Rookie (25 page)

The only thing she had to look forward to was the duet with Nathan.  Peter Winthrope had called her the Monday after the party to inform her that they would be recording late Wednesday night of the following week.  Sidney’s spirits rose slightly at the thought, knowing that Rob and Chad would be having a dinner meeting with the manager of a band they were trying to woo away from a competitor.

Her video debuted on
Hitz TV with moderate success.  Rob grunted the news to her the next day in passing, quelling the excitement she’d had when she’d watched it at her cottage with Leslie.

She’d managed to keep in touch with the Mystic Dash boys, but on a limited basis.  They’d hit the studios on Monday with Rob at the helm.  Sidney couldn’t summon the courage to pop in to say hi.  She couldn’t stand to be in the same room with Rob.

Peter emailed her the music and lyrics to become familiar and also an elaborate synopsis of the movie he was working on, asking her to read it so she better understood the song he’d written.  She sat in Rob’s office, fighting back tears as she read about a girl moving to Hollywood to pursue her dreams, only to fall madly in love with a director.  He breaks her heart, causing her scenes and scenes of turmoil, until the end when he realizes that he loves her, too, and they live happily ever after.

She wanted to vomit.

When Wednesday night finally rolled around, she returned to the empty studio and found Peter Winthrope waiting for her in the locker room.

“Ready to get started?” he asked.

She nodded, eager to work.

They took the elevator up and when they entered the studio, he introduced her to his crew.  A few minutes later, Nathan arrived.  Giving her a fierce hug, he stepped back to smile.

“Ready to do this?”

“I am,” she said.

“I’m sure we’ll get this in only a few takes,” Peter said.  “If you’ve both been working on the song.”

They nodded.

“Great.  Let’s get to work.”

Relaxing, she was able to have
fun as they belted out the lyrics, recording in the same fashion as Rob liked.  It took a little over two hours for Peter to finally get what he wanted. 

The song was
angsty but still positive.  They sang together, their voices melding in sweet harmony, the words of love not quite lost flowing from their lips.  Too close to home, the lyrics struck Sidney’s heart and soared through her soul.  It took little effort on her part to nail the emotion intended when Peter wrote the song.

When she followed Nathan into the sound booth
once they’d finished, she wasn’t surprised to see Leslie, sitting close to Peter.

“That was fantastic,” Leslie
said, her eyes wide with awe.

“It was
.” The voice was soft and raw.

Sidney looked up to see Rob standing in the corner, arms folded.  Her heart seized as a tremble worked its way to her hands.

“Thanks, man,” Nathan said.  “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Had a dinner meeting tonight,” Rob said.  “When it was over, I came back here to finish some stuff.  Saw Leslie in the hall and she told me what was going on.”

“If you’d check your email once in awhile,” Leslie snipped, “you would have known that Peter was using the studio tonight.”

“Yeah, well, my assistant used to do that for me,” Rob said, voice soft.

Tension hovered like an enemy helicopter over the battleground.  Sidney couldn’t take it.

“Well, I’m going to head home,” Sidney said as she inched toward the door.  “
Peter, thanks.  Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Sure, dear,” he said.  “And thank you.”

“Hey, Sid,” Nathan said but Sidney waved him away.

“I’ll call you later,” she said over her shoulder as she escaped the room and ran for the stairs.  She had no intention of waiting for the elevator.

Just as she reached the locker room, Rob called her name.

“Sid, wait.”

She paused, back to him.

“I just,” he said as he stopped a few feet away.

“Just what?” she asked as she spun to face him.  “Yell at me some more?”

“I never yelled at you,” he said.  “And I didn’t come here to yell at you now.”

Snorting, she pushed open the door and stormed to her locker.  Fury boiled over as she spotted the piece of tape she’d thrown out stuck to her locker again.  Upside down.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she whispered.

“I…it was a joke,” he said.

“Ha. Ha,” she said, ripping it off before opening the door to retrieve her bag.

“You don’t have a problem laughing with your new friends,” he said in a snarky tone.  “A little young for you, don’t you think?”

Slamming the locker door, she turned to face him, uncontrolled anger welling up inside.

“They’re my friends, Rob,” she said, teeth clenched.  “Or did you forget what that means?”

“Well, I, of all people, know what you ask of your friends,” he said.  Immediately, his jaw dropped as he stepped toward her.  “Sid…”

She pushed him away, tears falling.  “Get away from me.  I quit.  I’m done.  Stay out of my life.”

“Sid,” he called, running after her.

“Leave her alone, Rob,” Leslie ordered, racing from the elevator to catch Sidney.  But Sidney brushed aside the other’s girl’s efforts at comfort as she hurried to the garage, hoping that Moe or whoever was working could get her a cab and quickly.

***

Sidney struggled through July, spending hours logged into the Internet, looking for a job.  Sitting around the cottage all day either watching trashy daytime television or sitting on the beach wasn’t cutting it.  She was used to staying busy.

It wasn’t just the sitting around that was getting to her: It was the loneliness, too.  Leslie called her sometimes to check out a movie or to just hang out on the beach.  But time with her was limited now that she was seeing Peter
Winthrope.

The Mystic Dash boys had returned to their Chicago area homes once their recording was finished, but still managed to call her a couple times a week.

What bothered her most was that Rob would be leaving any day with Melanie for the couples cruise.  Although she tried not to think about it, images of Rob and Melanie strolling the deck, hand in hand, invaded her mind.

Aliza
called her once a week after Sidney finally spilled the entire sordid tale to her.  But nothing the older woman said helped heal the gaping wound in Sidney’s heart.

One morning, the last week of July, Sidney retrieved her mail from the box near the road.  Once again it seemed as if she had nothing but a heaping load of advertisements, special offers, and subscription requests.  All of sudden, the advertising world discovered that she was living in Woodbridge Beach and wanted to give her the chance to take advantage of their services.

Dropping the mail on her table, she wondered if the used car dealer where she’d purchased a shiny red convertible had sold her information to someone.  She couldn’t understand how she’d become the focus of so many companies.

Pondering this latest development, Sidney almost missed her phone ringing from somewhere in the depths of her bag.  Running to the living room, she dug around until she located the instrument and answered.

“Hello, Sidney,” a familiar voice said.  “How are you?”

Sidney’s heart filled with love as she sighed. 
“Mrs. B!  How are you?”

“Oh, I can’t complain.  I miss you, though.”

Sidney chuckled.  “I miss you, too.”

“Well, then, maybe you’d like to have dinner with me tonight?” she suggested. 
“At that little café down the street from Woody’s?”

“Dell’s?
  Sure,” Sidney said.  “What time?”

***

Dell’s was a cute little café with indoor or outdoor seating.  The steaming day had turned into a pleasant enough evening so that most of the diners elected to enjoy their meals on the deck.  That left the nearly empty dining room to Sidney and Mrs. B.

After they ordered, Mrs. B took a sip from her water glass and studied Sidney.

“You look almost as bad as he does,” she said.

Startled, Sidney’s jaw fell.  “Huh?”

“Let’s not beat around the bush, here,” Mrs. B said, folding her arms on the table.  “We both know that you’re pining for him and he’s pining for you.”

Sidney bit her lip as she looked out the window at the happy people laughing while they ate.  She released a long breath, hoping to quell the tear storm threatening to brew.

“Isn’t he on some cruise with his ex-wife right now?” she asked.

Mrs. B snorted, causing Sidney to gape at her.  “Sure, but do you really think he wanted to go?”

“He did have a choice.”

“Sure he did,” Mrs. B said.  “And he chose to go.  But not because he’s in love with that woman.”

Sidney cocked her head, rethinking her decision to meet with Mrs. B.  “Why else would he go?”

“Guilt,” Mrs. B said as she lifted her water glass to her lips.

“Guilt?”

Mrs. B nodded.  “Yes. 
Guilt.”

Sidney shook her head, refusing to believe it.  Rob was his own person and if he didn’t want to do something, he wouldn’t do it.  No amount of guilt could force him into anything.

“I didn’t work for Rob when he was married,” Mrs. B said.  “But I was with him after the divorce.  He confided in me several times about how horrible he felt about the whole thing.  He thought that he’d ruined her life. They were not ready for marriage, no matter what they thought back then.  Sure, they were in love, but stress and real life can destroy that.  It happened to Rob and Melanie.”

“But they’re trying to work things out,” Sidney said.

Mrs. B shrugged.  “Maybe, but I think for the wrong reasons.”

She scooted forward, pausing when the waitress returned with their soft drinks.

“You see,” Mrs. B continued, “Rob feels like he didn’t take care of her – didn’t do what he was supposed to do.  She left and ended up taking care of herself.  Now, maybe they both feel as if there is unfinished business between them, I don’t know, but I do know that he is not in love with her.”

Sidney peeled the wrapper off her straw and then poked at the ice cubes floating in her drink.  “I still think you’re wrong.  I just don’t think Rob would go unless he wanted to – because he’s in love.”

“Listen to me, Sidney,” Mrs. B said, leaning over the table.  “He’s in love, all right, but not with her.  You silly girl, don’t you see?  He’s in love with you.”

“Me?” Sidney said, eyes wide, hand hovering over her glass.  “No, I don’t think so.”

Mrs. B smiled her sweet, loving smile.  “I watched you two when you were living with us.  The tension was so thick that I really thought I could cut it with a knife.  And then, something must have happened.  You two wouldn’t look at each other but couldn’t help sneaking secret glances.”

Sidney’s cheeks flushed but she didn’t say a word.

“It thrilled me,” Mrs. B said.  “I thought he’d finally found someone who would love him with all her heart.  Someone he could love back.  Someone sweet and kind and gentle.”

Sidney shook her head.

“It’s true,” Mrs. B said.  “Honey, I know you’re hurting inside but so is he.  He hasn’t been the same since you left.  Just give him another chance.  Talk to him when he gets back.  You’ll see I’m right.”

When Sidney returned home that evening, she walked in through the kitchen door, dropped her bag, and walked out through the front door.

Strolling through the sand, she replayed everything that Mrs. B had said.  Maybe it was true and maybe it was just a caring woman’s hopes.  Sidney didn’t know and probably never would.  She just couldn’t talk to Rob – not now.

Sinking to the sand, she stretched out her legs as the sun dipped below the horizon and the gulls nestled down for the night.

She regretted the angry words that they’d tossed back and forth the last time she’d seen Rob.  But once things are said, you just can’t take them back.

“Really wish I could,” she muttered, picking up handfuls of sand and letting it leak through her fingers.  “Really wish I could.”

Sighing, she allowed her mind to go blank for a bit, zoning out to give her heart a rest.  Just as she was relaxing, her phone rang.  With a soft curse, she dug it out of her pocket, frowning at the screen.

“Unknown number, huh?” she said as she answered.  “Hello?”

“Yes, I look for Mario?” the thickly accented voice asked.

“Wrong number,” Sidney said, ending the call. Along with the barrage of junk mail, she also was receiving an unusual amount of wrong number calls.  It was irritating but what could she do?  Change her number, maybe, but she’d most likely get a wrong number or two on that one.

“Whatever,” she mumbled, her thoughts returning to her predicament.

Lexie
entered her mind.  Sparkly, bubbly Lexie.  In the short time that Sidney had known her, Lexie had never held a grudge.  Maybe Sidney could talk to her; explain why she’d done what she’d done.  Perhaps Lexie would listen and forgive.  Possibly even understand.  If Rob and Melanie’s cruise turned out to be a success, then would it matter anymore?