Chapter 34

Brock was content to let the ladies sleep while he went to breakfast, bleary-eyed, with Zoe. She was off Mondays and it had become their habit to meet at a local restaurant on Monday mornings.

Randi and Meredith were having none of it. They were awake, semi-alert, and ready to go when Brock headed for the door. Randi had made arrangements with her security company as soon as she knew she was going to be back.

Both proudly wore the matching diamond tennis bracelets they had found in the gift boxes the night before.

Emmy had class on Monday mornings and the others had work, so it was usually just Brock and Zoe who shared a mixed fruit platter and sipped juice. This time, Brock was a little surprised to be ushered to a back room. He walked in to see Emmy sitting beside Zoe at a table and Mel sitting across from them.

"Well, look who made his grand appearance," Zoe said, smiling at her brother.

"Our fault," Randi said brightly as she walked in next. "We got back yesterday instead of today and made him wait on us."

Zoe, Mel and Emmy gave Randi a warm hug. They hugged Meredith, too, but with a little less warmth. Oh, well, he figured it was Meredith's job to get back in their good graces.

"How'd you get out of work?" Brock asked Mel.

"I took a personal day," she explained. "Half the courts are closed all week so the judges can head off to Maui for Thanksgiving. I had other things to do today."

"Such as?" Zoe prompted.

"Well, I had to pick up someone from the airport," Mel told the room.

"A witness?" Brock asked.

"A sister," Jen replied as she walked in from a side room where she was hiding.

"Hey!" Brock said with excitement. He grabbed Jen in a bear hug and twirled her around. It was far different than the response she had gotten from him when she departed after her last visit. He had simply frowned and wished her a safe trip back to Atlanta. "I have missed you."

"I can tell," Jen said through her giggles. "Now put me down."

"Nope," Brock replied. "I'm going to put you in my pocket so you can't run off again."

"Next month," Jen promised. "It's good to see you happy again."

Jen had no reservations about the greeting she offered Meredith. She gave her a big hug and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you for helping him through this," she whispered.

"I didn't help him," Meredith admitted softly. "I caused most of his unhappiness. But I'm really happy to see you."

"It's good to see you both," Jen said louder, after she had greeted Randi.

"I thought you had classes to teach," Brock said. "I had already worked out a schedule for how we were going to Skype with you on Thanksgiving."

"I was going to review for next week's finals," Jen admitted. "But the class is pretty simple and the students are on top of the material. I canceled the class today and Wednesday. We'll have a study session next Monday night if they want it. No one was unhappy."

Brock smiled widely at his friend. It seemed like everything was in place for a big Thanksgiving dinner. It was already going to be a huge gathering but he had been bummed to learn that Jen probably would be missing.

Randi noticed there was plenty of room around the table and motioned to her bodyguard. It was the same one she normally used – and the same one she had seen at the awards after-party.

"Hey, Chris," she said. "Why don't you join us for breakfast?"

"Oh, I couldn't," Chris Gomez remarked.

"Sure you could," Randi said. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'd like for you to join us."

Chris paused for a moment then gave a slight nod to himself. Brock wondered if he was speaking into a concealed microphone but then he realized the man's lip hadn't moved. He walked over and took a seat between Jen and Zoe. He was still facing the door so he could make sure no harm came to his charge. But the second guard outside would make sure nothing untoward happened.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

"Thank you," Randi replied. "You've put up with me since I was 13 years old. I specifically requested you today not only because I trust you completely but because I've always enjoyed having you around. You're a really good guy and I can't say that about a lot of people in your profession."

The big man blushed and muttered another thanks.

The ritual with the larger group didn't stray from when it was only Zoe and Brock at the table. They ate and chatted, caught up on how the week went and what this week looked like.

"Randi and I were hoping to cook Thanksgiving this year," Meredith said.

"Uh, well, I've already made arrangements," Brock cut in. "I mean, we're going to have a houseful so your Dad and I worked it out to have it catered. I hope you're not disappointed."

"We're not," Randi said. "In fact, I'm relieved. I just didn't want to see you have turkey-flavored Pop-Tarts this year."

"Which he would have if someone else wasn't feeding him," Jen chimed in with a laugh.

"There is nothing wrong with Pop-Tarts," Brock pointed out. "Help me out here, Chris. I think they have to be considered a staple of any balanced diet."

"I had two this morning before I went to pick up Randi," he admitted.

"Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?" Randi asked. She knew he wasn't married and his family was from Canada.

"I had my Thanksgiving in October," he admitted. "I went home to Calgary while I was suspended from work."

"You were suspended?" Randi asked.

"Taylor Reynolds threw a fit and the owner put me on ice for 30 days," Chris admitted.

Randi scowled and Brock knew the owner of StarPoint Security was going to get an earful as soon as breakfast ended. It turned out that Randi didn't even wait. She sat silently for a moment and then stood abruptly, her phone already in her hand.

"Please don't," Chris said. "I shouldn't have mentioned it to another client. I will probably get fired if he finds out."

Randi's scowl deepened. She had a look on her face that was reminiscent of Melanie right before a rampage began. She nodded slightly and resumed her seat.

"Have you thought about branching out on your own?" Randi asked before her butt cheeks had re-connected with the leather on the chair.

"It's expensive," Chris replied. "The bond alone is more than I can afford. Factor in paying my own insurance and the overhead and it's just not workable."

"So you have thought about it," Randi said.

"Anyone in my line of work thinks about it," Chris replied. "Just like every kid who picks up a baseball thinks about one day playing shortstop for the Dodgers and every little girl who ever sang into her hairbrush thinks about being on stage in front of 50,000 fans. The odds are just about the same, too."

Randi nodded again and Brock could see the wheels turning in her head.

"OK, secret time," she said finally. "My Mom has been scouting locations for a recording studio. I'm starting my own label in a few months. We still need to line up financing but I'm certain that won't be a problem. I plan to finance most of it myself and let people buy in once it's off the ground."

Meredith cleared her throat and prepared to interrupt. Randi raised a hand to stop her.

"I don't want anyone else to assume the risk," she said. "Mom and I talked about this. I also don't want anyone else to have a real say in how I start it. I make the majority of my money off my tours. I also get a larger cut of my merchandise than I do from my royalties. I get 6 percent on songs someone else wrote and 10 percent of the songs I wrote myself. So if someone pays $10, I made a buck and record label took the rest. It's actually a little less depending on the advance I've received but I almost always take a small advance against higher royalties. That's not how I want to structure the company at the start and it will mean a large risk for the investors if it doesn't work."

"I want to keep the roster small to start with and produce a quality product that isn't going to cost some kid his entire allowance for a month," she continued. "Mom and I are still working out the kinks and I'm sure I'll be coming around with my hand out to most of you at some point."

"Count me out as an investor, I'm a poor college student," Jen said with a laugh. "But I have ten or twelve bucks I can toss your way."

"I guess I should have said that I'm going to hit up Brock's financially wealthy friends if I can find a way to make this work," Randi corrected. "Those rich in charm, grace and intelligence I hope to find another way to include. So, anyway, my goal is to make the label not only a producer but also a promoter. We'll recoup what we normally see from album sales by booking and promoting their tours for a smaller cut than a separate promoter takes now. I'm talking about four or five performers at a time. After we see how it works, we'll go from there."

She saw people around the table nodding at her and she knew full well they didn't understand the risks she was taking, not only financially but in other areas. The music industry was rife with gang and underworld influences and had been for decades.

Chris seemed to get the message.

"So you're going to need bodyguards full time," he said. Randi nodded.

"Mom and I have been going over my finances," Randi said. "We figure that for what I pay StarPoint each year, I can hire three full-time guards, pay them a better salary and keep insurance on them until the company gets off the ground."

"Really?" Zoe asked. She knew the security companies charged a lot but she didn't realize it was as much as Randi suggested.

"If the guards don't want a salary increase, I could actually hire four," Randi said. "But I think it would help to bring them on board if I increase the money by about a third."

"You'll need internal security, too," Chris said. "And we probably will cost less than you think if you're basing it on what you're charged by the company. I make less than $20 an hour and I know they charge close to a hundred for my services."

"You'll be disappointed to learn that I'm being charged $180 an hour for the services of you and your helper today," Randi told him. "I can't believe you get $20 of that and StarPoint gets the rest. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though."

"We've looked at internal security, too. I wasn't going to say anything until after Thanksgiving but what Chris told me pisses me off. He got suspended because he wouldn't be some douche bag's lap dog. So, Chris, I have a full-time job, with benefits and a better salary as soon as you're ready to take it."

Chris's eyes went wide.

"Randi, I appreciate it," he said. "But, you don't have..."

"I do have to," she said. "In the next 30 days, I was going to offer this to you anyway. Not only do I like you, but I know you've got principles. For the next four or five months, you would be my personal bodyguard. After that, I want you to head the security for Rave-Land Recording. Mom is on board. My other main partner has said this is an area I know better than she does. So if you want the job, you can start as soon as you want. If you want to think about it, it will be there whenever you decide."

"I want the job," he said immediately. "When can I start?"

He was surprised when Randi and Meredith started to laugh. He could see they weren't making fun of him they were just laughing. The rest of the table caught on to what the women found funny and joined them.

"Don't you want to know how much I'm willing to pay?" Randi asked.

Chris considered for only a moment before he answered.

"You and your mom are two of the few people who have always treated me fairly," he said. "No, I want the job. I live pretty sparsely and I have some money saved. I can go about 18 months without working at all if I have to. Nope, I'm in."

Randi beamed.

"Well, that was easy," she said. "OK, I want you to think of two other people – men or women – you'd like to work for you – or with you for a while longer. Let me know who you want and I'll do what I can to get them onboard. Your starting salary is $125,000 per year. Those you hire will start out at $35 an hour for a standard eight-hour day. We'll pay overtime for anything past that. You will be compensated with either extra pay or flex time for extra time you work."

Chris' mouth dropped as Mel sat shaking her head.

"Randi, if I'm being insensitive, tell me," she began.

"You're being insensitive," Brock put forth with a laugh. "But we're used to it."

Mel flipped him off.

"I think I know what you want to ask and I don't mind telling you," Randi said. "I made just over $20 million last year before taxes. With two major tours this year, Mom estimates I'll bring in about $38 million."

"Good Christ," Brock muttered.

"It's not all mine," Randi said. "Mom gets 12 percent as my manager. My promoter gets 8 percent. All told, I get to keep just about 55 percent after I pay a lot of taxes. I had Mom do a real workup of my finances when I started to consider this. She was not really onboard until I explained some things to her. Since that conversation, she has been nothing but supportive."

Brock could guess what Randi had been forced to explain to her mother. It also explained why he had barely seen Darla Darby in the past few months.

"My net worth is just slightly below $300 million," Randi said. "Not all of it is accessible but my investments are solid and I could liquidate pretty quickly if I needed to."

"Hey, we have something in common," Jen said. "My net worth is slightly below $300 million too. Well, it's $300 million below but a million here and a million there..."

"You're lucky you don't have student loans or it would $301 million below," Melanie said, nudging her sister in the side.

"Too true, Sis," Jen joked. "Thankfully Brock accepted unfettered access to our bodies for eight years as recompense for our educations."

"Money well spent, I'd say," Meredith said. "If I'd have known that was on the table, I would have started a trust fund for you years ago."

"Shit, Merie, it was on the table even without a trust fund," Jen said with a laugh.

"Probably still is," Mel added, wiggling her eyebrows lasciviously.

She and Jen had been intent upon waiting to welcome Meredith back into the fold. They both worried about how she had behaved and that she might wind up hurting Brock again – because the memory of the first time it had happened was still firmly in their memory. They had to admit that Meredith had done a masterful job of keeping everyone sane after Brock's attack. It was only in hindsight did they realize that the way it had been accomplished had been harmful.

Still, as the group ate breakfast together each saw Meredith occasionally staring at Brock with such a look of adoration that they individually decided that if Meredith's explanation was good enough for Brock, it needed to be good enough for them.

They were so focused on how Meredith treated their best friend that they failed to realize that Randi was looking at him exactly the same way.

Thanksgiving was a festive affair. Sam had rented an entire restaurant for the event. It wasn't one of the upscale eateries that frequently appeared in gossip and trade magazines. Instead it was a down-home place with a clientele that more suited Sam than it would have the Hollywood elite. Of course that meant it suited Brock just fine, too. And since Sam and Brock were making all the arrangements, they figured they were the only ones who mattered.

Sam had insisted that the crew could take care of themselves and that no wait staff needed to be present. He didn't want the people who worked there to miss Thanksgiving with their families. There were three servers who had no family nearby so they volunteered to help out, which was probably for the best.

The entire clan – plus a couple of newcomers – arrived at one p.m. for a traditional dinner of turkey, stuffing, gravy, assorted vegetables, homemade rolls and pumpkin pie. The feast had been prepared earlier and the wait staff simply reheated it before serving it to the guests.

Brock was happy to see that Leslie Miles and her new husband had driven down from Corbly for the day. Leslie was tickled that her daughters were at least in the same time zone again, even if they did live four hours to the south. Erin Wyatt attended without a guest. She had returned in the summer and taken an administration job at a prep school about 20 miles north of Los Angeles.

The biggest surprise for Brock was that Jen had invited Chris Gomez to attend as her guest. The pair seemed to be getting along quite well. As had happened every time he saw his friends out with a new guy, he felt the initial surge of jealousy. But it receded far more quickly this time than it had in the past.

It helped that he knew and liked Chris – and that he knew Chris to be a good guy.

The same was true of the guy who came with Melanie. Brock could see from their interaction that this was just a casual date for Melanie but he found the guy, who worked as a surveyor for the county, to be friendly and funny.

Tara had invited Zack, but he felt obligated to spend Thanksgiving with his family – since he had been playing Winter Ball in various foreign countries every year since he'd turned 19. As it turned out, only five people came without guests – Sam, Erin, Susan, Tara and Randi, who decided that Thanksgiving would be Meredith's holiday to act as Brock's date.

Randi's mother had even come, along with a boyfriend - that Brock knew nothing about - and his children, two boys of 15 and 13. Darla must have prepared the group well because they seemed to fit in seamlessly – despite the fact that the boys couldn't seem to keep their eyes off the attractive females that littered the room. Still, they were never obvious and they didn't make a spectacle of themselves, even when Randi greeted them with a hug and kiss on the cheek.

Brock found he couldn't blame the poor kids. He was having difficulty keeping his eyes in his head – at least until the food appeared.

Meredith and Brock found their way back to his house after the festivities. Randi had elected to spend the rest of the evening with Darla's boyfriend's family. Although nothing definitive had been decided, the group had discussed their situation enough to acknowledge that individual dates were a necessary part of their lives if they wanted this to work.

Meredith curled up on Brock's lap to watch the start of the last NFL game of the night. She didn't really care about football but she was content just to be close to her guy, particularly since he was stroking her hair.

"So," Brock asked softly. "Is this what you wanted?"

Meredith, who had changed into a tight tank top and cutoff sweatpants as soon as she got in the door, rolled over to look up at him.

"As in this past week?" she asked.

Brock nodded.

"It is exactly what I wanted," she said. "Thank you. I can't tell you how much I love you."

Brock smiled down at her.

"I'm glad you're happy," he said.

After a moment's hesitation, Meredith asked, "Are you?"

"Yeah," Brock admitted. "It's been good this week. You were right. I enjoy spending time alone with each of you but it's always good when the other person comes back. It might not be perfect but it's working."

"I wish I had the chance to have some fun when I was younger," Meredith told him. "I might have gotten this out of my system and be ready to move forward with you alone."