Sidewalk Flower (19 page)

“Yeah, wow.”
 
He rubbed his cheek and then returned his
hand to the wheel.
 
“I didn’t know your
hair was that long.
 
I don’t think I’ve
ever seen it down before.
 
Have I?” he
asked after glancing her way.

Not many men would look at a woman with
longing and respect at the same time like Lucky did.
 
The more comfortable she became with him, the
freer she felt to enjoy herself under his heated gaze.
 
She bit her bottom lip and ever so slowly,
let it slip back out from under her teeth.
 
The way he watched her do that sent an excited shiver
to her core.
 
She wiggled in her
seat under the sudden intense tingling sensation.
  

“I don’t think you have.
 
Would you like to?”
 
There was just something about teasing him
that was hard to resist.
 
Maybe it was
how safe she felt sitting next to a good and strong man.

He answered her dryly as if the lashing
of air had stripped his throat of its moisture.
“Like I
really need to answer that.”

She let his comment slide into the night
wind.
 
She understood his want and shared
it.

“Oh, you had asked where we’re heading.
 
I usually stop in New Mexico, spend the night
and then drive straight through to Cali the next day.”

“So tonight we stay in New Mexico and
then tomorrow…”

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow, you’re home.”
 
Lucky’s lips curled in, sealing around the
last word.

“You don’t sound very thrilled at the
idea.
 
I thought you said you were
looking forward to this meeting and seeing Jaxon.”
 
It seemed neither of them was exactly in a
hurry to get back.

“I am.”

So he thought he was going to snuff out
his feelings by short changing them.
 
When would Lucky learn that she was too good at this stuff?

“So, did you want to tell me more about
your plans for while you’re in town?
 
I
was curious, you know,” she said as he adjusted in his seat.

That lightened up the straight line of
his jaw.
 
A little.
 

* * * *

Lucky still didn’t understand how it was
she had traveled so often with Jaxon without something happening between them.
The single beds in the hotel rooms, the dark nights flying down the roads
cross-country in the privacy of their vehicle.
 
If he’d been given that kind of open access to a woman as beautiful and
spirited as Trista, there would be no question of the things he’d be trying to
get away with.
 

And
he
had some manners.
 
What he knew of his
cousin was that as a younger man, Jaxon had been wild.
 
They hadn’t spent much time together in quite
a while but he knew enough to put the questions in his mind, over and over
again, where Trista was concerned.
 
She
had denied the insinuation once.
 
To
bring it up again would be cowardly.
 
Weak.

They continued west on I-40, finally
passing the boarder out of Texas and into New Mexico.
 
The sun was setting in swatches of peach,
wisteria and plum.
 
He’d never seen such
a wide open sky and the dusty blue color of it was magnificent.
 

Trista rekindled her question.
 
“So, your plans?”

“Oh, sorry.
 
Yeah, I had mentioned to Jaxon a while back
that I’d wanted to branch out.
 
Maybe
start with something small, just me and a few hands in a little shop.
 
See what I could do, how long I could
last.
 
He said he had some contacts for
me and now two years later, I’ve got a meeting with a finance guy who might be
interested in backing me for the startup costs.”

“And tell me exactly what it is that you
do.”

Her wide-eyed stare made him feel the
need to impress.
 
But he had to tell her
the truth. “I make custom wood furniture.
 
Mostly chests and frames but I also like to do lamps and things like, I
don’t know…racks.
 
It doesn’t sound very
exciting, I know...”
 
He raised his
thumbs up together on the top of the steering wheel, feeling a little
underwhelming as he offered up his life’s passion to a girl who lived amongst
rock stars.
 

“Yes it does.
 
I think it sounds very…very fascinating.
 
I’d love to see something you’ve made.
 
So you do the actual work, with your own
hands?” she asked while staring at his fingers.

He coughed to clear his throat and mind,
then
checked himself in the visor’s mirror, afraid his face
may have given him and his fantasy away.
 
“Yeah, it’s a pretty okay job.
 
I
enjoy it.”
 
He flipped the visor back up.

“Lucky, it’s more than that.
 
Would you ever consider making something for
me?”
 

“Anything you’d like.”

“I’ll have to think about something
then.
 
So is your plan to set up shop in
California?”
 

It sounded an awful lot like she’d like
that.

“Yeah, I thought I’d give it a shot.
 
From what I understand, Jaxon’s guy knows of
some…”
 
He didn’t want to use the word
cheap but that’s what it was. “…less expensive commercial lots.
 
All I really need is a roof and four walls
but I guess out there, there’s a little more to it than that.”
 

He’d done some research and knew of the
bylaws and codes for small businesses in California.
 
And the taxes.
 
It was ambitious to make a go of it in such a
vastly different environment but he’d never shied away from a challenge
before.
 
And he knew a lot about hard
work.

“And where and how long do you plan to
stay?”
 

There they were—the questions he’d been
glad not to have to answer up ‘til now.

“Darlin’, initially I can only stay for a
few days.”

Her sweet lips deepened into a pout.

“A few days?”

“Yes.”
 
God, why hadn’t he told her that sooner?

* * * *

A few days?
 
That was nowhere near long enough.
 

She was ready now for change in her life
but she would probably need months, not days.
 
Geez, at least a week or two.
 

Traveling with and working for the band
was a privileged job and she knew it.
 
She was afforded many luxuries that most people would never dream
of.
 
Four star hotels, the chance to see
the world from a private jet, the best of everything.
 
But she also knew the flip side to those
cherry dreams.
 
The level of work it
required and not just the kind that left you feeling you had done your best at
the end of each day.
 
This was a life
that required a person give more pieces of himself than he should.
 
One you didn’t ease out of over a long
weekend.
  

Speaking of needing out, Jaxon had lost
it, several times.
 
But he’d learned
quickly how to bounce back and swore it was all worth it to be up on that stage
and see the girl with the sad eyes become happier as he sang his songs.
 

The problem was
,
she was tired of all the bouncing.
 
And
her reward had never been quite as good as Jaxon’s.

She looked at Lucky and admired the way
his hair didn’t slap him in the face as the wind tumbled through their space.
 
He knew exactly where he was and where he was
going.
 

“Then that will have to be enough,” she
said.
 
“It’ll have to be.”
 

Chapter Eleven

Having the excuse now of speaking with
Lucky, Jaxon’s protective big brother side was “checking in”.
 
Regularly.
 
Vangie had to be grinding her perfectly
whitened molars at that.
    

“Hello?”
 
Lucky’s velvety suede voice broke through the sleepy morning air as he
answered the phone and wiped a hand over the Jeep’s seat then looked up at her,
shaking his head but smiling.
 
She’d left
her windows open all night and the seats were chilly.
 
Lucky, phone cradled between his cheek and
shoulder, quickly unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out a hooded sweatshirt,
then laid it down over the driver’s seat.
 

“Thank you,” she mouthed to him as he
listened to who she assumed was Jaxon on the cell phone.
 

“Yep, she’s here.
 
Hold on.”

Big brother would have to wait a second
while she tugged the seat back up so that her feet would again be able to reach
the pedals after Lucky had driven the day before.
 

Lucky whispered, “
It’s
Jaxon. He wants you…to talk to you, I mean.”

She smiled at his stuttering and caressed
his fingers as she tried to take the phone.
 
He didn’t let go before giving her a sweet kiss.
 
The intoxicating mixture of Coke and Tic-Tacs
tumbled from his tongue to hers.
 
He
broke away with
a seriousness
about him.

“Hey Jaxon, what’s up?
 
Why didn’t you just call my number?”
 
But she knew why.
 
Vangie.
 
Calls made.
 
It would be evidence at the witch’s fingertips.
 

Too bad it wasn’t like the good old days
when Vangie had at least had to wait for the monthly phone bill to arrive to
scourge it for their calls.
 

“Sounds like you’re in a good mood,
darl’.
 
Have a good night of sleepies?”
Jaxon asked, his rhymey phrasing hopping across the line.

She should toy with him just as he would
have with her.
 
“A
very
nice night of sleepies, and you?”
 
She cooed the words intentionally like her
namesake, Norma Jeane Baker.
 
If Jaxon
didn’t want to hear about her time with Lucky, he shouldn’t ask.
 
And if he got territorial, their
communication would stop.
 
Lucky goosed
her with a raised eyebrow.

Besides, there wasn’t much to share.
 
She’d spent a half-hour cursing the inventor
of the southern gentleman and Mother Nature as she lay in the hot tub of water
in their hotel room last night.
 
While Lucky and his long legs lay sprawled across the bed, his foot
bobbing up and down.
 
Maybe she
should buy him a magazine at the next Truck Stop.

She continued on with Jaxon. “So hey,
we’ll be there sometime tonight.
 
We’re
leaving Gallup now.”
 

“That late, really?”

The man had no concept of how long it
took to drive somewhere that wasn’t his house, his studio or the beach.
 
“Yes, really.
 
It’s a nine hour drive, at least, Jax.
 
Besides, I’m in such good company; I’m not in
that big a hurry to ditch him with you.”

Lucky looked like he was about to sneeze
but apparently the open mouth, raised brows and saucer-like eyes meant he was
shocked because she read his lips as he mouthed, “I can’t believe what you’re
saying to him.”

She winked then returned to her
call.
 
“Okay, so you still want me to
drop Lucky off at the studio?”
 
Her voice high-tailed it at the end because she had hopes for
something else.

But Jaxon hadn’t changed the plan.
 
She shouldn’t have expected him to.

They said their short goodbyes.
 
She hung up.

Gripping the steering wheel like it was a
lifeline—one filled with bitter memories—she drove them to the highway, trying
not to let her pissed-off-ness ruin this last part of the trip.