Redemption Song (6 page)

Alaina grabbed her concordance off of the table. She needed help with her latest storm. She didn’t know how she was going to have the strength to handle much more, but that’s why she read her Bible. She wanted to find her strength and she knew God could help her find it.

Scriptures on worry, anxiety, and fear.

Alaina thumbed back and forth through the passages listed until she found the one that spoke to her—Philippians 4:6-7.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The peace of God, Alaina thought. That’s what she needed. A sense of peace and confidence. All it took was prayer and petition with thanksgiving. She could handle that.

Alaina looked up a few more scriptures, jotted a few notes down in her journal, and said a quick, heart-filled prayer before rising from the little table.

She looked around her room trying to figure out what to do first. This was the first day she’d been off work at the little restaurant on the pier in almost a month. Her summer days were filled with helping Granny Mae around the house, spending time with Ben, and then it was straight to work for a six to eight hour shift of hard waitressing. It wasn’t a bad job—good tips, actually—but work was work, and eventually it all got a little old. But it provided her with income. Something her parent’s hadn’t left her much of.

It wasn’t that her parent’s had been poor or bad managers of their money. They just hadn’t been given enough time to pay off their debts. When couples sign up for mortgages and vehicle loans and such, they don’t expect to be gone before everything is paid off. Luckily, Alaina had been able to sell their house and the vehicle with the highest payment to make enough money to break even. Her dad’s life insurance had covered the credit card debt and the remaining balance on the other vehicle, which she now used for her and Ben’s transportation.

But with the recent onset of unexpected expenses, Alaina was pulling a lot of shifts at the restaurant, which didn’t allow for a lot of playtime.

That was one of the reasons why when Ethan asked her to hang out with him today, she had almost refused. Sometimes Alaina forgot that it was okay for her to have fun. She was so busy being the responsible one that she tended to forget that she was still a kid.

Alaina had quite a few friends before her parent’s accident—been in the popular crowd, in fact—but when she was forced to turn her friends down every time they called for her to come hang out because she was too busy working, or helping Ben with homework, eventually they just quit calling. She didn’t blame them, and although at first she’d been mad, she realized now that it was unreasonable to expect anything different. All of those people had no idea what it was like to live in the real world. They didn’t understand what she was going through.

Then there was Ethan Carter. Alaina wasn’t quite sure what she thought of Ethan yet. Granny Mae had warned her yesterday morning about how her super famous grandson would be coming to visit, which seemed a little strange considering he was mid-tour, but who was she to judge when a boy wanted to see his grandma?

What she hadn’t expected was to meet him in the middle of one of those nights when she couldn’t sleep. The tall guy on the couch just about scared her to death when she’d groggily strolled through the living room to get to the kitchen. And she knew Ethan had been asleep because she’d heard him snoring when she peeked in to check on Ben. He must have awoken when she shut the door, or something. Despite the messy bed hair and ridiculous fuzzy house shoes, she figured that had been as good a time as any to meet him.

Alaina hadn’t known what to expect from Ethan. She knew he was insanely famous, but that kind of life was so foreign to her. And she had no idea what people like him acted like, but she had to admit, she'd expected him to be annoyingly conceited. To Alaina’s surprise, from their chance encounter, she hadn’t gotten that from him, but then again, there’s not a whole lot fifteen minutes with a person could tell about them.

Ethan had definitely taken her by surprise by asking her to hang out with him. What were they supposed to do? Where could she possibly go with him around this area that was anything compared to the places he’d been and seen? The boy had toured the world on a limitless tab. There wasn’t much competing with that.

Oh well, Alaina thought. He had asked
her
to hang out with
him
, not the other way around. She wasn’t going to worry about it. She’d leave all that up to him. It wasn’t like they were going on a date. HA! That thought cracked her up. Her on a date with the most desired teen boy in the country. Yeah, right. Besides, Ethan had a girlfriend, or so she'd discovered with a little help from Google.

Okay, no, she wasn’t a psychopathic, stalking, Ethan Carter lover. It was more a case of this guy being from a world totally separate from hers, yet he was going to be sharing a room with her little brother. Of course, she trusted Granny Mae’s judgment of character, but it was still her responsibility to figure out who would be hanging around Ben. Her little brother had been through a lot in the past year. He didn’t need anything else.

Alaina stripped from her bed clothes and put on her bath robe. The disadvantage to living with Granny Mae was the fact that there was only one shower on the whole top floor, and it was attached to neither her nor Ben’s room. She cracked her door open and peeked into the hallway. Ben’s room was only two doors down, a closet behind the door in the middle. The bathroom was located at the very end of the hall.

Alaina stepped carefully into the hallway. She knew that if she didn’t sneak quietly, Ben would hear her and want her to come into his room to play before she had a chance to shower—which on any normal day would be fine, but there was no way she was traipsing into that room in her bath robe with some boy in there.

When Alaina reached the stairwell, she heard Ben downstairs talking to Granny Mae and some man; must be the tall man from the couch. She figured Ethan was still asleep so the coast was clear. Just to be safe she covered the remaining distance to the bathroom door quickly and reached for the door handle, but it turned before she touched it.

The door swung open and her plan to reach the bathroom unseen was clumsily shattered. Ethan stood before her with a towel wrapped around his waist. His sandy blonde hair swept across his forehead in dripping strands. His wide surprised eyes locked in on hers and she immediately noticed how unbelievably blue they were.

“Uh . . . hi,” he said a little awkwardly.

“Hi.” Alaina was suddenly very aware that Ethan had no shirt on—finding it hard to shift her focus from the indentions of muscles in his waist just above the towel—and dropped her gaze, finding something extremely interesting to stare at beside her left foot. “I’m sorry. I’m . . . uh . . . not used to having to wait my turn for the shower. I’ll give you a minute.”

She turned to race back to her room, all too eager to get away from this situation as soon as possible, but Ethan spoke before she could move.

“No, it’s fine. I’m all done in here. I wasn’t sure what everybody’s schedules were so I just took my chances. It’s all yours. I’ll get out of your way.”

Still refusing to raise her gaze, Alaina let out a quick, “Thanks.” Ethan stepped around her into the hallway. She was shutting the door behind her when she heard him speak again.

“Are we still on for today?”

Alaina concentrated on moving her gaze to Ethan’s eyes
only
. “Sure, I’ve got the day off. I'm just going to clean up and then I'll be down.”

Ethan gave a slight grin and nodded as he turned for Ben’s room.

Alaina closed the bathroom door and breathed in the steam that still filled the room from Ethan’s shower. A nice aroma of floral and cologne filled her senses; she guessed a combination of her body wash and his shampoo.

One thing Alaina knew for sure. She was going to have to get used to sharing the top floor with someone other than her brother—which meant being much more careful with what she walked around wearing.

After a quick, reinvigorating shower, Alaina made certain that the hallway was clear before making her way back to her room to get ready to spend the day with Ethan.

Ethan

Ethan’s unexpected encounter with Alaina had taken him by surprise. Did her skin always look that fresh? She had to have just woken up, right?

Ethan descended the narrow staircase to the lower level of the house as an old familiar smell filled his senses. He hadn’t smelled anything that good in a long time. Granny Mae’s homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy. There wasn’t a five star restaurant anywhere that could beat that breakfast.

“Good morning, lil’ E!” Granny’s smile lit up when Ethan entered the kitchen. The darkness of the previous night had vanished. Bright rays of sunlight lit the room through the double glass doors that exited to the small garden out back.

Ethan felt like a little kid again. He flashed back to days of storming down the staircase and jumping into one of the island bar stools. Granny always made his favorite breakfast when he came to visit. Even after five years, she hadn’t changed a thing.

Had he really only been there for less than a day? The realization slapped him square across the cheek—it was happening.

The effects of the Fairhope black hole.

Ethan could almost feel the sick pull in his stomach from being sucked back into this place, this life . . . this lifestyle. He loved his Granny, but he had moved past this. He had worked his butt off to move past all of this.

He needed to get out of there, and quick.

“Are you hungry, sweetie?” Granny asked. Silent Ted sat as silent as ever in a stool next to Ben, who was greedily spooning chocolate gravy to his mouth like he was eating pudding. “Oh, of course you are. You’re thin as a rail. I swear those big shot music people don’t feed you enough. Get over here and eat. I made your favorite.”

For a split second, Ethan wanted to run, jump on the bar stool, just like old times, but he held back. He wasn’t the same innocent little kid that Granny used to make breakfast for. He was an irresponsible teenager who had been sent to this house against his will because he’d been bad and then been too dumb to keep from getting caught. And now, here was his sweet grandmother—whom he had neglected to visit for a large portion of his lifespan thus far—making him breakfast like he was still that sweet well-behaved little kid. She couldn’t have known why he was there. There’s no way she would be doing all of this for him if she did.

This thought only helped to fuel Ethan’s anger towards his mom. Not only did she confine him to this southern prison, but she also did it so that he would be unknowingly guilt tripped every time his grandmother did something nice for him. If she wanted to punish him, why didn’t she just yell, or take away his phone, or take away his driving privileges . . . something that normal parents did. No, instead she had taken away his entire life. Who does that?

“Ethan, honey, are you okay?” Granny asked when Ethan didn’t answer.

“He wooks wike he might pook.” Ben grumbled through a mouthful of gravy that dripped from his chin.

He might be right
, Ethan thought.

Ted remained silent.

Ethan glanced up to three sets of inquisitive eyes. “I . . . uh . . . I think I need to make a call.” He dashed from the kitchen into the little garden leaving his puzzled grandmother behind.

As the door slapped shut behind him, he heard Ted speak. “He’ll be fine. He’s just going to call his mom.”

How did Ted know that?

It took five rings for her to pick up.

“Hello!” Her voice was calm and happy, as though she'd been looking forward to his call all morning. Not at all what he had expected.

“Mom?”

“Hey, honey! How’s Alabama?”

“How do you
think
Alabama is, Mom?! Have you completely lost your mind, shipping me off here like some convict?! Do you have any idea what all goes into canceling a concert . . . and the Staples Center of all places?!”

Her tone remained the same, as if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “Well I’m glad you’re having a good time, honey. Tell your grandmother I send my love.”

“Mom, are you hearing anything I’m saying? This is torture! Look, I understand I messed up and I’m sorry, but I’ve got a career to worry about here. I can’t just take random vacations whenever I feel like it!”

His mom finally broke the act and got real.

“See, Ethan, that’s where you’re wrong. You are only seventeen years old and for at least the next year, you’re life is in my hands. And until you prove that you’re responsible enough to be a role model to those fans that pay big bucks to idolize you, you won’t be around for them to praise.”

Ethan’s cheeks flushed crimson.

“You can’t do that! All I have to do is call Bruce and he’ll fix all of this. I have my own money, you know. I can leave whenever I want.”

“Oh, Ethan, don’t be so naïve. Bruce knows his place, and he’s been instructed to leave you alone or he’ll be forced to find a new star to make his money for him. And as for your money, I’ve had all of your accounts frozen except for one. You’ll find a debit card in the front pocket of your suitcase. That should hold you until you’ve learned what it’s like to be a real kid again, depending on how quick a learner you are, of course.”

Ethan clenched his fist and contemplated punching out a fern hanging from the patio next to his head. “Mom, please! This is ridiculous. I’m famous for crying out loud! What am I supposed to do here when people realize who I am? They’ll flood the house! Paparazzi will be everywhere! I won’t even be able to stick my head out of a window!”

“Then you’ll get plenty of rest, but until that happens, you might want to keep a low profile. And might I suggest not drinking and driving. That usually helps one stay out of the public eye. You know, just a suggestion. ”