The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (50 page)

“His pride wouldn’t allow
him
to
ask you or Michelle to take him in. He
worked hard all of his life.
Uncle Dave tried
to talk to him for you, honey
. He met Jack privately at the bar one night and tried to talk him into
not go
ing
along with yo
ur mom in disowning you
. Y
our d
ad
said if
he had to choose
between Marcie
and
his kids, in his mind
it had to be Marcie.
As a Catholic he took his marriage vows
seriously--until death do us part.”

“
Yeah, and
she nearly killed him.” Jack reminded them.

Jessie
held Aunt Rachel’s
hand. She
clutched it like a lifeline. Why, oh why couldn’t she have been Aunt Rachel’s child? Aunt Rachel loved them. She remembered going to Aunt Rachel’s house to spend the night. Sometimes two or three nights a week.

A
s an adult, she
unders
tood the late night intrusions i
nto her young life
.
When their dad was on the road
Aunt Rachel
drove to her sister’s house and brought
Michelle, Jack and Jessie to her home
when their mom started acting out
again
. Oh, she would never
betray her younger
sister b
y calling the authorities
a
nd turning her in for being
unable to care for her children.
Aunt Rachel
was quietly trying to save them, o
ne midnight car ride at a time.

“We should go back in there.” Jessie murmured. “We left Steve alone with Michelle.”

“Yeah.” Jack sighed. “She’ll be trying to save his poor little gay soul about now.”

“You know?” Jessie gasped.

“Hell--er--
heck
, yeah.” Jack amended, looking uneasily at their aunt. “It’s freakin’ obvious, isn’t it? No girlfrie
nds, no girls, period. In L.A.,
Rock Stars don’t suffer from a deficiency in pussy--not unless they seriously don’t want it.”

Both of them glanced quickly at Aunt Rachel, expecting a stern set down. The woman merely stood up and brushed the imaginary lint from her polyester slacks. “I’m going to pretend I
didn’t hear that.” She murmured
and walked back down the hall toward the surgical waiting room.

Jack lingered in the hall. He touched Jessie’s hand. “So, we heard her confession, right? If it goes to trial, you heard what
I did. Mom waved the gun at him and threatened him with it
and then she shot him.”

“Yes. That’s what I heard.” Jessie admitted, surprised by the sudden burning in her eyes as she thought of their mom in prison. “Let’s go rescue Steve
from St. Michelle.”

Lex entered the hospital waiting room bearing a tray of food he’d purchased at the cafeteria. He w
as pretty good at this drill. H
e’d had too many band members end up in
the ER
either from an O.D. or from being shot, stabbed or otherwi
se maimed by another drugged up roadie during their crazy months-long tours
. The heavy tour schedules
often turned into one l
ong, coast to coast party. Food
and caffeine. That was what kept them going during the long hours of waiting at the hospital.

“Hey.” Jack
greeted him with a lazy grin as he pushed away from the wall across the room and approached Lex. “You’re psychic, man. I’m starving.”

“Good thinking.” Steve rose from the easy chair where he’d been slumped before the TV. “I was going to go down to the cafeteria. Need a wal
kabout.” He stretched gracefully
while
glancing wit
h irritation to Lex’s left as Lex
stood
facing him
in the doorway.

Lex followed the agitated man’s resentful gaze. A woman who appeared to be an older version of Jessie was sitting on a sofa with her hands clasped before her, eyes cl
osed as she muttered softly. A ten pound B
ible lay open on the table in front of her. Jessie
’s
sister, he presumed.

Jack was in front of him instantly, scooping up a plate filled with scrambled eggs
, bagels
and bacon. “Thanks, man. You’re a lifesaver.”

“I’m going downstairs for some fresh air.” Steve mumbled. “I’ll be outside, in front of the gift shop.” He directed his words toward Jack, almost as a plea.
Join me, run for your life,
Steve’s eyes seemed to say.

“Where is Jessie?” Lex looked from the praying woman to the two young men.

“Oh, she’s in the bathroom down the hall. Aunt Rachel went home for a while to check on our uncle.
” Jack said between chews. He slurped down the glass of orange juice in one gulp before continuing. “
Uncle Dave has a heart condition.
You’ll like Aunt
Rachel.” Munch, munch. Jack’s eyes darted with annoyance to the woman across the room, as if to imply Lex wouldn’t like their sister very much. Seeing Lex had
followed his silent implication
, Jack caught Lex’s eyes and briefly made a spinning motion with his finger on the side of his head, the universal gesture for ‘crazy’.

“Coming, Jack?” Steve persisted
in an overloud voice due to his ear-buds
as he brushed past Lex and lingered at the door.
Steve leaned against the doorjamb, pulled his hoodie up to cover his head and pushed his sunglasses down.  He placed his hands in his sweatshirt pockets. The ear-bud cord leading to his front pocket was a sharp white contrast against his severe black attire; from his black hoodie right down to the Doc Martin boots. Steve almost looked like a Goth. His disguise worked, as it was difficult to recognize him if you didn’t know it was Steve under all that.

“Naw, I’ll catch up with you in a bit.” Jack waved Steve off with his fork in mid-air. “Jessie would never forgive me if I abandoned her lover to the Jaws of Christ over there.”

Lex flinched
and sucked in his breath with a hiss. That was a clear burn. So, Jack wasn’t leaving the room until Jessie returned, lest their uber-religious sister run him off or eat him alive or whatever i
t was Jack thought she might do to a
new age spiritualist
.

He moved into the room and
set the tray down on the small
round formica dinette table. “I brought enough for all of you, so help yourself.” Lex turned on his heel and said to the room at large. And when he looked again at the
praying statue in the c
orner, he almost flinched as very
cold, accusing eyes were glaring right back at him.

“So, if you guys want to go downstairs for a smoke, I’ll wait here with Michelle . . .” Jessie’s light, lovely voice paused as she stood in the doorway next to Steve.
“Oh, you’re here!” She said with such a pleased inflection in her voice Lex couldn’t help but smile at her, despite the dire circumstances. “Did you get us checked in to the hotel?” She came to his side and wrapped her arms about his waist in a very determined hug.

Lex affirmed her inquiry, a little surprised by Jessie’s exuberance in hugging him. He’d been planning to play the whole thing a lot more low key, but she was fairly screaming to everyon
e in the room ‘this is my man!’
Apparently she wasn’t afraid of what
her relatives thought anymore
.

Or, she was merely pr
etending she didn’t, showing
bravado in the face of the enemy.

He’d been debating about
coming to the hospital. Lex
seriously considered staying at the hotel and letting them call him--but he couldn’t stand being away from Jessie when she was so upset. And Jack, too, he realized. He was starting to really care about the kid. The thought made him grimace as he looked at the man before them who was blithely shoveling food in his mouth like a starved
teenager.
In many ways, Jack still behaved like a teenager. E
ven tho
ugh they were the same age,
Jessie was
mature
years beyond Jack.

“Who is this?” Their
sister stood up and approached them with the wary eyes of a guard dog.

“This,” Jessie’s palm splayed on Lex’s chest as she steppe
d back slightly, “Is my
fiancé
;
Alex
ander Coltrane.” Jessie
pu
ffed
herself out much like a mother hen defending her chick. “And this,” she held out her hand toward her sister as her voice deepened dramatically, “This is my older sister, Michelle Carson.”

No one said a word.
Even Jack stopped eating, as if sensing
something unpleasant were
about to happen between the women. Steve shuffled
on his Doc Martins at the door, leaning back on the ja
mb as if to settle in
. His wolfish grin, framed in a
dark goatee said it all as he
reached up to pull his ear-buds out of his ears, the better to hear with, my dear.

“
I was
praying
, so if you don’t mind, I’d like some quiet.”  Michelle said, crossing her arms about her chest in a classic gesture of defense
as she glowered at Lex
.
No polite  ‘
hi, pleased to meet you
’ just a flat out insistence that she needed quiet to perform her religious devotion
s
and the implication
that they were interrupting them.

Jessie straightened visibly. Red Riding Hood was meeting the challenge.
Well, h
er red
Wisconsin Badgers
sweat
shirt did have a hood, Lex noted with amusement
.

“There is a chapel on the first floor, on the west wi
ng.” Jessie responded
in a cool, controlled tone
. “
This is a family waiting room.”

Michelle’s mouth dropped. Her
body movements
became stiff and jerky
. “Excuse me? I’m praying for our father’s life, asking God to spare him. You could be a little more respectful to the godly people in the room.”

“I’m not disrespectin
g anyone.” Jessie shot back
.
“Godly, Michelle? Really?
Low blow, even for you.
”

Lex was impressed. Jessie was
th
e
youngest of the three but
she wasn’t backing down in thi
s little turf war
. H
e
didn’t like the woman b
efore them and with good reason.
She
had tried
to convince Jessie to break
up with him a month ago because
she believed
he was a
‘
devil worshipper
’
.

“You won’t let me pray.”

“I’m not preventing you.” 

“You said I should go elsewhere. That’s a very
negative reaction to a little
harmless
prayer.”

The words might seem harmless. They were anything but. Michelle was clearly implying that their reaction, or rather, Jessie’s suggestion, was somehow an attack on her religious beliefs. Jessie was merely stating the obvious; this was as public waiting room, and if the woman wanted quiet in which to pray, there were other rooms more appropriate for the task.

“
No, it is a
realist
ic reaction to someone who expects everyone
in the room
to tiptoe around their spirituality.” Jessie returned. “
If strangers were
her
e
waiting for their lov
ed one to survive
emergency surgery
would yo
u shush them and ask them
not discuss their situation because you were ‘praying’
? Your
attitude is disrespectful
to the rest of us.
As I said, they do have a chapel here, a place designated for quiet and prayer. This room is for family to gather as they wait for news of their loved ones.”

“Hey, girls, Lex brought us food.” Jack interrupted, clearly not comfortable with his sister
’
s debate.

“I’m fasting.”
Michelle said severely. She glanced with irritation at the plate on the dinette table, as if the evil Lex
deliberately brought the food
here
to
tempt her.