Chapter 64

Liz wasn’t smiling when we made our way through the airport terminal. The photographers had followed us from the hotel and several people had stopped and pointed as we walked into the airport.

Liz was taking a charter flight back to Nashville. Brian and I were flying commercial to Dallas. Liz and Dom accompanied us as far as security would let them before she threw her arms around my neck and gave me a firm kiss goodbye.

“I’m going to miss you,” she said. “Take care of what you need to take care of and come home to me.”

“I will,” I said.

“I love you,” she told me before kissing me again.

“I love you,” I said. She held my hand until I finally had to pull away to board the plane.

“I didn’t get that sort of goodbye, and I was going off to a war,” Brian joked.

“Yeah, but you’re a douche,” I countered.

He smiled at me as we handed our boarding passes to the woman at the passageway.

We were silent until we took our seats in first class. Personally, I wouldn’t have sprung for the upgrade for such a short flight but Liz made the arrangements through Stephanie or Jill.

“So,” Brian began when we got seated, “things are good?”

I shrugged.

“Things are about to get pretty nasty, I think,” I said.

“I sort of got that impression from last night,” Brian told me. “We were hanging with their security guys when they came off the elevator. Those girls were pale as hell. They said they were going back to their hotel instead of out to party. I don’t know what’s going on but it must be pretty bad.”

“I can’t tell you,” I said. “I would. I want to, but...”

“Liz said no,” Brian said. I nodded. “Are you and her OK?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Things were pretty tense there for a day or two,” Brian pressed. I was certain he was acting on instructions from Ryan, Stephanie or Jill.

“They were,” I said. “They will be again. We’re both so damned stubborn. It’s like this thing. She knows she has to tell you. She knows that in a week or so everybody’s going to know. But she keeps her fucking head in the sand. I’m going to give her until the weekend to figure shit out on her own and then I’m going to take the decision out of her hands.”

“That probably isn’t a good idea,” Brian said.

“Probably not,” I agreed, “but I’m not going to let people that care about her be blindsided. This isn’t about her screwing some douche bag or hitting the bong once in awhile. It’s some heavy-duty shit.”

“Damn,” Brian said. “Can we do anything? You tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I mean, I’ll beat the shit out of somebody for her if you think it needs done.”

“It won’t help,” I said. “I’ve thought about it. I’ve got a friend that ... can find shit out like this.”

“Chris,” Brian said. My head turned so fast my neck cracked.

“Fuck, I bet he could,” I said.

“Not Chris?” Brian asked.

“A different guy,” I said. “He’s ... he was an adviser for a couple of big-named campaigns. He’s the one that got me the info that caused those whores to look like they did last night. I’ve got him working on it but I might talk to Liz about seeing if Chris can help. God knows he can keep a fucking secret!”

Brian laughed and we fell silent as the flight attendants started bringing around soft drinks. It was a short flight to Dallas from Miami so Brian and I just chilled and talked about inconsequential things.

“What are we doing here?” Brian asked after we’d rented a car and started to the hotel.

“Well, I’m getting the hell out of Liz’s hair before she snaps my neck,” I said, laughing. “I asked for you to come with me to keep Jill from snapping your neck.”

“Good plan,” Brian said, laughing again. We had not gone for the dark SUV look that Ryan and Liz seemed to want. We used Liz’s corporate card to rent an Audi convertible. That would teach her to let us have it without adult supervision.

“We’re going to meet with some people that are going to make sure Liz sells out her concert,” I confided.

“You think she won’t?” Brian asked. “Jill was positive that she’d do it.”

“I think a couple of people at the label are doing their best to ensure that she can’t,” I said. “So ... I’m coming up with a plan to stack the deck. You know I went to school in Austin. The baseball program is pretty big there. A lot of boosters come from Dallas and Houston and my mother has kept in touch with some of them over the years. We’ve got the groundwork in place but I wanted a face-to-face to make sure that everybody understands the rules of the game. They’re not going to get involved unless they have to.”

Brian nodded at me from the driver’s seat.

“You do take good care of her, man,” he said. “I appreciate that and I know Jill does. I also like that you ... you treat us like friends.”

“We are friends,” I cut in.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant,” Brian said. “Liz ... she’s dated some, you know. Some of them were OK to her. But all of them treated us like we were ... beneath them. They all acted like we worked for them. You’ve never done that. It was always an even field for you ... even though we actually do work for you.”

“The hell you do,” I said. “You work for Liz and, now, so do I. I’m not going to order you around. I have no idea how to do what you do. If anything, I work for you. If you see something out of the ordinary, I’m going to do exactly what you tell me to do.”

“What’s first?” Brian asked as we pulled into the hotel.

“We buy some clothes,” I said. “This was a pretty haphazard event. I’m on Liz’s last nerve so I decided to come here and do this. It could have waited for the weekend or I probably could have done it by telephone. I’ve got what I’m wearing and what I wore yesterday in my bag. So I told Liz she was springing for a new wardrobe for us. We can’t hobnob with the rich and successful looking like a pair of street bums.”

Brian gave me an incredulous look.

“Yeah, I’m screwing with you,” I said. “But we are going to need a place we can pick up a couple of packs of underwear and some khakis and stuff. Some of the places we’re going to visit are pretty nice. We can’t walk in wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. We’ll have to get a suit and tie. Liz understands and she said it was OK. The only thing we can’t use the card for are strip clubs.”

Brian laughed.

“We might have to go to one or two with some of the guys,” I said. “Liz knows and she’ll break it to Jill. Some of these guys remember me from college. I’m hoping we can avoid it but they might want to take us out.”

“No,” Brian said, shaking his head. “First off, you’re recognizable as Liz’s boyfriend. I’m not going to be in a picture of you leaving a strip club. You’ll just have to use your charm to convince them that you’re not 19.”

“Good point,” I said. “They know why I’m here. I’m Liz’s representative. I’ll tell them that I’d prefer to conduct business somewhere else. I hadn’t really thought of the implications of having a picture of me coming out of a club might look. I’m not really used to that part of my life yet. Thanks.”

“Hey, we’re friends,” Brian said. We checked into the hotel. Unlike when Liz showed up anywhere, he and I didn’t require a suite. We were happy with a room with two double beds. We also didn’t stay at a high-end hotel. We picked a reputable chain but one that wouldn’t set Liz back a grand each night. In fact, it wouldn’t even set Liz back half a grand for two nights.

I found I didn’t mind shopping with Brian. We found a chain store and picked up a suit off the rack. We found two shirts and two ties that matched. The belts we already wore would work fine but we needed socks and shoes. In all, we walked out in half an hour after spending less than $1,500. We exchanged high fives as we made it back to the sports car.

“See?” I said as we took off again. “She can’t bitch about the upgrade on the car since we’ve saved so much money everywhere else. She might let us go places together again.”

We picked up lunch from a fast-food restaurant and headed back to the hotel. We’d already decided on pizza for supper if I couldn’t make appointments for that night.

The first call I made put the thoughts of pepperoni and hot peppers out of my brain. The man I spoke to wanted to treat us to supper to tell us what he’d put into motion.

“Wait,” I said. “Nothing was supposed to be done without Liz’s OK.”

“I decided to do this even if she cancels the show,” the man said. “It’ll be fine, Son.”

I put the phone down and covered my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Brian asked.

“This is out of control,” I said. “I need to talk to Liz. She is fucking going to kill me!”

“Why?” Brian wondered.

“I promised that she would have the ability to sign off on this before it got rolling,” I said. “This is a fucking disaster. It’s rolling and there ain’t nothing I can do to stop it.”

“Oh, shit,” Brian said. “Should you call her now?”

“Brooks wants to meet with us at his club tonight,” I said. “I’ll wait until we have a better idea before I call her. Maybe I can talk him out of things.”

Of course, I couldn’t. I spent the next day and half listening as people told me what they had already put into motion.

By the time the first meeting concluded, I had decided to wait to break the news to Liz in person. So Brian and I spent most of Thursday night getting half drunk.

We got back to Nashville Friday afternoon. I had spoken to Liz every day as she worked on aspects of her stage performance and made the final tweaks for the Jacksonville show.

She sounded upbeat but I could detect a fissure of tension in her voice.

Everyone was already at Liz’s house when we got back. I got several frowns from the others in the room when Brian and I walked in.

I sighed and decided to get it over with.

“I screwed up,” I admitted.

Liz’s face was stern but she only nodded.

“Who was she?” she asked. “An old girlfriend?”

I looked at Brian and he shrugged.

“I’d like to speak to Travis alone please,” Liz said. The others in the room made a hasty retreat.

“Who was who?” I asked. Liz turned her tablet around and I looked at the screen. I saw myself from the night before, leaning in to talk to a very pretty blonde woman. I didn’t realize that anyone was taking pictures.

“That’s Malcolm Everett’s daughter,” I said.

“How nice for her,” Liz said. She turned the tablet around and flipped her finger downward before turning it back to me.

“Liz’s beau steps out in his old haunts,” the headline said.

“Oh, fuck no!” I said after I read the headline.

“Fuck yes,” Liz corrected.

“I mean, this is bullshit,” I said. “Emily’s husband is sitting right beside her and Brian is right next to me. She runs the nightclub and I couldn’t hear her. I leaned in and asked if we could move to her office. That’s all.”

Liz sighed and ran her hand over her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know how these things operate and I still fell for it. I really didn’t think anything like that until you said you screwed up.”

“Then she can fire me,” I heard Brian say just before the door opened. “That picture is a lie!”

“Liz, I don’t care what you think,” he said. “He didn’t do anything with anybody. I was standing right beside him.”