The Man You Need (Love on Tour #4) (14 page)

“If you’d met my grandpa you wouldn’t be asking that question. No, I mean, be yourself, instead of Crazy Stacey.”

“Crazy Stacey?”

“Yeah, your alternate personality.”

I chuckled. “You don’t like Crazy Stacey, do you?”

“I’m not her biggest fan.”

“You know, lots of people do. In fact, to most of the world, Crazy Stacey is the norm.”

“Well, then I’m glad I’m not most of the world… And hey, um, don’t mention this Sharyl thing to my grandma.”

“You ask her out yet?”

He sighed. “No. And you ask me that everyday. So, don’t mention her to my grandma, okay?”

“Why not?”

“She wants me to ‘settle down’ and she’s almost as crazy about fixing me up as you are.”

I chewed my lip. “And what will she think about us? I mean, she’s not going to assume we’re…”

“No, I told her about you already. I told her we’re just friends.”

“And? What did she say?”

“I’ve had friends that are girls before. She didn’t think anything of it. But she might get weird when she sees you.”

“Why?”

“Because you are drop dead gorgeous, and every time a beautiful woman is around she practically shoves me into her.”

“So what does she think? That I’m like the homely girl you play video games with?”

“Probably.”

Suddenly, the thought of meeting Jack’s grandparents made me nervous as hell.

16

“Holy shit! You didn’t tell me you were bringing the models from the
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
with you, son!” It was the first thing Jack’s grandpa said when Baby, Bell, and I rounded the corner of the house, just behind Jack, and entered the back yard.

“Hey, Gramps.” Jack hugged him quickly.

When he pulled away, I examined the older man. I could definitely see the resemblance. Jack looked like him in so many ways. He had the same defined features and light brown eyes, the same hair, but his grandpa’s was nearly half-gray. And Jack’s grandpa had darker skin and was nearly a foot shorter.

“Gramps, this is–”

Jack was cut off by a tiny woman running out of the sliding glass door and shrieking. “My baby!” She threw herself into his arms.

“Hey, Gram,” he said affectionately.

She was small and thin, with long brown hair that was contained in a single braid down her back. There were no wrinkles in her light brown skin, and no gray in her hair. She looked way too young to be Jack’s grandma.

“Let me introduce you to everyone.” Jack pointed us all out to his grandparents. They didn’t seem at all shocked by Sean and Hank’s appearance, as a lot of people were. Perhaps Jack had brought other rockers home with him. He introduced me last, and his grandmother’s face lit up. I silently hoped that he was right about her acceptance that we were just friends.

“Damn, you are a looker,” Jack’s grandpa said to me, in a way only an old man could get away with.

“Thank you, Mr. Kliner.”

“No way. Nobody here calls me that,” he said sternly. “I’m Bud, and this Emma. And that’s that.”

“Bud, a good solid name,” Hank said.

“It’s not his real name,” Emma told Hank.

“No, it’s not on my birth certificate. But it’s what I’ve been called since I was a small boy.”

“What’s your real name?” I asked.

“Jack. The kid here is named after me,” he said proudly.

“Need help, Gramps?”

“Yeah, get your ass over to the grill and get it going.”

I stifled a giggle as Jack quietly obeyed. I liked Bud already.

While Jack was slaving over the grill and Bud was taking turns talking with Sean and Hank and ogling their wives, I sat at the picnic table in the back yard with Mike. As soon as Emma approached us, she got down to business.

“Alright, you two,” she said, handing us each a glass of lemonade and sitting across from us at the table, “I want to know what Jack’s been up to.”

Mike took a big gulp of lemonade and gagged a little. He looked across the yard and called out, “Hank, don’t drink the lemonade!” before answering Emma. “Up to?” he asked, tears in the corners of his eyes.

Curiously, I took a tiny sip of the lemonade, too. Holy shit! It was spiked! I took another sip. Vodka, I decided. It was strong, too.

“Yes, I mean girls, Mike. I want to know about girls. Jack never talks to me about his love life. And that man is too old not to have picked out his wife yet. I want some great-grandkids, damn it.”

“You don’t look old enough to be a grandma, let alone a great-grandma,” Mike said.

“Well, bless your heart. But I am. And I’m ready.”

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t have any news for you, Emma.”

“Stacey, what about you?”

My mouth had been full of the hard ass lemonade, and I swallowed it all at once, causing me to choke and sputter. Mike clapped me on the back.

“You alright?”

I nodded.

“You and Jack are close friends, right? Surely you know if there’s a girl.”

Oh, thank God. This I could handle.

“Well, actually, I know he just broke up with his girlfriend before the tour.”

Emma waved her hand dismissively. “That was never going anywhere. I knew that from the beginning. I could hear it in his voice when he talked to me about her on the phone. And he never once brought her here to meet me. She was a dead end from the start. I mean, now, on the tour.”

Jack had explicitly told me not to mention Sharyl. So I was grinning pretty hard when I said, “Mike and I have been trying to fix him up with this woman who organizes the vending.”

“Vending?”

“She sells the t-shirts and CDs and stuff,” Mike explained.

“Oh, that. Okay, tell me about her.”

We regaled Emma with all the details about Sharyl and why she was perfect for Jack. And I told her conspiratorially that Jack was procrastinating asking her out, after which Emma announced that she would take care of it. She got up from the table and marched over to the grill.

I knew I would pay for this later, but I was having way too much fun watching this little tiny woman give Jack a hard time, her finger pointing into his chest as he towered over her, looking contrite. Then he turned to look at me, and his sweet grandma face was gone. Damn. I guess I wouldn’t be having a roommate tonight.

****

Jack had not forgiven me for ratting him out to his grandmother, and he brought it up as often as possible. But it did not, as I had speculated, stop him from climbing into my bed each night.

By the time we reached Minneapolis, I was fully expecting Jack to come to my room and drop off his bag as soon we landed at the hotel. But he didn’t.

We had a free night, and I sat in my room alone for a good hour before I got impatient and went to find him. I wasn’t going to waste my free night. I intended to hunt Jack down and make him take me out to a good restaurant and maybe a club or a show afterward.

I went down to Mike’s room. But he’d gone to the airport to pick up Tak. Baby and Bell had decided to hang out by the hot tub to soak their feet and talk. I wasn’t into that. Hank and Sean were watching a baseball game with little Henry. No one was doing anything fun. And no one knew where I could find Jack.

Frustrated, I went down to the hotel lobby. I figured I could talk to the Concierge and find out what was nearby that could provide me with some entertainment, even if I had to go by myself.

As I walked through the lobby, I passed the hotel bar. And there was Jack, sitting with Sharyl at a table by the door. They had empty plates in front of them and drinks in their hands. They were clearly on a date.

I stood there, frozen to the spot, watching them like some creeper. I was close enough that I could hear their voices, but not quite make out what they were saying. Sharyl laughed, throwing her head back. Jack smiled at her, his eyes dipping down to her neck.

And that’s when my stomach turned over, my eyes hurt, and my head felt a little dizzy. What the hell was this? I should be smiling. I should be happy. Jack had done what I’d been harassing him to do for weeks now.

But I was not happy. I was raging inside. Jack would not be coming back to my room to cuddle with me tonight. Hell, he’d probably be in Sharyl’s room, getting laid. My knees gave way a little, and I had to snap them back to keep from falling to the floor.

I don’t know how long I stood there watching them and trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with me. I knew what jealousy felt like. Hell, I’d experienced it before with Jack. But that was just because I wanted him to get me naked that night and I didn’t like the idea that it might be someone else he’d be getting naked, instead. That was basic human ego. This was something entirely different.

Eventually Jack saw me. He stood up and looked at me. I watched as he said something to Sharyl. She looked back and saw me, too, concern etched on her face. Then Jack walked out of the bar and right up to me.

I was panicking. What could I say to him? There was no way I was going to be able to pull off some bullshit about how I was so happy to see them finally out on a date. I was good actor, yes, but I was not
that
good. I thought about running, straight out of the hotel, onto the street. I could grab a cab and go anywhere, hide. But my feet were glued to the floor.

“Stacey, you okay?” Jack asked as he approached me.

I didn’t move. Jack put a hand on my shoulder. “Stac?”

“Um, yeah. I’m just hungry.” Where the fuck did that come from? “Is the food good in there?”

“It’s alright. We just had appetizers. You want dinner?”

I nodded.

“Well, come on. We’ll go get something. There’s a Korean place next door. It’s supposed to be really good.”

What did he mean? The three of us? I watched Sharyl get up and walk out into the lobby. Yep, he meant the three of us.

“Let me take care of the bill,” Jack said, ducking back into the restaurant.

Sharyl walked over to me and smiled. “Hi, Stacey.”

“Hi.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, um, I just had a rough day.”

“Oh, what happened?”

“A… A weird phone call from a friend. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

My brain was not functioning, not at all. So I had no idea where that excuse had come from. But I was grateful for it.

“I’m so sorry.” Sharyl rubbed my arm.

She was so damn sweet. And I was imaging grabbing her by the hair and shoving her on the ground. Jesus. I had to get my shit together, fast.

Jack came back out and ushered us both through the doors and onto the street. The air was warm and humid. I tried to breathe. But it was impossible, because I didn’t just have a knot in my stomach – I
was
a giant knot.

I still hadn’t spoken by the time we were seated and perusing our menus. I listened to Jack and Sharyl discuss the different dishes. I couldn’t focus on the page in front of me. It was like all the letters were mixed up. I was suddenly illiterate. What the hell?

When the waiter came to take our order I randomly picked something on the menu and pointed to it. I finally spoke long enough to order a Gin and Tonic, extra strong.

Jack and Sharyl were sitting beside each other in the booth opposite me. They both looked at me with concern. I imagined leaping over the table and shoving myself between them.

“Stac, are you sure you’re okay?” Jack asked.

“I’m fine. Just tired. Need food.” Great, now I spoke like a caveman.

“I was just telling Jack how much I appreciated your help with the stands the last few days,” Sharyl said.

I had helped because I was bored and there wasn’t much else to do. I had helped because it was all part of the ‘get Sharyl and Jack together plan.’ I had helped because I was an idiot. I wanted to tell her to go to hell.

“My pleasure.”

Since I was proving to be a virtual mime, Sharyl and Jack took up a conversation of their own. They both glanced at me every now and again, trying to include me. But I didn’t respond. I just watched them.

They talked about the tour and the merchandise at first. But after a while they got into more personal stuff. Sharyl told us about growing up in San Diego. Then Jack asked her about how she got the job and she told that story in detail. Jack was focused on her. He asked questions, he looked at her, he nodded. She had his attention. Meanwhile, I wanted to poke her eyes out with the set of chopsticks in front of me.

While they talked, I tried to sort myself out. I had to figure out what was going on with me so I could figure out how to deal with it. It wasn’t until we were served and I was hunched over my noodle bowl, idly stirring the contents, that I figured it out.

Sharyl reached over and put her hand on Jack’s knee. I could see it because the booth bench was pushed far enough away from the table, and because my eyes were trained in that direction as I leaned over.

I saw red and I could feel the anger in my body. I was pretty sure I was about to start shaking with it. So, I carefully put my chopsticks down and took a deep breath. I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes. I wanted Jack for me, just me. And I wanted more than friendship from him. Shit. The realization hit me hard.

“Stac, you alright?”

“I’m just full.” Keeping my eyes closed, I patted my belly.

“You barely touched your food.”

“I’m so tired. I just hit a wall. I think I need to go to bed.”

I opened my eyes, but I didn’t look at either of them. I managed to stand up without falling over. That was good.

“Thanks for dinner,” I said quickly, before forcing my legs to pull me out of there.

I went straight back to my room and cried like a baby.