Snapshot (32 page)

“Nah, it’s exactly what you should drive. Wanna take it for a spin?” He acted like an eager teenage boy.

“I don’t have my license yet.”

“When has that ever stopped us?” He winked, in reference to the times when she was a little girl and he had her drive. So he did remember those idiotic times, and he thought they were funny. Unbelievable.

“I should go get my temps. They’re from Wisconsin, but they should count here.”

“Nonsense. You’re with me. Let’s go.” He tossed Marti the keys, which she barely caught, and before she could protest, he stretched his long limbs into the car.

“Okay!” Marti slid behind the wheel on the butter-soft, leather seats and turned the key. The engine purred smoothly. With jitters dancing in her stomach, she pulled out onto the canyon road.

Her dad cranked up the stereo and relaxed with his arm resting on the car door. Marti couldn’t wipe the grin off her face as she navigated the curvy roads.
He bought me a car!
An amazing car! After a few minutes, he directed her to the highway, and she sped up. The wind whipped through her hair. Her dad laughed, removed his hat and put it on the floor.
 

Marti wanted to squeal with the joy of being out of the house, of spending semi-normal time with her dad.

After several miles, he directed her toward an exit, and she ended up on a road that hugged the coast. With a lower speed limit, they were able to talk while watching the ocean crash upon the shore.
 

Most of the conversation centered around him, his upcoming reunion tour, and all the plans. She could see how much making a successful comeback meant to him. She hoped it worked. He deserved it. He wasn’t a bad person, just kind of irresponsible and self-absorbed. But how could she complain when he just handed her a new car! She couldn’t wait to tell Adam about her dad’s thoughtful, generous gift.

Eventually, the conversation turned to other things. “Last night I saw Jack, but I haven’t heard about Brandy. What’s she up to?” Marti tried to sound casual about the question, because she expected him to say Brandy was in jail, hooked on drugs or something. His answer caught her totally off guard.

“She’s a nurse,” he said.

“Really?” Marti tried to hide her shock.
 

“Yup, she got married last year to a fella in film editing and production. They live on the East Coast.”

“Wow.” Marti had to digest that one. How did her sister turn her life around? She’d been such a train wreck at nineteen.

“Yeah, she turned out real well, and I can see that you will too. You’ve got your head on straight. Now Jack, he’s another story. That boy has been a problem since the word go.”

Marti thought back to this morning when she found Jack and Courtney in bed together. Her dad didn’t appear to know, and she wasn’t about to mention it. Finally, they were spending quality time together and she didn’t want to ruin it.
 

On the way back, they swung by a drive-thru for drinks. She considered telling him about Adam but wasn’t sure it was a good idea. She had no idea how he’d react and it might complicate her life more. Wind-blown and relaxed, they returned home with her car properly broken in. As Marti climbed out, Courtney pulled up in a dented gray Mazda. Marti’s nerves zoomed to high alert.

Courtney’s face pinched into a haughty glare. She stalked over to Marti’s dad as he untangled himself from the small vehicle. “What’s this?” she snapped in short piercing tones.
 

Unfazed by Courtney’s temper, he replied. “It’s Marti’s new car!”

Courtney’s eyes widened, she crossed her arms and hitched her hip. “What do you mean, Marti’s car? She doesn’t need a car. She’s a kid! I, on the other hand, need a car.”
 

Marti wanted to slink away and avoid the scene, but she was stuck. Plus, she couldn’t deny she wanted to see how this played out.

“You’re barely twenty-one.
You’re
practically a child! And lately, you’ve been acting like one too.” He took a drag on his soda, paying no attention to Courtney’s rising rage.

Twenty-one!
Holy crap
. Marti assumed Courtney was in her late twenties based on the way she dressed. And honestly, who, at twenty-one, would want to be hanging out with an old man like her dad?

“Don’t you see she’s ruining everything?” Courtney whined and waved her arms in an overdramatic display of poor acting skills. “She’s always interfering and pulling you away from me. You never spend time with me any more.”

Marti expected Courtney to stomp her foot like a preschooler.

“Maybe that has something to do with you being joined at the hip with Nigel.” Her dad raised a skeptical eyebrow Courtney’s direction.

“He’s my brother! What can I do? He’s bored and has no one else to spend time with.”

“Is that it? I thought he just hung around to freeload off my good nature. Rethink your position, Courtney, it’s getting old.” Her dad put his hat back on and sauntered into the house as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
 

Marti bit back her smile. She was so proud he didn’t take Courtney’s crap and give in.
 

“Wipe that smirk off your face or I’ll wipe it off for you. And listen up, you little bitch. You better watch what you say or you might find gouges on the doors of your pretty little car.”

Marti sobered, all evidence of happiness gone. She knew it wasn’t an idle threat.

“That’s more like it. And in the future, don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Courtney spun on her heel and left Marti alone in the driveway to contemplate this new threat.

Just when things between Marti and her dad were looking up: he bought her a car and they were getting to know each other again, Courtney had to remind her of all the other issues she still faced in this screwed up household.

*
 
*
 
*

Jamieson was filming their latest video with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop. It was going to look awesome, but unfortunately, it meant another night shoot. The minute the director called a break to adjust the lightening, Adam snuck in a quick call to Marti.

“Adam?” Marti answered.

“Hi! I didn’t wake you up, did I?” He grabbed a cookie and stepped away from the production tent.

“No. I was messing around with photos on my laptop. I’m avoiding Courtney. The pictures of that storm and the fire from the lightening strike are so cool. Hey, I thought you were supposed to be at a night shoot.”

“I am. I’ve got a couple minutes and wanted to hear your voice.” A brisk wind blew off of the East River, causing him to shiver. He turned his back against the breeze.

“I needed to hear a friendly voice, so I’m glad you called.” Marti’s voice sounded sweet and lyrical to his ears.

“What’s going on?” He took a bite of oatmeal raisin cookie.
 

Marti sighed. “Oh, Courtney is making life difficult, that’s all. Don’t worry.”

Adam didn’t like how Marti kept her troubles to herself. He knew she didn’t like being in LA, but she wouldn’t open up about it. “Are you sure?” He felt helpless.

“It’ll take someone a lot bigger than Courtney to take me down.” She laughed, but it sounded hollow.

She always blamed her troubles on her dad’s girlfriend, but was it really an unwanted pregnancy on her mind? Now probably wasn’t the best time to bring it up, but he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. He needed to know. He paced away from the production area and gazed at the historic suspension bridge. “We haven’t talked about what happened at camp.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, you and me… aw hell, did you get it yet? Your ah…” Why was this so damn hard to talk about?

Marti didn’t answer right away, and each second seemed like an eternity. Then finally, in a quiet, defeated voice, she said.
 

“No.”
 

His heart sank. “Shit.” He wanted this to all go away. He didn’t want to face the reality that she might be pregnant.

“No kidding.”

“Do you think you are?” He had hoped so badly this was a false alarm and she’d have good news.
 

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” She sighed, and he wished he was with her right now. “But I bought a test,” she added.
 

“Oh!” She must be really worried. He chomped off another bite of cookie. It was tasteless.

Wally stepped out of the production tent. “Adam, we’re ready to go.”

Adam nodded to Wally but stayed focused on Marti.

“But you didn’t take it yet?”

“I’m afraid to. There’s been so much crappy stuff happening, and I don’t want any more bad news. I’m afraid that if I take the test and I am, it’ll erase all the good stuff with us, and I don’t want to lose that. You’re about the only really good thing I have left.”

“You’re not going to lose me. No matter what.” God, he wanted to see her now more than ever. When they were together, they could handle anything. “What are you going to do?”

“I thought I’d give it a few more days. I’ve never been regular, so I’m hoping that’s what’s happening.”

“And your grandma died, and that was really stressful. Can that make you not get it?” He didn’t know how these things worked, but maybe stress was the problem. She’d sure had enough of that. In fact, that was probably the reason she was late. He sighed over this tiny window of hope.

“Maybe. I’m not really sure.”

Wally waved to Adam and pointed at his watch. Adam nodded and held up a finger for one more minute. Wally nodded and ducked back into the tent.

“I’m getting the evil eye here, so I better go.”

“Okay, well good luck with the shoot.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” The words, “I love you,” were on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t say them. Aw hell. He felt like a jerk. She might be having his kid, and he was too chicken to say, I love you. He tossed the rest of the cookie into the river.

He pocketed his phone and followed Wally into the tent. If he wanted to see Marti, he needed to make it happen. “Hey Wally, got a sec?”

“Sure, Adam. How are you holding up?”

“I’m exhausted, but what’s new? Actually, I wanted to ask you about something that might help me.”

“What’s that?”

“Do we have any free days coming up? I know the New York commitments are winding down. Is there a day and a half or two that I could take a quick break?”

Wally eyed him. Adam had never asked for anything before, and he hoped his manager would sense his desperation.
 

“Let’s see.” Wally opened his binder and paged through. “We should wrap up the video tonight. SNL is tomorrow night. After that, we have a couple of interviews, approval of new cover art, and some other business stuff.” He turned the page. “The two days after that, you’re all in Boston. I hear your parents are going to get a place there. They’re moving home base from San Antonio to Boston.”

“What? Where’d you hear that?” That was news to Adam. His parents never mentioned a word about moving, and their secrets were beginning to piss him off.
 

His dad walked in. Speak of the devil. He had suffered a heart attack a year ago, but was back to his stubborn, domineering self.

“You’re moving us to Boston, and no one bothered to tell me?”
 

“Didn’t I mention it?” His dad shuffled through some papers without bothering to look at Adam.

“No, you didn’t mention it. Don’t I ever get a say in anything?”

His father paused and focused his gray eyes on Adam. “What would you say? Why do you care all of a sudden?”

Garrett and their mom walked in.

“I happen to care a lot! And I’m tired of being treated like a third-rate citizen in this family.”

“You’re only sixteen. What’d you expect?” Garrett interrupted. “Are we gonna finish this scene or not?”

Adam held up his hand. “I expect to be treated equally. I’m one third of this band. I think I’ve earned the right to be in on major decisions. You force me to sit in on stupid meetings for book pitches and choosing cover photos and then you exclude me from something as important as where I live!”

“I’m sorry, Adam. You never seemed to care either way about most things,” Mom said.

“I care now! And so it’s clear, I’m not going to Boston with you. I’m going to see a friend in LA!”
 

He stormed out, not caring that he left his family standing there in shock. It was about time they started taking him seriously.

*
 
*
 
*

Marti decided to stay out of Courtney’s way for the next couple days. Marti would rather hide out in her room than deal with Courtney, the soul sucking celebutante wannabe. So Marti settled in for marathon TV. Thanks to her dad’s media system, she could get constant streaming of
Pretty Little Liars
and
Toddlers and Tiaras
. She texted with Adam whenever he had a quick break, which didn’t seem often. Last time they’d talked, he sounded frustrated. Neither of them were doing what they wanted any more, and the fear of her being pregnant weighed heavier each day.