You got to Me (Love on Tour #3) (11 page)

13

After brunch I escaped quickly, under the guise of needing to prepare for the lecture. I grabbed a latte at the little coffee cart in the lobby of the hotel and headed back to my room. And there stood Sam at my door.

“Go away,” I said, as I pulled my keycard out of the little pocket in my dress.

“We need to talk.”

I got the door open on the first try, thankfully.

“I don’t think so.” I tried to slam the door in his face, but he stopped it with his hand and shoved his way inside my room.

“Yes, we do,” he said sternly, closing the door behind him.

“Look, Sam, as far as I’m concerned, this never happened. I would just like the whole thing to go away. It never happened.”

He folded his arms over his chest and looked at me. “Fine, Lisa. If that’s the way you want it.”

“It is.” I reached around him for the door.

“But first, we have to settle something.” He grabbed my arm.

I pulled away from him and took a step back. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“I didn’t use a condom.”

“Do you have some sort of horrible disease or something?”

“No.”

“Well neither do I, so that’s settled. Now go.”

“That’s not the only concern,” he said.

“Don’t worry about knocking me up, Sam. I got that covered.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive. Now please leave.”

He looked at me for a long moment, but didn’t say anything. Then he turned and walked out.

****

Sam left me alone after that, for the most part. He came to my lecture that afternoon. But then Bell, Dani and I went out for drinks with Mike. Sam hung back with Sean and Hank to spend quality time with little Henry. The next day we drove to Detroit. Gloria and Frank were following the bus in their Cadillac, with both Sam and little Henry in the back. We stopped in Kalamazoo and left them there. Little Henry and Sam boarded the bus.

The two and a half hour drive from Kalamazoo to Detroit was easy to endure, partly because there were so many of us on the bus, and baby Henry was, without a doubt, the main focus of our attention. So by the time we reached the venue, I was finally starting to relax.

“Is he really going to sleep through the show?” I asked, as I gazed at Henry, curled up in a portable crib in Sean’s green room.

Sean shrugged. “I sing to him all the time.”

“Not through a microphone and amplifiers, though, honey,” Dani said.

“True. Well, I guess we’re about to find out. I gotta go on.” He kissed Dani and left the room.

Shit. I was alone with my sister. This was bad. I had a major thing on my chest and I would like nothing better than get it off. Dani was exactly the person I wanted to spill my secret to. But I knew I was better off if I continued to pretend it never happened.

Dani sat down next to me. “Loved your lecture today, Leese.”

“You didn’t fall asleep?”

“Heck, no. It was fascinating.”

“Okay, don’t over hype it.”

“Really Lisa, it was.”

“Dani, I have a confession to make.”

“Yeah?”

“The reason I was late to brunch this morning… Oh God.”

“Lisa, what is it?”

“I had sex with Sam in the stairwell.” I hung my head in my hands. My sister was completely quiet. Which was not like her. I finally looked up at her. “Dani?”

She was definitely in shock. “Wow.”

“I know.”

“I mean, I don’t know where to start. A stairwell?”

“That’s what you’re starting with?”

“Yeah? I mean Lisa, your sexual history is…”

“Pathetic?”

“Yeah, kinda.” Only a sister could be this honest. “I mean there was the disastrous prom date, and then Roger. And that’s it, right?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” I admitted.

“And I’m guessing that Roger never took you into a stairwell for wild sex.”

“Roger never took me out of the bedroom, and the word ‘wild’ is certainly not appropriate.”

“My God, Lisa. I’m so proud of you!”

“Excuse me?”

She hugged me. “You finally let loose and had a crazy life experience.”

“Being married to a rock star has seriously warped your perspective.”

“Maybe. But I’ve never done it in a stairwell. Hmmm, that actually sounds…”

“Focus, Dani. I had sex with your brother-in-law.”

“We’ll deal with that later. How was it?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Lisa, we are going to talk about sex. It’ll be just like the time I told you about losing my virginity.”

“Really, that’s what you’re comparing this to.”

“Yep. Come on. Out with it.”

“I really don’t want to.”

“So, it was good?”

“Ugh.” I threw my head back and leaned into the couch.

“That was a yes. Really good?”

“Dani.”

“Did you have an orgasm?”

“Yes.”

She squealed. “I knew it.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little messed up that you’re delighted about my orgasm when it was with your brother-in-law.”

“No, Sam is super hot. I know because I’m married to the bigger version. And my version is excellent in bed. So I don’t think it’s a leap to assume that’s a family trait.”

“Gross,” I said.

“Whatever. When are you going to do it again?”

I sat up. “I’m not
ever
going to do it again.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it was a huge mistake, that’s why. It should never have happened in the first place. And that’s what I told him. I told him to pretend it never happened.”

“Hmmm. And how did he take that?”

“Fine. He had no problem with it. His only concern was knocking me up.”

Dani didn’t respond to this. She just took my hand.

“You aren’t going to tell Sean, are you?”

“Give me a little credit.”

“I feel like this is the end of the world.”

“It is not the end of the world! It’s the beginning.”

“Of what? Not me and Sam!”

“I guess not, not if you don’t want it to be. But, it’s the beginning of a new you. Lisa, you had hot sex in a stairwell. I mean, this is huge!”

“Ugh.”

“And you came. During sex! If I recall, that’s a new one, too.”

I sighed. “I was starting to think it wasn’t possible.”

She grinned. “But it is. Seriously, how could you not want to do it again?”

Damn. I did want to do it again.

“No,” I said, more to myself than to Dani. “It can’t ever happen again. Sam is not right for me. Not at all.”

“Well, he is one way, at least.”

Ugh. I wished the baby would cry already.

“Can we talk about something else?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Dani,” I whined.

“The first time I had sex with Sean–”

“Okay, see, not relevant. Because you knew you were going to have sex with Sean for days leading up to that. I didn’t know until it was actually happening.”

“No, I didn’t decide for sure until he sang that song to me. I had maybe forty-five minutes. And, Leese, it was a terrible forty-five minutes. I was terrified, and unsure, and all that other crap. But you didn’t have to go through that. You made a split-second decision. My God, have you ever done that in your life?”

If I didn’t count my decision to go all badass on that Shanna girl, I hadn’t. “And clearly, it was stupid.”

“I don’t think so. You had fun. It felt good. You walked through a new door, Leese.”

And then, finally, with his father blasting music in the background, Henry woke up and screamed.

****

“Ten days till we meet up in Florida,” Sean said.

“Ten days,” Dani sighed. Then she turned to Sam. “I feel bad about missing your show.”

What the hell was this? What show?

“It’s okay, you’ve seen me play before,” Sam said. “Besides, I think Henry is done with the bus.”

“So true,” she said, gazing at Henry, who was at her eye level, because he was in Sean’s arms. Then she looked back toward the airport security guy, waiting patient for her. “I don’t want to leave you,” she said to Sean.

He leaned down and kissed her, for a very long time. Eventually, Henry started to fuss. Sean pulled away and looked down at his son. “Get used to it kid. You’re going to grow up seeing a lot of that.” He kissed Henry’s little head.

“Okay, you better give him to me, and I better get on with it.”

Dani had already said her goodbyes to the rest of us, so she just waved and turned away. We all walked out of the airport feeling a little deflated. But Sean looked downright depressed. I felt bad for him. His entire world had just boarded a plane.

We loaded onto the bus and started the journey toward Cleveland, a quiet bunch. Hank eventually got a card game going. Bell opted out and was sitting across the aisle from us next to Mike. But I scooted into the booth beside Sean. I could use something to do.

Sam was sitting kitty corner from me, next to Hank. This was good, because the more I got used to acting totally normal in front of him, the better.

It was during our third hand that the conversation got weird.

“Your turn to deal, Sammy,” Sean said. “Oh shit. Sorry, little brother. I forgot. I’m not supposed to call you that.”

“I don’t mind anymore,” Sam said.

I looked at him. He was grinning as he looked down at the cards in his hand.

“Really? Why’s that?” Sean asked.

“New memories replaced the old.”

“Holy shit. I knew it. Sam got laid recently,” Hank said.

Sean scrutinized his brother. “Yeah?”

Sam shook his head.

“Come on, out with it man. Was it last night, or in Chicago? I bet it was in Chicago. He’s been a happy-looking dude since then,” Hank said.

Sam remained quiet. I felt like I was going to die.

“He’s not going to tell you about his conquests, Hank. He’s not like you,” Sean said.

“Hey,” Hank said, sounding offended. “I don’t blab about Bell.”

“No, you don’t,” Mike interjected. “But back in the old days, you were bad.”

Bell leaned forward and looked at Hank. “But you’re a good boy now, aren’t you Hank?”

“Fuckin’ A, I am, sweetheart.”

“Are we playing cards or not?” Sam asked.

“Oh, he definitely got laid.”

Mike’s phone rang. He looked at it and quickly turned it off.

“That Lance again?” Hank asked.

Mike shrugged.

“Speaking of getting laid, what’s the story, Mike?”

“No story.”

“Whatever, you’ve been on the phone with that dude constantly since Denver.”

“He’s not so bad,” Mike said.

“You sure about that?” Sean asked.

“I’m sure. Well, I least I think I am. We’ll know the day after tomorrow when the article comes out. But the preview I read was good.”

Sean humphed. “I don’t know, Mikey. He doesn’t seem like a good fit for you.”

“He’s not the seedy reporter you think he is, Sean. You know, he used to do newspaper. He was an overseas correspondent.”

“You really like him?”

Mike shrugged. “We’ll see.”

A couple hours later we abandoned the card game. Hank went to sit on the couch and cuddle with Bell. Mike took his place. I leaned back in the seat, brought my knees up to my chest, and read my e-mails on my phone.

“Son of a bitch,” I said.

“Lisa, what’s up?” Sean asked me.

I held my phone up so he could see the e-mail I’d just opened up.

“Shit. How did he know how to contact you? I thought you changed everything.”

“I did, but this is my work e-mail. It’s public.”

“What? Does Lisa have a stalker or something?” Sam asked.

I glared at him, but he just smiled at me.

“What’s going on?” Bell asked.

I sighed. There was no privacy in this goddamn bus. “I got an e-mail from my ex-husband.”

“That piece of shit. What does he want?”

“How the hell do you know this guy, Hank? Wasn’t it a while ago?” Sam asked.

I nodded. “Before Sean and Baby – damn, I mean Dani – got together.”

Sean didn’t laugh at my slip up this time. He put an arm around my shoulder instead.

“Yeah, but he showed up at Sean and Baby’s house the night before we all flew for the wedding. We were having a little party,” Hank explained.

“Where the hell was I?” Sam asked.