Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel) (3 page)

“I don’t think they serve that here,” Arty said.

She shook her dark hair back over her shoulders and rolled her eyes.

Cody gave Arty a warning nod. “Don’t underestimate her. That girl’s magic. She can make anything happen anywhere. She’s never let me down.” She popped in and out as needed whenever there were interviews to do, and when he needed damage control, there was no one better to have on his side. The dark-haired beauty knew her business. He owed Arty big-time for bringing her onto the team.

“Thanks, Cody. It’s nice to be appreciated by someone.” She glared at Arty.

“You might be assigned to work for Cody, but I’m the one cutting the checks that pay your salary, Annette. Don’t push your luck with me.” Arty steadied a don’t-screw-with-me look on her until she rolled her eyes again and walked away, then he turned back to Cody. “What are you doing that’s so damn important you can’t give me two hours for the party?” He waved his wiry arms around as he spoke. “Don’t tell me you’re tired. I don’t want to hear it because these gigs weren’t in the plan when we set up the tour—the profitable part of your schedule. These little shows are barely worth the gas in the two buses to get here.”

“You get your cut no matter what, so don’t worry about it.”

Arty pushed his hand through his hair. “Yeah, but I’ll never understand why you do it. Look, what’s one more day? Just come and make a short appearance; hell, even just an hour, that’s all I ask. Besides, the publisher for your coffee-table book is going to be at the party and it wouldn’t hurt for you to give them an update on that barbecue book project you’ve got on the back burner with them.”

“You’re way better at that kind of talk than I am. That’s why you get paid the big bucks.” Cody stood up and poured another glass of water from the pitcher in the refrigerator. “Look. I’ve got meet and greets to do. Is that all you came for?”

Arty shrugged. “Yeah. Waste of good time.”

“Hey, I could’ve saved you the trip with a phone call.”

“Fine. So where are y’all going to be after the Virginia Beach show?”

Cody wasn’t about to get into this with him. “I made plans to drop in on an old friend.”

“Anyone I know?”

He turned his back on Arty. “We’re not having that conversation. It’s personal and you never like who I like anyway.”

Arty laughed. “That’s because you have a lousy track record. They’re either gold diggers or…”

“They dump me. You can say it. They dump me because I work too much or whatever, but that’s my problem to deal with. Not yours. Besides, I already know this one.”

“You’re going to look up someone who already didn’t work out. That’s just stupid.”

“People change.
I’ve
changed, and I’m not getting any younger.” Truth was he’d looked up his first serious gal, Lou, a while back. Although recently he’d put off getting back together with her for so long he wasn’t sure if it was even a good idea anymore, but that wasn’t the point.

“It’s a mistake. Don’t do it.” Arty shook his head. “You never listen though.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not as tenderhearted as I was back then.”

“You say that now. You know if this mystery someone came looking for you, she wants something.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence there, buddy. But that’s where you’re wrong. This time I went looking for her.” Cody stood at the door of the bus and nodded toward Annette. “Found her, too, with a little help from my friends.”

“You did this?” Arty glared at Annette. He looked like he was going to pop a vein. “You’ve heard the stories about Cody when his heart’s broken.”

“It was a long time ago, Arty.” She ripped a sheet of paper from her padfolio and handed it to Cody. “Here are the rest of the details you need for the week.” Then she
handed him a stack of glossy photographs. “These are for the meet and greet.”

“Thanks, Annette.” Cody hugged her and she turned to leave.

“Annette, give me a call tomorrow. I need to talk to you.” Arty slung back the rest of his drink and muttered as she walked off the bus. “She really ought to mind her own business.”

“I asked her to help me, Arty. Don’t give her any shit. It’s going to be fine. It might not even go anywhere.”

“Damn right it won’t. You need to leave the past in the past.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more. She and I haven’t even talked about the past, and I’m fine if we never do. But we have been talking and I think we’re going to give this another shot now that things aren’t so crazy like they were when I first got into the business.”

“Which one is it? Let me guess. The brunette from Florida. What was her name?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“No. No. I know. That girl Jackie with the horse farm. She lived up near DC, didn’t she? Up near Pete’s folks.”

“You never give up.”

“Fine. Don’t tell me, but I’ll go on record. Don’t do it, Cody—you know it’s never wise to go backward. You could have any woman in the world.”

“That’s a total line of BS and you know it.”

“Why are you barking up an old tree? If you want to settle down, find someone new. Find someone who is on your level.”

“My level? You know I don’t think that way.”

“Well, you should. Let me set you up with someone. I know lots of nice gals in the business.”

Cody laughed aloud at that comment. “You don’t know any nice girls.”

“I know people who know nice girls.”

“That’s more like it, but no thanks. I think I can handle this on my own.”

“Well, fine, but don’t come crying to me when it blows up on you and expect me to forgo the pleasure of a good told-you-so. But then again, you
have
written some of your best hits after breakups. On second thought, this could just work to both our benefits.”

“It’s not going to be like last time.”

“Oh really? What makes you so sure?”

“I’m older now. I’m in a different place.”

“Haven’t you heard the saying that you can’t go back home?”

“This is different.”

Pete pounded on the door as he stepped up into the bus. “You ready, Cody?”

“Sure, yeah,” Cody said. “Look, I’ve got to run. Good to see you.”

“Well, if you change your mind, head on up to the estate. It’s going to be a helluva party and Johnny G. will be there. You know he’s been talking about doing a remake of that movie. It could be your part. Come up and make it happen.”

“Tempting, but I’m ready for some downtime. Besides, I’ve got that album to get out before spring and I can’t possibly put something else on my plate right now.”

“Never thought I’d hear you pass up an opportunity like this.”

“Maybe my priorities are shifting.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of that.”

“You’ll be fine.” Cody walked to the back of the bus to change shirts, then grabbed a handful of permanent ink markers, black and silver, and tucked them in his back pocket. He cuffed Arty’s shoulder as he headed down the stairs. Cameras flashed as Cody exited the bus, and Arty slipped out behind him.

For an hour Cody shook hands and posed for pictures with fans and street team members. By the time he’d said good-bye to the last person, the guys had everything packed up and ready to go. Cody was barely settled in the front lounge area of the bus when the wheels started to spin.

Pete gave a nod to Cody as he strummed his guitar. He was tinkering with a melody they’d been working on the last couple of weeks off and on. “I think I got it figured out.” He played the chords.

Cody bobbed his head to the beat and then smiled wide. “Yeah. That’s it. Perfect.” He grabbed his guitar and they played it again together until it was just right. Then they hunkered down over the table and reworked the lyrics for about the hundredth time.

Pete laid down his guitar. “Want something to eat?” He opened the door of the full-size Sub-Zero fridge and took out a tray of deli meats. “I’m going to make a sandwich.”

“No thanks. I’m going to hit the shower.” Cody went back to his room, finally able to slow down a little now that the adrenaline of meeting all those people had worn off. He pressed the button that closed the door behind him. This bus was his home for over half of the year. Even when he flew in, he chose to sleep here on his own bus rather
than the hotel rooms they were given. Some people might think that was hard, but it wasn’t so bad. He had the best of the best amenities on this bus. More than most musicians ever had the chance to enjoy, much less own like he did. Besides, he liked being on the road, and that had always been more than enough, until lately. Lately, he’d found himself a little restless. Yearning for something else. Not really for more, just something different.

He reached inside the oversize shower to turn on the steam. He had more showerheads and jets in his bus shower than he did at home. Cody let the steam fill the glass enclosure as he stripped down. He stepped inside and turned on the rain shower and closed his eyes for a second. He lathered up and scrubbed the sticky sweat from his body, thinking about what it would be like if he wasn’t on the road over half of the year. It was nearly impossible to imagine. He loved every minute, every venue, big or small, and even his worst days were pretty damn good.
It would be even better if I had someone to share it with.
But it wasn’t an easy life, and not one that just anyone could handle.

He dried off and threw his towel over the shower stall to dry, then changed into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.

Pete rapped twice on the door. “Hey, man. Just wanted to let you know we’re stopping at the next exit to refuel and get some stuff at Walmart.”

“Okay.”

“We’ve got a couple tagalongs.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.” Cody opened the door, then lay across the bed. It wasn’t all that unusual to have carloads of women follow the bus after a concert. Less likely at the small events, and they usually gave up after a few miles as
they sobered up, but there’d been some who had followed them for a whole twelve-hour drive.

He felt the bus slow to a stop just as his phone vibrated on the nightstand. He thumbed through the messages. There was one from Lou from earlier in the day saying she’d seen the schedule update that they’d be in West Virginia.

He rolled over and typed a response. O
N THE ROAD NOW
. W
E WON
’
T BE TOO FAR FROM YOU
. Y
OU SHOULD COME
.

The phone beeped. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly four in the morning. Her response read, I
T
’
S BEEN A WHILE
.

W
HAT ARE YOU DOING AWAKE
?

She texted back that she couldn’t sleep, and she wished she could make the show but she had to work.

It
had
been a while since they’d gotten together. No fault of hers. He’d invited her out to a few shows and it had been fun to talk about the old days although they’d tiptoed around the fact that she’d dumped him all those years ago. His relationship with Lou, short for “Bettie Lou,” had been hot and heavy at one time. In fact, he’d always figured she’d be the one he married, but when his career got going, the relationship sank, and she hadn’t even given him the chance to choose—instead she’d dumped him. Too big for his own almost-a-star britches at the time, he hadn’t even tried to get her back.

Now that his career was in a much different place, he had the time and flexibility to have more in his life, but the two times he’d sent her tickets to shows, the sparks just hadn’t rekindled like he’d hoped.

I’
LL CHECK IN WHILE WE
’
RE IN YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS
, he typed. Only he didn’t know if he should even bother. If she
was interested she’d have found a way to work in the trip to West Virginia.

His thoughts turned to Kasey Phillips. He hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since, well, hell, since the day he first laid eyes on her at the photo shoot at Arty’s estate. His celebrity hadn’t seemed to impress her at all, and that impressed him a lot. She was crazy about her husband and kid and that had been nice to hear too. Maybe that’s why he’d felt inclined to stay in touch with her after her husband’s death.
Why can’t I meet someone like her?

He used to love the attention from all the women, but the lies got old. Women were always talking down their husbands in front of him. If he went by what they said, there wasn’t a happy marriage left. But he knew better. These women just wanted to play in his VIP world for a little while, but that made it too damn easy to not even bother getting to know their names. The fun in that had died a long time ago.

Cody pulled a pillow under his head, flipped on the television, and clicked from the sports station to his second favorite, the Weather Channel.

It looked like a big storm was heading right up the coast. It was that time of the year when hurricanes favored the Eastern Seaboard.

Life on the road. Never a dull moment.

T
he next morning Riley gathered her things to get on the road early.

“I wish you could stick around,” Kasey said as she put away the coffee.

Riley shifted her overnight bag to her shoulder. “I know, but I’ll be back on Friday.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m not ready for another birthday.” Kasey pulled the skin taut by her eyes. “I’m almost at the Botox-away-the-crow’s-feet age.”

“Stop it.” Riley tugged Kasey’s hands from her face. “You’re beautiful, and when we get that old you can just airbrush us pretty in all the pictures.”

“I can totally do that. I’ve done some real magic on lots of celebrities over the years. But I still hate birthdays.”

“Too bad. If I have to have them, so do you.”

Kasey walked Riley to the front door. “Speaking of airbrushing celebrities, I still don’t know how I’m going to juggle photo shoots and Jake in school. I’ve got to figure out something soon.”

“Until then you know Von and I will watch Jake anytime for you.”

Thank God for them. She still couldn’t leave him with
anyone else without a complete meltdown. “I know, and I appreciate all you’ve done for me, but that’s not a forever solution. We both know that.”