Righteous Obsession (3 page)

She did so and they watched as the Koi swam
frantically around, gobbling the pellets.

“That’s all folks,” Colin said to the Koi when they
resurfaced at the edge of the pond.

Alethea squeezed his hand.  When he glanced up at her
she said, “I’m going in and see if your mom needs any help.”

“Okay.”  He watched Alethea walk back toward the house
and go inside.  “Hormones!”  Colin muttered.  “You can’t live with them and you
can’t live without them!”  Right now his were in a major uproar.  He wanted
Alethea so badly he could hardly think about anything else.  One thing was
certain; it would be a long evening!

Alethea walked into the kitchen.  “Is there anything I
can help you with, Mrs. Matthews?”

“Please call me Amanda, Alethea,” She requested. 
“Would you mind setting the dining room table?”

“Not at all, Amanda.”

The entrance to the dining was a door at the farther
end of the kitchen.  It was another large room with its most prominent feature
being a beautiful antique dining set consisting of a table, chairs, a china
hutch and buffet.  A lovely hand-crocheted lace tablecloth covered the table.

“Amanda?” Alethea called. “Do you put something over
this tablecloth to protect it from spills?  It’s so beautiful!”

Amanda came into the room.  “No.”  She touched the
tablecloth lovingly.  “My grandmother crocheted this for my wedding.  She told
me to use it every day.”  Amanda giggled suddenly and at Alethea’s puzzled look
she explained, “When Colin was three, he was playing underneath this table
during dinner one night.  He ran out, caught one of these corners, and pulled
everything off the table!”

“Oh no!”  Alethea gasped, covering her mouth with her
hand.

“Oh yes!”  Amanda shook her head.  “I thought it was
ruined for sure, but the dry cleaner was able to save it.  I’ve never worried
about stains since then.”

“What was Colin like as a child?”

“Very active, curious, and independent.”  She sighed. 
“He started trying to walk at six months and once he learned how he was really
never my baby again.”

“I don’t think he’s changed much,” Alethea remarked.

Alethea set the table then walked back into the kitchen
where Amanda was preparing a salad.  She looked up from her task and asked,
“You’re not from California originally, Alethea?”

“No, I was born in New Orleans.  My parents still live
there and teach at the University.  My father teaches Greek history and my
mother teaches British literature.”

“That explains where you got your name.  It’s unusual,
but very lovely.”

“Thank you.  There was never anyone else with the same
name, that’s for sure.”  Alethea laughed.

Peter came in from the patio, carrying the food. 
“It’s all ready.”

Amanda handed the salad bowl to Colin as he came in
the door.  “Put that on the table for me and I’ll get the garlic bread out of
the oven.”

“Where’s Liam?”  Peter asked.

“Upstairs, I think.  I’ll go get him.”  Colin
volunteered.  He set the salad bowl on the table, went upstairs, and knocked on
Liam’s door.

“Come in.”

Colin stuck his head in the door and saw Liam was on
the phone, rolling his eyes and making faces as he listened.  “Supper’s ready.”

Liam nodded at Colin.  As Colin left the room he heard
Liam saying, “Listen, Tiffany, I’ve got to go.  I’ll meet you at the usual
place, but I can’t stay out very late because we’re leaving early tomorrow,
okay?”  He found his brother waiting out in the hall when he came out and they
walked downstairs together.

“Fuck!”  Liam exclaimed.  “She’s really putting on the
pressure!”

 Liam rarely used profanity so Colin knew he was
upset.  He smiled sympathetically.  “Don’t worry.  I’m sure she’ll have found
somebody else by the time we get done touring.”

“I sure hope you’re right.”

Colin and Liam sat down at the table.  They passed the
food around and everybody ate in silence for several minutes while they enjoyed
it.

Alethea was the first to break the silence when she
asked Liam, “Are you nervous about your first headlining tour, Liam?”

“Yes! I keep thinking about everything that could go
wrong.”

“Me too,” Colin agreed.

“You?  I’d never guess,” Liam replied.

“That’s because you haven’t seen me pigging out at
three in the morning.  I’ll bet I’ve gained ten pounds in the last two weeks!”

“Colin gets that from me,” Amanda teased.  She turned
to her husband.  “Remember when we were studying for the Bar exam?  I was so
nervous I ate continually!”

“But we both passed with high scores.  In fact,
Mandy’s was one of the highest in the state,” Peter declared proudly.

“Well, I probably wouldn’t have done that well without
your constant encouragement and support,” She replied with a smile.

Colin was acutely aware of Alethea beside him.  That
fact was making it hard for him to keep his mind on the conversation going on
around him.

“Will you be covering Unforgiven’s tour for your
magazine, Alethea?”  Peter asked.

“No.  Jazz plans to cover it himself.”

Colin stirred at the mention of Alethea’s editor and
explained, “Jeremy Conrad’s the editor of Rock Hard and a great guy, but call
him Jazz.  He’ll probably be at the airport tomorrow so you’ll be able to meet
him.”

“I’ve got to be back in Los Angeles tomorrow to
interview Megadeth,” Alethea said.

“Don’t let them con you into going skydiving with
them!”  Colin warned.

“I have no intention of going skydiving period!”

“Huh!  Famous last words!  I’ll bet Riki Rachtman said
the very same thing!”  Colin said in reference to one of the former video jocks
on MTV™ and now had a syndicated radio show titled ‘Racing Rocks!’

“Alethea, How did you get started writing for a rock
magazine in Los Angeles all the way from New Orleans?”  Amanda asked.

“I graduated from Columbia University with a degree in
journalism.  I earned extra money in college by modeling and I modeled for a
couple of years after graduation.”

“That must have been really exciting,” Peter remarked.

“Yes and no.  It was exciting at first and the money
was certainly good, but I got ran ragged earning it!  Even when I had time off,
I was too tired to enjoy it and I got so fed-up constantly having to watch my
weight.  One evening I ran into Paul Stanley in one of the clubs and I ended up
doing an impromptu interview with him about Kiss’s latest CD.  With his
permission; I sent it to one of the rock magazines and it was accepted.  I
decided to quit modeling and freelance as a rock journalist which I did until
Jazz offered me this job with Rock Hard last fall.”

At the mention of Paul Stanley, Colin felt a twinge of
jealousy.  Alethea was an extremely beautiful woman and no doubt Stanley had
wanted to sleep with her.  ‘Hey!’  He reminded himself.  ‘She chose you not
him!’

“Speaking of jobs,” Liam said.  “Are you going to take
the President up on his offer, Dad?”

“While there are many valuable contributions I feel I
could make as Attorney General of the United States, this isn’t the right
time.”

Liam glanced at his watch then rose.  “Sorry to run
off, but I promised I’d meet Tiffany at seven-thirty and I have to get cleaned
up.”

“You’re not having any dessert?”  Amanda asked in
surprise.  “It’s my homemade cinnamon ice cream.”

“If Colin doesn’t gobble it all up I’ll have some when
I come home,” Liam decided.  As he walked past Colin, he yanked a thick strand
of his brother’s hair then took off running.

“I’m going to kick your butt!”  Colin yelled, jumping
up and taking off after him.

“Those two!”  Amanda declared, rolling her eyes at the
screams and shouts coming from upstairs.  “It’s hard to believe they’re as old
as they are the way they behave sometimes.”

Alethea studied Colin’s parents covertly.  While Liam
had his father’s build and his mother’s coloring, Colin resembled neither of
his parents.  Besides, both of them had blue eyes and Colin’s were brown.  If
she remembered her study of genetics correctly, it was impossible for blue-eyed
parents to have a brown-eyed child making her wonder if they adopted him. Colin
walked back into the room and sat down, tossing his hair over his shoulder.

“Well, is Liam still able to sit down?”  Alethea
teased him.

“For the moment,” Colin joked.

Amanda laughed.  “I’ll get dessert.”  She touched
Peter’s shoulder.  “Care to give me a hand?”

“It’d be my pleasure, Mandy.”

They went into the kitchen.  Colin and Alethea heard
his mother giggling then a sudden silence.

‘Hell!  It looks like everybody in this house has one
thing on their minds tonight!’  Colin thought.

Alethea touched his arm and when he looked at her, she
confided, “I really like your parents.”

“They really like you too.”

“I’m happy they do.”

Colin pulled Alethea close to him and kissed her
hungrily.  She responded by wrapping her arms around him tightly as if she
never wanted to be apart from him.  They broke apart suddenly as they heard his
parents coming back.  Alethea got up, pretending to examine the china hutch in
any attempt to hide her blushing.  As his parents came back into the room, Colin
couldn’t help noticing his mother was blushing almost as much as Alethea.

Liam entered the room and paused by Alethea.  “It was
great meeting you, Alethea.  I hope I see you again real soon.”

“I’m glad to have met you too, Liam, and I’m looking
forward to seeing you again.”

Liam turned to his brother and asked, “Colin, can you
move your Jeep so I can get out of the garage?”

“Sure.”  Colin stood up, searching his pockets for his
keys without success.  “What did I do with my keys?”

“Did you leave them in the Jeep?”  Alethea asked.

“I must have,” He concluded.  “Hope I forgot to lock
it.”

“I’ll see you later,” Liam called as he followed Colin
outside.  “Save me some of that ice cream, okay?”

“We will,” Peter assured him.

 Colin found his keys lying on the dashboard.  He
parked out in front of the house and Liam backed his cobalt blue Jeep Liberty®
out of the garage.  He pulled up beside Colin and said, “I really like Alethea
and I think you should marry her.”

Colin smiled then replied, “I’ll take your opinion
under advisement.”

“I hope so!”  Waving, Liam put his Jeep in gear and
drove off.

When Colin returned to the dining room he noticed that
Alethea and his mom had their heads together over something.  He put his hands
on Alethea’s shoulders and leaned over her to see what they were looking at
then complained loudly, “Aw, Mom!  Not the naked baby pictures!”  He picked up
his bowl of ice cream and sat down beside his father.

“You were definitely a cute baby!”  Alethea laughed,
her tone teasing.

Colin sat with one arm hooked over the back of the
chair and his long legs sprawled out in front of him.  He made a face.  “In
most of those pictures I look like a baby future Sumo wrestler.”

“You were big – close to ten pounds,” Peter recalled.

“Ouch!”  Alethea exclaimed in sympathy.  Amanda looked
too small-boned to have given birth to a baby that large.

Amanda nodded at Alethea.  “I was in labor for several
hours before the doctor finally decided my labor wasn’t progressing normally
and he needed to do a C-section.”  She smiled radiantly.  “But the outcome was
I had a beautiful baby boy.”

“Nine pounds, twelve and a half ounces,” Alethea read
from Colin’s bassinet card that his mother had saved.  She noticed immediately
that he’d had a different name at birth.

“Forget the baby future Sumo wrestler,” Colin joked. 
“I was a baby whale!”

“I really like this picture,” Alethea remarked,
pointing to a snapshot taken at what she presumed was Peter and Amanda’s
college graduation.  The picture showed Amanda in her cap and gown, crouched
down with her arms around Colin who looked to be around three.  Their heads
were close together and their smiles were uncannily alike.  Colin held his
mother’s diploma in front of him.

“Dad took that.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Mom
graduated Suma Cum Laude.”  It was obvious from his expression that he was very
proud of his parents.  “Mom, where’s the picture of Liam and me taken right
after he was born?”

“On the mantle.”

Colin got the picture and gave it to Alethea.  It was
a professional photograph showing him holding a small, red-faced Liam.

“Liam was a lot smaller than Colin was at birth,
wasn’t he?”  She remarked.

“I wasn’t too unhappy about that!”  Amanda joked.

“He was small, but he had a great set of lungs which
he exercised continually for about three months!”  Colin grumbled.