Rock and a Hard Place (24 page)

“
Why do you ask?” She
evaded the question, even though she no longer needed to hide her
past, thanks to Jerrold. Libby couldn’t imagine why, after all
these months, DarLynn would ask about her background. DarLynn had
accepted Libby on face value and they’d been great
friends.

“
You know how I like to
watch all the entertainment shows.” DarLynn pulled out a tiny
hoodie from the laundry basket and attempted to straighten it.
“Well, today there was a special interview with that Rock group,
Jamieson.”

Libby, stopped in her tracks. She had tried
not to think about Peter too much. It was difficult, because she’d
often come across Jamieson on magazines DarLynn subscribed to.
Peter was her secret love; she’d never forget him. Whenever she
became scared or lonely, she allowed herself to linger over each
moment they shared and savor their magical time. Sometimes she got
carried away and daydreamed they were still together planning their
futures. But those thoughts wouldn’t help her move on with life.
Peter was best left in the recesses of her mind.

“
Oh.” She set the cupcakes
on the table. She wanted to hear what DarLynn had to say, but also
wanted to keep her memories of Peter private. Libby faced her
friend, whose eyes scrutinized her.

“
Yeah, it was really
interesting. They have a new album out. They’re doing a concert
tour, but it’s different than anything they’ve ever done before.”
DarLynn’s voice sounded strained, as if something else occupied her
mind.

“
That’s nice, what are they
doing?” Libby tried not to care. Learning too much about Peter’s
life would only make her heartsick for him all over again. She
worked hard to push away all the loss in her life and move
forward.

“
They’re looking for a
girl.” DarLynn twisted the tiny shirt.

A stab of pain hit Libby in the heart. “Oh,
what for? Their next video?” She gazed out the window and hated the
idea of some strange girl in a video with Peter.

“
No, actually it’s a girl
one of the brothers used to date.”

Libby’s head snapped up. DarLynn’s eyes
blazed. Libby’s mouth went dry. She didn’t know what to say, so she
returned her attention to the trees outside.

“
In fact, they showed a
couple pictures of her.” DarLynn stepped closer.

Libby’s gaze swung to the darkened
television. Her heart felt heavy as she fought back emotions. Part
of her worried about discovery, but then again, why would Peter
want to find her? She was insignificant in the world of a rock
band. This must be a promo to sell more CD’s. It hurt to even
hope.

“
I DVR’d it and just got a
chance to watch it.” DarLynn picked up the remote and clicked on
the television.

A couple more clicks and DarLynn brought up
the program. Peter appeared frozen on the screen, where DarLynn had
paused the show. She hit play and Peter’s voice filled the room.
The sight of him tugged at her heart. He still wore the pendant she
gave him. She’d forgotten how handsome he looked. He explained that
he and his brothers dedicated this tour to finding a girl he fell
in love with and lost.

She moved toward the television, unaware of
everything around her. She knelt before the screen and watched
Peter explain his futile efforts to find this girl. A photo of
Libby and Peter sitting on the giant rock at Parfrey’s Glen flashed
on the screen. She caught her breath. There they sat, young and
innocent with yearning in their eyes. She remembered the moment
clearly. It took place when Peter almost kissed her, but Adam
interrupted. She smiled at the memory, reached up and touched the
screen with her fingertips.

DarLynn paused the image of Libby and Peter,
their dreamy expressions focused on each other. Libby remembered
every essence of Peter; the way his hair lay heavy across his brow,
the deep color of his eyes, and the tilt of his mouth. Lost in
thought, a few moments passed before DarLynn’s words brought her
back to reality.

“
He says the girl’s name is
Libby.” Kindness shone in DarLynn’s eyes. “That girl in the picture
is you.”

The veil of secrecy lifted. Libby nodded to
DarLynn as tears welled in her eyes.

Chapter 22

The next morning, Libby and DarLynn crowded
in front of the library computer. Fifteen more minutes before they
must surrender the computer to the next user. Jamieson had created
an internet survey to help screen fans and find Libby. Displayed on
the screen were ten questions.

“
What if I don’t know the
answers? I’ll never get the free passes to the concert and I’ll
never get to see him.” Now that Libby knew Peter wanted to find
her, winning these tickets became her sole mission. She missed out
on the earlier concerts, because she didn’t know he was searching
for her. The deadline for the Chicago concert ended last night. The
only concert left was in Red Rocks, Colorado, more than a thousand
miles away. She didn’t know how they’d get there, but one step at a
time.

“
Of course, you’ll know the
answers. He wrote the survey for you.” DarLynn grabbed the mouse
and scrolled to the multiple choice questions listed below. “Okay,
Jill, I mean Libby.” DarLynn tilted her head to the side and aimed
an annoyed yet friendly look at Libby. DarLynn wasn’t quite ready
to let Libby off the hook for lying about her identity these past
month.

Libby shrugged, what else could she do? At
the time she needed to be someone else.

“
First question. Where did
Peter and Libby meet?” DarLynn read.

Libby almost blurtted out the answer when
DarLynn shushed her. “No, no, let me see if I can get it right. A)
a concert, B) a restaurant, C) a special appearance, D) a nature
preserve, E) on their tour bus, F) a theme park.” DarLynn squinted
at the screen as she mulled over the choices. “This is trickier
than I thought. I’ll say a theme park. That makes sense. Plus, a
concert is too obvious.” She moved to click on the theme park
box.

“
Bzzz.” Libby gave her best
imitation of a game show buzzer. “Wrong. It’s D) nature
preserve.”

DarLynn shifted the mouse and clicked on
‘nature preserve.’ “Interesting. I’d have never guessed. Next
question. ‘What was Libby doing when they met? A) talking, B)
eating, C) drawing, D) texting, E) singing, F) sleeping.’ That
one’s easy, C) drawing.”

“
Ding, ding, ding.” Libby
grinned. Even when buried in work, Libby always kept a drawing pad,
her lifeline, nearby.

DarLynn read through the next couple
questions, and guessed wrong each time. It gave Libby hope that all
the random girls out there who wanted to meet Peter would guess
wrong as well. She moved to the next question.

“
What is Libby’s sister’s
name?” DarLynn looked back at Libby, sadness in her eyes. “I’m
sorry honey. I still can’t believe you lost both your Momma and
your sister.” She reached out and gave Libby a quick
hug.

Libby avoided her eyes, took the mouse and
clicked on the name Sarah. “Keep going, read the next one.” Libby
didn’t want to think about Sarah right now and what a powerful
question Peter left for her. No one could possibly know the answer
unless they knew Libby back in Michigan. Everyone else would have
to guess.

“
Last question,” DarLynn
read. “Where was Libby when Peter’s dad suffered a heart attack?”
DarLynn turned to her. “Holy moly girl, you’ve led a busy
life.”

Libby aimed a crooked smile at her. DarLynn
didn’t know the half of it.

“
Let’s see, A) at school,
B) at home, C) at a football game, D) at a dance, E) at work or F)
with Peter. Hmm.” DarLynn focused on the computer and studied each
answer as if it were a college entrance exam. She glanced at Libby,
hoping for a hint. “With Peter. You were with Peter when his father
had a heart attack.”

“
Bzzz. Wrong again. The
answer is D) at a dance.”

“
Dangit. You won again.”
She clicked the D box.”

Music suddenly blared from the computer
speakers and the screen changed to a banner that read,
“Congratulations! You’ve answered all questions correctly. To
redeem your two free passes for Jamieson’s Red Rocks, Colorado,
concert, enter your email address.

“
I don’t have an email
address.” Libby panicked that she was so close and yet another
hurdle blocked her from Peter.

“
Don’t worry, we can open
one for you. It only takes a couple minutes.” DarLynn clicked open
another screen.

“
Excuse me,” the elderly
librarian interrupted. “Your time has expired and you need to
vacate this computer for the next person.”

“
We just need a few more
minutes,” Libby pleaded.

“
I’m sorry dear. It will
set back the whole schedule. If I give you extra time, then so will
the next person and the next. No, your time is up.”

The old bat had the guts to smile.

“
DarLynn, what do we
do?”

“
Don’t get yer undies in a
bundle.” She punched in a couple more keys and hit enter. “Got
it!”

A message appeared on the screen instructing
them to print the pass for the concert from their email account.
DarLynn hit print.

“
Thank you!” Libby hugged
her tightly.

“
Shush.” The librarian
waved them away from the computer.

Libby and DarLynn eagerly watched the paper
appear from the printer, paid their ten cent copy fee and rushed
out of the library. “How did you set up an email account so fast?
She didn’t give you even a minute.”

“
I didn’t. I knew Gertrude
the rude wouldn’t leave us be, so I entered in my info. I used your
name, just my email. It’s all good.”

# # #

“
Hey Pete, we got another
one.” Garrett yelled across the presidential suite of the
Intercontinental Hotel.

Peter braced himself and tried not to get
his hopes up. Garrett took it upon himself to monitor the incoming
“Libby” surveys. He still felt guilty for hurting Peter. Keeping
track of the survey’s was not an easy job, Peter knew, since the
site received thousands of hits a day. Fortunately the survey
system only forwarded entries with all the questions answered
correctly.

“
Yeah?” Peter crossed the
plush carpet to the laptop. “I don’t know. This seemed like such a
good idea a couple of months ago, but all it’s doing is turning our
female fans into private eyes and code breakers.”

When he created this contest to find Libby,
it was like the flood gates opened in cyber space. Everyone wanted
to win the prize. A huge network of followers worked the odds and
figured out the right answers. The odds of randomly getting all ten
questions, with six possible answers each, correct were slim.
However, as the search went on, more girls got them right. There
were even a couple fan sites that published the correct
answers.

“
Why in the world should I
think this one will be Libby?” His frustration at not finding her
was beginning to get the best of him.

Garrett grimaced. “I don’t know. All I can
say is that if you stop trying, you’ll never find her. You have to
believe. This could be her and when she shows up at Red Rocks and
answers the final question, it’ll all be worth it.”

He was right. Peter felt desperate to find
Libby, and together the three brothers promoted the search contest
everywhere. They did radio and television interviews, put it on
Facebook, Twitter and their blog. Garrett even made sure it hit all
the fan magazines, but time was running out. Only one concert
remained.

“
Okay, where’s she
from?”

“
Pebble Creek, Georgia.”
Garrett scrolled down the screen. “Aw, shit, never mind. Her name
isn’t even Libby. That was dumb. Why would a girl pretend to be
Libby and then use a different name?”

“
What name did she use?”
Peter raised his water bottle for a drink.

“
Jill Munroe.”

Peter froze, the bottle inches from his
mouth. “What did you say?” He lowered the bottle and turned to the
computer screen.

“
Jill Munroe, why? Does
that mean something?”

Peter stared at the name on the screen.
“Yeah, it does. She told me once that her mom loved Charlie’s
Angels back in the seventies, and almost named her Jill after the
character, Jill Munroe, but her dad refused.” He grinned at Garrett
and smacked him on the back. “You found her man, that’s her.” Peter
turned to leave the hotel suite.

“
Where you going?” Garrett
asked.

“
Pebble Creek, Georgia.
Where else?”

“
Hold up, Romeo. You forgot
something.”

“
What?” Peter scanned the
room, as he patted down his pockets to make sure he had his wallet
and phone.

“
A concert. Tonight. At
Soldier Field.”

“
Aw crap.”

“
You have about a hundred
fans at the meet and greet. All those Libby wanna bees.” Garrett
smirked, but Peter could see Garrett’s relief that they found
her.

The concert felt pointless now. He knew deep
in his soul the girl, Jill Munroe, from Pebble Creek could only be
Libby. There was no doubt in his mind. “Fine.” He stood, hands on
his hips, unsure what to do now that he had to wait until
tomorrow.

“
You might want to ask
Roger to get you a flight out of here,” Garrett
prompted.