Rock and a Hard Place (15 page)

“
When I get back, there’s a
research paper waiting. That should fill the rest of the day,”
Libby said.

“
What a drag. How about
Cruella Deville? Has she been hassling you?”

“
Nah, she’s been out in the
barn all weekend. I don’t know what she’s doing out
there.”

“
Good. Anything that keeps
her away from you makes me happy.” Thoughts of Libby living with
the horrible woman gnawed at him.

“
What are you doing today,
besides hanging out at the beach in the warm sun and making me
jealous?”

Peter dodged a group of little kids running
for the water. “Garrett’s got phone interviews set for most of the
day. With Dad on the mend, Garrett’s decided he needs to be king of
the mountain and run my life. I’m just about ready to take him out.
He’s been riding me every minute. Suddenly he thinks that if we
miss even one opportunity for an interview or appearance, our
careers will end up in the toilet.”

“
Sounds like he’s just
looking out for the band,” Libby said.

“
No, Garrett only looks out
for himself. I think it’s all about having control. He’s power
hungry and loves to try to run my life.”

“
He can’t be that
bad.”

“
You have no idea. He can
be a real bastard when he wants.” Peter talked to Libby until time
ran out and he needed to rush back and shower. A day of marathon
phone interviews lay ahead. The only good part was that he and his
brothers didn’t have to go anywhere. The interviews would be done
from the beach house.

Garrett waited for him on the deck when he
returned.

“
You’re late,” Garrett
growled. “You can’t tell me you were out running all that time. You
sitting in a coffee shop talking to Libby again?”

“
I don’t have to tell you
anything. Ya know, Garrett, you need to relax. You should go work
out and try to get that stick out of your ass. It might help
improve your glowing personality.”

“
And you need to dump your
dead weight in Wisconsin,” Garrett said as Peter pushed past and
ignored him.

# # #

The next morning Libby was surprised when
her phone rang while she was waiting for the bus. She flipped it
open.

“
Hey you!” She didn’t
expect to hear from Peter until tonight. She walked around the side
of the house so Aunt Marge wouldn’t see her with the phone as she
waited for the bus. Peter’s call was a welcome surprise.

“
This isn’t Peter,”
responded a flat voice.

“
Who is this?” Caller ID
indicated it was Peter’s phone.

“
It’s Garrett.”

“
Who?”

“
Peter’s
brother.”

“
Oh. What’s up? Where’s
Peter?” She didn’t like the tone in Garrett’s voice. Something was
wrong.

“
Well that’s just it. He
asked me to call you.”

Libby’s heart dropped. Something terrible
happened to Peter. Oh God, she couldn’t lose him; he must be all
right. “Is he okay? What’s wrong?”

“
He’s fine. I’m mean,
nothing happened to him or anything.”

She didn’t understand. Garrett was using
Peter’s phone, why would he do that? Where was Peter? She walked
behind the farmhouse where she could talk louder. “So, what’s going
on?”

“
Listen, I’m gonna say this
straight out.” He cleared his throat. “Peter didn’t know how to
tell you this, and he didn’t want you to go all psycho or anything,
so he asked me to do it.”

Her stomach hurt. Peter could tell her
anything. They were so close and talked about everything. Libby’s
mind flashed from one tragic thought to the next.

“
The tour is really crazy
and it’s too hard to keep things going with you when he needs to be
working. So, anyway, he won’t be calling anymore and it would be
best if you don’t call him either.”

Everything moved in slow motion. This could
not be happening. “What are you saying? Is Peter breaking up with
me?” Libby’s chest tightened. This made no sense. Garrett was
wrong. Peter loved her. In a few more days he was coming to get
her. They had a plan. He was eighteen now and she would travel with
him.

Garrett cleared his throat again, “Yeah.
That’s pretty much it.”

Libby couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
She couldn’t imagine Peter asking Garrett to be the one to break
her heart. She needed to hear it from Peter. “Let me talk to him.
Give Peter the phone.”

“
He’s not here. He left
already. Look, Peter and I don’t always get along, but we’re
devoted to the band. This is business; it’s not
personal.”

She found it difficult to breathe.

“
Peter would never do this.
He’s coming to get me in three days. We have a plan. You’re
lying!”

“
Whatever plans you think
he made with you aren’t going to happen. It’s over Libby. He had
fun, you had fun, but don’t you read the tabloids? This happens all
the time. He has more important things to do than hang out with
some girl from Hicksville.”

“
That’s not true, he loves
me,” she cried.

“
Whoa. Back up. What
fantasy world are you living in? What makes you think someone like
Peter would be in love with you? He has everything. He doesn’t need
you and he’s done hanging out in your small town world. It’s over.
Now you need to go crawl back in your little shed. Peter doesn’t
want you anymore.”

“
Garrett, please, don’t do
this. I need to talk to Peter. He would never break up this way.
He’s better than that.” She pleaded for a chance to talk with Peter
one last time.

“
Listen up. You have no
idea how important he is in this industry. He has far more
meaningful things to do than run off to you all the time. You’re
holding him back. So suck it up and get over yourself. You were
lucky to know him at all.”

Her nerves were at a breaking point. One
more strain would split the thread and she would unravel. If what
Garrett said was true, she’d never speak to Peter again. He was
right; she was lucky to have known Peter. He changed her world for
the better. She prayed Garrett was wrong, but what if he wasn’t?
Tears rolled down her face. She tried to hold herself together. If
Peter wanted to break up, she didn’t want to be the girl who begged
and never let go. He’d been so good to her and he deserved
better.

“
Do me one favor?” She
asked.

“
I told you, he doesn’t
want to talk to you.”

“
I know, just give him a
message, please.” Libby pleaded as she hid next to the barn behind
the house.

“
What?” he answered
flatly.

She swiped the tears with her arm.

“
Tell him,” she paused
trying to find the right words. “Tell him, he saved me. And one
more thing. Tell him, it’s okay, I get it.” She knew it sounded
stupid, but it was the truth. He’d saved her from the depths of
depression. Tears poured down her face and her nose ran. She never
expected they’d last forever, but, still, how could he end it like
this?

Garrett stayed silent on the other end.

“
Garrett? Please tell him
for me. Please.” She sobbed, gulping for breath.

“
Yeah, whatever. I gotta
go.”

The phone clicked dead.

She wanted to call back, but knew Garrett
wouldn’t put her through. She leaned against the side of the barn
and covered her face with her hands. A tidal wave of anguish
crashed over her. She slid into the tall grass, sobs of grief
escaped. Life couldn’t possibly get any worse. She shouldn’t have
assumed a life with Peter could be real. It was a fantasy now
ripped apart.

Chapter 15

Peter slid his room key in the door, a soft
click and a green light appeared. He let himself in the hotel suite
to find Garrett alone with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“
What’s up?” Peter
asked.

“
Taking care of some
business,” Garrett stared at Peter and didn’t look away.

Peter looked around the cluttered desk and
dresser. “Have you seen my phone, I thought it was in my coat, but
I can’t find it.”

“
It’s probably on the
bus.”

“
Yeah, maybe.” Something
about Garrett seemed odd, but Peter brushed it off. He wanted to
find his phone and call Libby.

# # #

Huddled against the barn, huge gulping
breaths racked Libby’s body. Locked in her private misery she
didn’t hear Aunt Marge approach.

“
What are you doing our
here?” Aunt Marge held a shotgun at her side.

Libby looked up from the frozen ground. Her
lower lip shook as her tear-filled eyes rested on the weapon. What
was Aunt Marge doing with a shotgun? For a split second she thought
about using it on herself; certainly the pain would be less than
she felt right now.

“
Speak up.” Her aunt’s
piercing words brought Libby back around. “You should be on the bus
to school, not lurking around my barn. What are you looking for?”
Aunt Marge’s eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”

“
Peter broke up with me,”
she uttered, her voice breaking. A new onslaught of tears and
hiccups erupted.

“
Good. Now maybe you’ll pay
attention when I tell you something. He was a snooping rich boy
nosing around where he didn’t belong. I knew this would happen.
You’re too damned stubborn to listen to me, you think you know
everything. Well I’ll tell you, little Miss Know-It-All, you
haven’t got a clue about life.”

Libby barely listened as her angry aunt
ranted. Her words meant nothing. Without Peter her world was empty.
Tears overflowed anew.

“
Now move your lazy ass up
off the ground and get to school. I have work to do and you’re
interfering.” She waved the gun in the direction of the
road.

Libby fumbled with her book bag and rose,
her body trembling with emotion. “I missed the bus.”

Aunt Marge looked her up and down. “That was
stupid. Looks like you’ll have a long walk to think about how to
avoid that mistake again.”

Libby’s eyes widened. “It’s four miles.”

“
Then you better get
started.” Aunt Marge stood steadfast like the vacant farm
buildings, ugly after years of neglect. Would Libby turn out the
same way?

This confrontation was more than she could
handle. Libby gulped. No option but to go. Resigned, she walked
around the dilapidated barn; the wide door hung open on rusted
hinges. She automatically glanced inside.

She shouldn’t have been surprised at what
she saw.

Now she couldn’t turn away from dozens of
small plastic bags that sat in tidy rows. She stepped into the
barn. Piles of dried plants and weight scales filled a table. Grow
lights shined over large green plants that Libby knew to be
marijuana.

She turned to face her aunt and laughed at
the irony. The woman who restricted Libby’s every move in the guise
of good behavior was growing pot.

Rage etched the haggard woman’s face. “You
think you’re so smart. Well, you’re an ignorant self-absorbed
child.” Aunt Marge stalked closer. “How long ago did your weak
spineless father dump you here? A year? More? And you finally get
curious? You’re as brainless as your idiot mother.”

“
Don’t talk about my mother
like that! She was amazing!” Anger replaced her sorrow.

“
Your mother was a fool.
She never accomplished a damned thing in her life. She spent years
raising you and your bratty sister and for what? To get splattered
on the highway like bug? Not much of a life.”

The cruel words horrified Libby. “How dare
you. You bitch!”

“
Watch your mouth little
girl. I’m all you’ve got left in this world and you’d be
ill-advised to screw this up too.”

Libby bit back her words. Things were
happening too fast. She needed to tread carefully and sort things
out. She stepped back, away from her aunt, away from the pot, and
away from the site of her break down. Without another word, she
turned towards the road.

“
That’s more like it. Get
yourself to school and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep
your mouth shut.”

Libby started her long trek down the country
road, glad to escape her aunt’s insanity. The pea gravel crunched
under each step like the touch of sandpaper rubbing her raw nerves.
After a while the sound became a soothing anthem, lulling her
distraught mind into a murky haze, where she could rehash the
happenings of this morning in a distant detached way.

Mile after mile she walked, oblivious to the
occasional car speeding by. When Mom and Sarah died, she’d been in
shock. This was different. Their deaths were tragic, horrible
accidents. Today, the people ripping her life apart knew what they
were doing. It emotionally exhausted her. She was tired of being
nice, tired of doing what people told her, tired of being let down.
Aunt Marge’s words stung. There was no one left for Libby, and she
refused to think of her aunt as a guardian. The woman was a
monster. How could her dad leave her with this lunatic?

A car passed her, slowed, then pulled over
and stopped. Libby plodded forward, eventually reaching it.

“
Libby, is that you?” Miss
Orman leaned across the front seat and peeked out the open
passenger window.

Libby stopped next to the window.