The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (48 page)

“I just had a bad dream.” She informed him, grateful for his intuition.

The house phone rang. They stared at one another, each panicked as their minds moved down the same dark path. No one called their beach house at 2 a.m.--no one except their crazy mother. Marcie Kelly hadn’t called for over
a month, not since they changed the number, locking out the dragon once again.
Jessi
e
didn’t want to
talk to her
parents about her break up
w
ith Lex. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
And she didn’t intend to tell
them she was back with Lex again. If she did finally agree to marry him, they’d read about it in the gossip rags, because she was
n’t going down that road a second time.

The phone kept ringing. And ringing. Finally, the answering machine kicked in.
Even with the number change and the impossibility of it being Marcie with another suicide threat,
Jack and Jessi
e remained perfectly still,
baby
rabbits hiding from the wolf.

Steve poked his head in the door. “Hey, I think you guys should hear this message.”

“If it’s Marcie--“ Jack began, his face turning red with fury.

“No, it was your A
unt Rachel. She called Max
and he gave her our house number
since it was an emergency. Your dad’s in the hospital.”

Dad
? Jessie’s heart rose to a new level of panic. Dad had cancer, leukemia.
They said it was in remission, b
ut that was before their mother went on he
r latest broom ride
over the wedding. Stress wasn’t good for cancer patients. It was deadly. The stress of living with Marcie when she was flying high on one of her schizophrenic episodes had to be hell on him. She looked to Jack, uncertain if she could face the horrible news that their dad, the one person in their family aside from Aunt Rachel who had been a source of calm--of sanity--might be dying.

Jack was staring out the window, lost in his own thoughts as he contemplated the same frightening
scenario--of actually losing the sane parent--the one who did care about them when they were growing up.

Seeing Ja
ck was paralyzed with inaction and liable
to go s
nort a line in the
next moments, Jessie
followed Steve out of her room. She was d
etermined to deal with the crisis for both of them. She would call Aunt Rachel back. Aunt Rachel wouldn’t call them like this if it weren’t an emergency.

As she stepped into the hall, Steve leaned close. He took her hand, clutching it hard, and then he pulled her close. “They think he’s dying, Jess.” He whispered so Jack wouldn’t hear. “And it ain’t from the cancer, either.”

“
What
?
What happened?”

“Your mom . . . um . . . she tried to shoot herself with his gun, and . . . he tried to stop her
. . .
the gun went off . . .
”

Jessie screamed, and nearly sank to the floor. “No--no--“ 

Steve caught Jessie and held her, preventing he
r from sinking to her knees in n
ear hysteria.

Not like this. Not her father--killed by her crazy ass mother. No, it would not do. This had gone on long enough. That woman was clearly dangerous, to herself and to everyone ar
ound her. This had to end.

She went downstairs with Steve’s h
elp as he kept his arm about her waist
. She didn’t want to talk to
her aunt with Jack nearby. S
he wanted t
o hear the voicemail message
, so she let Steve help her
down the winding wrought iron staircase.

The machine on the kitchen
countertop was flashing
, signifying a new message. Jessie stood before it and leaned forward with both arms extended over the cool granite stones. She was barefoot, dressed only in her blue silk camisole and matching pajama pants. The stone tiles were cool against her feet, helping to ground her in the sobering reality of this waking nightmare. She sighed, braced herself, and then pressed the button to play the message.

Aunt Rachel’s voice filled the dimly lit kitchen as the night light was the only illumination in the room. It was just as her friend reported. Their father was in the hospital. He’d been shot accidently by his own pistol when trying to wrestle it from their mother’s hands. He’d been shot in the chest. They were doing surgery on him right now at Luther Hospital, but Aunt Rachel thought they should prepare themselves for the worst Nothing was said about their mother, whether she’d been taken into custody or not. Steve opened the fridge and pulled out two cans of coke. He slid one across the counter to where she stood. 

“I’ll book us a flight.” He said, snapping the top open on his can. “You might ask Lex to watch the dogs for us till we get back.”

Tears were running down her face
. Steve was still here. He was still one of her people. The only one left amon
g the band, aside from Jack. Steve
didn’t even ask if she wanted him to go with them. He just knew the answer, like any true friend would.

“Want me to call him for you?”

Jessie nodded. She couldn’t speak, and yet, somehow she had to find the courage to tell her brother that their mother may have killed their father. She gasped and snuffled as
a flood of tears overwhelmed her. S
teve handed her a kitchen towel
and pulled his cell phone out of his jean pocket. He pressed speed dial, and immediately the caller on the other end picked up.

We have an understanding
. Lex had said regarding Steve. So, Lex was on his speed dial. Even though she and Lex lived next door to each other, she realized Lex had a man on the inside here to keep an eye on her; Steve.

As her friend explained the situation to her lover, in th
e most oblique terms possible,
just that her dad was in emergency surgery, not the gory details of their family squabbles, Jessie worked on summoning the strength needed to call Aunt Rachel’s cell number.

She bru
shed at her eyes with her palms
and played the message again. This time, she took down the number on the pad beside the phone. Hopefully, Aunt Rachel would be able to answer. Jessie didn’t know if the hospital would allow the use of cell phones, as so
me didn’t. She dialed the number. A
fter three rings, her aunt picked up.

“Jack?” Aunt Rachel asked when she answered, obviously
recognizing the number.

“No, it’s me, Aunt Rachel. Is there any news on the surgery?”

“Oh, honey, no. I’m sorry. He’s still in surgery. It doesn’t look good. Can you kids come home? I think you should be here, if nothing else, for Michelle’s sake. She’s pretty upset, as you can well imagine. You can stay at my house. With the boys out on their own we have plenty of room.”

Dear, sweet Aunt Rachel. No judgment. No resentment. Jessie hadn’t spoken to he
r aunt for at least eight years,
not since they ran away from home. And still, the love, the acceptance in her voice was unshakable. It made Jessie start crying all over again.

“Um . . . yeah, we’ll catch a flight out, but we’re bringing friends, so . . . we’ll just stay at a hotel.” She sniffled and sighed, trying to keep her tears in check as she ended the call.

The dogs went ballistic at the sound of knocking on the basement door leading to the beach. Duncan and Ozzy went flying down the spiral stairs to the lower level, barking first with venom that was quickly replaced by unbridled joy. It was Lex. She could tell by Ozzy’s pathetic whining, a well known trait the little pug displayed whenever the little beastie was exploding with happiness over a returning friend.
She heard Lex’s soothing voice as he talked to the dogs and then his
steady footsteps on the
metal stairs.

Jessie swiped at her eyes quickly, before he could see her tears. She gulped at her coke, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

He came through the living room in search of her. Seeing her standing at the kitchen counter next to the black fridge, he hurried to her side and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t say anything. He just held her, really tight against him, somehow sensing that she needed his strength at the moment.

Jack came
came trudging down the metal steps. He was fully dressed, as if expecting they would have to make a mad dash for the LAX in the next few moments. He was dressed in Rock Star mode; torn jeans, black T-shirt, black boots, and a leather jacket. He even had his Ray-Bans in place. A duffel bag was slung over his shoulder as he swaggered into the kitchen.  “Hey, Jess. Get dressed. I called the airport, flight leaves in an hour.”

That was new;
Jack taking charge. She pushed away from
Lex’s embrace. “Okay.
Jack
are you clean? We’ll have to go thro
ugh security. You can’t be high
and you can’t be packing anything.”

His gaze dropped, and she knew he wasn’t sober. So much for Jack leading the troops. He had the right idea, just didn’t think it all through very well. “Sorry. Forgot.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Steve and Lex said in unison.

Jessie puffed out her cheeks and released a long, weary breath. She looked up at the ceiling,
striving with all of her might not to let loose and let Jack have it. Now was not the time to blow up at him.

Lex pulled out his cell and walked over to the sink, giving them his back as he made
a
call. Jessie took that opportunity to go upstairs and change.

It was 7 a.m. by the time they made it back to
Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Lex
arrange
d for a private plane
for them
, his private plane,
so Jack wouldn’t have to go
through LAX security. He also
booked
room
s for them at the hotel and
insisted on acc
ompanying them
. Max came to the beach house to take cha
rge of the dogs and assured Jack and Jessie
the MTV producers would understand the delay, given the
tragic
circumstances.

Jessie and Jack met Aunt Rachel in the surgical waiting room.
A petite, slender blonde, she was still a very att
ractive woman, even well into her
fifties. She was older
than their mom by several years. Rachel was the beauty of the family. She inherited the refined features
of their grandmother while their mother,
unfortunately
,
inher
ited their grandfather’s
coarse and rough facial features.

Aunt
Rachel hugged them both. T
he sweet reminder of her acceptance reached across the years to embr
ace them. Michelle was sleeping. She
stirred as soon as
she heard
voices.
Steve
nodded to their sister,
who recognized him as a longtime friend of her siblings. Steve
sat down next to the TV and started chan
nel surfing. Michelle c
aught sight of them and her eyes filled with tears. Seeing Michelle choked up made
Jessie
’s eyes prickle and sting in response
. Michelle hugge
d her hard in an embrace that smacked of desperation, given their estrangement of the past several years. In truth, Jessie found her sister’s emotional embrace suffocating.

“How is he?” Jack asked, his voice like gravel. He looke
d to Aunt Rachel for the answer
as Michelle just burst into tears.

Aunt Rachel took
him aside and whispered in a low tone.
Jessie wanted to follow. Miche
lle held her arm. “Jessie, if Dad dies
Mom will be convicted of manslaughter.
She’ll
go to prison. We can’t let that happen.”

“Where is she?” Jessie asked, not wanting to have to meet that
woman anytime soon. She didn’t
trust herself not to
attack the crazy bitch. The woman had never
made an actual suicide attempt that Jessie was aware of. S
he just threatened to do it whenever someone didn’t do as she
wanted, but never once went through with it. And the
one time her mother did attempt it
she had to go and
shoot their dad instead.
Jessie’s thoughts weren’
t very nice right now, to feel such
deep anger and
resentment
for the woman
who terrorized their family
but she couldn’t help it.

“She’s in jail.” Michelle whispered in a thick, watery voice.