Lucky Break (44 page)

“Practicing.”
 
He cooed to the baby, singing a snippet of
Some Enchanted Evening.
 
When the baby settled, he looked up.
 
“Your father is sleeping; they moved him out of ICU.
 
She’s cooking.”

“Two signs of the coming apocalypse.”
 
I glanced toward the kitchen.
 
“You don’t think she’s cooking up a way to get Father a couple of roomies at the hospital, do you?”

Teddie grimaced.
 
“Could be.”
 
His bundle started whimpering again, so he started bouncing it.
 
“You got any news?”

Wandering to the bar, I fixed myself a glass of single malt in honor of the Big Boss—the fifteen-year-old stuff.
 
I saved the twenty-five for his return.
 
“I’ll tell you what I know so far, not that I can prove any of it.”
 
I started at the beginning and tried not to leave any detail out.

“So, you think Irv Gittings is behind all of it?”

“Up to his ass, but everybody stands to gain somehow.
 
Some proof that would help point a finger would be great.
 
I’m sure once forensics gets through with the jacket we can prove Sam killed a couple of folks, maybe even planted a bomb or two.
 
If we catch him, maybe we can charge him.
 
He is Mr. Cho’s son.
 
I wonder how far China is willing to extend the diplomatic privilege.”
 
I stepped to the wall of windows and stared out at the Strip.
 
I could just see Cielo far down to the left at the south end of the Strip.
 
The opening was soon.
 
I’m sure I had a punch list a mile long; the thought paralyzed me.
 
“I’d really like to see him hang.
 
Frankly, I’d love to see Irv, Sam, and Mr. Cho dangling in the wind.
 
They mess with my magic.”
 
I turned around and caught Teddie looking at me, sadness and longing arranging his features.
 
I knew the feelings.

“I’d love to see him hang, too.
 
That’d get my ass out of a crack, although repairing my career will be impossible.”

“Please, I’m the PR person, and I can tell you there is no such thing as bad publicity.”
 
I’d disputed that little truism with myself earlier, but decided to trot it out here.
 
Maybe I could lighten Teddie’s load.

“You’re customer relations, and you’re just trying to make me feel better.”

Yes, we were the best of friends, could finish each other’s sentences, read each other’s minds.
 
That thought made me sad.
 
I saw it mirrored in Teddie’s face.

“My career is pretty much fucked.”

“Don’t say that.
 
Talent will out.”

He didn’t look convinced and I had nothing to give him.

Mona breezed into the room dressed in slacks and a crisp white shirt, her hair pulled up, and looking all businesslike.
 
I almost didn’t recognize this incarnation of my mother.
 
But the frilly apron that said “WILL COOK FOR SEX” gave her away.
 
“Hey, Mom.”
 
I met her halfway and gave her a kiss. “What were you doing in there?”

“Practicing a speech.
 
I’m not very good at speaking in public, so I hired a speech coach.”
 
She kept moving, walking back and forth.

“Peter Paisley the fourth?”
 

“How’d you know?”
 
She looked crestfallen as she paced by me.

“It’s my job to know.
 
Where is your off switch?”

“Moving helps not to get brain-freeze when you’re giving a speech.
 
That’s what Peter tells me.”

I grabbed her arm and rooted her to a spot in front of me.
 
“You’re not giving a speech now.”

She paused, then started pacing again.
 
“I know, but I need to think to get it all right.”

I gave up and tried to not let the pacing bother me.
 
“Why all the secrecy?”

“I thought maybe you and Teddie …”

I motioned her to move on—figuratively, but she took it literally.
 
“We’ve made nice, now could you tell me what you found out about Kimberly Cho?”

“Well,” she swooped in, relieving Teddie of his little package as if she couldn’t be in close proximity and not have a baby in her arms.
 
She cradled her child with a casual ingrained deftness.
 
Her voice held a conspiratorial whisper.
 
“I had to work through the girls.
 
Turns out I have more friends than I thought.
 
All that lobbying I did.”
 
At my look, she motored into the meat of the matter.
 
“I found the doctor Miss Minnie’s girls use.”

“Skanky, right?”
 
I wrinkled my nose thinking of all the possibilities.

“No, actually very upscale, treats all the Summerlin moms.
 
While I believe in what he’s doing, I know he could get in a bit of trouble, so I won’t say who or where.”

“Okay, if you just tell me what he told you.”

“Kim Cho is lying.
 
According to the doctor, who would have no reason to lie to me, Kim came to him wanting some complicity in her ruse.
 
Apparently Holt Box wanted to see some proof.
 
The doctor said she got pretty ugly.”

“I’m sure she felt, with Miss Minnie’s weight behind her, she could get some help from a doctor, especially one with something to hide.
 
I like the fact he drew the line.”

“Just because something is illegal doesn’t make it wrong,” Mona said, parroting her daughter.

“And the reverse is true as well, something Father needs to be reminded of.”
 
I glanced at Teddie.
 
He got it.

For Mona, it was a fly-by.
 
But she’d given me a lot to think about.

Kimberly Cho wouldn’t be the first to try to trap a celebrity.
 
“Mom, you’ve been a great help.
 
I really appreciate it.”
 
I gave her a peck on the cheek.

Teddie wandered away as Mother and I finished up, taking my former spot in front of the windows.
 
He looked like someone who once had had it all only to lose it.
 
And some of it hadn’t been his fault.
 
I stepped in next to him.
 
“Life changes.
 
We move on.
 
It won’t ever be the same, but it can be as good or better.”

He nodded, but didn’t buy it. Like I said, I knew his nuances.
 

“How’s Jean-Charles.
 
You guys good?
 
I’m asking because I sincerely care.
 
All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.”

I didn’t remind him of the fracture in time where all he wanted was a career as a pop star and the roadie girls that came along with it.

He must’ve sensed more in my pause.

“Tell me.
 
What’s going on?”
 
He asked as a friend—I could read that all over him.
 

That was the part of us I missed the most.
 
So, I told him.
 
Just saying the words tore my heart in two.

When I’d finished, he turned to look again at the Strip, the lights fully illuminated now, a rainbow of dancing color against the Stygian darkness of a winter night.
 
“Do you love him?”

He’d asked me that once before.
 
I’d answered in haste, hurling the words at him to draw blood.
 
Not a proud moment.
 
This time I took better care—of his feelings and of my own.
 
“Yes.
 
It feels solid, permanent, in a way you and I weren’t.
 
He knows who he is and what he wants.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.
 
But what he wants apparently doesn’t include me.”

Teddie raked a hand through his hair.
 
For some odd reason I got the impression he was warring with himself.
 
He knew I was open and wounded right now.
 
I wondered how he’d play it.
 
To his advantage or as a friend?

Teddie gave a shrug, his posture losing the hurt.
 
“Here’s the deal with Jean-Charles.
 
Take it from a guy who knows, okay?”
 
His reflection stared at mine.
 
“He’s just a guy, one who has already suffered a huge loss.
 
And there he was faced with losing the one person who had brought him back, made him want to live again.”
 
Teddie held up a hand.
 
“I might be overstating, but I don’t think so.
 
I get the Frenchman.
 
I’m not his biggest fan, but for selfish reasons.
 
He’s a good man with a good heart.—one you have filled, much to his amazement and horror.
 
The risk probably terrifies him.
 
Better to push you away now than to risk losing you later.”

“That is so messed up.”

“He’s a guy.”

“Point taken.
 
But why wouldn’t you just grab each moment and squeeze the juice out?
 
None of us know how much time we have or how things will work out.
 
Got to grab it while you’ve got it.”

I hadn’t realized I’d shifted to “you” until I saw the look on Teddie’s face.
 
“Truer words were never spoken.”
 
He smiled and gave a rueful little noise.
 
“That’s so like you.
 
Others aren’t quite as brave.”

Brave?
 
Me?

He turned to me and took my hands.
 
“He’s scared.
 
Trust me, I know.
 
If you love him, fight for him.
 
Go to him.
 
Show him you are strong enough to fight for both of you right now.”

I could see how the words cost him, and I loved him all the more for it.
 
He’d picked the friend path.
 
And he’d been right—he wasn’t the man I’d feared he’d become.

“Okay.”
 
I nodded.
 
It felt right.
 
His words were true.

“You deserve to be happy, Lucky.”

“Don’t know that I deserve it, but I’ll fight for it.”
 
Looking at him made me sad—all that could have been.
 
But perhaps it really couldn’t have.
 
We’d never get that chance.
 
“Thanks.”

I gave him a hug, one he returned.
 
None of the sizzle and pop—that was gone, but my friend was back.
 
“I gotta go.
 
The construction guys at Cielo want to do a walk-through; I have a race to officiate at in the morning; my assistant is up to her ass in alligators of her own making, which doesn’t mean it’s not my problem; I either have a wedding to plan or a divorce to facilitate; and then there’s that whole pesky killer-on-the-loose thing.”

That didn’t even get a smile.

Once again, I borrowed the Ferrari and headed out to Cielo—the valet hadn’t even bothered to put the car away.
 
Instead of taking the back way, I turned down the Strip.
 
This time of night cars packed the road, Hummer limos with pretty young girls standing through the sunroofs drinking in all the possibilities.
 
Boys whistled and shouted from the sidewalks and other cars, vying for attention.
 
Couples, some decked for the evening obviously taking in a show, others still casual, roaming from property to property, contributing to our economy along the way.
 
Vegas was about fun, about magic, about escape, even if only for a few days.
 
It was also about reinvention, rekindling, and maybe a bit of creative rewriting.

The city pulsed in my soul.

The phone rang.
 
Cody Ellis.
 
I put him on speaker.
 
“Tell me you have good news.”

“Christophe is out of the woods.
 
His fever broke.
 
He spent most of the afternoon with his father.
 
A good man, by the way.
 
We gave the boy something to help him sleep for a while.
 
His aunt and cousin are with him.
 
His father went to his new restaurant.
 
The opening is imminent, yes?”

“Yes.”
 
A flood of emotions rolled through me.
 
The boy was safe, his father’s heart whole.