The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (26 page)

Jessie did as he instructed, completing the deep breathing exercise eight times. “Okay, so what do you do at Christmas?”

He
laughed. “I go home to visit my folks in Phoenix. W
e have turkey, open presents, listen to Christmas music--mostly country--my mom’s favorite. She has a tree, and bak
es cookies. The usual stuff. Oh,
and eggnog, with plenty of brandy in it.”

That made her smile. “I dat
ed a Jehovah’s Witness in High School
. He didn’t believe in birthdays or Christmas.”

“Ah.
”  Lex caught the meaning of her question about Christmas. “So, no
presents from him
on your birthday
or Christmas
.
Cheap ass S.O.B
.”

“He was nice.
It was platonic
, not so much about the physical
relationship,
but he did spend an awful lot of time trying to convert me
to his way of thinking
.  Doing the philosophical questions all the time. That got old. I broke up with him over it.”

“You have your own path.” Lex reminded her. “The way to inner peace is different for each of us.”

Jessie looked wary again
. “I’m not into religion. Okay. You just meditate all you want, but don’t drag me into it.”

“That was my plan.” He replied
, offering her a patient smile.

New Age Mysticism
? 
Jessie shook her head
as she unlocked the front door and led Duncan into the foyer of their beachfront home. She flicked on the light in the kitchen, and mechanically moved to the cupboard, then crouched on the floor to fill Duncan’s dish. His crunching echoed in the kitchen as she remained crouched beside him, stroking his now soft and sleek back as he ate.

“What do you think, boy?” She found herself asking. “Do you like him?”

A wag
ging tail answered her
as Duncan remained resolute over his bowl. Heavy clanking sounded from the stairwell as
Ozzy
’s overgrown claws plunked down the iron staircase, the sound of food summoning him forth from his master’s bedroom.

Seeing Jessie, the little pug became a squiggling mass of fur as he jumped up on her lap and began kissing her frantically. “Poor boy, left home alone again, huh
.
” Jessie crooned, stroking a velvet ear. 

A note was tacked to the fridge. She slowly stood
to read it. Jack was at Moonshadows, the local pub up the highway, with Steve. They’d be home later, his note promised.
DO NOT
answer the phone
!
Her brother’s impatient scrawl cautioned
.
Let the answering
machine get it
.

Jessie didn
’t want to
dea
l with her family
.
She was tired of always trying to fit in, to explai
n. Tired of hop
ing
one day
they’d
come around and just accept her for who she was.
Her father’s reaction hurt most of all. With her sister, it was pretty much a given that she’d incur disapproval, short of joining a convent. Even then, Michelle would likely disapprove
as Catholics were
n’t
true
Christians in her
sister’s
narrow
world
view
.

And M
om, well, t
here was no pleasing her, ever
. How did you please a woman who had screamed at you from the time you were five that she wished she never had any blankety-blank kids?  That
statement, hurled at them in anger,
pretty much said it all. Mo
m resented their very existence and told them so
from the beginning.

Dad, that was different. He was
the normal one
,
the sane one. The calm, rational one. He was the
one
Jessie longed for approval from the most of all
.

It wasn’t happening. Not in this life.

Geez, now she was starting to sound like Lex, with his past life, reincarnation gibberish. Jessie didn’t know what she believed, when it came right down to it. She’d been raised Catholic, like most Irish-American girls. Still, she hadn’t kept up
with church after leaving home
and didn’t really think much about the whole universe and the hereafter, like other people did. She believed in living in t
he here and now. Making careful choices
to ensure a peaceful, quiet existence right here, right now.

Damn, girl. W
hy did you decide to go into the rock music business
?

She remo
ved her denim jacket and hung
it over
the kitche
n chair. Jessie then
reached in
to
the fridge for a cool
Starbucks
Frappuccino
. With her cell phone in one hand,
her drink in the other, Jessie sank into the plush living room sofa, content to be alone and sort out her fe
elings
.

Her first instinct was to run---not walk---away from him. Things were gett
ing too complicated
. It was crazy. She took a small sip of the cool mocha beverage, pondering the man she’d be
come engaged to in the span of
several weeks.

A whirlwind romance
.
W
as it fate as
Lex
claimed
?
He
said they
were lovers in a past life and that
was why he knew she was
the right woman for him
in this one. He said his soul reco
gnized hers.
Jessie didn’t remember him from a past life. She didn’t recall
anything from another life, for that matter. She was too busy trying to forget
all the bad stuff in this one. She didn’t know what to think anymore.

Should she shrug it all off, just let him have his idyllic fantasy about a past fling?

Or should she run, not walk, away from this new age touchy-feely guy?

What
if he decided he wasn’t in love with her in a few ye
ars?

What had she gotten herself in to?

What had Kyra gotten her into
?

She
turned on her phone and brought up the internet. Comfortabl
e with her cold mocha
Frappuccino
and the huggable black le
ather couch, Jessie started researching online
about that guru Lex
mentioned. 
Ravi--
just
plain
Ravi. No last name.
There were tons
of hits. She started reading about the guy
. Eac
h link lead her to another site
and after an hour of searching she had a brief understanding of the religious dictates Lex adhered to
. Jessie kicked off her sandals and drew her legs up into a curl on the sofa.

Her phone
needed to be charged. She rose from her comfy repose and plugged it in at the desk
. Steve’s laptop was out, so she carried it to the sofa, logged on and continued her research. Maybe it was silly, but she wanted to make certain she wasn’t going to regret becoming Mrs. Alexander Coltrane in the years to come. She was going to make damn sure that Lex wasn’t involved in anything remotely r
esembling that other weird, controlling quasi-religious group so many of the stars
in LA
were into.

It was going to be a lon
g night.

After
eleven
,
a warning box opened up on the screen, telling her
the battery was exhausted on the laptop. Since she had to plug it in Jessie decided to move her research session
upstairs to her
roo
m.
Her
new
smart phone was charged and ready to go. She grabbed it and retreated upstairs to her room.
The dogs followed her upstairs
and settled themselves on her bed before she had a chance to claim a corner of it for herself.

Steve and Jack returned at m
idnigh
t. Jack peeked in at her and asked
if she were all
right
. Jessi
e nodded, and he left her to continue her studies.

She heard the television
blare to life
in Jack’s room
after a few moments, and felt secure with
her brother just down the hall
. At last, too, tired and
bleary eyed to read
anymore she closed the web browser on her phone,
dimmed
the
light and sank
down into the pillows
to sort out her new found knowledge with her feelings for Lex.

You do love the guy
.
 
She reminded herself, balancing the decis
ion in her mind. He’d been kind
and willing to discuss her doubts about them.
He admitted the truth easily today, not lying to cover it up, as if it were something to be afraid of.

The
house phone startled
Jessie awake
. She hadn’t realized she was dozing until the sharp ring brought her back to reality.

“Hello?”

“I wish I’d never had you, Jessica. I’m not going to be around for your wedding. I’m going to
kill myself.” Marcie Kelly’s shrill voice assaulted
Jessica’s ears as she forgot her brother’s caution and mistakenly answered the phone.

“Mom--” She
glanced at
the clock. “It’s two
-thirty. Where’s Dad? Put him on.
”

“He’s sleeping. I’m going to take his gun and go out in the trai
l
er
and end my shame right now.
”

“
Yeah, I’ve heard that before.
” Jack’s
voice startled both women as he growled
from another
extension. “
W
hy do
n’t you just do it?
”

“
Jack
.
” Jessie screamed. She launched up from the bed and
hurried down the hall
with the cordless pressed to her ear
. Jack wasn’t in his room. She rushed
down the stairs to
find where her brother lurked so she could stop him from
taunting their ment
ally unstable mother when she was
threat
ening
to end her life
.

“That’s it.” Their mother’s voice went on in an eerie, emotional cresc
endo. “I’m finished with you both
. As far as I’m concerned, I have only one child
.
”

“Yeah, I’
ve heard that one before, too.
” Jack snarled
. “It doesn’t work
anymore
, Mommy Dearest
.
You’ve threatened us for so many years its old hat.
An
d
--”

Jack stopped as
Jessie reached the bottom
of the spiral stairs. Their eyes met. Jessie was transported through the years again as the same scenario played itself out between the three of them; without the phone, and without Jack taunting their mom in the face of her threats. They were children, frightened, confused children, facing a monster who just happened to be their mother.

She stood at the entrance to the kitchen.
Jack stood
at the island counter facing her,
with the phone in one hand, and a fine white line of co
ke neatl
y set out on the granite
before him.

“Jack, p
lease, stop it.” Jessie pleaded. She stepped toward him and tried
to yank the phone from his grasp. He evaded her reach. The look on his face was frightening. Jack looked like death h
imself, his face hard and his eyes cold
as he boldly
confronted
their deranged mother. 

“Mom,
it’s
not that
bad
.
” Jessie countered. “Put Dad on, please?”

“Hang up, Marcie
.” Jack challenged
. “Hang up, so I can call the
paramedics in Eau Claire, the fire departm
ent and the police
.
They’ll be at your door in ten minutes.
”