Country (25 page)

“No, I don't. I love being here with you. She thinks I'm being disrespectful to her father. But they want to bury me with him. She's always tough on me. She'll have to get over it this time.” But it didn't sound like she would anytime soon.

The next call was from Alyson, who had heard about it from someone and was desperately worried about her friend.

“Is that really you?” she asked in a shocked tone. She had called Jean too, who didn't seem surprised or upset, and told Alyson to calm down, but she called Stephanie anyway. She was sure that the photo had to be a fake of some kind, but Stephanie told her it wasn't.

“It's me,” she said in an exasperated tone. She didn't need Alyson bugging her about it too. “I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it, but we're trying to keep it quiet.”

“Well, the whole world knows now,” Alyson said with obvious disapproval. “What do the kids say about it?”

“Louise just called me a whore when she called me. I haven't spoken to the others.”

“Do you even know this guy? Don't you think you should stop seeing him?” She made her disapproval clear.

“He's a wonderful man, and I love him,” Stephanie said simply. “The kids will have to get used to it.”

“Are you serious about him?” Alyson sounded even more shocked at that. Clearly, Stephanie had lost her mind.

“Yes, I am serious about him,” Stephanie confirmed, as Chase looked over at her with a slow smile. He was sorry about all the trouble she was having, because of him. “Alyson, I'll call you soon,” Stephanie said, and cut her off before she could say any more, but it was obvious that Alyson was shocked and concerned for her friend. Her perspective was so narrow and her world so small that she couldn't even conceive of what Stephanie was doing. Alyson led a sheltered life dictated by her husband and was naïve. Jean had been supportive about Chase from the beginning.

“Are you okay?” Chase asked her, looking worried. “It sounds pretty bad. Who was that? Your other daughter?”

“No, my friend Alyson. This is so far out of her realm, she thinks I'm crazy. My friend Jean is your biggest fan, though.” She didn't want him to think that everyone in her life hated him. This was not a warm welcome for him.

The next call was from Michael two minutes later. He wasn't shouting insults like his sister, but he sounded worried.

“Are you okay, Mom?” he asked her, which was more than Louise had done before hurling slanderous accusations at her.

“I'm fine, sweetheart. I guess you've heard about me and Chase.” At least Michael knew him and liked him. Stephanie was grateful for that.

“Yes.” Louise had called to warn him, and he had looked online to see for himself. “It's actually not that bad,” he tried to reassure her. “Louise is just upset because of Dad.”

“I know, and I'm sorry you had to hear about it this way. I just wasn't ready to tell you yet. I didn't realize it would wind up all over YouTube.”

“He's a big star, Mom. You can't hide for long.”

“So I gather. So what do you think? At least you know him.”

“I'm kind of upset about Dad,” he said honestly, in his clear, concise way, but he didn't sound angry. “But I'm happy for you. He's a good guy. Are you two serious about each other?”

“I think so.”

“Because if you're just fooling around and having fun, it's not worth it. But if you're serious, you have my approval, if you care.”

“Of course I care. I love you. Do you mean what you just said?” She was touched by how compassionate and understanding he was being.

“Yes, I mean it. And I know that you and Dad were never really happy after he came back. If Chase makes you happy, then I'm glad.”

“He does. Thank you, sweetheart. Maybe you can calm your sister down about it.”

“You know Louise. She'll get over it. She just needs to go nuts for a while, and beat everybody up. I think she got Charlotte all excited about it.”

“I'll call her.”

“Tell Chase he has my endorsement,” Michael said quietly. “Let me know if there's anything I can do.” He really was a great kid, and made up for the other two, even Louise's vitriolic reaction. She told Chase about the call and called Charlotte a minute later. She was almost as hysterical as Louise, but not as rude. She was younger, and still more respectful of her mother. She didn't take the liberties Louise took.

“I'm not coming home if he'll be there,” she threatened.

“He won't be. And you
are
coming home when you said. No more extensions.”

“This is so mean to Dad. How could you, Mom?”

“I'm not married to him anymore, Charlotte. He's gone. And Chase is a terrific man.”

“You're cheating on Dad, Mom,” Charlotte said miserably. “He would never have done that to you.” Stephanie caught her breath when she heard, and was tempted to tell her the truth, that he had cheated on her when he was alive, but she would never do that. It would be too hurtful to the kids, and there was no point exposing him now, just to absolve herself.

“We don't know what Dad would have done in these circumstances. He might have had a girlfriend by now, but we'll never know.”

“But you do, and it's just not fair to him, or to us. I'm embarrassed you're my mom. And you can make me come home, but you can't make me meet him, ever. Keep him away from me,” she said, sounding almost as vicious as her sister. Stephanie could already see now that it was going to be tough when she returned, probably with arguments day and night.

The calls from her family stopped after that, and she and Chase discussed it over breakfast.

“Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to call them and tell them how much I love you? Maybe it would help.”

“I don't think so. They're defending the memory of their father. And now I've become the whore of the village. The only thing that will fix this is time, and seeing for themselves that you're a great guy. That won't happen overnight,” she said wisely.

They went to the Getty Museum that day, but she was distracted, and all she could think of were her kids, and how they had reacted to her getting on with her life. She wanted them all to calm down, but that wasn't in the cards for now. They were flying around the ceiling, throwing rocks at her and Chase, and mostly at her.

She had a heavy heart all day, but they decided to stay in L.A., as planned, for the rest of the week. Stephanie was not going to give in to them. A new era had dawned. Bill's reign in her life had ended and would not continue from the grave. She was no longer afraid, of him, or her kids, or anyone.

The time Chase and Stephanie shared in L.A. was idyllic. They went to restaurants and shopped, spent a day at Venice Beach, and had dinner in Santa Monica at Giorgio Baldi. They went to a few parties Chase had been invited to by other country music stars, and they spent quiet time together at the hotel. It was perfect. And they stayed away from the press as much as they could, although
People
magazine ran an item on them, and they were on Page Six of the
New
York
Post,
which made Louise even madder. She sent her mother furious e-mails all week, and Stephanie stayed calm in the eye of the storm and so did Chase. There was nothing else they could do. She wasn't going to give him up because Louise was unhappy. She'd have to adjust. Stephanie hadn't heard from Charlotte again, and decided to let sleeping dogs lie until she got home. There would be plenty of time to discuss it with her then.

They flew back to San Francisco on the same chartered jet, checked back into the Ritz-Carlton, and had five more days together there. Chase rented a house for them at Stinson Beach, where they hid out and saw no one. They spent long lazy days, walking on the beach, or making love and watching movies in bed.

Stephanie talked to Alyson again, and she was as unreasonable as Stephanie's daughters had been, so she avoided Alyson after that, and put her on the back burner too.

And through it all, their relationship got stronger, and Stephanie was glad they had two weeks together to discuss their plans and how to deal with her kids, although Michael had continued to be supportive. It helped that he and Chase had met.

Everything blew up again when, in one of their futile conversations about their mother, Michael admitted to Louise that he was dating Chase's ward. She went crazy all over again.

“For God's sake, Mike, have you lost your mind too? What is it with you? What about Amanda?”

“We broke up.” Louise didn't like her either, but at least she was respectable, in Louise's opinion, not some country music singer who she assumed was out of a trailer park.

“So now you're dating an eighteen-year-old Okie? Please tell me this isn't happening to us. I feel like aliens took over our family when Dad died. You and Mom have gone nuts. What's happening to you? This is straight out of a soap opera. Well, don't bring her to meet me.”

“I wasn't planning to,” he said in an icy tone. “I know better, with that razor mouth of yours. She doesn't deserve that, and neither does Mom. Chase Taylor is a great guy, and I like him. And he's wonderful to Mom, more than Dad ever was. That's what we should care about, not all the rest. All the stuff in the press is bullshit.”

“Don't talk about Dad like that. He was great to our mother,” Louise said in a fury.

“No, he wasn't,” Michael reminded her. “And they almost divorced when you were a senior in high school. You know that as well as I do, so don't tell me how great he was to Mom. He was never home. He didn't want to be, and Mom ended up picking up all the slack for him, whether you want to admit it now or not.” She didn't.

“I'm sure whatever it was that they fought over wasn't such a big deal, since Mom went back to him,” Louise said hotly.

“She did that for us.” Michael kept the pressure on her, for the truth.

“Because she loved him,” Louise corrected him.

“I'm sure she did love him, but he was never there for her, or for us.” He was being brutally honest with Louise, but it resolved nothing. She continued to praise their father, and crucify their mother. She didn't want to hear anything Mike had to say in her defense.

The battle raged on for the whole time Chase was in San Francisco, and eventually Stephanie stopped answering her older daughter's calls and texts. There was nothing else she could do to protect herself, and Chase. They just had to weather the storm.

On Chase's last day in San Francisco, they took a walk in the park, bought take-out sashimi afterward, and took it back to the hotel. They had spent a lot of time in bed all week. There was no question in either of their minds about the seriousness of the relationship. They just had to find a way to make it work, in both cities, and in spite of two of her kids. But she wasn't going to let Louise or Charlotte spoil it for her. She wanted to protect the relationship with Chase.

Stephanie was lying in Chase's arms, after they made love on their last night together, and talking quietly about when they would see each other again. She had promised to come to Nashville as soon as Charlotte went back to school, in a month. It seemed like an intolerable amount of time to both of them. And Stephanie knew she'd probably have to put up with Charlotte's assaults about Chase while she was there. Stephanie was hoping to calm her down. She was usually easier than Louise.

“You can't even imagine how much I'm going to miss you,” he said mournfully, as he rolled over on his side and looked at her. She kissed him then and snuggled close to him in bed. She loved feeling his warmth beside her at night, and she couldn't imagine living without him every day either. They were deeply in love.

Stephanie took Chase to the airport when he left. She walked him into the terminal and said goodbye to him right before security. She was wearing dark glasses and a hat, which felt ridiculous to her. By the time Chase left, she was convinced that she was the luckiest woman on earth, and he said the same about himself. It was a match made in heaven, with the daughters from hell. He promised to call her as soon as he arrived in Nashville, and as always, he did. He was at home by then, and miserable as he looked around his kitchen. The woman he loved was nowhere to be seen. She was living three thousand miles away, and he had to get through the next month without her.

The day after Chase left, Charlotte flew home from Paris. She arrived from the airport angry, and stayed that way. She hardly said hello to her mother, when Stephanie picked her up and drove her home. From the moment she came through the door, she complained about being forced to come home, and was painful to be with. She wanted to be in Paris or Rome, or anywhere in Europe with her friends, not at home. And her mother's relationship with a country music star was all the provocation she needed to be angry at her all the time, and attack her whenever she could, encouraged by her older sister.

It was the middle of the afternoon, but midnight for Charlotte, flying in from Paris. But she was young and had slept on the plane, so she had plenty of energy to attack her mother. Stephanie had made her something to eat, and they were sitting at the kitchen table, when Charlotte gave her an angry look. She had been barely civil until then, even if she had hugged her mother when they met.

“So where is he?” she asked as she finished her sandwich and favorite potato chips, which Stephanie had gotten for her, and pushed her plate away. The look she gave her mother was instantly
confrontational.
The gloves were off.

“If you're referring to Chase,” Stephanie said calmly, “he's in Nashville.”

“When did he leave? I assume he was here till I came home.” It was none of her business, but her mother nodded.

“He left yesterday. He has an album to record.” He was doing duets with another famous country music singer. And Stephanie acted as though her involvement with him was normal.

“Don't you feel a little ridiculous being a groupie at your age, Mom?” There was a derisive tone in her voice Stephanie didn't like. Whenever Louise called, hers was one of pure rage. Charlotte was subtler and younger, and didn't have the guts to be as rude, but she was bad enough.

“I'm not a groupie. We're dating.” It was honest. She was hiding nothing from her.

“You're sleeping with him,” Charlotte accused her, with the self-righteousness of youth. Stephanie didn't comment. “And in my father's bed, I suppose.” Stephanie was instantly angry at her comment, but didn't show it.

“It's none of your business, Charlotte, but we stayed at a hotel.” It was a small town, and she would have found out anyway. Someone always knew someone who saw something who…she preferred to tell her herself.

It would have been infinitely worse if they had stayed at Stephanie's home, no matter which bedroom they slept in. She was glad they hadn't, and he had been wise enough to stay at a hotel. It was better for her too, not just her children. “That's disgusting. Aren't you afraid of what people will think of you? My father's been dead for about five minutes.”

“Dad died six months ago, Char. And you can't predict what will happen in life, or who will come along. I wasn't going to date at all until I met him. And my dating Chase doesn't mean I didn't love your father. I loved him a lot when he was alive. But he's gone now, which is sad for all of us. And now this happened. And six months is respectable. Some people don't wait that long.”

“Decent people wait a year,” Charlotte informed her.

“
Some
people wait a year, some don't. I waited five months. And you wouldn't feel any better about this if we'd waited another six months. Why exactly are you so angry, Charlotte?”

“You're being disrespectful of our father,” Charlotte said with fury. “And look who he is and what he looks like. He's a hillbilly, Mom!” Chase was a lot of things, but not that. He was a very sophisticated, intelligent, successful, incredible-looking man. Just different from their father, with his long hair, tattoos, and torn jeans.

“He's just different from Daddy, Charlotte. And he's a very cool guy. You'll like him.”

“No, I won't,” she said with a stubborn look. “And I hear Michael is dating his illegitimate daughter or something. What did you do? Double-date?”

“He came up from Atlanta with Amanda for a concert Chase invited them to. And Sandy is his ward. Her parents died. She's two years younger than you are, and an amazing girl. And you never liked Amanda, so don't act all holier than thou about her,” Stephanie warned her. Charlotte hadn't spoken to Michael, she had heard it all from Louise.

“I think you and your sister are being incredibly disrespectful of me, and a man you don't even know. I understand how sad you are about losing your father, and so am I. But I have a right to live too, and this is what I'm doing, whether you and Louise like it or not. And your father would probably be doing the same thing—dating someone.”
After
all, he did it while he was alive,
she thought to herself but didn't say to her daughter. “You wouldn't like that either.”

“I doubt that, and he wouldn't be dating some rock star with tattoos.”

“You never know.” Stephanie smiled at her. “Love takes you by surprise sometimes.” But Charlotte looked even more upset by what she said.

“Are you telling me you love him?” She made it sound like her mother had admitted to a crime, and Stephanie faced her calmly and looked her in the eye.

“Yes, I am.” She never lowered her gaze, as Charlotte got up from the table, left the kitchen, and stomped upstairs to her room. Stephanie kept busy with some projects at her desk, paying bills, and she was startled when Charlotte burst into the room.

“What the hell did you do to the living room? I just went to look for something, and I saw it. It looks awful.” It didn't look awful. It looked different. Things had changed. A lot had changed, including her mother, which was the biggest and most threatening change of all. And the biggest change was that Stephanie was happy, which came as a shock to her kids since Chase was part of it.

“I moved some things around,” Stephanie said quietly. “I'm sorry you don't like it.” She didn't offer to move it back, and wasn't going to. Charlotte stormed out of the room again then, and Stephanie heard crashing noises a few minutes later and ran down the stairs to see what had happened. Charlotte had tried to move the furniture in the living room, had knocked over a small table, and a large vase had crashed to the floor and broken. She was on her knees sobbing in a pool of water with the flowers all around her.

“Oh my God, what happened?” Stephanie asked as she ran to help her, and cut her foot on a piece of broken glass. Charlotte couldn't stop sobbing, and just knelt there with a desperate look.

“I can't remember how it was,” she kept saying over and over. She had tried to move everything back, and couldn't get it the way it was before, because she'd never really noticed. She just knew it was different now. “You changed
everything
!” she screamed at her mother hysterically, as Stephanie bent down next to her and tried to put her arms around her, and Charlotte pulled away. “Don't touch me! I hate you!” She sounded five years old as she said it, and there were tears in Stephanie's eyes. This was all so hard. Charlotte ran out of the room then and left the mess. She didn't see that her mother's foot was bleeding—she was too distraught to be aware of anything but herself. Stephanie heard the door of Charlotte's room slam, and cleaned up the mess herself. She felt suddenly guilty for the things she had moved around. But she had needed to do it for herself. Her children weren't at home anymore. She lived there every day.

She threw away the pieces of the broken vase, put the flowers in another one, cleaned up the water, put the furniture back in order, and bandaged her bleeding foot. The cut wasn't deep, it was just superficial. Charlotte didn't come out of her room for several hours. It had been a tough first day home so far.

Stephanie talked to Chase quietly from her room later that night and then called Jean. She couldn't call Alyson anymore, she was too upset that Stephanie was involved with Chase, so she would be no help about the kids, or support for Stephanie. Alyson had told Jean she thought it was shocking, since Bill had only been gone for five months. And what was she doing with a man like that? She needed to go out with someone like Bill or Brad or Fred, one of them, not some rock star.