The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday (35 page)

“I’ll be fine,” Karen offered.

“I don’t know, babe. The media can be brutal.”

“Michael, the media blows hot and then cools nearly as quickly as the match was sparked. This will blow over in a few weeks and I’ll simply be your ex.”

“So you were planning your divorce the entire time you’ve been here?” Janice asked.

It was time for Karen to come to Michael’s defense. “Sawyer, Janice…I’m sorry. We’re sorry. We’d hoped to have a brief paper marriage that the world would buy for a short time, and then move on. Hollywood is extremely flighty and right now Michael is one of the hottest things out there.”

“Is the money so important that you’d sell your soul?”

Michael shook his head. “Hardly that dramatic, Dad. Karen and I are close friends. We’ve had a good time playing the perfect couple for the past year. But that’s all it was…playing. Now that she’s interested in someone, it’s time to stop pretending.” Michael shot a glance to his brother. “Chaps my ass that it’s you she’s interested in.”

Zach was smiling, not taking anything seriously.

Janice shook her head, clearly not convinced. “Just a couple of weeks ago you and Tracey were close, Zach. What are we to think of that?”

Zach’s smile fell. “Before you come to Tracey’s defense, consider this. Outside the hotel last night when we were arrested on trumped-up kidnapping charges, Tracey was standing in the crowd watching.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes.” Zach lifted Karen’s hand and kissed her fingers. “I think she followed us.”

Janice glanced at Sawyer and lowered her gaze to the floor. “We saw Tracey outside the courthouse.”

Zach swung his gaze to his mother. “What did she say to you?”

“She apologized. At the time, I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Said she thought she was doing the right thing when she heard from her cousin that you and Karen were in St. George and were keeping Becky and Nolan hidden from Becky’s parents.”

Karen squeezed Zach’s hand. “Maybe she was hurt about the breakup.”

“I doubt she has a black eye or a mark on her record that shouldn’t be there. Things weren’t right with Tracey and me for a while. Our breaking up had little to do with you. Now Becky is back with her abusive parents and we’re forced to sit here and wait for others to watch out for the girl. Nolan is frantic, worried sick about his girl and their child. And all for what?”

“Oh, honey, I don’t know what to think,” Janice said.

“We need to band together,” Michael told them. “Karen and I had planned the divorce before we arrived here. That will go on as scheduled. In the meantime, she’s going to need our support.” He waved a hand in Zach’s direction. “And you’re going to have to have her back. The media is vicious. They’ll dig…more than ever before now that there is an apparent love triangle.”

Zach’s arm moved over her shoulders. “We’ll get you through this.”

“This is damn strange, Mike.”

“I know it is, Dad. Be confused, yell…do what you have to. Just keep the truth between us.”

“You want me to lie to our family?”

Michael shook his head. “No. Tell Hannah, Judy…hell, Rena already knows. But what business is it of anyone else? It’s not like I’ve had any visitors in LA since I’ve moved away. No one else needs to know squat.”

Sawyer paced the edge of the room. “Damn kids today.”

Michael glanced at Zach, rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, Janice. We should get home before the press corners our daughters.”

They stood with Janice. Karen watched as Michael and Zach both hugged and kissed her good-bye. She turned to Karen, pulled her aside. “If you need anything, call.”

“Thank you, Janice.”

“I can’t pretend to understand. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

Karen looked over her shoulder at the men watching her. “Me, too.”

Sawyer wasn’t as forgiving with his words or his actions. He stormed from the room and expected his wife to follow.

Once the three of them were alone, Karen fell into the sofa, depleted.

“Remind me to never do that again.”

She expected the men to sit and laugh with her; instead, they stood staring at each other.

Karen glanced between the two of them.

“What?”

Zach crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you
not
telling me, Mike?”

Had she missed something?

Zach continued. “Karen is too amazing for a platonic relationship for over a year.”

Karen swung her gaze to Michael.

Silence hung in the air.

“You’re right.”

Zach opened his mouth, then closed it.

“I’m gay, Zach.”

Zach uncrossed his arms and dropped his jaw to his chest. “Well damn.”

After the police took their statements, Judy returned to Rick’s rental car and called Gwen on Rick’s cell phone.

“Rick?” Gwen answered with her polished accent.

“No, it’s Judy. Rick is still talking to the police.”

“Oh, dear. What’s happened?”

Judy explained what they’d walked in on, and how the Applegates were nowhere to be found. “I don’t even know where to look.”

“Perhaps Karen will have an idea…or Nolan.”

“Are they out of jail?”

“Yes. Let me speak with them and I’ll call you right back.”

Judy hung up and watched as Rick walked past the flashing lights on the police car and across the street. “We’re free to leave.”

“I’m not sure where we should go. Seems wrong to just walk away and let the police handle what they’ve already mucked up.”

Rick rubbed his jaw with a sly smile on his face. “Not ready to give up the adventure, Utah?”

The urge to roll her eyes was strong, but Judy refrained and gave her head a little shake instead.

“I just happen to think we’re considering the entire game while the police are only picking one team. Becky’s with two very misguided parents and probably scared to death. But she’s not stupid. She ran away once, she’ll do it again.”

Rick’s playful smile slid into something more thoughtful. “How might a teenage, pregnant girl run from parents who are on the run?”

Judy closed her eyes, thought of how it might feel to be surrounded by parents who might think they’re doing the right thing, but weren’t. “Eventually I’d make my captors think I’ve complied…became weak.” Judy pictured a rest stop…a bathroom…“Then I’d use a simple task, like going to the bathroom or needing food, and then make my escape.” Judy opened her eyes and saw Rick staring at her.

“Pregnant women need to pee a lot.”

Judy brought both hands to her face. “God, poor Becky.”

“Hey.” She felt Rick’s hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

The phone in her pocket rang. She answered to hear Karen’s voice. “Judy?”

“It’s me.”

“Where are you?”

“In front of Becky’s parents’ home.”

“No clue as to where they went?”

Judy sighed. “No.”

“Any chance the neighbors saw anything?”

Judy glanced around at the few people that had managed to work their way to their front yards to watch the activity. “Even if they did, what could they say…the car drove east…west? All roads lead to the freeway. Where they went from there is the question.”

“The hairdresser? Petra.”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“She’s the only person in town that I can think of to ask.”

“She cuts hair, Karen.”

“Oh, Judy…you need to know that hairdressers are the next best thing to a bartender in a small town. If anyone knows anything…it will be Petra.”

With the phone to her ear, Judy moved from the car far enough to open the door and let herself in.

Rick jumped in the driver’s seat.

Judy pointed ahead of them. “Turn left,” she told Rick. “I hope you know what you’re talking about, Karen.”

“It’s all I have.”

“I’ll call you back.”

Judy clicked off and directed Rick to Main Street. It was Sunday and therefore quiet. They parked alongside the curb and Judy jumped out and ran into Petra’s salon.

A woman sat in the chair gabbing while Petra cut.

One look and Petra lifted her scissors from the woman’s hair and smiled Judy’s way. Her eyes drifted beyond her to Rick and the smile grew bolder.

“Hey?”

“Uhm, Petra…can I talk to you a minute?”

The conversation didn’t need extra ears.

Petra glanced around at those in the room and then she excused herself for a moment.

They stepped outside on the deserted sidewalk.

Judy cut right to the facts. “Karen suggested I ask you where the Applegates might take Becky.”

Petra’s tiny smile slid into a frown. “Is she OK?”

Judy shook her head. “I doubt it. Her parents have her…they have several hours’ head start.”

Petra looked at her shoes while the scissors in her hand tapped against her palm. “There’s no family here…not that I’ve been told about. But he has a sister…north.”

North? Great! Like the entire country was north!

“Before Salt Lake…I remember the name being that of a person.”

“Isn’t every town that of a person? Even Hilton?”

“No, not a surname. A first name. You’d remember a town of Judy.”

Oh…

“My phone?” Rick reached out his hand and Judy handed him his phone.

A few seconds later, he opened up a map and blew up the state until he scrolled through the towns one by one.

Petra shoved close as the three of them glanced at the small screen.

“No…no…wait. There. Jeremy. That’s it. Becky’s aunt lives in Jeremy.”

Judy squeezed Petra’s arm. “Thank you.”

Petra smiled as Rick and Judy jumped in the car and headed toward the highway.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Zach would have liked nothing better than to crawl into bed and erase some of the day’s images from his mind, but it didn’t seem that was going to happen. After his brother’s revelation, Zach had stood stunned while the pieces of their life snapped into place. It all made sense now…the relationship between Karen and Michael, how they appeared to be close but not intimate…even when they kissed Zach realized he’d seen the same behavior from his brother while performing in his films. Even Mike’s exodus from Hilton, the need to alienate himself from his family to protect his lifestyle made sense now.

Zach couldn’t deny the weight that had lifted off his shoulders when he learned that Karen and Mike had never been intimate. To know there would never be the wedge between him and his brother was a relief.

Karen unwrapped from his side and pushed off the couch. “I’m going to shower before everyone comes back,” she said.

As much as Zach wanted to join her, he decided to use the time alone with his brother for a much-needed talk.

Karen disappeared into the bedroom suite, leaving Mike and Zach with each other.

“She really is amazing,” Mike told him.

“She worries about everyone else before herself.”

Mike ran a hand through his hair, stared at the floor. “I was pissed at first…when she told me about you two. But then I realized that I couldn’t pick out a better man for her than you.”

The vote of confidence warmed Zach to his soul. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“Just tell me you’re not fucking with her. That there’s something more than a sexual itch.” Mike stared at him now, all humor and smiles long gone.

“If we were only an itch, I think we would have both found someone else to scratch it. Wanting my brother’s wife has torn me up for weeks. Karen knew the truth and it killed her, too.”

Mike nodded. “She a strong woman, Zach…but there are parts of her that are painfully vulnerable. Security is important to her and the fear of being abandoned has deep roots.”

“You’re talking about her parents.”

“She told you about them?”

“Yeah. The bastards.”

Mike rubbed the back of his neck. “Makes you appreciate our overbearing relatives.”

For a moment they were silent, both lost in their own thoughts.

“Mom and Dad will understand…about you.”

Mike stood and walked toward the window. “I’m not ready to tell them, Zach. Hell, I wasn’t ready to tell you. But I didn’t want Karen to have to keep this from you. She’s already given me so much.”

“Who else knows?”

“Not many people. Rena figured it out. Karen’s core friends, those you’ve met. No one in Hollywood.”