For the Love of His Life (32 page)

“The absolute minimum is
The Tonight Show
tomorrow night, since Kelly is on tonight. And
Letterman
the next night. They really want you to keep promoting, but I promised that I’d take up some of the slack. I’m still at the condo, since my family is here with me. They’ll be leaving soon to get the girls back to school and I’ll want to leave right after they do. But for now, I’m cool with making appearances and talking up
my baby
.”

“Thanks, Jared. I owe you, big time.”

“You make things right with Ronnie and we’re even. But you hurt my cousin again I’ll have to have you hurt. Oh…and speaking of hurt…”

“What?”

“Make a call to Ivan.”

“Why?”

“You know who the guys are, that got you so wasted, right?”

“Yeah. I figure they were pissed that I wasn’t returning their calls or hanging with them anymore. They must have planned to feed me triples until I got drunk enough to lose control. Then it was so easy to put some lines in front of me and goad me until I broke down and snorted. I’m a drug addict. I’m trying to be a recovering one, but I’m an addict.”

“So call Ivan. He’s got
cousins
all over the country, and they’ve all got skills they never get to use much anymore.”

“What kind of skills?”

“Let’s just say, I’ve been where you are.”

“Jesus! You shitting me, Jared?”

“No. The family doesn’t know about it, so I’m expecting you to keep my secret. Tamiko made me choose between her and my drugs. The smartest thing I ever did was make the right choice. But once I’d decided to quit it, Ivan let me stay at his place and detox. He kept me safe and eventually I got over it. But my dealers tried to follow me up there. Big mistake on their part, let me tell you.”

“What happened to them?”

“Ivan told me I didn’t need to know. But no one has ever tried to get me using again. Just call him and give him some names. He’ll take care of it for you.”

“What did you do to repay him?”

“Remember we shot some scenes at his lodge? I listed him and his place in the credits. He called and thanked me…said he’s got cabins booked for the next two years.”

“Thanks Jared. I guess I’ll owe you
and
Ivan. But if I can get Nica back in my life, then I’ll have all I need.”

“Good luck, bro. You’re going to need it.”

“Bye.”

Once Raul hung up, he punched in the numbers he needed to call and started to put his plan into motion.

* * * *

Veronica didn’t watch Raul on the
Tonight Show
or on
Letterman
. She went through all of the motions of her life as if she was on automatic-pilot. She showed up at the resort and made the pies. She ran afterward. She didn’t have any accounting appointments scheduled for a week because she was supposed to still be in California. She spent most of her off-time in her house, wearing old sweat pants and a torn college sweatshirt, moodily composing depressing poetry or dark, paranormal romance scenarios which she’d put into a file marked:
Book Ideas
.

Marie didn’t mention Raul at all while they cooked, nor did she comment on Veronica’s unusual silence. But she watched her grand-daughter closely and more than once she silently cursed the man who had hurt her so badly.

Marie’s phone rang on Saturday afternoon, long after Veronica had finished baking the pies for the weekend needs of the resort, as well as the ones that had been pre-ordered. She picked it up. “Hello?”

“Don’t hang up. I need to talk to you, please,” Raul spoke quickly.

“Why are you calling me,
Rall
?” She made the name sound like an insult. “It’s Ronnie you need to apologize to, not me.”

“She won’t pick up my calls. I’ve tried…practically every hour, for days. But I’m in town now and taking care of some business.”

“You’re
here
in town? What kind of business?”

“I don’t want to talk about it until it’s over. I’m sorry I embarrassed the family and especially that I hurt Nica so badly. I’m trying to figure out how to make things right with her.”

“I had you pegged as a drunken drug addict the first time I met you…” Marie was working herself into a rant.

“And you were right. I
am
a drug addict. I’m a cokehead. But I was clean for months, so I know it’s possible for me to stop.”

Marie was silent for a long moment.

“Gram-Marie? Are you still there?” Raul sounded desperate.

“Yes. I’m here. What is it you want from me?”

He took a deep breath. “Can you please tell her she needs to deliver two pies tomorrow to the address I’m going to give you?’”

“That’s it? Sunday’s her day off. She’ll ask why Jake isn’t doing it.”

“He’s going to be…um…ill. He’ll be in bed and unable to drive. I’ll talk to him once I’m off the phone.”

“He will, huh? You lie so well that now you’re giving lessons to Jake on how to do it well? And I presume you’ll be the one she’s delivering the pies to?”

“She can’t know that or she’ll never come. Please, Gram-Marie? I’ll beg if you want me to. Ask me for anything…it’s yours. Just let me have one more chance with your grand-daughter.”

“Well…I suppose you could do some publicity for my resort. Ivan says he’s got more bookings than he can handle, all through next year…”

“Done!”

Marie sighed. “Oh…very well. Give me the address. I’ll pull the pies out of the freezer and bake them tomorrow morning. When should I send her with them?”

“Tell her they have to be here by two in the afternoon. That way she’ll still get to sleep late. Do you have a piece of paper and a pen to write down the address?”

“Yes. But I’m warning you, Rall. You hurt my Ronnie one more time and there isn’t anything you’ll be able to say or do that will allow you to redeem yourself in my eyes. And if you ever come on my property again I’ll pull out my shotgun.”

“Understood.”

* * * *

Raul put his phone down after convincing Jake to agree to fake being ill tomorrow. He took a deep breath, trying to get his nerves to settle down.

I don’t know if I’m jumpy because I’m coming off coke again…or if it’s because my whole future is riding on tomorrow. Nica, please listen to me. I’ll be saying the most important words of my life, without a script written for me. I just hope I can put into words how I feel. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to keep trying…I won’t give up. I can’t!

Chapter Twenty-Three

“How did you get so sick so quickly?” Veronica solicitously asked her cousin Jake.

“I don’t know, Ronnie. One minute I was fine, the next minute I’m puking all over the place. It must be some kind of stomach bug. But I shouldn’t be around food that other people will be eating. So you can do the delivery for me, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I’ve never been up to the old Rogers place. It’s been empty for a while. I wonder who has that kind of money to buy it? Or did the price get dropped enough for it to be affordable?”

“I don’t know. I only know that’s the address the pies are to get delivered to…by two o’clock.”

“Okay. That gives me time to throw something into the oven for dinner.”

“You won’t be going to the resort?”

“No. I’m still not up for being very social.” She remembered she was talking to her teen-aged cousin. “But enough about me. I wrote the address down and I’ll pick up the pies later. You just be sure to get some rest, and take care of yourself.”

“Thanks, Ronnie. Talk to you soon.”

When Jake hung up, he shot a quick look toward his mother, showing her that his fingers had been crossed all the time he was talking. She shook her head, but smiled at him.

“I hope this works.”

They both nodded and went back to their Sunday activities.

* * * *

Veronica closed the oven door with satisfaction.

At least I can eat well, even with a broken heart. I love this stew, and it goes so well with the bread I baked earlier today. It will be hours before dinner, but I have something to look forward to.

She walked by her phone on the way into the shower, and ignored the red light blinking anxiously at her to inform her that she had unheard messages.

* * * *

Veronica wasn’t sure why Gram-Marie didn’t want to join in her speculation as to who might be the new owner of
the old mansion on the hill
, as the Rogers place was called. But since she had to shovel the snow off of her truck and her driveway before she got onto the road, she was too close to being late to have the time to chat. She carried the boxed pies, still warm, out to her truck and carefully placed them on the floor on the passenger side.

As always, she admired the view of Lake Superior as she drove down the Gunflint Trail to the highway in town. With the sun bouncing off the partially-frozen water, everything appeared to be made of diamonds. She turned left on the main road and headed north for a while. She almost missed the road on the left to turn onto, but fortunately there wasn’t anyone behind her. She slammed on her brakes and slid a bit, but still slowed down enough to be able to turn safely. As she began to drive up the barely-two-lane road uphill, she was grateful to whomever had bought the place that the road had been plowed so her four-wheel-drive truck’s tires could get enough traction for her not to slide off the inclines on either side of the road.

As is always the case, driving up on an unknown road seemed to take forever. Finally she saw the house up ahead, and drove to park next to a car with rental plates. She looked up at the house as she got out of her truck. It was bigger than she had imagined. An entire wall of windows faced east toward the lake. In essence the house was a rectangle, with the main door on the south side of the house and the entrance off to the side. She rang the doorbell but, when no one came to open the door, she tried the handle and found it unlocked. She had both pies in a carry-bag to keep them warm and walked into the foyer calling out, “Hello? Is anyone here? I have your pies.”

Waiting for a response, she looked around at the high ceilings in the foyer and the grand staircase in front of her. She had a choice of going to the left into what appeared to be —from the shelves on the walls— a library, or to the right into what appeared to be the living room. A huge fireplace dominated the inside wall opposite the windows. There was no furniture except for a tattered couch pulled directly in front of the large picture windows that looked out across the tops of the trees to the lake.

Wow! If I hadn’t been in Raul’s mansion out in L.A., this would be the biggest house I’ve ever seen. It’s smaller than his place, but still much larger than the usual houses up here. That view looks wonderful! I don’t think the new owner will mind if I go take a peek out the windows…

She carefully placed the pies next to a phone on top of a small, dusty table against the staircase. As she approached the windows, the sun— temporarily hidden by clouds—broke through. She gasped in admiration of the panoramic view of Lake Superior in all its wintry, rugged glory.

She felt rather than heard him as he asked from close behind her, “Magnificent view, isn’t it? I can’t wait to see it in other seasons as well…”

She whirled around. “What are you doing here?”

“Admiring the view, like you.”

“But why are you
here
? Don’t you have appearances to make on talk shows, to publicize your movie?”

He shook his head. “I got out of them. I asked Jared what the minimum was that I had to do to avoid contract issues. He let me off after the
Tonight Show
and
Letterman
and said he’d cover for me on the rest of them.”

She realized her skin cells were vibrating in excitement at how close he was to her, as if they recognized him and were tuning themselves to his body. She backed away slowly to sink onto the cushions of the forgotten, but suddenly useful sofa she’d felt on the back of her knees. Her legs started to shake and her nerves were suddenly jangling.

He moved closer and sat on the opposite end of the couch, far enough away to not be a threat, yet close enough so that she was having trouble breathing, as if his presence was sucking the oxygen from the room.

“Why
did
you come back here?” She hated how shaky her voice sounded, but being coherent was hard enough without worrying about trying to sound dispassionate, as if she didn’t care about his answers.

He leaned forward towards her. “I had to see you. Why haven’t you answered any of my calls or texts?”

Involuntarily she shrunk back against the dusty pillow. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say…”

He shook his head. “Without giving me a chance to apologize? I made an ass of myself and proved that your first opinion of me as a drunken drug addict was totally accurate. I
am
a drug addict. But you mean more to me than any drug…”