Abby looked up from her Cobb Salad. “Yes, Aunt P. It’s just…a busy week.”
Penelope Fremont wasn’t fooled for one second. Something was wrong with Abby. She hadn’t said two words since she’d arrived for lunch. Of course, it was hard to get a word in with Sharon yapping on about table centerpieces and appetizers.
Abby smiled weakly at her aunt. Is everything okay? No, Aunt P. Nothing is okay. My world is turning upside down. Maybe. Or maybe not. I have to talk to Nick. Abby stood up from the table abruptly, halting her mother’s flow of words in mid-sentence.
“I have to go,” she said, looking around her wildly. “I just remembered…I have to…there’s a…” She walked around the table and dropped a kiss on her mother’s cheek and then her aunt’s. “I’ll see you tomorrow night at the concert.”
“But…” Sharon hadn’t finished the party details.
“I’m sure it’ll be perfect, Mother. But I have to go.” And Abby fled the room.
Sharon made a move to rise, but Penelope put a restraining hand on her arm. “Let her go,” said Penelope. Sharon drew her arm away from Penelope’s grasp and sniffed, but she stayed where she was.
Abby got into her car and drove off. She hadn’t gone far when she realized that her hands were shaking. She pulled the car into the parking lot of a local church. She hugged herself to stop the shaking and tried to get her mind to function.
Was she putting two and two together and getting five? Or was something going on between Ronni and Nick?
She reviewed the facts as she saw them.
First there were the emails. Abby tried not to make a big deal of them in her head, and on their own, they weren’t a big deal. But Nick had not told her about them, and the whole time the correspondence had been going on, he had been, as he himself admitted, ‘a prick’.
Then there was the perfume. Again, maybe easily explained. Except that Nick had said he hadn’t been involved in the hugging scrum with the fans. He’d been ‘snuck out the back way’.
And he’d said that Ronni hadn’t been there on Monday, and Howie had mentioned her, said she’d introduced them to people.
And then there was Ronni’s character. Abby wouldn’t put it past her to take a run at Nick for sport, just to see if she could get him…to see if she could get him away from Abby. But would Nick…?
Abby moved her thoughts forward to yesterday afternoon when she’d delivered the programs. She saw Nick coming out that doorway red-faced and flustered and then a moment later, Ronni appearing, all smug smirks and messy hair.
Last night at dinner, he’d seemed very nervous when Ronni and James were there. He looked very uncomfortable with her hand resting on his shoulder. She, on the other hand, looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. James was oblivious to any byplay, just acknowledged the introductions politely.
AJ had noticed it too, thought Abby. And AJ’s been around the rehearsals a lot more than I have. Maybe he’s seen something…maybe he saw…
The pain cut through her like a knife. Tears started to fall. Suddenly, she was standing in her bedroom that morning. Nick was dressed and ready to go. Terence was waiting downstairs. Then Nick said that he couldn’t find his worry stone. He wondered if he’d left it in his jacket pocket. Abby said she’d check. There was nothing in the right-hand pocket, but her hand felt something in the left one.
“Never mind, I found it,” called Nick from the living room. “It was with my keys.”
Abby went into the living room. She didn’t know how. She was on automatic pilot. Nothing was working. Nick kissed her lightly and said, see ya later, and was gone. Abby stood like a statue in the hall staring at the closed door. Then with shaking fingers, she reached out and locked it. Then she looked down and opened her other palm. In it was a foil packet, with a picture of three cherries on it.
“Cherry is my favorite.”
Abby could hear the words as clear as a bell. At one of the last lunches she’d gone to with the girls, Ronni had been teasing Clarice about oral sex. She’d pulled a pack of condoms out of her purse and had tossed them down on the table. “Maybe this will make it easier for you…and a lot more fun too!” She’d rolled her eyes and licked her lips. “Cherry is my favorite.”
And all of it would mean nothing, thought Abby, all of it could be explained away. Except that last night at dinner, when they were talking about dessert, Howie had suggested Cherries Jubilee and Nick had flinched and said an emphatic, “No!” They’d all looked at him. It was very out of place.
“Okay…no Cherries Jubilee,” said Howie slowly, looking across at AJ and Abby with a shrug. What was up with that?
Abby didn’t know, but she had to find out. She was terrified of the answers, terrified of the consequences, but she had to know them. She had to talk to Nick. She put the car in gear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~She reached the rehearsal hall a little after two. She made her way through the main auditorium. The musicians seemed to be on a break. They stood around in groups of twos and threes talking. Kevin was listening intently to the pianist who was doing variations of a bar of music. Howie and Brian were talking to one of the other musicians. Abby didn’t see Nick or AJ.
Brian noticed Abby and jerked with his thumb toward the backstage area. Abby gave a feeble smile and ordered her shaking legs to carry her in that direction. There didn’t seem to be anyone about. Abby knew the rehearsal wasn’t going to go too late today because of the cocktail party that night, which was to take place on the stage.
Then she heard AJ’s voice. “…stop fucking around with this Ronni broad, Nick.”
Abby froze.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” retorted Nick.
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” said AJ. “It’s been going on all week. You told me that it was all over in May.”
“You don’t even know what happened in May.”
“You said before that nothing happened. How many friggin’ lies are you going to tell? There’s no way Ronni got that backstage pass from Abby.” He paused. “I thought so.” He paused again. “And there are cameras all over the place this week…don’t you know better than that?”
“Nothing’s going on,” said Nick, sullenly.
“I saw her put her hand on your dick,” said AJ. “To me, that’s not nothing.”
Abby didn’t hear the rest of it. She backed slowly up the hall and made her way out a side entrance. She sat in her car and took deep breaths. She had to go home, she decided finally. She couldn’t do this here…in public.
She had to go home…and think…and decide.
She drove carefully home. In the apartment, she sat down on the sofa in the living room and pulled her legs up. She wrapped her arms around them and tried to think. Except that she couldn’t. She needed all her mental capacity to keep her breathing. So that’s what she did. She sat and she breathed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nick didn’t go back to the stage. He was too angry at AJ. Or maybe at himself, he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t done anything wrong that he could see. Well, that kiss in May, of course. That shouldn’t have happened. But it didn’t mean anything now. And nothing had happened this week. Ronni had been friendly and cute, like she always was, charming the pants off everyone, not just him. Perhaps, he considered, that was a poor choice of words, considering that she’d flashed a condom at him yesterday…but she hadn’t suggested using it, had just said ‘remember when we did’. AJ was full of shit. And talking about cameras! Nick hadn’t done anything that would look bad on camera….he thought. And as for Ronni touching him, he guessed she sort of had, maybe, if you were looking for that kind of thing, but if you took it in context…
He didn’t even bother looking for Terence. He told Brian’s security guy that he was taking a cab home and he went out the back way. Standing in the parking lot, leaning against her car was Ronni.
“Need a lift?” she asked.
“Uh, no…I…I was going to call a cab.”
“It’s no problem. I’m headed in that direction anyway.”
Nick hesitated.
“Oh, don’t be so silly, Nick. I carpool with Abby all the time. And there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Nick didn’t move.
“Get in the car, Nick. I’m not going to eat you.”
Nick twitched.
“Unless of course, you’d like me to,” she said, flashing a wicked grin.
“Ronni…”
She waved her hand airily. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Come on, I gotta get home and get ready for the party. Or do you just want to stand in this parking lot all day waiting for fans to show up?”
“No, no, I don’t want that,” said Nick. And I don’t want a camera crew to show up either. Or AJ. “You and Abby carpool?” he said, moving to the car.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When Nick didn’t reappear, no one made anything of it. They were almost done anyway. AJ wondered if he should make apologies for him, but no one seemed interested. He saw Luke, Brian’s security, say something to Terence, who looked a little perplexed and then nodded.
“So Abby found Nick alright?” asked Brian as they were walking out.
“What do you mean?” asked AJ.
“Before…she came during the break…I sent her back to you guys.”
AJ went whiter than white. “You sent her back where we were?”
“Well, yeah, Bone, doesn’t that make sense? Did she find him?”
Oh Lord, I hope not, thought AJ. But he was very, very afraid that she had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nick entered the apartment. It was silent. Abby must be getting ready for the party. He went down the hall to the bedroom, but she wasn’t there. He checked the study and the game room, not that he expected to find her playing Nintendo. She wasn’t there. Maybe she wasn’t home from the lunch with her mother. Oh, that couldn’t be good, he thought. He went to the kitchen and got a beer. He wandered into the living room and walked to the window. Great view, he thought, but he preferred the ocean.
A sound from behind him made him turn.
“Abby! There you are! What are you doing, just sitting there?”
Abby just looked at him.
“I thought maybe you weren’t home,” continued Nick.
Abby still said nothing.
Nick looked at her closely. Something was wrong. “I was…I was…”
Finally, she spoke. “You were with Ronni.” She said it matter-of-factly, a statement, not a question.
“Yes,” said Nick. “Yes, I was.”
It was time to talk.
