Waiting for a Girl Like You (8 page)

“No, at the diner. I open.”

He flinched. “What time?”

“Six.”

Marc winced for sure this time. “I could drive you down in the morning.”

“Yeah. I bet you’re all excited about seeing the sun rise over the mountains.” Alex wiggled away from him.

“I can do it.”

“You don’t have to.” Alex pulled on her jeans. She needed to learn to set boundaries. With him and with herself. She also needed a little time to process this development. Besides six a.m. was close. “If you could give me a ride to my cousin’s house, I’d appreciate it. It’s a long walk.”

“Of course I will.” He stood up and wrapped his arms around her. Still naked. Still nice to touch. “What time are you finished?”

“Two.”

“I’ll come for a late lunch and get you then.” He grazed his warm lips across her temple. “We can get to work on that here, there, and everywhere thing tomorrow.”

Heat spilled along her limbs, wanting to drag her to the couch under him. “Okay. I have the day after off.”

“Great.”

“I thought it was good the way it was.” Marc paced across the living room. Jason had a gift for interfering with his pursuit of Alex.

“I think it could be better.”

He checked his watch. “It’s fucking brilliant now. Look, I’m kinda busy at the moment. Give me a couple of days with it.” Shithead. Woke up in the middle of the night with a brilliant riff and demanded three hours on the phone hammering out a brilliant song, but Jason wanted more. He wanted to be the hardest working man in show business. But why was it so horribly timed?

“A couple of days? What’s her name?”

“Alex.” Alex, the deer he was trying to get to eat out of his hand. He’d gotten that far. Now he needed to domesticate her so she would eat out of his hand all the time.

Jason snickered. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot about her. Have fun. Don’t forget to change the sheets. Cassie wanted me to remind you about it.” Jason hung up.

Jason had been a lot easier to deal with since Cassie came into his life. She was nice enough, except for her weird obsession with sheets.

His phone rang in his hand and he answered. “Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Yes, Jason, it’s you. We just talked.”

“I know, but I forgot to tell you my big news.”

Marc’s gut tightened. What else was going swimmingly in Jason’s perfect life? “What’s that?”

“Cassie’s pregnant. I’m gonna have another kid in about eight months.”

“That’s great.” Marc hoped the sound of his teeth grinding couldn’t be heard through the phone. The connection could not be that clear. “Tell her I said congratulations.”

“I will. I’m pretty excited.”

“Yeah, that’s great. I’m happy for you. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure. Have fun.”

Marc dropped his phone on the table and walked out to his car. Better to leave the phone here so he could focus on Alex. If Jason followed form—and there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t—he’d forgotten to tell anyone else about Cassie’s pregnancy in his obsession with his new ditty. He was likely, right now, on the phone with Brian spreading the good cheer, followed by a call to Bear, and then Ty, who might find time between recovering from last night and getting ready to go out tonight, to make a call. Marc took solace in that Brian would be as excited about the pregnancy as he was. Already saddled with two monsters of his own and divorced, Brian wouldn’t want to see his best pal headed down the same path. Though it wasn’t the same path. Not really. Cassie was nothing like Bonnie. She was a great mom to their little girl, and she was long haul material unlike Dez, who had never earned Tessa’s lawyerly seal of approval. Who knew what Bear would say. Cruising into his third year with Maureen, they seemed happy enough, but in no rush to have kids. Ty would say congratulations and run out to have a vasectomy. Then there was the management company. And the assorted hangers-on. Ugh, SendDown was in the studio so there would be separate calls from each of them as the “happy” news spread. On tour, Savitar would all learn at once so that would only entail one call, plus Suzi, from that camp.

Fantastic. He was going to come home with Alex to a whole passel of excited messages, texts, and e-mails, and their next album was going to be delayed for at least a year. His entire life was stalled.

Once upon a time, he and Dez had talked about having children. Then she started cheating on him with her personal trainer the tour before last. At one point, he’d wanted kids, but between Dez and Brian’s less than bucolic experience, maybe he needed to rethink that notion.

Jason’s song was headed in a very upbeat direction. Nothing he could work with in this mood.

Ida smirked at him when he pushed through the diner door. “Well, surprise, surprise.” She sounded like Gomer Pyle on
The Andy Griffith Show
. “Eating inside today? As if I didn’t know.”

“Yeah. How are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be home resting?”

“It was just a panic attack. Believe me, I’m going to be a lot more panicked sitting at home worrying about what’s going on here.”

Marc folded his arms. “Ida, you have to take care of yourself before your business. You go down and so does it.”

“That’s not what yesterday’s receipts say. Thanks for stepping in. Alex said you were a big help.”

“Nothing you wouldn’t have done in my place.”

Ida laughed. “Can you see me going on stage and playing a guitar in front of those fans of yours? I’d get booed off the stage.”

“You know how to entertain a crowd.” He grinned at her. When Jason announced he was building a house here, everyone thought he’d lost his mind, but it had a special appeal. “It was nothing.”

“Plus you got to work with Alex.”

“There was that.”

“Thought so. Any special requests you want me to relay to the kitchen?”

“No.”

She snickered in a very self-satisfied way, handed him his personal coffee mug, and pointed to a booth along the wall that was empty despite every other seat in the place being filled. Marc still wondered where Ida had managed to lay hands on a Paul McCartney and Wings coffee mug for him.

Alex was waiting on a couple in the back who were cooing at each other so much Marc wasn’t sure how she got an order out of them. Eventually, she freed herself to come to his table with a carafe of coffee. “If you want decaf, I’ll have to go get it.”

“Whatever you have is fine.”

Alex’s lips curled into a suggestive smile. “Is that so?”

He couldn’t stop himself from answering that smile promise for promise. “It is.”

“So, am I putting an order in for you or does Paul already know what you want?” she asked, pouring the coffee.

“I’ll take the chef’s choice.”

“Very good, sir. I’ll go let him know.” As she turned away from the table, she gave her hips a little twist that made his groin tighten.

Ida slid into the booth across from him. “So, we were right.”

“About?”

“You and Alex. She’s a fine girl.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“She’s off tomorrow. You’ll have her all to your wicked self all day.”

Ida was a nice lady, but talking about this with her was like talking to his grandma about sex. He needed her off the topic and no sacrifice was too great.

“Did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

“Cassie’s pregnant again. Jason said she’s due in eight months.”

Ida clapped her hands once, somehow managing to not carve herself up with her long, green talons. “Really? I have to call her mama. She said they were going to try again, but I didn’t think it would take so soon.” Ida scuttled away.

That Jason and Cassie had decided to try for another kid was news to Marc. How many kids did they want? Jason had four sisters and two half sisters, but his family was sort of a train wreck. Cassie’s family was composed of her and her parents.

Alex came out of the kitchen with a tray in her hands. She delivered it to a table with a family of four. He watched her sorting out their orders like a pro and getting the kids set up with straws in their drinks and crayons brushed to the side where they wouldn’t wind up in the ketchup. What kind of family did she come from? What kind of family did she want?

What kind of lunatic was he thinking about this based on a one night stand?

Still, she handled the kids like she knew what she was doing and was comfortable with it. They both had dark hair and brown eyes, tall, thin. Their kids had a very high probability of being good looking and intelligent. He could have something to look forward to when he came home from tour other than a cold house and a note from the housekeeper that she’d stocked him with milk and bread, but he’d have to call if he wanted anything else. If he was going to be thinking this way at all, he needed to get Tessa on the usual background checks or she’d have his head on a platter.

“What?” Alex had appeared at the side of his table and was looking at him funny.

Marc blinked. “Nothing.”

“You had an odd look on your face.”

“Just thinking.” That song of Jason’s wasn’t so difficult to put lyrics to. It started bubbling around in his head as he looked at her. That bright focused smile that hadn’t been practiced in a mirror to impress him after the show. It was genuine. Marc grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the booth next to him.

“What are you doing?” She pulled away. “You’re going to give the yokels ideas.”

“I’ll have them killed if they touch you.” Something black reared up in his chest. If anyone touched her wrong, he might have to kill them himself.

“Yeah, I’m honored, but hiring hit men is a little extreme.” Alex stood up. “I just came over to tell you that Paul is making you eggs Benedict. He says you look thin. I’ll bring it right out and then I’m turning my tables over to Drew for the rest of the day.”

“You having lunch with me? Because you’re going to need your strength.” He grinned.

Alex laughed. She had a great, musical laugh. “Here, there, and everywhere.” Then she headed for the kitchen.

* * * *

“Did you tell his majesty what I told you to tell him?” Paul demanded as soon as she walked through the door.

“Yes.” Most of it. She hadn’t mentioned that in addition to Marc looking thin, he needed a good woman to take care of him. Too bad she wasn’t that good woman. Nobody was going to be calling her a good woman anytime soon. Alex fished her tips out of her apron pockets before tossing it in the hamper inside the back door.

“What did he say?”

“He asked if I was going to eat with him.”

Paul’s lips curled into a Cheshire smile. “Excellent.”

“Hey, Alex,” Tina said, walking in the out door from the outside seating area. Twice already this summer, she’d done that, and Drew had ended up with a face full of food both times. “There’s a guy out here who asked to talk to you.”

“Tina, you have to mind the doors,” Paul snapped.

“Oh, sorry.” Tina frowned at the doors like they were at fault.

“Is it a customer?” Alex asked.

“Is what a customer?”

“The guy who wants to talk to me.”

“I’ve never seen him before.”

That didn’t narrow the field much. If he wasn’t a townie, Tina didn’t know him. Otherwise he could have been anyone from the President of the United States to the postmaster two towns over. That field included Roger. Crap. “What does he look like?”

“Chubby, dark hair. He’s right over there by the bench at the sidewalk.” Tina pointed out the door.

Alex’s hands went cold. Roger. That nice warm feeling that had been pooling in her belly at the thought of going home with Marc froze solid. She threw open the out door hard enough that it banged on the wall and raced across the concrete as fast as walking would allow.

Roger had been seated on the far edge of Tina’s section, almost on the sidewalk. He smiled and reached for her when she skidded to a stop in front of him.

Alex put her hands behind her back and laced her fingers together for good measure. “What are you doing here?”

“I missed you, my darling.”

“Did you now?”

“Alex, don’t be like this.”

Alex raised an eyebrow.

Roger nodded. “I understand. You’re angry. I can make it up to you.”

“You can make it up to me by going back to your wife.”

“You know I don’t love her. I just can’t leave her now. Not with the new baby.”

Alex clenched her fingers together. “I don’t want you to leave your wife for me.”

“But I don’t love her. I love you.”

Alex forced herself to take even breaths. This is why she had needed to get off campus for the summer. His arguments made sense when he made them in person. She needed the distance to let logic work. She took a step backward. “So you keep telling me, but whether you love me or not is immaterial. I’m not going to be responsible for destroying your family anymore than I already have.”

“Carla has destroyed my family. I am doing my best for my children.”

“You don’t need me to do the best for your children.”

“But I do. I love you. You give me the strength to go on. I can’t live without you.”

Her battle plan of even breathing faltered. “You wouldn’t do anything irrevocable, would you?” Him dying for her had to be worse than him leaving his wife for her. That’s what she’d been telling herself for the last three years, every time she had told him they were done, and he’d made his veiled threats.

“I can’t survive without you. My life is a barren wasteland.” He held out a manila envelope. “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“Your master’s thesis. I can turn it in now and make sure it gets approved before fall semester starts. There’s still time to get a freshman English class.”

Alex stared at the envelope. Her thesis. She’d planned on spending most, if not all, of next semester working on it so she could get a teaching post, maybe next year. Then she’d have her toe in the door for a real faculty position. Working side by side with Roger. Somehow that didn’t have the same draw it used to. “You finished my thesis?”

“No, this was an unfinished one that I found.”

Someone misplaced a master’s thesis and didn’t check the lost and found? That wouldn’t happen. No one would get most of the way through a master’s thesis and just abandon it. No one had dropped out of the program in the last three years or she’d have heard. “Who’s is it?”