Teacher: The Final Act (A Hollywood Rock n' Romance Trilogy #3) (18 page)

I grumbled about having to change out of Danny’s boxers and t-shirt and slipped into one of my new dresses Patricia had pushed me to buy the last time she took me shopping. The hem of the ivory dress was just short of knee length with embroidery on the bodice.  I threw my hair up into a bun and added a dab of eye makeup just so I didn’t look tired. My skin was very tan from all the time I spent in the backyard with Janey and Legs. I used sunscreen, but this was the darkest I’d ever been. The Vitamin D was good for me.

I drove quickly but safely to Universal Studios, trying not to get too irritated with the traffic at this late morning hour. I arrived at ten thirty and used my season pass to get into the park. I walked through to the back where the several-story-high escalator took me down to the bottom level where the studio tour was. The park was not very crowded today since most of the kids were still in school. I was able to walk right up to the front of the line.

“Excuse me,” I said to the attendant at the front of the line. “My name is Jesse Martin and I’m supposed to meet with Roland Curtis. My fiancé, Danny Black, told me to take this tram to the offices”

“We don’t stop the tour for visitors to get off. You’ll have to call and make an appointment.”

I frowned. I clutched my bag with Roland’s book a little tighter. “I promised I would get this to Mr. Curtis, is there any way you can—”

“Ma’am? If you want to ride the tour, you’ll ride the whole tour. Do you understand?”

Wow. This woman was good. But my teacher voice was tougher. “I understand. Thank you for your assistance,” I said tersely.

The gates opened and I walked up to the tram, thinking I might be able to speak to the driver. Unfortunately, I was elbowed out of the way by a group of tourists from Germany or the vicinity. There were about ten of them and they were all talking loudly and laughing as they cut in front of me and took up the two rows between the driver and me.

I growled in frustration and tried to figure out what to do. The screens at the front of the tram came to life and there was Jimmy Fallon doing a very goofy introduction. A very friendly-sounding young woman took over the tour guide duties, but I couldn’t see her well from where I was sitting.

“We will be passing through the set of a pilot being filmed today, so be sure you watch for my cue when it’s time to be quiet.” She chatted amiably about the history of the tour and all of the most recent films being shot there on the lot.

Our tram wound its way through warehouses and then we passed the cute bungalows where I was supposed to get off. I even saw a sign marking Roland’s parking place. I contemplated jumping off, but didn’t want another run in with security or police. Vegas had been enough for me, thank you very much. My life of crime was over.

The guide’s cheerful voice was starting to really grate on my nerves. If she pretended to be surprised by one more thing, I was going to snatch the mic out of her hand and beat her with it. I leaned back against the seat and groaned as we made our way onto the water where Jaws was about to come up and snap at the German tourists’ unsuspecting feet. They all whooped and hollered when the shark came up and cheered wildly.

The next stop was the set from the Grinch film, the brightly colorful buildings now dirty and gritty like a ghost town. It was a little creepy in the daylight. Around the next bend was the Bates Motel set, but the tram stuttered to a halt before we rounded the corner of the building.

“I’m sorry, folks. It seems like we have a special guest on this tram. Is there a Jesse Martin on board?”

Startled, I looked around before raising my hand timidly. The guide smiled brightly and said, “Wonderful. Everyone say hello to Jesse.” I was greeted in German, Spanish, and even Japanese by a group in the back row. I waved to them all and then looked back at the guide with a puzzled expression.

“Miss, would you please come with me?” Another guide was now standing at the side of the tram. His hat covered his face, but his build seemed familiar.

I took the hand and stepped down off the tram. I looked up into Cosmo’s face. “What are you doing here,” I asked in a whisper. The giggling on the tram and the curious voices had me feeling really uncomfortable.

Cosmo took my hand and wrapped it around his arm. “Right this way,” he said with a wink.

His hair had grown into a mop of curls that framed his face, but right now it was tucked under a silly looking Safari hat. He walked me down the dusty trail a bit to the edge of the building where my father stood, dressed in the same silly uniform, smiling brightly with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He pulled me into a hug, not holding back his strength. I felt something pop in my back.

“Dad! What the heck is going on here?” He handed me the flowers, I looked to Cosmo for explanation, but he just grinned.

“Come on, Jess. Danny’s waiting.”

All the breath whooshed out of my lungs. The flowers. Danny’s weird call. Roland here at Universal.

“That little shit is throwing a surprise wedding?”

My father laughed and tugged on my arm. “Come on, now. Let’s not keep your groom waiting at the altar. He’s been in a panic all morning.”

Cosmo stepped around the building and the next thing I heard was the wedding march being played on two guitars. My feet were stuck in cement. I felt my palms sweating and my heart racing.

“Daddy,” I squeaked out nervously.

Dad leaned down and kissed my cheek. “You look beautiful, sweetie. I’m so happy for you.” He had tears in his eyes as he tugged once more to get my feet moving. We rounded the corner of the building and there, in front of the dilapidated Bates Motel set, was my family. Mom, Jane, Nora, Amalia, Patricia, Jinx, Rebecca, “the guys,” and my devilishly handsome fiancée dressed in black slacks and a white dress shirt. An arbor had been set up with flowers intertwined in the latticework and Roland stood in the middle on a raised step. My dad led me down a path marked by a roll of artificial turf.

My face hurt from smiling so wide. This was it. We were finally going to do this. I was going to marry Danny. As we approached him, my father started to shake. I looked up into his strong face and was shocked to see him falling apart.

“Daddy?”

“I can’t help it. You’re just so beautiful and grown up.” He wiped at the tears with a laugh and hugged me tight again. I had to tap out in order to get some oxygen. He apologized and reached over to shake hands with Danny. “I don’t even have to say it, do I,” he warned.

Danny shook his head. “No, sir.” Then those warm, brown, heavenly eyes descended on me and there they stayed throughout the entire whirlwind that was our ceremony.

I vaguely remember Roland talking about the Universal Life Church and how honored he was to be officiating our wedding. I think he talked about meeting Danny, but I was completely dumbstruck staring at my soon-to-be-husband. He’d gone to all of this trouble and had put together the most perfect wedding we could ever have had. Forget breathtaking Spain, or wacky Vegas… Our perfect wedding was in front of a historic movie set where horrors and camp were so well known. It was us. We’d been through horrors, we had plenty of camp, and I hoped our love and marriage had the staying power of the Alfred Hitchcock classic. I just prayed Danny didn’t develop a taste for women’s clothes.

“I do,” I said suddenly.

Danny’s eyes bugged out and he laughed, looking to Roland for help. “Darling, we haven’t gotten to that part yet,” Roland said softly.

“I don’t care,” I said, squeezing Danny’s hands tight. “I just want to say it and let it be real. I don’t want anything to stop us this time.”

Danny’s eyes watered. He stepped closer to me and put his hand on my waist. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Nothing will stop us, but I have some things I want to say and I’ve got this ring and everything, so can I just—”
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling my cheeks flush. “Go ahead.”

He proceeded to recite the poem he’d written for me almost a year ago, but this time it had a different ending.

CAGES

We all live in cages

some are solid, some imagined

Some keep us in and hidden

some keep us from what we’ve been given

To break free one must hold the key

but if we don’t know what it is

then how can we see?

My cage is right here

mine is patient, mine is loving

finally with all I could desire

 a family was all I desired

To break free I had to find my key

I found it in you

And now I am free

For this cage protects

It is safety, it is home

This cage surrounds us

It will always be a part of us

And together we are free

I gasped at his words. If I’d had any doubts that this man loved me completely, they were gone now.

Roland looked at me and spoke. “Jesse, do you have anything to say?”

I smiled nervously, remembering the vows I’d written for our last attempt at this before tossing them out of my head. “I do. Danny, you’ve had my heart and soul for some time now. Today, I give you my life, for better or for worse. I give you all the breaths I have left in me, all of the remaining beats of my heart. I give you my all, as you’ve given me, from now until the end of time. I love you, and I’m so grateful we made it to this moment together.”

Danny closed his eyes, perhaps to pull his emotions together. He squeezed my hands and spoke as he opened his eyes. “Thank you, honey.”

All that was left to do was exchange the rings and then Danny was on me before Roland could say, “You may now kiss the bride.” It was a whole body kiss that I felt all the way down to my toes. He held my body against his as he claimed my lips along with all of the rest of me that I’d offered up to him. The cheers and roars were much louder than just from our little crowd. Cringing, I pulled my lips away and looked to find six tour trams lined up along the road, all witnessing my marriage to Danny Black. The applause was almost as loud as one of Blackened’s concerts.

“Oh my God, Danny,” I whispered, mortified.

He pulled me tighter, took my lip between his teeth and grunted. “I can’t wait to get you out of here.” Snickers and whispers surrounded us.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I now introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Adam Black.” The cheers grew louder as another tour bus rounded the corner. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched in horror as a man stepped from the office of the hotel carrying a wrapped object shaped like a…

“Yes! Do it, man!” Danny raised his fist and gave the horns to the Norman Bates look-a-like as he loaded the body in the trunk of the car and drove off in a cloud of dust. Everyone clapped and cheered when they saw Danny’s Challenger parked on the other side of Norman’s classic car. The Challenger had writing all over it and trails of tin cans strung from the bumper. Danny swooped me up into his arms and started running for the car.

“Aren’t we going to say goodbye,” I joked.

Danny cursed. “No fucking way am I putting you down. Nothing is getting between me and my happy place, God dammit!”

I laughed as he tossed me unceremoniously in the car. I caught Janey’s eye and mouthed, “I love you. Thank you,” to her.

She mouthed it back, gave a thumbs up, and then turned into Nora’s waiting embrace. The last thing I saw before Danny pulled away with a roar of his engine, was my parents in an embrace and my father kissing my mother sweetly.

Cosmo

I watched the only woman I’d ever loved drive away with her new husband. I remembered what she’d said about everything happening for a reason. Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to drown my sorrows in about a dozen beers tonight on my deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Jinx and I agreed tonight we could put our sobriety on the shelf and toast the newlyweds, but in a mourning fashion. I’d finally made Jinx stop telling me what was going on over at the house while he stayed with them. Recovering from a broken leg while mending a broken heart was hard enough without his constant updates shoving more hot pokers in my chest.

I’d done the valiant thing. I’d let her go, even though every bone in my body was screaming for me to drive over there, sweep her up in my arms, and carry her away from all the bullshit in Danny fucking Black’s life. She’d hate me, but whatever. It would be easier than worrying about her all the time. But once they got serious with this wedding talk and I saw how miserable she was after two failed ceremonies, I had to let her go. She was seriously in love with the dude, and all I wanted was for my Jesse Baby to be happy.

The rest of the crowd climbed on to the trams to finish the tour and head over to the Dresden, where the newlyweds were supposed to make an appearance, but I was over it. I was just about to climb onto the rear of the tram so I could sulk in peace when I noticed Patricia standing off by herself, her arms wrapped around her middle.

The redhead was all class. She’d been phenomenal in arranging shit for me and Jinx, despite everything falling apart with the Tragedy. She’d even helped me find my house out in Malibu, which I really wanted to get back to after stopping to pick up a case of whatever beer caught my fancy. But something was off with the lady, and I felt an urge to soothe someone else all of a sudden, although I had no fucking clue why. I walked over to her and just stood, waiting for her to speak. When she did, she continued to stare off in the distance.

“He’ll take care of her, you know,” she murmured.

I grunted. It was like she was reading my fucking mind. I looked down and saw her eyes were watery, but her perfect makeup hadn’t run. Maybe she was trying to hold it in with that death grip she had going on.

“You want to go get drunk?” Her question caught me by surprise. I looked around to make sure it was directed at me. “Yes, I mean you, Cosmo. You look like you need a beer, and you’re probably the only other person here besides me who can’t be totally excited for the lovebirds.”

Ah. Her dumbass husband. Patricia had had a rough time of it. I can’t even imagine how I would have felt if I walked in on what she did. He’d done her dirty, that’s for fucking sure.

I wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. “That sounds like a perfect end to this day.”

She nodded and took a deep breath. I started to say I needed to tell Jinx, but he’d already found a skirt to get under, some chick on the tram who already had her fingers in his hair. I smirked and then looked down at Patricia. I was immediately lost in her blue eyes. There was so much pain and longing there, feelings I recognized in my own heart. I couldn’t help myself. I brushed a thumb along her cheekbone and took a deep breath.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said in a husky voice that grabbed me by the balls. Things were about to get interesting, and I for one was going to let the lady drive…In her little red Corvette…To wherever the night carried us.

The End… Of this trilogy. Stay Tuned for More Rock n’ Romance!