep thought. This was never part of the plan.

She
hadn’t
just
come from a family of athletes like she had told Luke. Both her
father and mother were Olympic gold medalists, so was her brother
Nathan. They were also incredibly wealthy, owning several high-end
restaurants and resorts all around the world. Including the one they
were in. Brushing shoulders with the upper class of America had been
part of her upbringing. It’s one of the reasons snowboarding
had appealed to her, it was the opposite of everything that
surrounded her. But she could do it. She could put on the clothes
and walk in the shoes and say all the words, but it literally felt
like every cell in her body was screaming to run away.

She focused on her
breathing while she stared at the flickering candle in front of her.
She felt eyes on her but didn't look up to see who they belonged to.
Probably Luke. She could sense his concern from across the table.
She hated that he was worried. She hated that it had to do with her.
She had wanted to do this meeting privately but it wasn't feasible.
Hopefully it would be over soon.

As three men
approached the table wearing very expensive suits, Lenny sighed. She
should have known that Patrick would call her father.

She stood up as he
leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“
Lenna,”
he addressed with a smile.

“
Dad,”
Lenny acknowledged wearily, “I didn’t know you would be
here.”

“
Who
are your friends?” Lenny’s father asked politely.

The guys stood up to
shake the man’s hand as Lenny introduced them all by name.

“
This
is my father, Bruce Evans.” She saw the realization dawn in
each of their eyes as they greeted him and knew another piece of her
anonymity was slipping away.

“
The
Bruce Evans?” Harrison asked excitedly. “Three gold
medals and world record holder for the Men’s 200m backstroke?”

“
That’s
right,” Bruce humbly smiled.

“
It’s
an honor to meet you, sir.” Harrison continued to gush, “I
had no idea you were Lenny’s father.”

“
Well,
she looks more like her mother,” Bruce's eyes crinkled on the
sides as he smiled warmly at his daughter. Lenny's heart was stabbed
with guilt at how wonderful he was treating her friends.

Lenny introduced the
second man, who was easily a younger version of the first, “This
is my brother, Scott.”

Scott Evans stood a
great deal taller than most of the men around the table. His
athletic build fit nicely into his tailored suit. His dark brown
hair was a contrast from Lenny’s blonde, which he kept shaved
nearly bald. He shook hands with everyone at the table and seated
himself at the end. Lenny’s lawyer, Patrick, sat on the corner
next to Scott with Lenny to his left.

The rest of them
took their seats with Lenny’s father sitting at the head, so he
could best converse with all present. Lenny avoided speaking with
her father and her brother. Instead, she focused on the papers her
lawyer had already presented to her. Bruce entertained her friends
by regaling them with tales from his youth. They were completely
star struck. Food and drink flowed easily and Lenny was surprised at
how effortlessly they got along with her father. They didn’t
exactly move in the same circles.

“
Wait
a second!” Harrison looked at Lenny, shocked, “You’re
Lenny ‘Freebird’ Evans?”

At Harrison's words,
Lenny's mouth went dry. She took a drink of water and slowly put the
glass back on the table, not really acknowledging Harrison's
question.

“
No
way,” Sway looked at Lenny as if just meeting her for the first
time.

“
I
remember you!” Blake couldn’t hide the awe in his voice,
“You could really fly.”

“
I
don’t do that stuff anymore.” It was all she could think
to say, her ears turning red with heat. Her father allowed a lengthy
pause before speaking again.

“
So,
you are the group of ruffians my one and only daughter decided to run
off with?” Bruce’s tone was serious but his eyes
sparkled with mischief.

“
Maybe
you can convince her to come home,” Scott spoke up from his end
of the table.

“
We’re
in the middle of a tour, Scott. I have responsibilities,”
Lenny spoke to him sharply.

“
Yes,
you do,” he leveled at her. She grimaced; she had walked right
into that one. “Speaking of,” he gestured to Patrick,
her lawyer, sitting next to her.

The well-dressed
attorney picked up on his cue and explained to Lenny flatly, “You’re
in breach of contract with your sponsors. They are threatening to
begin litigation.”

Lenny’s
shoulders stiffened, “Can’t you just settle and give them
some money?”

“
If
they proceed, they’ll try to clean you out.”

“
I
don’t care about the money,” Lenny stated forcefully.

“
Honey,”
her father addressed, and Lenny turned to him for the first time
since they'd sat down. His face was filled with compassion for her
and her heart stalled in her chest, “They‘ll take the
Lodge.”

“
They
can’t do that!” She was combative. “That’s my
home!” Her voice cracked slightly. “That’s Duke’s
home...”

Her hands started to
shake and she gripped her napkin under the table. She looked to Scott
for an explanation.

Scott softened his
expression, “Why do you think I’ve been trying to get a
hold of you?”

Lenny stared hard
into Scott's eyes, looking for some sign that this wasn't as bad as
her gut was telling her it was. Honesty looked back. Her attempts
to avoid having to deal with her mistakes had created a much bigger
problem than she had anticipated.

She let her
shoulders drop, defeated. That was her one weak spot. The Lodge
wasn’t just her home. It was Duke’s home too. She could
always move on and buy a new house, but Duke had nowhere to go.

Always the renegade,
Duke refused to live in the public eye. Rumors swirled of him being
too mentally deficient to understand what it meant to be paid for
snowboarding. He denied sponsorship and remained relatively untamed,
a mountain boy to the core. As such, he couldn’t make a decent
enough living to buy his own place and continue doing what he loved
most. Big mountain riding.

Lenny had purchased
the Lodge years ago when the money had started rolling in. It was a
massive estate-like cabin in the mountains of Wyoming with five
bedrooms, six bathrooms, multiple living areas and lounges. She had
bought it with the intent of her and her friends being able to live
there and snowboard the mountains right out the back door. Duke had
been such an influential mentor to her, so she made a deal with him.
He could live there for free, forever, as long as he maintained the
property. If she lost the Lodge, Duke would be homeless. And it
would be her fault. She couldn’t do that, Duke had done too
much for her. He meant too much to her.

“
What
do I have to do?” She asked quietly submissive.

“
Just
make a few appearances until your contract runs out. You know,
smile, wave and take pictures.” Patrick explained it at all so
simply. He had no idea how hard those things were actually going to
be for her. “The Winter X games is the next one, it’s in
January. Can I confirm to your sponsors that you’ll be there?”

“
That’s
during break, Lenny, it’s completely fine,” Carl tried to
comfort her, misunderstanding the duress on face.

“
Yes,
I’ll be there,” she said, refusing to meet anyone’s
eyes. She was humiliated that this had to happen so publicly for her.
But this is how she had set herself up so she really shouldn't be
surprised.

“
We’ll
all be there,” Luke interjected earnestly.

Lenny's head jerked
up at his words. She tried to read his expression but was too
distracted by her own messy thoughts to make sense of anything.

“
Yeah,
we'll be your assistants for a change,” Mike said with a sly
smile, backing up Luke like always.

“
Just
let me know how many will be in your party and I’ll get rooms
reserved at The Inn,” Patrick said, diligently on duty.

Lenny realized
everyone was staring at her and she needed to snap out of her funk or
there would be more questions. Questions she didn't have answers for
yet. She couldn't start thinking about Aspen and who else would be
there. She would have to deal with that later. Alone.

She forced a smile
and set about trying to make the meal more pleasant. She discussed
business with Scott, told some stories of what life had been like so
far on the road and reminisced with her father. As the evening
progressed, more of Lenny’s life came into detail and was
suddenly up for discussion.

“
So,
let me get this straight,” Carl was really having a hard time
believing that the Lenny, who had worked for him ardently for the
past couple of months, had ditched on her own manager and brother,
Scott. “You just left town? You were supposed to be in a
meeting and you just...got on a plane?”

“
Pretty
much,” Lenny laughed a little at Carl’s incredulous look.

“
What’s
the big deal, Carl? So she got on a plane,” Harrison was
attempting to defend Lenny by making it seem like her actions were
insignificant, “It’s not like she took the talent bungee
jumping or something.”

Carl blinked and did
a double take at Harrison, “Why…why would you say that?”

Harrison shrugged,
“I’ve had a lot of wine.”

Carl started to ask
Harrison more but Blake interrupted, “I think what Harrison is
saying is that, Lenny’s still a responsible person. She just
needed a change of scenery.” Blake looked to Lenny for
approval, “And it worked out great for us; we ended up with the
best assistant in the world.”

“
You
guys went bungee jumping without me?” Luke was catching on
quicker than Carl but not as fast as he should have.

Lenny covered her
mouth with her hand to block her smile. She wondered how many secrets
were going to all spill out tonight. Subtly wasn't really in the
rock star repertoire.

***

As they all stood on
the sidewalk outside of the restaurant saying good-night, Lenny’s
father held her in a tight embrace.

He kissed her
forehead and looked at her lovingly, “You have always made me
proud.”

Lenny fought the
lump rising in her throat at his affectionate display. Bruce Evans
had never had a problem showing his daughter how much he cared about
her, not even in public.

“
Be
good and call your mother,” he hugged her a final time before
getting into his waiting town car.

Scott wrapped his
strong arms around his sister and gave her a tight hug, “You
need to give Duke a call, too. He worries.”