Ditching The Dream (Dream Series) (30 page)

“Okay. I am the JSS of JSS Models, Inc. I was a model. And once my time in front of the camera was done, I launched my own agency. I do pretty well, too. I actually represent several of the best respected male models in New York. Would have liked to have snagged David Gandy ten years ago when he’d just come on the scene, but I was only just starting and didn’t have the bank to sign him, in competition against Select Models Agency who signed him after winning a TV competition in London.”

Ah, David James Gandy, I knew all about him. Barbara from book group tried to make every male lead in the smut books a David Gandy inspired character. Sure there were a couple who were a dead ringer, but not all of them.

Jack kept talking and I listened. It was nice to see him talk about work. He seemed genuinely proud of his agency and he should be. And his voice was soothing and comforting.

“How did you get into modeling from a small farming town? Did you win some contest?”

“Ha! No. Funny story. I was stocking shelves at the grocery store where I worked and some lady, who was the Ford Modeling Agency, suggested I come see her in New York. She thought I had the perfect look her agency was seeking for a new ad campaign. What can I say? I was sick and tired of my town and the stupid reputation I had pinned on me. And not wanting to be a fourth generation farmer, I scraped up all my savings, climbed into my truck with a suitcase and a dream I never knew I had. I left.”

“That’s some story.”

“Every word is true.”

“So what kind of reputation was pinned on you?”

“Well, for starters my girlfriend wasn’t as strong a girl as I thought. Let’s just say we had different tastes sexually. And actually I really liked her best friend, but that wasn’t in the cards. Sweet girl.”
Ha!
My sister was anything but sweet. If Jack could only see her now. “Sweet family, actually.” He shot me a look that went straight to my soul. “One night I said something stupid and that was it for me and my girlfriend. She and her best friend started talking around school and talk like that in a small town school doesn’t hold well.”

“I know all about small schools.” I grimaced. And I knew his rep around
our
small school. I decided it was time to come clean. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “And I actually know about your small school. And your reputation.” I felt him stiffen under me.

“Really? How?”

“We’ve actually met before I came to New York. I didn’t know it the first couple times I saw you, other than you looked familiar. But I figured it out just before I stepped on your prized Prada shoes. We went to the same high school.” Jack propped himself up on his elbow and raised an eyebrow at me.

“But we weren’t in the same grade. You used to date my sister’s best friend, Jenny,” I confessed. “I’m Suzie Morris’ little sister. I’ve known about you all along.”

His lips grew into a tight line, like he was suppressing a laugh.

“Is this funny?” I glared at him. “I don’t find the humor in this,” fighting laughter myself.

“Lie-dar!” he roared. “You almost had me going. I actually put it together that night too, but it wasn’t until after you left that I figured it out.”

“You’re kidding!” I said sitting up, pulling the sheet up to cover myself.

“Nope.”

“So, is this weird now?” I asked.

“No, what’s weird is that you’re covering yourself after all we’ve been through,” he said yanking the sheet from my grasp. “It’s not like I ever did anything with your sister.”

“True,” I agreed. He dragged his finger down my left arm and took hold of my hand. He thumbed over my ring finger, where there was still a faint mark from my wedding rings that were tucked away in my nightstand drawer.

“The other thing that’s weird is this married business… Is it a separation? Are you in the middle of divorce?”

A familiar ringtone on a cell phone interrupted the moment from down in the foyer. A spring.
Boing! Boing! Boing!
My cell phone. Downstairs.

“What the…” Jack said, his eyes shooting toward the hallway.

It was my daughter’s ringtone. My mind was racing. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks!

“Oh, shit!” I said, scrambling out of bed. “It’s Friday! What time is it?” I shouted over my shoulder racing out of the room buck-ass naked and pounding down the stairs.

“I don’t know. Why?” he shouted back.

“That’s my daughter’s ringtone!” I screeched, snatching up my purse on the table next to the front door. I dug through it, searching for my phone, but the ringing stopped. I tried entering the phone’s features, but my fingers were shaking so badly that I couldn’t manage, especially when I saw the time. Nine twenty-seven.

Her plane must have landed and she was looking for me.

Jack walked up behind me. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay, Jack! That was my daughter. She’s at JFK! She’s only nineteen! I was supposed to pick her up! Instead I’m rolling around in bed with — Ugh! How could I have been so stupid!?” I cried, turning and racing up to the guest room where I had left my things, to get dressed.

How had I forgotten? Mother-of-the-year, in the arms of my lover and completely forgetting about my daughter! How was I going to make it all the way to the airport to collect her? Do I tell her to just take a cab and give her my address? She’s never been to New York. She’ll totally get taken advantage of.

Sliding my pants up, Jack appeared in the doorway, his cell phone at his ear. “Which airline?” he asked.

“American. I have to get a cab and –”

“Yes, Anand. Thank you. Just a moment,” he said into the phone. He put an arm around me and rubbed my shoulder. “Do you have a picture of her?”

I looked at him, confused.

“Anand needs to know what she looks like so he can find her. We can message him the photo and her name. Then you can message Phoebe and tell her to look for Anand.”

“Jack I can’t –”

“You can’t make it to JFK in less than one hour at this time on a Friday night. Anand is already on his way. He will be there in less than half an hour.”

A
flurry of text messages ensued and I made my way back to my apartment to clean up before Phoebe arrived. I was a nervous wreck and drank two more cocktails than I should have while I tried to calm my nerves before she arrived.

Finally, Dominic rang to let me know that Phoebe was on her way up. I stepped into the hallway just as the elevator reached the floor. Phoebe stepped out, long blonde hair in a messy pile stacked on top of her head, large, brown eyes like mine dancing and excited, rushed down the hall. I held my arms open for her and we hugged our way into my apartment.

“You have a
doorman?
And you sent a
limo
? That was so cool! I’m so moving to New York when I’m done with college. And I freakin’
love
your hair cut. So chic!” she gushed, dropping her bag by the sofa and fingering my hair.

“Nothin’ but the best for my baby girl.”

She rolled her eyes at that, like she always did. “So! Friday night in New York City. What are we going to do?”

“Honey, it’s almost midnight. I promise tomorrow – Oh, shit! I forgot to ask for the weekend off.” I had a dinner shift on Saturday and Shelby was so stoked to be going to some concert, so I knew I couldn’t ask her to cover for me. Maybe I could get her to cover my lunch shift on Sunday?

“Um, for starters – since when did you start swearing? Sooo funny. And don’t worry about it, Mom. I can explore the city on my own while you’re at work. Where do you work anyway?”

“Oh, not so glamorous. I’m bartending at a steakhouse,” I admitted, sitting in the chair. Suddenly, I felt like my job wasn’t such a coup after all. I had a college degree and I was bartending.

“Cool!” Well, she certainly wasn’t judging. I felt a little better. “Can we eat there tomorrow? I’d love a thick, juicy steak,” she said, practically drooling.

“Steak?” I asked. The last time she was home she was vegetarian.

“Yeah, the vegetarian thing was more Lucy’s thing. Now she’s vegan and so I’m craving cow!”

But now the dilemma. Did I take her to Ed Scott’s, or somewhere else? Legally, she’s not old enough to sit
at
the bar, but if I talk to management she could sit at a high top…

“Let’s figure this out tomorrow. I’ve had a crazy hectic week and I’m tired. I don’t work until four o’clock tomorrow, so we can spend the morning doing breakfast and maybe some shopping?”

“Fifth Avenue?” she asked raising a cheeky eyebrow, just the way her father does.

“And Madison, and Park,” I added.

She threw her arms around me, squealing. “Definitely. Coolest Mom. Ever. You’re so forgiven for forgetting about my flight.”

“Hey, in my defense, you never did call or text that you were on the plane,” I smirked. “For all I knew, Stephanie, or whoever, made last minute arrangements to Cancun and you were partying on some beach.”

She nodded in acknowledgement that she had some blame in the mix-up.

I delivered her an extra set of sheets, a blanket and pillow so she could tuck in on the sofa and I went and crashed in my bed.

The next morning, heading out for breakfast with Phoebe, my fears came to life. As we waited for the elevator, Kevin joined us dressed for his morning run.

“Hey, Lizzie. How’ve you been?”

“Good, Kevin, thanks. I’d like you to meet my daughter, Phoebe,” I continued, hoping that he would take a hint and not make any comments about our relationship.

“Phoebe. Nice to meet you. Kevin Parker,” he said flashing her his killer smile, then shifting his big green eyes to me. “You’ve got one heck of a mom.”

“Thanks,” Phoebe purred. I knew the sound of that voice. It was her flirty voice, and it left me cold. My daughter was flirting with my lover. This was wrong. So wrong. I resolved right then to end whatever it was that Kevin and I were doing.

The elevator arrived and we all stepped in. I pressed the lobby button several times, hoping for a miracle that it would get us down even faster and I could get out of this situation.

“So Phoebe, how old are you?” Kevin asked.

Phoebe stood her full five-feet-seven and put her shoulders back. “Nineteen.” Seeing her stand next to Kevin in his six-foot-four height made Phoebe appear that much younger.

“You must be joking. Your mom can’t be old enough to have a nineteen-year-old daughter.”

“Yeah. We get that all the time. People always seem to think she’s my older sister,” she laughed.

Finally the elevator reached the lobby and the doors opened.

“So, what are your plans while you’re here in the city?” he asked Phoebe politely.

“Not sure. I’m actually thinking of changing my college major to communications. I’m a physics major now, but it’s not as exciting as I thought it would be. This semester I took a couple classes in the communications department. I think it’s a better fit for me. Thought I’d try and go see some studios, like ABC or NBC. Check out their intern programs.”

“Good plan. And you have a face for TV. I can see you anchoring a morning show.”

Phoebe beamed. Yes, she certainly did have the looks. And the personality. But it was a cut-throat business and breaking in was incredibly difficult. Unless you had connections. Not to mention that it’s a dog-eat-dog world. And Phoebe was so sweet that she’d be eaten alive.

“Well, I’ve got to run. I’ll catch up with you later,” Kevin said as he passed through the doors Gilbert held open.

Phoebe turned to me and mouthed
“Oh. My. God!”
and fanned herself. Yes. I remembered having that reaction to Kevin when I first met him. Hell, I still had that reaction to him every time I saw him.

“Oh,” he said turning around just outside the doorway, drawing both of our attentions. “I have tickets to a concert tonight. Two, but I’m not really sure about going. I was planning on taking a friend, but she suddenly had plans. Do you two want the tickets? It’s for Luke Bryan.”

“Oh my god!” Phoebe gushed. “Luke Bryan!? I
love
him! Can we, Mom?” she asked turning to me.

“Hon, I’m sorry, but I totally forgot about you coming in and I have to work tonight, remember? If you want to go with Kevin…” I suggested, turning to Kevin. He looked at me, and I couldn’t read his expression. Was he hurt?

“That sounds like fun,” he said, making a quick recovery. “I’ll take good care of her.”

“It’s settled then,” I nodded, choking back a flood of emotions.

“Great,” Kevin glanced between the both of us. “We should head over to the stadium around five. I’ll swing by and pick you up?”

“Yeah. That sounds fab! Thanks!”

Kevin flashed a smile and headed down the street.

I let out a big breath. This was really messed up.

“Oh my God, Mom,” Phoebe gushed. “He’s so gorgeous! And he’s taking me to a Luke Bryan concert. I
love
New York. I think it’s settled. I’m moving here! Maybe Monday I’ll stop by NYU and look into transferring here.”

“One step at a time, hon,” I said. “We need to talk about this changing majors business.”