Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (60 page)

She held on to his hand for a moment longer.
“I’m glad you’re home,” she said softly.

“You are?” he queried.

She nodded. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” he admitted, instantly
recognizing that he really had missed her and the sweet way she had
of always taking care of him.

She spent the rest of the night doing exactly
that. She served his meal, cleaned up the mess and then stayed till
the wee hours playing card games so that he could take his mind off
of drinking away his problems. They didn’t talk about anything
serious. No business, no romance, no drama. He was able to laugh
and feel high even without any intoxicants.

The only other places he had found that were in
music and in Andy’s arms.

When Holly offered to stay the night he found
he really wanted her to. She set up on the couch that faced the
ocean while he climbed up the stairs to the king sized bed in his
loft. When he reached over to turn out the light his eyes fell on
the business card that Leo had given him, to fill his bed with
professional women that came conveniently without any emotional
attachment.

He tore it to pieces and turned off the
light.

Chapter Twelve

October 10, 2010. Los Angeles.

Andy

The house was darkened when Andy got back to
Malibu. She made her way through the quiet living room and kitchen
toward the deck, where Graham sat in his wheelchair staring into
the ocean. She dropped her purse on the counter and headed
outside.

“I’m home,” she said unnecessarily as she
walked over to where he sat. “Where’s Maggie?”

He didn’t look at her. “I gave her the night
off. She went to see a movie.”

“Are you okay?” Andy immediately wanted to
know. He shouldn’t have been left alone and it really surprised her
Maggie had left her post. She’d been at his side for
months.

“I’m fine,” was Graham’s stoic response. He
finally turned his eyes to her. “We hit a milestone
today.”

“Oh? What was that?”

He said nothing as he stared deep into her
eyes. She watched in amazement as he placed each hand on either
handlebar of his chair. She watched as slowly and with great effort
he lifted himself up into a standing position.

Her mouth dropped open. He was not standing
fully on his own feet but his lower body was finally starting to
support his weight. It was something she knew Maggie had been
pushing for weeks once she knew he felt pressure on the bottoms of
his feet. She had him try to stand using bars to stabilize himself,
but he’d always fallen.

Now he stood, trembling from the strain,
looking at her with a determination that took her breath away.
“Graham,” she whispered as she ran towards him just as he flopped
back down in the chair. There were tears in her eyes as she threw
her arms around his neck. A milestone indeed!

He didn’t embrace her. In fact he was rigid in
her arms. “I guess I don’t have to ask where you’ve been,” he
said.

“Graham,” she started as she pulled
away.

“His first day back and you go running. Nothing
has changed, has it?”

She knelt in front of the chair and stared up
at him. “He needed me,” she said simply.

He nodded. He wanted to scream that he needed
her too but he didn’t say a word. The fact was he didn’t want to
need her anymore. He wanted to go back to being her hero – the one
who would move mountains to make her happy.

His standing on his own two legs, however
briefly, would someday give him the ability to come back into her
life and fight for her heart for real.

Until then he would hold his tongue. He hated
when she looked at him like he was a child who needed her
care.

He was a man who wanted her love. And one day,
one day very soon, he would show her that.

He spun the chair away and rolled back into the
house towards his room. He wanted to be alone with his fantasies of
when she’d come to him, recognizing him for the best man in her
life, and making her final choice at last.

Andy let him go without a fuss. Instead she
sprawled out on the chaise lounge chair on the deck. As she
listened to waves crash against the shore she was reminded of her
time that afternoon with Vanni, when he was as vulnerable and open
to her as he had ever been.

It gave her hope that he was on the path to a
true recovery. Not just the alcoholism but also the emotional
recovery she was beginning to suspect he had never made since his
father left. There was something deeply wounded in him and God help
her she wanted to be the one to heal him.

She knew it was unfair to everyone to have
these treacherous thoughts but her heart would not be
denied.

So even though she knew she should run to
Graham’s room and try to make amends for not being there today when
he needed her, she simply let things be.

Maggie found her on the patio when she finally
returned home from the movies. She brought a bucket of popcorn home
to share with everyone, so both women sat on the deck and snacked
as they chatted.

“Big day today, huh?”

Maggie nodded with a smile. They had worked
really hard for this goal and to see it happen reaffirmed her
belief that he could make a full recovery. She wouldn’t stop until
he did; she had already made that promise to herself.

Graham was going to walk again or she was going
to be his nurse for the rest of his life. She wouldn’t let him
down, it just wasn’t an option.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Maggie
warned. “But it was a huge step in the right direction. In a manner
of speaking,” she added with a grin.

Andy smiled back. She found herself growing
ever fonder of the redhead who sat across from her. She was tough
as nails but she had a quick wit that kept the journey entertaining
at least. When she and Graham felt frustrated, it was always Maggie
who made them laugh or made them believe. She was equal parts
nurse, counselor and cheerleader. “I have no doubt you can make it
happen,” Andy told her.

Maggie just shook her head. “Graham’s the one
who’s making it happen. He’s doing the hard work day after day.”
She said it with a due amount of awe. His determination and
tenacity had surpassed even her own. She glanced over at the
younger woman. “He’s doing it for you, you know.”

It was Andy’s turn to shake her head. She
didn’t want that responsibility. “He’s doing it because that’s the
kind of man he is. He’d be working hard whether I was here or
not.”

Maggie chuckled. “You keep telling yourself
that.” Andy didn’t respond so she broached a conversation that was
long overdue. “So what’s your long-term goal here,
Andy?”

She sighed and tipped her head back against the
chaise. “I don’t know,” she confessed honestly. “I really haven’t
had the luxury of thinking ahead.”

“Do you love him?”

“Of course,” Andy answered automatically. “I
wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“Then be his light at the end of the tunnel,”
Maggie said softly. “He deserves nothing less,” she added firmly.
It was her own kind of warning that she didn’t want Andy playing
with his heart.

It was such an impossible situation Andy didn’t
know how she’d be able to cope with any of it. Every time she
closed her eyes she saw Vanni’s face and that lost little boy
locked behind his soulful eyes. A part of her would always love him
in a way she could never love anyone else. It made no sense given
all they’d been through. She wasn’t that 24-year-old he met in
Philadelphia all those years ago. She’d grown up, or at least
thought she had. That was why she was there in Malibu taking care
of Graham rather than running to Vanni every time he crooked his
little finger.

But even with how good Graham was to her and
for her, she couldn’t totally scrape Vanni from her soul. She loved
both men in completely different ways even though it was tearing
her apart.

Just seeing the disappointment in Graham’s face
tonight when he had reached his greatest milestone thus far without
her brought it home that she was spreading herself too thin between
them.

Yet she still had the compulsion to go where
they called, to juggle them and do the best she could. There was no
way she’d ever really be able to say no to either of them. She
could only hope that she would be able to keep all the pins she
juggled in the air for at least one more day.

That was her prayer every day.

She knew eventually she’d be put to the test.
She just didn’t realize it would happen the next day when Vanni
made a surprise appearance on her doorstep.

She had been with Maggie and Graham since
almost dawn. He woke up more determined than ever to take his first
step now that he could tentatively stand. Though he could put
pressure on his feet he still couldn’t will his legs to move from
where they were planted on the ground. Instead he wore himself out
trying to drag himself along the parallel bars as he brushed away
Maggie’s assistance.

By eleven o’clock he was almost ready to
collapse from exhaustion. When the doorbell rang Andy went to tend
to their visitor while Maggie got Graham back into his chair. She
nearly swallowed her tongue when she saw Vanni standing tall and
strong right in the threshold. He overwhelmed her so much she
barely saw Holly standing right next to him.

“What are you doing here?” she wanted to know
immediately. It was Graham’s home. It wasn’t right for them to see
each other there.

Especially since her heart raced with sheer
excitement just to see him again.

“There’s an emergency,” Holly answered for him,
which drew Andy’s attention to her.

Against her better judgment she stepped back
and allowed them both to enter into the living room. “What’s going
on?”

“We finally know the name for the other girl in
the accident,” Holly went on. “Our good friends at PING located her
next of kin. They’re about to do an exclusive interview before the
noon news.”

“Hence the emergency,” Vanni dryly remarked.
“Now that they know what happened to her and why…”

“And who Vanni is,” Holly
interjected.

“They want a payday. And they’re telling anyone
who will listen that they want to fight for the girl who can’t
fight for herself.”

Andy sighed. This sink hole just kept widening.
She gestured to the sofa where they could take a seat so she could
go break the news to Graham.

Only as she turned to go get him she found him
in the doorway. He was in his chair and Maggie stood directly
behind him. For some weird reason she felt as though she’d been
caught cheating when all she had done was let visitors into the
house. “Vanni and Holly are here,” Andy said unnecessarily.
“There’s a problem.”

“I see,” he said. “And I heard.”

He rolled into the living room where Vanni and
Holly sat waiting. Maggie followed just inside the room but stayed
off to the side within reach but not involved in the conversation.
Celebrity business didn’t concern her as much as his
health.

Graham turned to Andy. “Perhaps you’d like to
get our guests something to drink,” he suggested with a warm smile
that took her a bit off guard. She could tell he was upset to have
Vanni in his home and witness the compromised shape he was in, but
he hid it well underneath a casual demeanor that pretended there
was nothing at all wrong with him.

She turned silently to their guests. “May I get
you something to drink?” she asked them. Vanni shook his head as he
regarded her through narrowed eyes, but Holly jumped up to her
feet. “I’ll help you get something for everyone,” she said as she
ushered Andy out of the living room and into the
kitchen.

Andy was silent as she took out several crystal
tumblers and then grabbed a pitcher of tea from the
fridge.

“Is there something wrong?” Holly asked as she
filled each glass with ice.

“We’re not used to unexpected guests,” Andy
replied and Holly was instantly apologetic.

“I’m sorry, Andy. I come over here all the time
so I figured it would be no big deal. Plus it was pretty urgent
that we all get ahead of this thing for damage control.”

“It’s fine. It’s
just…,” Andy took a deep breath. “Things are complicated with Vanni
and Graham.”
And me
, she thought to herself.

Holly looked up at her innocently. “I’m sorry,”
she apologized again. “I was with Vanni this morning when we found
out, and I just thought it was better to bring Vanni over here than
involve Leo. I know you don’t get along with him, but I knew you
and Vanni had been… close.”

Andy turned to her. “That’s the complication,”
she pointed out, although she felt it unnecessary. “You do know
that the whole reason Graham is in that chair is because of one of
Vanni’s fans, right?”

Holly nodded. “But honestly that’s all
personal. This is business. If we can’t come to you and Graham
whenever there’s a problem then maybe it’s best that we find
another label to protect his interests.”