Fan Girl (25 page)

Deklan comes out of the closet with a wife beater on under a gray, short sleeve, button-down shirt and jeans with flip flops. We lock the house and are walking to his Land Rover when he says, “We need to swing by and pick up mom.”

I look at him in surprise as I open the passenger door. “Your mom’s coming?”

He gets in and starts the car answering, “Yeah, she always goes to the family get-togethers.”

“Cool.” I definitely would have been more nervous than I already am if he had told me that before.

We pull up to an apartment complex, and Nola is already waiting outside. I go to open the passenger side to let her have my seat but she’s already jumping in the back. She grabs for her seatbelt saying, “Hi guys! How’s the family?”

I look over at Deklan and laugh. He smiles back and winks. “Good mom, how are you?”

“It’s a beautiful day, and I get to spend it with all of my boys and their families. I can’t wait. It’s going to be a great day.”

I smile at her enthusiasm. Shortly after we get on the highway heading north, I start seeing signs for a fair. From the back I hear, “Oh Deklan, look! It’s the agricultural fair! You used to love that when you were a kid!”

She turns to me. “Ali, he used to be in FFA in school. Future Farmers of America. He used to beg me to go to the fairs to see the horses and cows. Even took riding lessons for a long time before the band.”

I look over at him and burst out laughing at the blush crawling up his neck. I poke him in the arm and say, “Why Deklan Thomas, I had no idea!”

Nola laughs. “Oh yes. Poor boy lived in downtown Los Angeles, but was desperate to have livestock. You guys should go tomorrow.”

“I wanna go! Let’s go see the horsies and the moo cows,” I joke.

He laughs and rubs his jaw. “Okay, we’ll go tomorrow. First thing, though. They start early.” I can tell he’s getting excited already, his eyes are sparkling. So cute!

Saturday traffic is not good, so it takes us an hour and a half to get into the mountains and to the neighborhood where Tommy lives.

Nola leans forward again. “Oh Ali, if you want anything you should get it while you’re here! This community is all natural farmers. This is the new
it
place for the wealthy, but it’s very hush-hush. There are organic farmers and bee keepers and free ranging everything. They sell right outside the gate. It’s a farmer’s market. You’ll see what I mean. It’s brilliant.”

“Does that mean we’re stopping before we go through, then?” Deklan asks.

Nola answers, “Well of course dear, don’t we always?”

He nods his head knowingly. “Yes, yes we do.”

Five minutes later we pull up outside of a gate that has a huge Farmer’s Market sign on the outside. We park and Nola links arms with me. “Wait until you see! They have anything you could possibly need. This development is gated for the farmers so that nothing can touch their land. No pesticides or anything else. The wealthy finally caught on. Tommy got the recommendation from some big name in Hollywood. It’s the perfect place to raise a family.”

I look at Deklan and his eyebrows are raised at me. Sounds like a pointed remark to me, and he picked up on it, too.

As soon as we get in the doors we’re greeted by the smell of leather, berries, and fresh flowers. It’s a huge box of a building with a high ceiling and the whole roof is skylights with florescent lights hanging down from the cross beams. We walk down the first aisle that has all wines. Nola tastes freely of everything and buys two bottles. She promptly hands those over to Deklan to carry. He looks amused and indulges her. The next aisle is cheeses and milk. Goat, cow, everything organic. Nola snags two wheels and keeps walking. I point out to Deklan the huge mason jars of milk that are not pasteurized and he laughs, but takes a sample with me. Hands down it’s better than any store-bought brand I’ve ever had.

The next aisle is spices, nuts, and honey. I buy some honey and fresh lavender. I notice most people are walking around with baskets, either wicker or steel and cloth. Some people are pulling coolers. The next aisle over I see why. It’s lined with freezers and refrigerators that have meat and jerky hanging from the walls of each stall. One more aisle over is leather goods and alpaca woven items. I pick up a belt with a huge jade belt buckle and put it on.

It goes on and on. Soaps, potpourri, candles, and then the next aisle is all fruits and veggies. Two rows of just that. I taste a strawberry from a pick your own berry farm—if you live in the gate—and my eyes roll back in my head. I hold one up to Deklan. “Babe, open.”

He comes over and bites down with a smile. He nods in agreement. “That’s really good. Get those.” Then leans down and pulls my bottom lip into his mouth. I take a breath and glance over at Nola who is looking at oranges with a huge smile on her face.

The next two rows are all flowers, where I grab a huge hanging arrangement since I didn’t have time to get a gift for Tommy’s wife. After that, on the back wall is baked goods. Breads, cakes, pies, chocolates, all kinds of pastries, and desserts. After we load the car up with all of Nola’s things and the few things I bought, we head through a row of trees that shade the road like a southern plantation. There’s a brick gatehouse and wrought iron gate in front of us. Deklan takes all of our IDs and hands them to the guard. He checks his clipboard and hands them back, waving us through while pressing a button for the gate to slide open.

Once through, we drive for twenty minutes, passing farm after farm and occasionally a mansion on a big piece of land. All with individual gates and ornate signs stating the name of their farm, ranch or vineyard. We pass by huge trucks pulling horse trailers and kids on ATVs. In the pastures are sheep, horses, alpacas, cows, and fields and fields of plowed farm land. I sigh. “You’re right, Nola. This is the perfect place to raise a family.”

Deklan looks over at me, studying my face, then puts on a blinker.

Tommy and Della’s house looks like a Cape Cod house with all kinds of hanging vines and flower pots. We park next behind several other cars in the driveway and head to the back through a white picket fence.

A blonde woman in her early thirties comes up to us with open arms and a huge smile. “Deklan, Nola, so glad you could make it. And you must be Ali! I’m Della. Finally! Did you bring the ultrasound picture?”
Shouldn’t these people be more reserved? No, I just need to have faith.

“Hi! It’s so great to meet you, Della. Thanks for having me.” I hold up the flower basket. “I brought you flowers from the market.”

“Oh bless you, they’re beautiful!” she gushes.

“I’m glad you like it. I loved the market!”

“Isn’t it fabulous? Deklan, you’re selling your house right? You guys should move here.”

Deklan puts his arm around her shoulder and tells her to get him a realtor’s number. She squeals and claps her hands then runs into the house, only stopping to hang the planter on a hook on the porch. I’m watching Deklan, and he’s watching me with his eyebrows raised asking a silent, “You gonna object?”

I shake my head no and walk to where the guys are standing next to a grill.

Halfway there I hear a high pitched Minnie Mouse. “Dekwan!”

I turn to see a tiny blonde streak who must be Dakota, Tommy’s daughter, running straight toward my boyfriend. He smiles and squats down to catch her flying leap. He pretends to fall over and rolls around on the grass, tickling her sides until she’s screeching. Finally he stops and stands, lifting her in his arms. She takes both of his cheeks in her chubby hands. “Dekwan, you bring me puppy?” Her voice is excited.

“No baby, no puppy.”

She looks crushed then perks up again. “A kitty, right? I get a kitty?”

He laughs and says, “Nope, no kitty.”

She looks mad now. “What did you bring me?”

He turns with her. “I brought you Nonna, the best Nonna in the world.” Then whispers “She brought you cookies.”

Dakota twists in his arms and launches herself at Nola. “Nonna!” She yells.

Nola swoops her up and starts kissing her cheeks over and over, causing little girl giggles that make everybody laugh with her. Peter and Fandy are waving me over toward the grill.

After walking over I get one arm hugs from all of the guys, minus Tommy, whom I haven’t seen yet. “What can I get you to drink, Ali?” Tag asks me. “We’ve got water, lemonade, sodas. And Della just made sweet tea.”

“Oh, I want sweet tea! That sounds
fantastic
right now. I’ve been craving it for a few weeks, now. Can’t get enough.” I get my drink and head over to a patio set that Kayla, Tag’s girlfriend, is sitting at. I hold my hand out politely. “Hi, I’m Ali.”

She is dressed in a skin tight dress and red heels with her light brown hair done out to there. She looks me over in my holey jeans and sandals, then ignoring my hand, looks down to her phone again. “Kayla,” she murmurs.

I roll my lips in and bite them to try not to laugh. I mouth “okay” and turn my body to face the guys, taking a sip of my drink as Della walks out of the house with a bundle in her arms.

My heart starts beating hard when I realize it’s a baby. She walks to Deklan and hands him a card that he puts in his wallet, then he reaches for the baby. The swap is seamless, and he holds the baby like a football. They’re both looking at him and smiling at the mummified infant all swaddled up. Deklan looks up at me, suddenly piercing me with his bright eyes and smiles a small tentative smile then tells Della something.

She takes the baby from him then comes to sit next to me. “Hey there, Ali. I see you’ve met Kayla,” she says sweetly.

I smile back. “Yes, I sure did.”

“I’ll trade you your baby for mine. Get out that picture, and you can have Conner.” I pull it out and set it on the table next to us before reaching for the baby. My heart is beating hard in my chest, and I break out in a sweat. I’ve held babies before, but never when I knew I was going to have one.

I feel the comforting weight in my arms and lean back in the chair. Looking down I see a tiny little nose, squished up eyes and red button mouth. “Oh Della,” I whisper. Like he would wake up if I spoke any louder.

Her face goes soft. “He’s precious isn’t he? There’s nothing better than this age, when you can get all of the snuggles in you want.”

I put my head down and smell him, taking in the baby powder and milk smell. “I wanna keep him forever and ever.”

Della smiles at me and holds up my picture. “Soon you’ll have one of your own to keep!”

I look up and see Deklan watching me intensely. He locks eyes with me and nods. Then one of the guys says something to grab his attention and he looks away. I move my eyes over to Della and she’s smiling.

Suddenly Kayla says loudly bolting up from slouching in her chair. “OH MY GOD, are you having Deklan Thomas’ baby?!”

Everybody turns to her and freezes. I hold the baby tighter to me and pat his back with my hand. Her voice was so loud right next to him. He doesn’t move, of course. He’s warm and content for now.

Tag comes over and pulls her up by the arm and leads her away. Right after they round the house, the guys come to the table and sit down. Deklan scoots Kayla’s chair next to mine before sitting and putting his hand on the nape of my neck.

Alan sighs. “I told him not to bring her here.”

“Why is he even with her?” Della asks. Fandy replies bluntly, “He’s blinded by her pussy. Don’t doubt it for a second.”

Deklan rolls his eyes. “That’s a cop out. He just doesn’t want the drama of a breakup. He’s always been a pushover with women.”

Tommy says, “Yeah well, your shit’s gonna be all over the damn internet in about five minutes, so you better get prepared real fast.”

I look at Deklan, who is watching me, then I look back to Tommy and shrug. “I don’t have a problem with it. We already agreed to do this together and the paps are at my shop. I know Dek doesn’t care.”

Deklan squeezes my neck and kisses the side of my head before saying, “I’ve been wanting to scream it from a freaking rooftop. I can’t wait.”

My heart goes warm, and I smile back.

Deklan looks over at Della. “You guys should let us babysit before the baby comes. To see if we need classes or something.” Everybody laughs.

Tommy jumps on the offer. “Done, and done.”

After the steaks and burgers are eaten, Tag shows up. He holds out his hands as he walks to the table. “Sorry, guys. Give me a few days to move my shit and she’ll be gone, I swear.”

Fandy speaks up, “Yeah, well you just outed Dek and Ali’s love child. No way that bitch is gonna keep her trap shut.”

Tag looks over at me and says, “Sorry guys.”

Deklan shrugs. “It’s alright, Tag. It was going to come out.”

Tommy adds, “Well now that you’re finally here let’s talk shop.”

The guys all sit at the table, and Della nudges her head toward the house. I follow, still holding Conner, and walk into the kitchen. The walls are yellow and the cabinets white. Grey sparkly granite for counters and black hard wood floors. “Oh, Della. This is beautiful! Did you do it yourself?”

She laughs and refills our iced teas. “No way. I had a guy, the one who has that show? He came in and did it all. I just told him what I wanted. I can get you a number when you’re ready.”

I love the house, but I would only have one room in my condo to do. I don’t think I would need to remodel anything, just paint and move furniture. I nod anyway, and we make our way to the living room that has butter yellow leather couches and a huge flat screen television. She reaches for the baby so I reluctantly hand him over. She notices and smiles. “They’re addictive, aren’t they?”

“I feel like my arms are empty,” I explain.

“It will be so great to have another mom in the band. I’m so used to all of the Kaylas, or in Deklan’s case, no one.”

“So, he never brought girls around? I thought he was just private with the media.” I had been wondering about this.

Della shakes her head. “No, nobody has ever been around me at least. I know he would have one night stands or affairs, whatever you want to call them. But it was one night and gone, as far as I know. He would always tell me he would know it when he found it.” She smiles. “That’s you, by the way.”