You got to Me (Love on Tour #3) (6 page)

“What?”

“Anything, a story. Just distract me.”

“Take off and landing are the worst,” Sam said.

“Did Dani ever tell you about our family vacation to Yosemite?”

“A little. I want to hear your version. Talk,” Sean demanded.

My head was pressed to his chest and he was stroking my hair obsessively. But he’d left enough room for me to breath and speak, so I guessed this could work.

“I had just turned 17, so I guess Dani was about…”

“Thirteen,” Sean said.

“Yeah. I was getting ready to start my senior year in high school, she was about to enter her freshman year. And Brad was about 10.”

The plane left the ground and Sean pulled me closer.

“My parents were on the cusp of their divorce, and it was our last family hurrah. They were pretty good about it too, considering they really couldn’t stand the sight of each other by then. I knew this, and Dani knew it, but Brad was clueless. So we all just pretended we were a big happy family.”

“Dani was pretty funny,” I continued. “I should have known right then and there that she was going to be a park ranger. She was completely enamored with the trees and the mountains and the rivers. She was constantly harassing my parents to take her on a hike. So finally, my dad took me and her on a hike and left my mom and Brad at the campground. She was so into it. She pointed out every little rock and flower, and wanted to know what they all were.”

The plane was climbing now and I could feel Sean’s chest heaving beneath me. So I kept right on talking. “When we got back to the campground, my dad made dinner on the grill and we sat around the campfire in the dark. It took a while before we noticed that Dani was missing.”

“Missing?”

“Yeah, she went to the bathrooms and never came back.”

“Sounds like my wife.”

“So my parents completely panicked.”

“I know the feeling.”

“I organized the search party.”

“I am not surprised that it was you that had the wherewithal to do that, Lisa.”

“My parents were going to go straight to calling the rangers. But I convinced them that we should at least look first. There were three loops in the campground. I told my dad to take one, my mom and Brad to take the one we were camped in, and I searched the third. I was walking through the loop with this big, bright flashlight, shining it in everyone’s campsites. One couple told me they thought they saw her and pointed in a direction. I came to this empty site at the far end of the circle. And there she was, sitting under a tree.”

“Making out with a kid from Fresno, right?”

“Yep.”

“Did you drag her out of there?”

“No. Actually, I turned off the flashlight and let her have a minute. Then we walked back to the campsite together and made up a story.”

“You’re a good sister,” Sam said.

I had forgotten he was listening. In fact, it was very quiet. They were all listening.

The plane started to level out, and I felt Sean’s muscles relax, just a little bit. “It’s a good story. Except for the part where my wife is kissing someone else.”

He released me. I sat up and looked at him. “That would have been like… 15 years before you met.”

“I know, but I like to think that Baby was born mine.”

“Well, she’s yours now,” I said.

“Thank God for that.”

The captain came over the intercom again. “We’ve reached our cruising altitude, though I won’t tell you what that is,” he chuckled. “You are now free to move about the cabin. Dan will be in shortly to get you drinks and snacks.”

Mike stood up. “Sean, we need to go over this stuff. Are you good to come to the back with us?”

Sean nodded. He stared at his seatbelt for a long time, before finally unlatching it. “Thanks, Lisa.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head.

Sam stood up and hovered as Sean made his way slowly to the back of the plane. But instead of following him back there, he plopped down beside me in the seat Sean had just vacated. I groaned.

“So, do you want to know what started all that?”

“Yes, but I want to know what’s going on more.”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. This whole ‘afraid of heights thing’ started when Sean was five.”

“If you’re going to tell the story, do it quietly,” Sean said from the back of the plane.

“He hates this story,” Sam said, his voice lower. “So, he was five and Stacey was about one or so, still crawling, not fully walking yet.”

“And you weren’t born, yet,” I pointed out.

“No. I wasn’t. Anyway, my mom was doing laundry and she, Sean, and Stacey were all in her bedroom. It’s on the second floor and there’s a balcony through a sliding glass door that leads off the bedroom. It’s an old Victorian, and back then the balcony was in pretty rough shape. Also, there was no screen door on the thing. It was a hot summer day, so they had the sliding glass door open. Anyway, the dryer buzzed and my mom told Sean to watch Stacey while she went to get it. But he was busy playing with his toy piano and he didn’t pay much attention to her. When he looked over, she’d crawled out onto the balcony.”

“Oh, that’s scary.”

“Yeah, and so he ran to her. And ya know how when you’re that young you just go full bore into things. Well, he overshot. She reached out and grabbed his leg. So he tripped. At five, Sean was about the size of an eight-year-old. So he ran straight into this old, creaky balcony railing and the thing just crumbled.”

I sucked in my breath.

“He fell from the second story onto the lawn.”

“Holy shit.”

“Here’s how my mom tells it. She got back upstairs and saw Stacy on the balcony, crying. She picked her up and looked over the railing and Sean was lying there on his back, blood everywhere.”

“Oh my God.”

“See, he went down face first and caught himself with his arm, which was broken in three places.” Sam put his arm above his head, bent at the elbow, to demonstrate. “It protected his head, so he was conscious. And he rolled over onto his back. You ever see that scar on Sean’s back, right about here?” Sam pointed to a spot above his shoulder blade.

Of course I’d seen it. I had seen Sean without a shirt a handful of times, and every time I paid very close attention.

I shrugged.

“Well anyway, when he rolled over he landed on a broken sprinkler head. That’s what caused all the blood.”

“Your mom must have had a heart attack.”

“Oh yeah. When Dad tells the story he talks about how she called 911, and then called him at work, completely incoherent.”

“So that’s what caused the fear of heights.”

“Pretty sure. I mean he was awake for the whole thing. I imagine it was terrifying as hell.”

“That would do it. Okay, it was a good story,” I conceded. “Now tell me what’s going on.”

I glanced toward the back of the plane. Sean, Mike, and Hank were all leaned over, their heads, literally, together.

“So yesterday, a magazine came out with a story.”

I sighed. The tabloid rags were always making shit up about Dani and Sean. “Some trashy piece of crap. Since when do they care about that?”

“It wasn’t a tabloid, though. It was a fairly respectable publication. In fact, it was the same magazine that did that story on Sean with the crazy naked ladies’ picture on the cover.”

“Oh. What was the story about?”

Sam glanced to the back of the plane, too, before turning back to me. “They say that a reliable source told them that Henry is really Hank’s kid.”

“What?!” I shouted.

8

“I guess Lisa’s getting filled in,” Hank said loudly from the back of the plane.

“Yeah, the story says that Sean shoots blanks, and Baby used Hank as a surrogate,” Sam told me. “And that’s why they named the baby after him.”

“What?!”

“I know, it’s fucked up.”

“‘Fucked up’ doesn’t begin to describe it,” I said.

“And they didn’t even call us or anything. It’s bad reporting.”

“Bad reporting. It’s ridiculous! And besides, Henry looks like a little clone of Sean, for crying out loud.”

“Yeah, well the press has never seen little Henry. Baby and Sean haven’t allowed it. And they don’t like to address all the stupid rumors, so…”

“Oh my God. I need to talk to my sister. It should be me going there to comfort her, not Bell.” I was pissed that I’d been left out of this.

“Hey, Lisa. I know she’s your sister. But it’s Bell’s boyfriend they’re claiming is the father of her baby.”

He did have a point.

“So what are we going to do?”

“First thing this morning, I called a friend of mine who specializes in libel law. He’s already contacted the magazine. They’re going to do a retraction and a new story. But they want statements, and a picture of the baby.”

“How can they be in a position to demand anything?”

“It will take a long time to sue, Lisa. This settles it before the ink dries on the first story. Otherwise, it starts to get picked up, taken as legit…”

“Jesus, poor Dani.”

“Yeah, it’s fucked up.”

“So how is this going to work exactly?”

“Bell and Baby are meeting with a reporter tomorrow morning in L.A. at the magazine’s headquarters. They’re taking little Henry with them. We meet with a different reporter in Denver tomorrow.”

I glance toward the back of the plane again. “So, they’re deciding what to say?”

“Yeah, and I think they’re on the phone with Baby.”

“You can talk on the phone on a plane?”

He shrugged. “If you’re Mike, you figure it out.”

“Hey, Sam, can you bring Lisa back here?” Sean called.

I walked to the weird little couch. Mike was sitting on one end, nearest to the window, Hank was next to him and Sean sat closest to the bathroom. I sat down between Hank and Sean. Sam sat opposite the aisle from his brother.

“Is she there?” I heard Dani’s voice from the phone.

“Yeah, Baby, she’s right here next to me.”

“Honey, take me off speaker and give me to Lisa.”

Sean pushed a button on the phone and handed it to me.

“Hi, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. No… not really. But Bell will be here in a couple hours. Amelia is picking her up from the airport. Henry and I are just sitting here waiting. Actually, Henry is napping peacefully. He has no idea that the whole world is questioning his paternity.”

“Oh Dani, I’m so sorry. I wish I could be there.”

“Me too, Leese. But I’m glad you’re there with Sean. I feel like, with you there, I’m represented. I don’t know, maybe that sounds dumb.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“I have a big favor to ask you.”

“Anything.”

“Will you go to the interview with Sean tomorrow?”

“Of course I will.”

“Yeah?”

“I got your back, little sister.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know.”

****

The show in Denver was weird. Everyone was on edge. And I learned after we got there that one of Dani’s best friends, Melanie, wasn’t living in Denver anymore, so I had no girlfriends to hang out with at all. I found myself watching from backstage with Mike and Sam, while Hank and Sean did their best to pretend none of this was happening.

The one good thing was that Sam didn’t try to hit on me at all. He was pretty quiet, actually, and so was Mike. They both made sure I was comfortable and got me a beer to drink during the show.

They talked to each other in whispers. They sat off to the side, tense looks on their faces, discussing something. Of course, I knew what they were discussing, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. By the end of the night I got the impression that they both wished they could do more. I knew how they felt.

We all went to bed right after the show and met up again for breakfast in a private room of the hotel. Apparently, this little conference room was also going to be where the showdown with the reporter was taking place.

Sam and Mike dominated the conversation. Sean, Hank, and I were quiet and tense. We knew that while we were sitting there drinking coffee and eating powdered eggs, Dani and Bell were meeting with a reporter, and little Henry was having his first public photo shoot.

“I think we should discuss it,” Sam was saying.

“Believe me Sam, I’ve tried, and they won’t have it,” Mike said.

Sean looked up. “If you’re talking about a paternity test, I already told you, fuck no. And Hank’s made up his mind, too.”

Sam sighed. “I’m looking at this from the perspective of trying to make your life easier,
Sean.”

“Yeah, well our perspective is ‘fuck the reporters.’ That’s what our perspective is,” Hank said.

I knew this was a matter of principle for them. They felt that by giving in and allowing a paternity test to be done they were essentially bowing to the absolutely insane idea that it might be true. So Hank and Sean were standing firm on this. Sam and Mike wanted to get it all over with, and from their perspective, a simple blood test would settle the whole thing.

I knew my sister’s thoughts. We’d discussed it last night. Her number one concern was that little Henry not get stuck with a needle unnecessarily. But as it turned out, the hospital already had a sample of Henry’s blood, and all that was needed was permission from her to use it. After that, she said it was entirely up to Sean and Hank, she would fully support whatever decision they made. And they were apparently of one mind about this.

“All I’m saying–”

“Drop it, Sam. This conversation is over,” Sean said sternly.

The reporter showed up twenty minutes later. He was young, short, and had a ridiculous grin. Beside him was a man who was only slightly taller, even younger, had adorable dimples, and a ton of camera equipment around his shoulder.

We all gathered by the door of the room to greet them, Sean and Hank out front.

“Hi, I’m Lance,” the reporter said, looking up at Sean.

Sean grunted but took his hand.

Lance turned to Hank. Hank looked at Sean. “I hate him already.”

I remembered that the name of the man that Bell dated briefly when she and Hank were broken up was Lance. This poor guy was at a disadvantage from the get-go.

Lance stood there, his hand out, waiting patiently.

“You the one who wrote the article?” Hank asked.

“No, I’m not,” Lance said jovially.

Hank reluctantly took his hand and shook it. Lance looked around the room at the rest of us. “You must be Sam. You’re like…”

“A miniature version. I know,” Sam said.

“And Mike, we spoke on the phone.”

Mike nodded. Then Lance turned to me. “And you must be Baby’s sister. The family resemblance is very strong.”

I didn’t like him calling Dani by her nickname. I glared at him.

“This is my photog, Ken. I brought him with me, but… We were looking at photos of you too, and it seems that no one ever prints stills of you together. They just don’t seem to work.”

Hank smiled and put his hand on Sean’s shoulder. “We don’t do fake smiles.”

“Yeah, I gathered. So I thought maybe I could leave him with you, and he could ride along to Minneapolis and get some candid shots.”

“No one cleared this with me,” Mike said.

“We actually just came up with the idea on the plane,” Lance explained. “We ran it by our editor when we landed. What do you think?”

Mike looked at Sean and Hank. Hank shrugged. Sean didn’t make any movement I could discern, but Mike must have seen something, because he turned back to Lance. “Fine. Let’s sit down, shall we?”

We sat at the long rectangular table where we’d just finished having breakfast. I sat on one side of Sean, Hank on the other. Lance sat opposite Sean, and Mike sat at the head of the table. Sam sat at the other head. Ken and his dimples remained standing.

Lance looked down at his phone for a minute. “Sorry, uh, my colleague Christine just got done interviewing Baby and Bell, and she’s sending me notes.” He looked up at Sean. “Christine is the same one that interviewed you a few years back.”

Sean nodded.

Lance was still looking at his phone while he spoke. “I heard that it was after Baby read the article Christine wrote that you proposed.” He looked up at Sean. “Is that true?”

Sean didn’t answer, so Hank did. “Yep. It’s true. I was there.”

“You were?”

Hank nodded.

“You were there for a lot.”

“I don’t like your tone,” Hank said.

“I didn’t mean anything by it.” Lance smiled sweetly at him.

“Back to business,” Mike said.

Lance leaned his arms on the table. “The thing is, the reporter who wrote the story is in a lot of hot water, and so is my editor, who approved it for print.”

“She should be.” Sam’s arms were crossed over his chest, making him look very much like his big brother. “She didn’t do her homework.”

“No she didn’t. And she’s paying for it. So she wanted me to do a little investigating while we’re here. You see, Sandra won’t reveal her source. So I’ve been trying to figure out who it might be, and I wanted to see if you could help me.”

“We don’t have a fucking clue,” Hank said.

“Well, I’ve done a little digging, and here’s what I’ve come up with so far. We did get out of Sandra that it’s a woman who claims to have been intimate with both of you.”

“Not possible,” Hank said.

“Not possible?”

“No way.”

“Well, I’ve talked to some girls who made it sound like it
was
possible. They even had a name for it. ‘The Deuce’ they called it.”

“That’s just girl talk. We’re very careful. Or we were. It’s not an issue anymore. Anyway, it never happened.”

Lance looked at Sean. Sean shook his head.

“Okay, well, I also looked at the wedding guest list, thinking that maybe if it was someone close to you they’d have been invited. After all, only 25 people were there.”

“How the hell did you get that?” Hank asked. “It was a private wedding in the Bahamas.”

“He probably checked with the airlines,” Mike said.

Lance nodded. “After I eliminated family there were a handful of people left. The only one that was even a candidate was a Melanie…” He looked down at his phone.

“It’s not her,” Hank said.

“Yeah, I talked to her. Not only did she say that she’d never been intimate with either of you, she was pretty pissed about the whole thing.

“I bet.”

“So that was a bust. And I figured maybe it was one of your ex-girlfriends, Sean.” Lance leaned back and gazed at Sean. “I talked to a couple of them. They all seemed pretty pissed that you married an ‘ordinary girl.’ That’s the words
they
used. There was one ex-girlfriend that was especially pissed off.”

“Let me guess,” Hank said. “Victoria Dee.”

“Yeah. The famous supermodel Sean dumped, then he married a park ranger. She’s not happy about it. You think she’s a candidate?”

Sean finally spoke. “Any one of my exes could be a candidate.”

“You made a pretty big departure from your norm when you married Baby, didn’t you?” Lance had the nerve to ask.

Sean glared at him.

“Look, we don’t have anything else for you,” Mike said. “Why don’t we get down to what you’re going to write in the retraction article?”

“Sure,” Lance looked back at his phone for a minute, then up at Sean. “I think the first question is, is any part of the article true?”

“Just one thing,” Sean said. “It is true that we named the baby after Hank.”

“They did,” Hank said, grinning.

“Why?”

“Because he’s very important to Baby and me.”

“But not for the reasons postulated in the article?”

“Fuck no,” Hank said.

“Okay, can you describe the nature of your relationship?”

“No,” was all Sean said.

“Nobody’s fucking business, man,” Hank said.

“See, that’s the trouble,” Lance argued. “You won’t give the press anything.”

“Hey, the kid’s middle name is Michael, after that guy right there. But nobody’s accusing him of being the baby’s father,” Hank said, pointing at Mike.

Lance looked over at Mike. He studied him for a long moment, then he turned back to Hank.