Real Time (3 page)

Kate waited another thirty minutes to see if Brock, or even Nick, was going to show up pounding on her door for an explanation. But when no one showed, she took some clean clothes out of her suitcase and took a long, relaxing shower. It felt really good under the hot water and she reluctantly got out to dress. Kate glanced at the desk clock and saw she had about fifteen minutes until dinner – Nick would have reserved a large meeting room, or an extra room with a large sitting area, for their use as a place to hang out or eat. It was much easier to have the hotel staffs provide meals than try to go out in the city. The band had no trouble getting out and around but it was usually a nightmare for Nick. And, with a hotel this size, girls would be camping on the sidewalk in hopes of seeing someone famous; Nick definitely didn’t have the patience to deal with it on a constant scale.

She stepped out of her room and one of the security people, Jake, pointed her in the direction of where everyone was. Dressed in what she would wear during the show, she pulled her damp hair up into a ponytail as she opened the door. Kate hesitated for a moment but everything seemed normal. She was hoping Brock hadn’t said anything to Nick and this could just go away. The nervousness about it was leaving her stomach queasy, so she opted for half a sandwich off the tray and a bottle of water. She sat in a chair the furthest away from Nick as possible watching everyone to gauge the mood. Nothing seemed out of place as everyone was talking and eating as usual. Nick was deep in conversation with Mickey so Kate ate her sandwich quietly, relieved this might disappear with no fanfare. She definitely did not want her past events conflicting with this job.

When it was time to leave for the show, everyone got up and started heading out the door. Nick lagged back so he had to wait for Kate to pass him. As she got close, Nick’s attention was focused on her. “We need to talk later,” he said to her.

Kate sighed, knowing it would have been too easy for it to simply disappear. “I guess maybe we do. Please, do me a favor tonight, and I will explain it later?”

“Go ahead.”

“When you introduce the band tonight, will you only introduce me as Kate? I have reasons for needing my last name left out and I will explain why later.”

Nick nodded. “Stay close to us, love. Brock came back and said
he
is sitting in the lobby waiting for you to come back down.” Kate knew he was talking about Kevin. “We have a diversion ready but you never know.”

Kate was not happy he knew but she was impressed with his level of confidentiality. Nick could have brought the subject up in front of everyone and she was thankful he hadn’t. It was a bad time in her life and having the nightmare resurface was doing nothing for her nerves. Kate kept focused, staying close to Trent because he was the tallest, next to Nick, and hoped she could blend in with him. She did not want another scene in the lobby, especially with Nick involved. As they got off the elevator, Kate could see security had Kevin’s view obscured and she was already out the door and into a limousine before they moved. As soon as they saw the limo pull away from the curb, Nick’s security people continued out the door. There were still two left on the hotel floor, to keep it secure, and there were two in each of the limousines.

Once at the Garden, Kate’s nervousness started to ease up as she knew they had gotten away cleanly. She was now able to focus on the show and making sure she was ready. Kate had been afraid she was going to be so shaky it would have shown when she was playing some of the piano solos. She felt relieved her hands were no longer trembling. Kate noticed Brock was staying close by and she had no doubt Nick had instructed him to watch because he knew what Kevin looked like. Brock was imposing on his own – six-foot-six, two-hundred-fifty pounds and always looked like he was scowling. Kate knew it was part of his job persona – she had seen him laugh plenty of times on the bus.

The show went off without a hitch and security got them out of the building before the fans even knew they had left. It was all about timing, which is why Nick did interviews or fan events before the show. This made it much simpler to walk off the stage and straight into a waiting car. Kate’s nerves were starting to make her stomach queasy again. She was not looking forward to telling this story to Nick, but knew that she didn’t have much choice. If Kevin was going to be a problem, then Nick was going to have to make sure it didn’t interrupt his schedule even if it meant being personally involved. 

* * *

B
ecause they had ridden on the bus the night before, once at the hotel, the rest of the band headed straight for their rooms and to their beds, instead of hanging out. Kate followed Nick as he walked toward the extra room they had. There was still hot coffee and Nick walked over, pouring them both a cup. Nick put sugar and cream in his and just a little sugar for Kate, clearly knowing how she preferred it. That was one of the many things he didn’t miss about England; he much preferred American coffee over British tea. He set the cup down across the table from him and sat down, motioning for Kate to take the chair. She was being exceptionally quiet – Nick was certain she was a bundle of nerves about this.

“So, let’s have the story. He’s obviously someone you know, unless you go around slapping strange men in hotel lobbies,” he started, trying to put a little levity in it to ease her nervousness.

Kate gave a little laugh. “No, it isn’t one of my hobbies. His name is Kevin Miles and he’s my ex-husband.”

Nick’s eyebrows rose, surprised, as if he wasn’t expecting that relationship. “Ex-husband? You must have been a child when you married him.”

“Not a child, but a dumb twenty-one.” She paused for a moment. “How much of this do you really want, Nick?” she asked. “The bottom line is he insulted me as usual and I slapped him for being rude.”

“I’m here for the long haul, love. Let’s have the whole thing.”

Kate took a deep breath and exhaled. “I met him at Julliard. We were juniors and we had a lot of the same classes. He was training for the same career – to be a concert pianist. He sat down across from me at a coffee shop one day and started being friendly.” She took a sip of the coffee. “I was pretty naïve at twenty-one; I hadn’t dated much in high school and had never had sex. So when he started paying attention to me, it went to my head. It was like one of those chick flicks, where everyone lives in a happy world - walks through the village, kissing on street corners, that kind of thing. But I think it frustrated him some I wouldn’t sleep with him. I figured if I had waited this long, I might as well take it with me to my wedding bed. Naïve, I know.”

“Honorable, but rare,” Nick agreed. “Girls are getting pregnant in high school now. The whole taboo about sex is gone.”

“So just before school let out in May, he proposed. Still being in what I thought was love with the guy, I accepted and we were married just after Memorial Day. And the summer was good. We took summer classes together, walked around Central Park, and enjoyed each day with the other. Then senior year classes started in the fall. This meant more on-hands piano classes and more chances for being seen by the concert industry. This is when Kevin started to change. The time we used to spend together at lunch or traveling to school was gone. When we were together at home, the smallest things would set him off into a fury of anger. At first I thought he was seeing someone – I thought he was trying to make me angry enough to walk out.

“So, I had him followed, but he didn’t go anywhere other than school. My detective found him at the piano almost every waking moment and definitely not with another woman. Christmas was a nightmare. We got in a big argument on Christmas Eve and I went to midnight mass alone at St. Joseph’s. I’m not Catholic but I was looking for the serenity to figure out what was going wrong. When I got back, he was sound asleep and we didn’t talk all day on Christmas. I took the tree down in the morning, just to be rid of the whole holiday feeling. And it seemed to get worse after the New Year.

“In March, we both entered a contest. It was based on grades and an audition with the folks from the London Philharmonic. The prize was an internship of sorts; they paid all your expenses for two years in London and you got to play with them as they helped you come out as a featured pianist. Obviously it worked for Kevin, because, the last I heard, he’s still with the London people.”

“How were you going to handle a marriage across the ocean?” Nick asked. “In light of everything going on, I can’t see where this would have been beneficial.”

“I wasn’t going to enter the contest. I was going to let him win, if he could, and we could make decisions if he won. I was in love enough that I’d have been willing to put my career on hold for his. But one of the arguments we got into when the notice to apply went out included his comments about how sloppy I was and how I was only going to be a minor musician. Those stung so I entered the contest out of spite. I knew my marriage was about over – I thought this would be a good way to make a new start and I began talking to an attorney about getting papers drawn up. I had the money to move out but something was keeping me there. Some kind of mental thought we could still work things out.

“The day before the audition, we got into a fight because I didn’t go to the dry cleaners and pick up his shirts. He never asked me to go and I had no idea he had dropped any off in the first place. To get out of his way and defuse the situation, I walked out of the bedroom. He ran out of the room and pushed me down the stairs. We had a townhouse apartment and there were about twelve stairs from top to bottom. I passed out for a minute when I hit the floor and I awoke with my left arm dangling at a strange angle. Kevin walked up to me and I remember his words like they were yesterday,
‘This should take care of the problem’
, and he took the heel of his boot and slammed it onto my left hand. I remember screaming before I blacked out.”

Nick had a look of utter horror on his face. “You’re telling me he did this on purpose?” He could feel the anger starting to well up inside. This was an odd emotion for Nick as he worked at not letting things get him visibly angry, especially where a woman was involved.

Kate nodded in assent. “Yes, but the police never saw it that way. After I woke up and called nine-one-one, an ambulance and the police came to the house. I gave them my testimony before I blacked out again as the paramedics were immobilizing my hand and my arm. I woke up next in the hospital emergency room, with a whole group of doctors talking about what to do next. The police arrested Kevin but they let him go after talking to him. The charges were dropped because he had no history of domestic violence and he managed to convince them I fell accidentally and the concussion I received was making me say things which weren’t true, although I have no clue how I could have shattered my hand falling down the stairs.

“The doctors eventually decided to transfer me to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where they set my arm and did the first of three operations on my hand to try to repair the damage. The break in my arm was textbook, nice and clean. My hand was shattered in four places and it was touch and go for a while – the doctors weren’t sure I would even get the use of it back. Three operations, six months of rehabilitation and I was able to clench it into a fist. It took me another year of absolute stubbornness to be able to play the piano again.” She showed him the faint scars which crisscrossed her left hand.

“So what was Kevin doing during all this?”

“I have no clue, except I knew he’d won the internship. I called the attorney I’d hired, explained I never wanted to see his face again, and told him to get me out of the marriage. My mother and stepfather rented me an apartment in Baltimore so I would have a place to stay while I was going through the treatment, rather than living in a hotel. I got a part time job while I was going through rehab teaching kids how to play the piano. I could teach with my limited range and it gave me a small sense of accomplishment to be able to pay at least part of my own way. Then, as soon as the divorce was final and my rehab was completed, my stepfather adopted me and I moved back to Los Angeles. My own father died when I was fourteen, so there was no one to object. The idea was I wanted to drop out of view from what I knew in New York. There is no age limit for adoption even though I was twenty-four. That gave me my stepfather’s last name, Thomas, so I would have a new name and a new life. Kevin has no idea I changed my name except to drop his. My maiden name was Williams; it’s probably who he’s been looking for.

“My stepfather, Allen, is a corporate lawyer and Michael Grayson is one of his golfing buddies. When I thought I could do something with my music, Allen called Grayson up and asked him if he would audition me for studio work. There’s always plenty of it going around and Allen thought it would be good for me to do something productive, as well as lucrative, with my music since my dream of being a concert pianist was gone. Michael was a lot like you during the audition. He knew I was over qualified but also didn’t want my talents go somewhere else. I started working for him six years ago and you know the rest. I thought maybe Kevin would be civil, his voice sounded nice when he called my name. I should have known better; he was still the same Kevin. This is his normal behavior – he was pretending he was someone else before we got married. Like I said – young, dumb, and naïve.”

Nick stood up, taking their coffee cups over to the tray on the table so the maids could pick them up when they came through to clean in the morning. “I’m not sure what to say, love,” Nick started. “Wasn’t quite the story I was thinking I would get. We can keep him away from you while we’re here, that’s not an issue. I hire this security company because they are good at making me invisible from the public and we can do the same for you. You simply have to be willing to do what you are told and not do dumb things like sneak out or other such juvenile behavior.”

“I won’t,” she confirmed. “I was afraid you would fire me, actually. The fact you are willing to help me is a surprise.”