Chapter 101

I rushed back to the main room when the first bars of Stardust began. Sure enough, Kristen was on the stage and she was even more beautiful than I remembered. She was wearing a simple black dress that showed her killer body off, and her hair was longer now. It hung past her shoulders like a shiny ebony waterfall. She absolutely took my breath away.

Things got quiet when she started to sing, and stayed that way until the ending when the room broke into thunderous applause.

She answered, “My friend, Denise, asked me to sing a favorite of hers, but I don’t see her,” when the MC asked her to do another.

I’d been standing at the side of the room and I didn’t think that she’d seen me she until she looked at me and said, “Hey, wasn’t she with you, Pete?”

She obviously knew what we were up to, so getting my wits about me, I stepped forward and said, “Rocket Man and Blaster kidnapped her, but they should be back in a couple of minutes. You know how crazy Blaster is about her; I hope that she doesn’t punch him out like she did last time.”

“Well, kidnapped or not, I’ll teach her not to leave a good-looking guy like you alone.”

She nodded to the MC and went right into her rendition of ‘My Guy’. It was more upbeat than the last time I’d heard her sing it and I walked over near the stage when she began singing it directly to me.

People jumped to their feet when it ended, and began shouting, “More,” but she thanked everyone and held her hand to me so that I could help her off the stage.

Some people came up asking for autographs once we got to our table and after I introduced her to everyone. I was waiting for an opportunity to ask her what she was doing here, but she said, “Is anyone else as hungry as I am?” when the people left.

Meg grinned, “Yes! Can we get a decent meal around here?”

I answered, “I’m sure that there is, but we have to wait until Denise gets back.”

Kristen said, “No, we don’t, I just talked to Hedden. He’ll drop her at a restaurant if we want him to.”

“You knew that he was here?”

“Sure, I rode up here with him.”

A lot of questions were running though my head, but I said, “Uhh, okay,” then I looked at the twins and asked, “Is it okay with you guys?”

Lily crooked her finger at me and asked, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

She stood up and she said, “We want to stay here and dance some more. Would you mind if we met you at the house later?” when I followed her out of earshot.

I wanted to say that I didn’t want her to, but there was really no way I could. I couldn’t stop them if they really wanted to get into trouble, so I grudgingly said, “Okay, just be careful. You have my cell phone number if you need me.”

Lily smiled and motioned for me to bend down. I assumed that she wanted to whisper something to me. She put her arms around my neck, kissed me on the cheek instead, and said, “Don’t worry, Daddy, we’ll be good. We’ll leave our cell phones on if you want to check up on us.”

She whispered to Rose, who stood up when we got back to the table, grabbed Phil, and said, “Have a good time, Guys, we’ll see you later.”

I asked Kristen when they walked away, “You have Hedden’s number, right? I’d like to talk to Denise.”

She handed me her phone, “Sure, here. It’s the last number I called, just hit send.”

I asked to speak to Denise when Jack answered. He handed her the phone and I said, “How are ya doin?”

“I’ve never had so much fun, Pete. These guys are fantastic. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“That’s great! Kristen is here and we’re going to get something to eat. Do you want to join us or do you want to come back here?”

“The guys say they need to get back to LA, but I’d like to join you. There’s a new restaurant in town on Main Street, across from the church. I’ll have them drop me there.”

“Okay. Would you like me to bring Dale with us?”

“You’re going to be with Kristen, right?”

“I think so, wait a minute,”

I turned to Kristen, “Are you going back with Hedden?”

“Nope, I’m staying here tonight and I’m going riding with you tomorrow.”

A million things were going through my head, but I said into the phone, “Yes, Kristen is staying here tonight.”

Denise sighed, there was a pause then she said, “Sure, bring Dale with you. Did you tell him that this was all a setup?”

“No, I’ll leave that to you.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there.”

I handed Kristen’s phone back and said, “I’ll be right back,” and I looked around for Dale. He was standing by himself near an exit, so I went to him and said, ““What do you think of Denise now?”

“I, uhh, didn’t know that she knew so many famous people.”

“Well, she does. Why didn’t you stick up for her when the kids at school were mean to her?”

“I wanted to, but she’s so pretty that I have trouble talking to her. Besides, she can be kind of mean. She nearly bit my head off when I tried to talk to her about it.”

I smiled to myself thinking about how her temper used to be. “She’s waiting for us at the new restaurant in town. Would you like to join us?”

“Isn’t she with those Rocket guys?”

“No, they left. She asked me to bring you along. Are you coming or not?”

He smiled and said, “Uhh, yeah, I’ll meet you there.”

I noticed a lot of people were looking at us on the way back to the table, so I said to Lane, “Everyone seems to be watching us. Let’s quietly leave. You and Meg take my car and wait for us at the corner. Kristen and I will join you as soon as we can.”

They got up and quietly walked to the exit. Kristen said, “I’m going to the ladies room, I’ll meet you out front,” a moment later.

I started for the door and I was almost there when Nicole Fell stepped beside me and said, “Hello, Peter.” She was a little thinner than the last time I saw her, and she looked like she’d been to a gym. I gave her a once-over to let her know that I approved and I said, “You look terrific. You’ve been working out, haven’t you?”

“Yes I have, thanks for noticing.”

“Well, you look great. Did you know that Clair Gilroy is out of the hospital, by the way?”

“Yes, I’ve talked to her several times.”

“Does she seem okay?”

“She’s a little spacey because of the meds, but I think that she’ll be all right. Did you know that Karen is back from Paris?”

“No, when did she get back?”

“About a week ago, but please don’t try to contact her.”

“Why?”

“She has a boyfriend staying with her.”

“A boyfriend! Where did she get a boyfriend?”

“She met him in Paris. He’s an American exchange student and I think that it’s serious.”

“I thought that she didn’t want to get serious.”

“That wasn’t true. She just didn’t want to get serious with you.”

“Why? I thought we got along great.”

“You did. You got along too great. She was crazy about you, but she knew that it wouldn’t last.”

“Why not? I liked her a lot.”

“She saw how girls looked at you, and she knew that it was just a matter of time before you broke her heart.”

“That’s not true!”

“Sure it is. Speaking of heartbreakers, I think one of them is looking for you.”

Kristen was standing by the entry door watching us, so I said, “I better go.”

“Okay, are you going to be in town for a while?”

“Just until tomorrow.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Why, is there something else you want to talk about?”

She touched my cheek and said, “Talking isn’t what I had in mind,” as she winked and walked away.

I went to Kristen and as we went to the car she said, “Wasn’t that the bank manager’s wife?”

Thinking fast I said, “Yes, she was asking if I could get her a discount on some stuff at Burgers.”

She stared at the car when we got to it, and she asked, “Did you rent this?” when we got inside.

“No, it belongs to Lane, but how do you know that it’s not mine?

“Amy would have told me if you’d bought something this fancy.”

It suddenly hit me and I said, “You and Amy talk all the time, that’s how you knew that I was going to be here this weekend, isn’t it?”

She grinned, “Uh huh.”

“How did you know I wasn’t going to bring someone with me?”

She didn’t answer, she just sat there smiling. It took me a few seconds before I said, “Because she would have told you, right?”

“Either she or your mom would have said something.”

I shook my head and started the car. My car was waiting when we got to the corner, so I hit the horn and Lane followed us into town.

I asked, “How long will you be around?” on the way.

“Jack and I are taking the red-eye Tuesday evening. We have to be in New York to shoot a promo Wednesday morning.”

“I hear that he’s your new boyfriend?”

She smiled, shook her head, and said, “Some boyfriend. HE’S the one with boyfriends; he has one or two in every town.”

“I thought that Blaster was his boyfriend.”

“They probably play together, but Jason’s actually married.”

“Married! I thought he was gay. What is he, bisexual?”

She paused a minute, then she said, “Please don’t tell anyone about this. Jason’s ‘husband’ lives in San Francisco and he has some health problems.”

“What kind?”

“He was just diagnosed as having full-blown AIDS.”

“Wow! Does Jason have AIDS too?”

“He says that he doesn’t. He and Jack apparently are both careful. They get tested all the time and Jack says neither one has either AIDS or HIV, but I’m worried about Jason. He spends a lot of time taking care of his partner. I hope that he doesn’t get careless.”

I was thinking about what she said when we pulled onto Main street. Not much had changed since I was here last. The market and the ice cream shop where Tammy used to work were still here, and so was the little bookshop, but the little sandwich shop that had been across the street from the church was gone and a large, modern-looking restaurant was in its place.

We went inside and found Denise and Dale sitting in the waiting room. They stood up and Denise said, “They’re getting our table ready,” then she went to Kristen. They hugged and started talking.

Dale was staring at Kristen the whole time, and he stuttered, “I can’t believe this. I bought your album last week, and I’ve been listening to it every since. You have a beautiful voice,” when Denise introduced Kristen to him.

Denise crooked her finger at me and walked a few steps away while Kristen was thanking him. I went to her and she quietly said, “I told him that Blaster was an old boyfriend, so don’t blow my cover.”

“Okay. Were the guys nice to you?”

“Oh God, they were wonderful. We laughed the whole time. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“No problem, you having a good time is thanks enough.”

“Uhh, is Kristen coming back to Kate’s house tonight?”

“I guess so, why?”

She frowned slightly, “Would it be okay if I came along and brought Dale with me?”

“Sure, have you and he made up?”

“Uh huh, he’s been apologizing every since he got here. I really think that he likes me.”

A man came along just then and said that our table was ready. The girls headed for the ladies room as soon as he had seated us. Lane was commenting that the girls must have bladders the size of a pea when a waitress came over and handed us menus, she looked at me and, said, “Hello, your majesty.”

Startled, I said, “What?”

“Didn’t you tell me once that you were the prince of a foreign country?”

I took me a second to realize who she was. It was the girl who had worked at the sandwich shop. I had flirted with her a long time ago. She was still rather plain-looking, but she was dressed more nicely now and was almost attractive.

I finally answered, “I was, my lady, but I gave up the throne when you refused to go out with me.”

She immediately came back with, “So you decided to only hang around with mere commoners like those three over there,” and she laughed and walked away with that.

She had nodded to something behind me, and I was about to turn around when I glanced at Lane and Dale. They were both staring wide-eyed at something, so I turned to see what it was.

A salad bar stretched the whole side of the room. The girls had stopped on the way back from the rest room and were looking at everything. The room was softly lit, but the lights were brighter over the salad bar and they highlighted the three girls.

I think that we were all thinking the same thing, but Lane was the one who said, “My God, look at them. Those are three VERY beautiful women.”

I was curious about something, and I said, “Yes, they are, but I’m curious about something. How do they compare to Monique?”

“They’re different than she is. Monique was almost too perfect. Being around her was like being around a fragile work of art. I felt that she might break if I touched her. Those three girls are different in that they would still be beautiful without makeup and with their hair in curlers.”

I smiled, “I totally agree with you, but I think that you’re a little partial to one of them, aren’t you?”

“I sure am. I want to thank you again for introducing us. She’s everything that I ever hoped for in a woman, and more, but what was that ‘your majesty’ thing all about?”

I was telling him what happened when I glanced at Dale. He was slumped in his chair watching the girls, so I asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I can’t believe that I’m sitting here with you guys. Don’t get me wrong, I love being here, but why am I here?”

“Denise asked me to have you join us.”

“I don’t understand. She barely talked to me until now.”

“I guess she likes you.”

“How can she like me, she doesn’t even know me? Look at her, she’s gorgeous and way out of my league.”

It was obvious that he was really taken with her, so I said, “I don’t claim to be an expert in these things, Dale, but I’ve learned that you don’t try to figure out why girls do what they do. Just go with it if one of them says that she likes you.”

He frowned and said, “Look, I’d like to know what’s going on. First, you show up with her and blow everyone away. Next, a bunch of Hollywood people show up and say that they’re old friends of hers. She disappears with a couple of them and the next thing I know, you come to me and ask me if I want to go someplace and meet with her.”

“You’d like to know her better, wouldn’t you?”

“I’d really like to, but she can have an attitude sometimes. She doesn’t have many friends at school, and nobody seems to know anything about her.”

He stopped for a minute then he continued, “Are you and her, uhh, involved?”

“No, I’m just an old friend.”

“But you know her well enough to tell me what’s going on with her?”

“Well enough to tell you that she had a rough time growing up, that she has a bit of a wall built up around her, and well enough to say that it’s going to take a special kind of guy to break through that wall. Are you interested enough to be that guy?”

“I sure am, but do you think I have a chance?”

“I don’t think that she would have asked you to come along tonight unless you did. Here they come, why don’t we ask her?”

The girls were headed our way, so I stood up and said, “Do you have a minute, Denise?” when they got close.

She stopped and I motioned for Dale to follow me, and the three of us walked to the foyer where I stopped and said, “This guy says that he’d like to spend some time with you, Denise. What do you think?”

She looked at him, then at me, and said, “Why do you think I said to send his ass here tonight?”

“He says that you have an attitude. Will you promise to be nice to him?”

She jerked her head toward him and barked, “What do you mean ‘an attitude!’ What are you, some kind of a wimp?”

He had a ‘deer in the headlights look’ for a split second, but it quickly went away, then he put his face close to hers with a determined look, and said, “I’d like to go out with you, but I won’t put up with it if you’re gonna be a bitch. So what’s it going to be?”

Surprised, she blinked once then she tilted her head and stared at him for a few seconds. She finally said, “Okay, I’ll be nice, now let’s eat,” and she turned and headed for our table.

He watched her walk away and he said, “Do you think I screwed up?” with a silly grin on his face.

“No, I think that you did fine.”

“God, is she gorgeous or what.”

“Yes, she is. She’s, umm, going to take some careful handling. Do you think that she’s worth it?”

“Oh, she’s worth it all right, I just wonder if I’m getting in over my head.”

“You probably are, but we’re guys and we’re almost always over our head when it comes to girls.”

He laughed and we went back to the table.

Dinner was interesting. People at the other tables kept staring at us. Word who Kristen was had apparently got around, and a girl about twelve or thirteen came to our table with a piece of paper in her hand and asked Kristen for her autograph at one point. Her mother arrived a split second later, apologized, and tried to pull her away, but Kristen stopped her.

I noticed that Kristen had been carrying a rather large purse. She reached into it and took a CD out. She signed the jewel case and handed it to the girl, who ran back to her table giggling.

Kristen asked if she’d like to have one when the mother thanked her. The mother laughed and said, “Thanks anyway, but I suspect that your songs will be being playing nonstop around our house for quite a while.”

Kristen reached into her purse when the mother left, handed copies to everyone but me, and said, “This is my next CD. It won’t be released until next month.” I was about to ask if I could have one when she leaned close, and said, “I have a special one for you.”

We spent quite a while there. Kristen was talking about funny things that happened at the different places she and Tomaso had performed, then she surprised us by saying that although they still had a regular schedule together, she had done several concerts on her own.

She told us about a large college campus event in Boston when Meg asked where, a couple of smaller things in New York, and then, sounding a little like she was embarrassed, she said, “I’ve been on a few local TV talk shows lately and I have a TV special coming out this summer.”

Meg asked if it was done in New York, then asked, “That’s all east coast stuff, are you going to settle there?” when Kristen nodded.

“No, but that’s where the work is right now. We’re starting to book things out here though, and we’re going to spend as much time as we can out here next year.”

Dale mentioned how he loved the fact that she was doing mostly ballads and old favorites, and he asked why.

She answered, “It was Tomaso’s idea. There are tons of people doing rock and roll, and top forty tunes. He said that I should stay with the standards if I wanted to be unique, and I guess that he was right. That’s what people seem to want when I’m onstage.”