InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (37 page)

            They said
their goodbyes to Bo, and gathered their belongings. “Gonna be a chilly one,”
Brie said as they made their way to the elevator. “Unseasonably cool, the
weatherman said.”

             “Oh, I left
my jacket,” Tia said, “I’ll be right back,” 

            She tiptoed in—Bo’s
breathing was already in the early stages of sleep. She plucked her jacket from
the chair and heard him whisper. Not sure if he was talking to her, she leaned
in. He exhaled slowly and said what sounded like, “Soooo…sorrrry… sexy…” He
repeated the phrase again, and Tia tucked the blanket over his casted arm.
“You’ll be sexy again Bo, I promise,” she whispered back, but he was already
snoring softly.

            “Thank God,”
Lexi said, falling onto the couch as Tia recounted their afternoon with Bo.

            “The old Bo’s
still there,” she said gratefully. “Right now there’s some memory loss, but the
doctor says that’s normal, and they may come back in time. Headaches, dizziness
and that kind of thing are to be expected, but they’re pretty confident he’ll
make a full recovery. He didn’t remember anything about the accident, but he
remembered that Dylan and I are engaged, so that’s a good sign, I think.”

            “And he was
cracking jokes and pissing off the nurses within minutes of regaining
consciousness? Sounds like Bo to me. Oh, Tia, I’m just so relieved. I’ve been
so worried I haven’t been able to think straight. Tell him how happy I am, will
you?”

            “I will, but
it would be even better if you told him yourself. I’m sure your voice would
cheer him up.”

            “You think
so?” she asked.  She wished it were true, but she was probably the last person
he wanted to talk to. “I don’t want to intrude—he has his family, and you
guys—just tell him for me, OK?”

            “OK. Hey,
Dylan’s flagging me from the table. I think our dinner is here. Talk to you
tomorrow?”

            “Sure,” Lexi
said, wishing that she could be there, with all of them, as they celebrated
Bo’s recovery and Tia and Dylan’s engagement. “Talk to you then.”

            Bo sat alone
in his room; an InHap album vibrating in his ear and pictures spread out on the
bed all around him. He remembered a lot and for that he was grateful, but there
were enough fuzzy bits at the edges of his brain to cause him concern. He was
more than OK with not recalling the specifics of the accident—as far as he was concerned,
those details could keep to the dark recesses of his mind forever.  He had 
recognized his family; both his biological one and his band one; right away,
and he was completely confident that once he had a pair of sticks in his hands
he’d still be on top of his game. He’d listened to two of their albums already,
tapping out the rhythms with the tips of his fingers.

            Another
headache started squeezing at his temples like a vice and he pulled the buds
from his ears. The doctors said they were to be expected, but a couple had been
goddamn vicious and he rang for the nurse in the hope that a little magic juice
via his IV drip would knock him out and nip it in the bud. He scooped up the
pictures and put them back into the box, saying a little silent prayer of
thanks that he wasn’t a vegetable who didn’t remember his own name. As he
waited for the medicine to take effect, he propped his laptop on the little
tray attached to his bed and pulled up the video.

            He’d watched
it at least a dozen times already, frustrated by the haze that covered his
memory like an opaque curtain. There were tiny glimpses—shadows mostly— behind
the veil, but no matter how hard he focused, he couldn’t get any clarity. He
remembered Lexi; he had a lot of damn good memories, actually. He saw himself
strolling down the red carpet with her at Icon, dancing with her at the little
club in Northampton, and clearly recalled the way they shamelessly flirted. He
remembered the way everyone around them rolled their eyes at them whenever they
were together, and the way they finished each other’s sentences. They were all
good memories, which is why he had no explanation for why seeing her on the
video provoked a profound sadness in him.

            Most of
Christmas was fairly clear, brought into focus by photos his mother and sister
had given him, but his memory was a game of hopscotch after that. Bo had no
idea how he spent New Year’s Eve, but did remember Dylan’s voicemail about
their engagement. No matter how hard he concentrated though, he couldn’t recall
appearing on
After Dark,
despite all the times he replayed it. And for
the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why watching Lexi jump into his arms
over and over again filled him with a deep sense of regret.

            The magic
juice flowed through his veins, causing the shade to thicken over his thoughts,
and he drifted off into a fitful sleep.

            “Hey, Lex,
what’s up?” Ryan said into the phone as he shrugged into his coat. “I’m just
heading over to the deli for an Italian beef. You in the neighborhood?”

            “No, just
working,” she answered, “and I’ve got an appointment coming in about fifteen
minutes.  I just wanted to ask if you were getting off at a decent hour today,”
she said.

            “Should be,
yeah,” Ryan answered. “Just getting some things rolled over for the start of
the year…not too much to do. It’s been pretty quiet here, actually. Want to do
dinner or something?”

            “Yeah, I was
hoping to. Tia and Dylan invited us out for a little engagement celebration.
They just got back this afternoon, and I can’t wait to see her rock up close
and in person. They’ve got reservations at the Signature Room for 7:00.”

           
Son of a
bitch,
Ryan thought, bringing his free hand up to massage his forehead and
wishing he’d been more proactive with his social calendar. He’d known they were
coming back, and should have figured that Lexi would be itching to spend some
time with them. Frankly, he’d rather be fed to a den of starving lions; the
past few weeks had been trying, to say the least, with all the buzz about the so-called
“royal couple” and he was already sick of it. He’d finally managed to quiet
things down at the office—at least all the secretaries weren’t asking him on a
regular basis how Tia and Dylan were doing—but the club was still buzzing, and
he couldn’t seem to get the ringing out of his damn ears.

            Tia’s parents
were members, of course, so there was constant chatter about the engagement and
speculation about when and where the nuptials would take place. Then there were
the guys who kept asking if Dylan was thinking about joining the club, talking
about how cool it would be to get invited to concerts and parties and drooling
over the actresses they could meet. Of course the ladies were the worst—every
time he and Lexi were having dinner or drinks they were constantly popping by
the table, asking for updates about the drummer and sucking up to Lexi, who was
always happy to be in the know and share the gossip. It seemed that everyone
wanted to be her friend these days, and she was getting invited to more parties
than a birthday clown. At least she was smart enough to realize that none of
them really gave a shit about being her bosom buddy, but she seemed to love the
attention, nonetheless.

            He was willing
to bet that Tia had never even heard of The Signature Room until a few months
ago; she certainly couldn’t have afforded to frequent the place on her salary.
Suddenly, though, she was the queen of the world, wearing a ring with a
freaking diamond big enough to be called a rock and having people willing to
fall down at
her
feet as well as Dylan’s. La dee fucking da.  

            It was too
late to try and come up with an excuse not to go, so he was going to have face
another night of being invisible while Lexi basked in the fringes of the
spotlight and everyone in the place whispered and stared at their table. He and
Lex had been on some rocky ground the past few weeks, especially since the
drummer kept popping up in conversations. He’d come to the conclusion that she
hadn’t slept with the guy—he was hardly her type—but he was getting sick of
hearing about the dude. Obviously, that would be a big topic of conversation
over dinner tonight.  Yup, a den of lions sounded pretty damn good right now.

            He really
needed to get over this whole thing; had to find a way to make it fit into his
life and his life with Lexi or it was going to eat him alive. He’d already
spent way too many hours pondering it, and realized that there wasn’t going to
be a happy ending—not for him anyway. As a lawyer he prided himself on being
able to see all sides of the story, and to decipher squarely where to put the
blame. Problem was; there really wasn’t any blame to place in this situation—it
just sucked of its own volition.      Lexi really didn’t deserve to be punished
because her best friend landed a rock star; and who wouldn’t jump at free trip
to Europe to tour with the band and live the good life for a while? It was Tia
who’d sworn her to secrecy—hell, she didn’t even tell her own parents—and Lexi
was a loyal friend. He had to give Tia props for not flaunting Miller in
everyone’s faces the minute she met him; he knew a lot of people who would; and
he respected that she kept him on the down-low and went on with her life.

            Then there was
Miller. In all honesty, he kind of liked the guy; what he knew of him, anyway.
He didn’t get a bad rap in the press, he didn’t seem completely full of
himself, and he really seemed to love Tia. She was a good person too, and she
deserved to be happy, especially after the shit hand she’d been dealt when Nick
died.

             As much as
the lawyer in him wanted to place blame for his negative feelings somewhere,
there really wasn’t anywhere to put it except for squarely on his own
shoulders. Maybe he needed to suck it up and give the guy a chance, because God
knew it wasn’t going to be going away any time soon. Or ever.  Damn, sometimes
he really missed Nick and the simpler days, when they could hang out as a
foursome and shoot the shit without anyone asking for autographs.

            “You still
there?” Lexi asked, pulling him from his thoughts. 

            “Yeah, sorry,
just got an email in,” he lied. “I guess we can do that. Pick you up at six?”

            “Dylan’s got a
limo, actually,” she said. “They’re going to pick me up around six, so you
could either meet me at my place, or we could swing by and get you. You can
spend the night if you want, in case it goes late.”

            “It’s only
Tuesday, Lex, and I’ve got an early meeting tomorrow, so I can’t stay out late.
Why don’t you just come and get me—I can always catch a cab back home if I need
to.”

            “OK, we’ll see
you around six-fifteen then. I’ll text you when we’re close. Oh, and they’re
planning something at
Paddy’s
for Friday night, so make sure you keep
that open too.”

            “Great,” Ryan
said absent-mindedly. Another night with the rowdy bunch at the Irish bar—he could
hardly wait. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later, OK?”

              “OK sweetie,
have a good rest of the day…love you!”

            “You too,”
Ryan mumbled before he tapped the screen to end the call. He started toward the
door, but decided that if he was going to have an expensive dinner on Miller’s
dime, he was going to be good and hungry for it. He had some granola bars in
his desk; that would tide him over.

            Ryan was the
last stop, so the three of them were already drinking champagne when he climbed
into the limo.

            “Hey,
congratulations,” Ryan said, trying to sound enthusiastic. He planted a kiss on
Lexi, hugged Tia, and shook Dylan’s hand. “I’m really happy for you guys.”

            “It’s great to
see you again, Ryan,” Dylan said. “I’m glad you could join us on such short
notice.”

            “Oh God,
you’ve got to see Tia’s ring!” Lexi exclaimed, grabbing Tia’s hand and holding
it out to Ryan. Tia smiled shyly as she allowed her friend to dangle her hand
in front of Ryan’s face. His eyes widened as he took it in; he couldn’t help
but notice how ordinary Lexi’s ring looked next to the gigantic stone on Tia’s
finger. It really was a rock.

            “Damn,” he
said, trying to keep his voice light. “Looks like you robbed the crown jewels,
or something.”

            “That’s what I
said,” Tia agreed, taking back her hand and resting it in Dylan’s.

            “That’s what a
lot of people have said. I didn’t know anything about buying engagement rings.
I just took the guy’s word for it,” Dylan said, shrugging.
Must be nice to
have so much disposable cash,
Ryan thought bitterly.

            “So how was
Australia?” Ryan asked.

            “Yes, yes,
let’s see some pictures!” Lexi exclaimed. Tia pulled out her IPad and started
scrolling through photos and sharing stories. Ryan sat back and listened,
nodding and smiling at all the right times while Lexi got positively giddy over
them. It was going to be a long effing night.