Fade to Red (5 page)

Beckham was certain she would knock
his
socks off, even if she wasn’t quite up for all that Anthony had planned for her.

“I think we’ll have time to be on our game before Ian comes to rehearsals, too, which is good.” Anthony got dreamy-eyed every time he mentioned Ian.

“You might have to tone down the lust a notch with Ian. He’s a very happily married man,” Beckham teased.

Anthony feigned shock. “Moi? Lust over Ian Sterling? Damn. Impossible to tone down. That man’s hot enough to turn anybody.”

Beckham shook his head and laughed. “He’s safe with me.”

“You say that now…”

Beckham shot his straw paper into Anthony’s nose, which shut him up. The sushi came and it looked like enough for at least four people. They started eating and didn’t talk until the sushi was gone. Anthony had never gone so long without talking.

Before the green tea ice cream came, Anthony showed him a few more details about how the rehearsals needed to go. Anthony had been with him from the beginning of his solo career. Beckham trusted him implicitly, which was irreplaceable in this business.

“It’s gonna be a good one. Thanks for working so hard on this,” Beckham said earnestly to Anthony. “Couldn’t do it without you.”

“We all know you couldn’t,” Anthony agreed with a smirk. He took a bite of ice cream. “I’m ending things with David tonight,” he said softly.

“
What?
Why?” Beckham set his spoon down and stared at Anthony.

“I found proof that he was cheating on me with that stylist over on Rodeo. I’ve wondered for a while if he was cheating and just didn’t want to believe it. Apparently seven years meant nothing to him. I thought I could forgive him, but … I just don’t think I can.” Anthony shrugged.

“Seven years. I’m so sorry. That’s ten times longer than any relationship I’ve ever had,” Beckham admitted. “You gonna be all right? Does he know?”

“I will be. And I doubt he sees this coming. The bastard is nothing if not an egotistical son of a bitch.” He groaned. “This tour has the best timing ever,” Anthony said with tears in his eyes. He shook his head and squared his shoulders, wiping his eyes. “I’ll be fine. I’ll probably be meaner than a snake for a few weeks.”

They laughed, knowing he was telling the truth.

When Roxie tucked Leo into bed that night, he reached up and pushed her hair back from her face. “Mom? Will everyone forget me at school since I won’t be there?”

Roxie leaned her forehead onto his, causing all her hair to fall forward again. He pushed it back again and kept holding onto the sides of her face.

“I don’t know, Leo. We’re on an adventure now. I’m sure you’ll go back to Northridge eventually, but you didn’t really need pre-K anyway. You’re so smart.” She gave his nose a little tug and he smiled sleepily. “You’ll spend lots of time with Aunt Chloe … and me … and a new place! Aren’t you excited?”

“I didn’t like it at Norfridge much anyway. But I will miss Uncle Joey and Grammie and Gramps and Nick and Stephanie … am I gonna see them again?”

She felt a shot of guilt to be taking him away from his family and friends.

“Of course you’ll see Uncle Joey and Grammie and Gramps again. I don’t know about Nick and Stephanie … but you’ll make lots of new friends here, too.”

He patted her face like that was a good enough answer for him.

“Uncle Joey says he’ll come see us sometime. You think he will?”

“If he said so, then he will,” Roxie promised. “Do you like our new place?”

They both looked around his room, mostly bare still, but with a few of his toys.

“It’s not like my room at
home
,” he said sadly.

“I know, little man. It will take some getting used to, but this is what we need to do for now. You and Aunt Chloe will do lots of fun things while I’m at work, and whenever I get time off, I will be here as much as I can. And we’ll be going to lots of fun places we’ve never been before…” She leaned down and held him tight, her heart squeezing shut at the times she would have to be gone from him too. It killed her to think of being apart, and she had to keep reminding herself of all the positives. “I love you, son. Close your eyes now and get some sleep. We’ve had a long day.”

“Love you, Mommy,” Leo said as his eyes closed.

She watched as he fell asleep. He was so beautiful. It was in these moments that she allowed herself to think about his daddy. He looked so much like him.

This better be worth it,
Roxie thought as she got up and switched on Leo’s nightlight. They’d certainly all sacrificed a lot to give it a try. After being offered a spot on the tour, she and Chloe had gotten out their calendars, opened up Google maps, and tried to figure out a way. It took days of hashing it out, to settle on all the easiest places for Chloe and Leo to meet her on the tour. They’d also needed to move to L.A. for the practicality during rehearsals, and also the better airfares. Her parents were harder to convince, but even they didn’t think she could let the opportunity pass without trying.

She and Chloe found a place to rent in Glendale through Craigslist … not the safest way to look for a place to live, but it was cheaper and faster than the regular route. It was actually a decent-sized guest house in the back of a nice home, so they didn’t even have to worry about being too loud. Jill and Eddie, a couple in their forties with no kids, were happy to get the extra income. They didn’t really need the money to survive, so they were flexible. The best part about the place was that it was within ten minutes drive of the sound stage where she’d be rehearsing every day. She’d been warned by Jill, though, that a ten-minute drive could take forty-five minutes during bad L.A. traffic.

Roxie walked into the kitchen, where Chloe was unpacking one of the last boxes. Roxie unpacked glasses and set them in the tiny dishwasher, so they’d be ready to use.

“You think this is gonna work?” she asked Chloe.

Chloe smiled at her. “I love our little place!” she said, excitedly. “I think it will be perfect for us. Don’t you?”

“I just want you to be sure you’re up for this. You’re taking on a lot. You know that, right?” She put her arm around Chloe and leaned her head on her sister’s shoulder.

“I know. I’m not gonna back out now. This is important. You need this, Roxie. I’m so happy you’re going for it! And you’re helping me too. I really needed this push to get away from Alex.”

Chloe’s eyes filled with tears and Roxie squeezed her tighter.

“I’m proud of my sister. He never deserved you.” She pulled her head up and looked in Chloe’s eyes. “Thank you for making this happen. I couldn’t do it without you, Chlo-bo.” Roxie sniffed and pulled away before the tears started falling. “Just promise you’ll tell me if it ever becomes too much.”

“You don’t need to worry. I love that boy in there and am so excited that we’re gonna spend so much time together. I need this as much as you do.” Chloe wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “
And
,” her voice brightened, “we’ll finally have some money, instead of barely scraping by all the time. You’ll get all kinds of exposure, dancing for Beckham Woods. This is what you’ve always wanted! Be excited about it!” Chloe, the eternal optimist, could cheerlead a cadaver into a frenzy.

Roxie hugged her tight and resisted all the what ifs that were parading around in her head. For all of Chloe’s optimism, Roxie had always made sure to cover the logical, or even worst-case scenario train of thought … someone had to do it. She guessed it was from being the oldest of three kids. Chloe was four years younger than Roxie. She was the baby, most popular of everything, homecoming queen. Joey was between the girls and the boy her parents had always wanted. They thought he could do no wrong. He was actually pretty great, too, given how spoiled he’d been. Roxie was only good at one thing: dancing. Until her pregnancy topsy-turvied her world and she’d had to make the decision to be a good mother, too.

She had to force herself go to bed. Well, Chloe actually did, reminding her that she’d wreck her first day at work if she was too tired. Surprisingly, she slept and woke up almost looking forward to the day.
Almost
, with a large side of terror.

Instead of the typical dance studio, rehearsals were held in a large warehouse that had been gutted and fit to the tour’s specifications. There were portable stages that had been made for the tour and then a separate room for warm-ups. The details had all been emailed the week before, and Roxie was shocked that it looked even better than she’d expected. The only other person in the room was one of the other dancers. He walked over and held his hand out.

“Justin Rodriquez,” he said. “Haven’t seen you on the circuit before.”

“I’m new,” she said, shaking his hand. “Roxie.”

He checked her out.
Straight
, Roxie filed away. She tugged on her long T-shirt and thought about putting her sweatshirt back on, but someone else came in, distracting them both with her high-pitched squeal.

“Hi!” She went straight for Roxie. “I’m Vanessa! So excited you’re here! I knew you’d make it!” A walking exclamation point. When she reached Roxie, she hugged her. “Remember me?”

Roxie nodded and grinned. Vanessa had been very helpful the day of auditions. She’d been on tour with Beckham before and loved sharing all the information with anyone who would listen. She was so nice, though, it was hard to not like her.

“Roxie, right?” she asked as she pulled away.

Roxie cleared her throat. “Yeah,” she croaked out. “Good to see you.”

“And can you believe Ian Sterling will be on this tour too? How cool is that? I couldn’t believe it when I heard!” Vanessa kept going.

“Yeah! So cool,” Roxie added weakly. She couldn’t believe it about Ian Sterling either—when they’d heard the news, she and Chloe had danced around the house for a solid fifteen minutes. She just wasn’t very good with meeting new people.

“Justin…” Vanessa said in a voice a hundred times cooler than the one she’d used with Roxie.

Justin leaned over to hug her and where her hug for Roxie had been bear-like, she stood limp as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Oh come on, Nessa, don’t be like that,” he crooned.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Let go of me, Justin.”

Ew, ouch. Icicles dripped off her words now. Roxie decided she
really
liked this girl.

They could hear commotion outside the room. Roxie recognized Anthony’s voice. He came in with the other three dancers.

“Oh lookie, we have everybody,” he said with a clap. “Does everyone know everyone?” He quickly introduced Brooke, Brad and Shelton and greeted Roxie, Justin and Vanessa. “Okay! Everyone ready?” He walked over to the stereo and turned it on.

Beckham was nowhere in sight and Roxie was so relieved she felt a rush of adrenalin.

“I’m not gonna waste time talking about what we’re gonna be doing over the next couple of months. It will be too overwhelming if I do. I’ll only say that I’m gonna work your asses off and you better deliver.” He raised an eyebrow and looked each one of them in the eye. “Line up, we’ll start with a couple warm-ups and then get to work.”

For the next three hours they moved without stopping. Anthony yelled a lot, but the guy was such a good dancer that everyone wanted to work hard to please him. They hadn’t done a full routine yet, just some exercises and dances that helped them learn to move together as a group.

When they broke for lunch, Roxie called to check on Leo. She’d planned on going to see him for lunch, but it had been catered in, and she thought it would look rude for her to bail on the first day.

“Whatcha doin’?” she asked when he said hello.

“Auntie and I are at the park!” he yelled.

Roxie held the phone away from her ear and grinned. “Oh good! Well, have so much fun! I’ll see you tonight at dinnertime, okay?”

“Love you, Mom!” He hung up before she could say it back.

She found everyone at a big round table, piled her plate and sat between Brooke and Brad.

“Eat much?” Brad said when he saw her plate.

She shrugged. “I burn it fast. Starve much?” She stared at his plate.

“It’s hard work to look this good,” Brad said, lifting his shirt and doing a stomach roll.

Roxie smirked. “Define
good
.”

Justin laughed. “
Oh
! Zing!”

Brad looked wounded for a minute and then started laughing too. “I know I shouldn’t, but I like you.” He moaned. “I always like the mean ones.”

Everyone laughed, including Roxie. She leaned her shoulder into his. “Maybe we can have Anthony work it in the program.” She lifted her shirt and rolled her stomach so fast, they all yelled.

That’s when Beckham decided to show up.