InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (8 page)

“Oh
honey,” her mother whispered. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that
alone! I’m sorry you had to go through it at all!”

Tia
smiled at the genuine caring in her mother’s eyes, and knew that she was the
luckiest person on Earth for so many reasons. None of it mattered anymore, and
she refused to dwell on anything negative on this incredible day. She looked
from her mom to her dad to the love of her life and felt an incredible sense of
peace and joy bubble up inside her. No matter what happened in New Zealand, she
knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Dylan had never once forgotten about
her, and that he loved her with his whole being.

Now
it was Will’s turn to butt in. “What did she do, Dylan? How did she break you
up?”

“Well,”
Dylan continued, “we were on the other side of the world, obviously, and our
internet and phone reception was sketchy at best. We lived in this little village
unto itself; we were a good distance from the nearest town, and kind of our own
entity. She used that to her advantage. It started, as far as I can tell, after
she had her assistant take Jessa…she’s my assistant…to Auckland for the weekend
and convinced her to buy some sort of unique scarf.  Then she bought another
one just like it, and paid an actress that apparently looked a lot like Jessa,
to hand out my mobile number at the airport. My phone started ringing off the
hook—suddenly fans were calling to chat, and Penelope convinced me to ask one
of them how they got the number. When they described Jessa to a tee, right down
to the damn scarf, I started doubting her.” He shook his head, remembering his
rage that day, and how he sent Jessa packing without giving her a chance to
explain anything. One more thing he’d suffer for a very long time to come.

“This
woman, Angela—who was Penelope’s assistant—managed to play it up so that I
believed it, and I fired Jessa on the spot. Angela was full of apologies, and
volunteered to be my assistant for the rest of the time we were there. It
didn’t leave me much of a choice, really, which was their plan all along. That
started the domino effect.” He took a deep breath. It was all still very fresh
in his mind, and Tia was hearing it for the first time. He knew he couldn’t
shelter her from the truth, but he certainly didn’t relish the idea of telling
her the details, either. They had a relationship built on honesty, though, and
he wouldn’t lie to her. It would all come out eventually in court, and he
didn’t want any surprises when that fiasco got rolling.

“I
had no choice but to change my mobile number, and Angela volunteered to take
care of it for me while I was away from the village for a few days filming some
scenes out in the wilderness.  She changed Tia’s number on the SIM card so I
couldn’t reach her, and they sabotaged my computer. They hired some teenager to
plant some sort of virus and sent both of us emails, supposedly from each
other, saying that we were done with the relationship and wanted to sever all
ties.”

“We
both believed it,” Tia sighed. “Even though in the back of our minds we didn’t
think it could be true, there was no other explanation at the time and we
weren’t able to get a hold of each other to figure it out.”

“I
was beside myself,” Dylan continued. “I had sent Tia a ticket to join me in
Australia for the holiday. I wanted to introduce her to my parents and show her
where I grew up—but the next part of their plan cut off our only remaining form
of communication—letters. I wrote Tia just about every day—sometimes twice in a
day. I put in pictures of our summer with every one; to remind her of the time
we spent together, and to hopefully keep the idea of ‘us’ in her mind. I was
begging her to call me; to come to Australia so we could work it out. I knew it
took weeks for the letters to reach her, but it was all I had at the time. 
Angela, in the guise of being my assistant, was taking care of the mail, and it
turns out that Penelope was stealing all the letters I wrote to Tia.” He turned
to her, and pulled her in closer, taking her hand with his free one and looking
her in the eye. This was going to hurt her, he knew, and there was no way to
shelter her from it. Not for long.

“She
was erasing Tia’s name on the letters and writing in her own; cutting Tia’s
face out of the pictures and putting her own photos in their places. It was all
part of some obsessive, sick, and twisted fantasy that we would be a couple.”

Tia
swallowed hard. So far, they’d waved away the waitress, who was hovering just
out of earshot, waiting for her chance to wait on Dylan Miller. Now Tia
motioned her over and asked for some water, and she returned in seconds with an
icy pitcher and four glasses with lemon wedges perched on the rims. Each of
them took a slow drink, letting what had been said so far sink in. It was only
the tip of the iceberg, Dylan knew, and Tia’s parents were only now finding out
that they were a couple. There was the whole summer to share with them yet. It
was a lot to take in, and Tia hitched in a breath.

“Sorry,”
Tia muttered, after downing nearly half her glass. Dylan poured her some more,
leaning over her and whispering, “It’s me who’s sorry, love. I hate that you
have to hear any of this.” He pressed his lips to her forehead.

“I
know, baby,” she said. “But it needs to be said, and I need some time to
process it anyway. Go ahead.”

He
winced, but he continued. “A few nights ago—bloody hell, I can’t believe it was
only a few nights ago—she faked the death of an aunt who didn’t even exist and
had a meltdown in my trailer.” He paused, deciding to leave out the part about
her trying to seduce him in her own trailer. “She inadvertently left her phone
behind, and I found it later that evening. I figured it would be best to bring
it to her, and I walked in on her putting together scrapbooks already full of
pictures and letters I’d sent to Tia. I saw some of the tabloids, too—her agent
was sending her copies of all the magazines that boasted pictures of
us—pictures from rehearsals and filming that their teenaged hacker had doctored
to make it look like we were on dates and holidays. I also found the plane
ticket I’d sent to Tia in the piles.” He paused to let everyone take it in.

“It
all started to make sense to me then—the lost phone number, the computer crash,
the change of assistants—and I called the director immediately, and told him to
call the police. I had him wait with her while I barged in to Angela’s
trailer—I just knew she had to have had help keeping the whole thing together.
She caved pretty quickly and told me everything I’ve told you; of course saying
that Penelope forced her into the whole mess. I found out that night that Tia
hadn’t dumped me at all—in fact, even though she’d been told to burn them, Angela
had kept Tia’s letters to me in a shoebox, and she finally handed them over. I
tell you, it was like holding a treasure when she gave me that box. I realized,
of course, that Tia had been going through the same kind of hell, and that she
was still in the dark; thinking I’d dumped her. The only thing I could do was
to find her right away. I spent most of that night in the police station,
giving statements, and the rest of it reading all of Tia’s letters. I met with
the director the next day, and refused to do one more scene with that horrid
woman. We filmed a few scenes with a double the next morning, after I got in
touch with Jessa and begged forgiveness. Thankfully, she’d suspected all along
that Penelope had been behind the whole mess, and said that she’d be thrilled
to make her first order of business helping me and Tia get back together, and
she worked on tickets to get me back here. I just arrived yesterday morning.”

There
was a collective quiet at the table as each tried to assimilate the information.
Danielle looked at Tia with pity in her eyes.

“This
is the first time I’ve heard it, too,” Tia said. “We didn’t want to talk about
it yesterday…we were just so happy to be together and didn’t want anything to
spoil the only private time we’re going to have for a while.”

“I
can’t believe that anyone could be so…damn, I don’t even know a word for it!”
Will growled.

Danielle
took in the look on her daughter’s face. “I shouldn’t have even asked. I’m so
sorry, sweetie.”

Tia
reached over and took her mom’s hand. “I’m the one who’s sorry! None of this
bad stuff matters now… we have a happy ending—a happy new beginning—and today
is for celebrating! I can’t tell you how horrible I felt keeping all this from
you guys.  I’m just sorry I never told you!”

“What?”
Danielle asked. “You mean about who Dylan really is?”

“I
wanted to tell you so badly at least a million times,” she said. “But I was
afraid of how people would react and how my life would change, and Dylan was so
far away, and then I thought we’d broken up…”

 “Oh
sweetie, you’re absolutely right!” her mother quickly agreed. “Don’t you feel
guilty for one minute—I can’t even imagine what a struggle that was for you. Of
course you did the right thing. Now no more talk about that horrid woman… let’s
change the subject to happier things, OK? Let’s start at
your
beginning.
This is all new news us, so you have to tell us everything! How in the world
did you two meet, anyway?” her mother asked enthusiastically. The tone at the
table changed completely as they spent the next hour talking about their
relationship, the places they’d visited on the tour, and their love. Tia felt
so relieved to be able tell her parents the happy things, and was thrilled as
they fell into an easy conversation. She knew that her parents would love
Dylan, and soon they were laughing together and sharing stories like old
friends.  They could all feel the presence of the people who looked on—Tia
couldn’t help put peek over the barrier once to see that every table in the
restaurant was full and many others stood around the edges, but as anxious as
the atmosphere was in the room, no one trespassed on the sanctity of the DND.

They
all scooched around to the same side of the table, lining up their chairs so
Tia could share some of the pictures and videos that she hadn’t been able to
show before. Her throat tightened as she sat with the people she loved the
most; sandwiched between Dylan and her mother. She hadn’t felt so much peace in
a long time, and she was overcome with emotion. This was ending up to be a
great day.

When
they got back to the present and had answered what seemed a million questions,
they all stopped and took a collective breath. It was a lot to absorb in one
sitting, and Dylan could almost see their minds spinning. In a normal situation,
they would have gotten this information over the course of months. However, he
thought wryly, introducing a popular celebrity at the middle of an
international scandal as your boyfriend would never qualify as a normal
situation. He needed to give them some time to catch up with it all; and to
catch up with each other.  He took advantage of a lull in the conversation to
give them just that. “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about as a family,” he
said, standing, “Tia told me that there is a back entrance here—do you think I
could make it to the men’s room without being noticed?”

Will
pulled out his wallet and handed him a card. “You can head outside through that
door,” he said pointing, “and turn left. You’ll see the outside entrance for
the locker room a few doors down and you can swipe the card to get in.
Considering half the membership of the place is in the dining room and it’s
only twelve degrees outside, I doubt you’ll run into anyone.”

Dylan
pressed his lips to the top of Tia’s head. “I’ll give you all some time to
catch up, and be back in a bit.” He donned his coat, pulled a hat over his head
and slipped out into the December day.

The
entrance to the locker room was well marked, and Dylan stepped inside. The room
appeared empty, and he took a seat on a long leather couch that spanned the
back wall across from a marble vanity top that held four basin sinks. He picked
up a magazine, disappointed that there wasn’t a copy of
Person to Person
on the coffee table—he hadn’t yet had a chance to see his story in print—and
settled in to wait.

He
flipped mindlessly through pages filled with yachts, exotic cars, private
planes and other indulgences, but he stopped and stared at a Harry Winston ad
toward the back of the magazine, finally tearing it out and folding it into his
pocket.  As he reached for another magazine, he heard the whoosh of another
door opening and then voices and the slam of locker doors. A short time later a
shower went on, and then a man about his age walked over to the counter and
spread shaving cream over his face. He took one swipe with the razor before
catching Dylan’s reflection in the mirror. He jumped, startled, and turned
toward Dylan.

“Whew,”
he said, “you scared me, man!” Dylan watched the recognition dawn on the man’s
face as his brows furrowed.  “Oh shit, aren’t you Dylan Miller?”

Dylan
stood. “I am. Good to meet you.”

“Wow!
My pleasure, man. I’m a fan of your music!” He extended his hand, and Dylan
shook it.

“Thanks
a lot—I appreciate that.”

He
shook his head. “This is too crazy! Do you have a show in town tonight or
something? I don’t remember hearing about one.”

“No,
not tonight,” Dylan said. “I’m in town on personal business.”

“Wow,”
he said again, “this is too weird to be standing here talking to you!” He
stroked his chin and realized his face was still covered with shaving cream. He
reached behind him and grabbed a towel, swiping his cheeks. “Are you thinking
of joining the club? It’s a great place; I’d be happy to sponsor you!”

Dylan
could almost see the wheels turning in his head. It was the same story—this guy
didn’t know anything about Dylan except that he was a celebrity, but he’d be
“happy to sponsor him.” The guy figured that being Dylan’s friend would mean
invitations to parties, celebrity outings, access to lots of women…he’d been
down that road before.

 “I’m
sorry,” Dylan said. “I didn’t get your name…”

“Oh
shit, I’m sorry,” he chuckled. “I just freaked out a little bit—I’m Jace. Jace
McIntire.” He reached out his hand and shook again by way of introduction.

Dylan’s
eyes narrowed as the name registered in his mind. What were the chances? First,
that there was more than one Jace in this particular club, and second, that
he’d run into him like this, when there was no one else around except for someone
that just turned on a shower somewhere out of his sight? Incidental
happenstance, once again, perhaps?  He clenched his teeth and forced calm over
his features. Part of him wanted to flatten the guy; Dylan knew that he’d tried
to make Tia doubt his own intentions; but that wasn’t his style. It didn’t mean
he couldn’t have a little fun with him, however.

“I’m
not sure if I’ll be looking to join,” Dylan said, contemplatively. “I’m just
here as a guest today. It seems like a nice place, though.”

Jace
nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, it is! We’ve got a great golf course—do you golf?
I’d love to get you out there sometime. We’ve got a great restaurant, a full
service spa, an Olympic sized pool, racquetball, tennis…you name it. Has anyone
taken you on a tour? I could show you around, if you have some time. It’d be
great to have you as a member, so if you need anything—want to play a little
racquetball, need a dinner reservation, anything at all—I’ve got some pull
around here, and I’d be glad to help you out with anything you need, brother.”

This
had to be the guy, Dylan thought. His arrogance was obvious, and he was
blatantly sucking up for his own advantage. “Well, now that you mention it,” he
said casually, “there is something you could help me out with,” Dylan said.

“Just
name it,” Jace replied eagerly. “Anything at all!”

“I
appreciate that, mate, thanks. I’m looking for a person, actually; a member
here, but I think it’s only fair to tell you that I’m not looking for him
because he’s a friend.” 

Jace
nodded, contemplating. “OK by me,” he said. “I know pretty much everyone
here—what’s his name?”

“That’s
the problem see; I don’t know his name,” Dylan said smoothly. “What I do know
is that he’s some sort of hot shot lawyer who thinks the world revolves around
him—a serious prick from what I understand.”

Jace
laughed. “I’m an attorney myself. Believe me, I know a few guys like that. Why,
do you need representation for something? If so, I’m your man. Seriously. I
dabble in a little bit of everything.”

Dylan
smiled. “That’s not it, but thanks. No, it’s purely a personal issue. This
particular asshole was trying real hard to steal my girlfriend, and I’d love to
have a few words with him, if you know what I mean.” He tilted his head
conspiratorially and Jace returned the gesture, nodding.
Right where I want
you
, Dylan thought. 

“Why
would anyone think they could take a woman away from you?” he joked.

“Well,
that’s where it gets interesting, Jace—you see, he didn’t know that
I
was her boyfriend, only that she had one. But what difference should that make,
right? What kind of wanker would try to steal anyone’s girlfriend?” He glared
directly into his eyes, making sure his displeasure was coming through loud and
clear.

Dylan’s
lips curled up slightly when he saw the quick drop of Jace’s eyes, the slight
falter of his perma-grin. But so far, he was doing a passable job of
maintaining his cool.

“I
agree,” Jace nodded, “that’s pretty low, man.”

“Damn
fucking straight it is.” Dylan gave him another hard stare, and waited just a
beat too long before continuing. “Obviously, I travel a lot for work,” he
smiled, “and for the past few months I’ve been filming a movie in New Zealand…”
he paused for effect, and smirked inwardly when he saw the realization sinking
in. Jace swallowed hard, and his expression did more than falter; it started to
visibly crash. His eyes widened, and the corners of his lips started to
quiver.  

 “This
bastard knew she was in love with someone,” Dylan continued, his voice more
menacing, “but he had the fucking audacity to tell her that because I was a
musician I wouldn’t be faithful to her, and probably wouldn’t ever come back.
Then, the asshole actually suggested that she give
him
a shot since I
was so far away and would never know the difference. Can you believe the
nerve?” He tried to keep his face serious, but inside he was having incredible
fun watching the man start to squirm.

 Jace
just shook his head, and tried to paste a look of disgust on his face. Shit.
Tia was fucking dating Dylan Miller? No wonder she rejected him! Who could
compete with that? He couldn’t blame the guy for being pissed off, either, but
he was becoming increasingly aware of the look in the dude’s eyes. Did he
know—was Miller just toying with him?

“That
sucks, man,” he replied nervously. “So, you want to have it out with this dude,
or what?” His fight or flight response was starting to kick in as adrenaline
pumped through his veins and he was feeling particularly edgy. He needed to
know what to expect. He rolled his weight to the balls of his feet and shifted
his center of gravity back and forth while willing a look of composure to cover
his nervousness.

“I’m
not entirely sure yet,” Dylan said. “The gentleman in me just wants him to see
us together, so he has a face to put with my girl that isn’t his.” Jace exhaled
slowly through clenched teeth. “But I have to be honest with you mate, the
gentleman in me is kind of taking a back seat. The caveman in me wants to
wrestle him to the ground, put my hands on his cocky little throat, get right
up in his face…” he took a step closer to Jace, just a touch into his personal
space, and glared into his eyes. He had a couple inches on the prick, and the
fact that Jace was cowering just a bit, unnerved by the lack of comfortable
distance between them, gave Dylan the definite advantage. “…and tell him,
‘Never again, asshole. Never. Fucking. Again. You never stood a chance in hell,
but you made my girl uncomfortable, and if you so much as go near her again, I
will take extreme pleasure in seriously kicking your ass.’” He waited a couple
beats and smiled warmly, then took a step back, relaxing his posture. He patted
Jace on the arm and he jumped back nearly a foot. “As you can imagine, there’s
a pretty big part of me that does just want to kick his ass and be done with
it. I’m trying real hard to keep that part under control, but who knows?” He
shrugged his shoulders and smiled again. “I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do
until I’m face-to-face with him, I guess, but I’d like to have the opportunity to
find out.”

Jace
tried to keep his face calm and his voice steady, but he was failing miserably
at both. His hands were shaking—he saw the malice in Miller’s eyes and was
positive now that the dude knew exactly to whom he was speaking.

 Jace
looked down at his watch with an exaggerated motion. “Shit,” he stammered, “I’m
sorry, but I’m meeting my girlfriend for lunch,” he said, emphasizing the word
girlfriend,
“and I’m already late. I’ve…got to go. I, ah, I’ll see what I can do about
your…um…situation.” He didn’t ask for the girlfriend’s name or how to get in
touch with him if he did find something out, and Dylan smiled, knowing the
message was received loud and clear. 

 “Oh,
sure, I understand. I hope you do, as well. I am glad I met you, Jace,” Dylan
said in a much less pleasant voice, drawing out his name with a snake-like
hiss. 

Jace
turned once more, the discomfort clear in his eyes. “You too,” he managed, but
the door was already swinging shut.

“Hey
Jace,” Lexi said as he rushed past her on his way out the door. “Is Ryan in
there?”

He
glared at her and kept walking, his cheeks still smeared with shaving cream and
a towel hanging around his neck. “What’s up with you?” she called to his
fleeing figure.

Then
the locker room door opened again, and Dylan walked out, a huge smile on his
face.

“Dylan?”
she asked incredulously, stopping and staring. “Holy shit! It is you!”

“Hey,
Lexi!” he smiled. “Great to see you!” He pulled her into a friendly hug.

“Oh
my God, Dylan, what are you doing here? So you’re what all the buzz around here
is about—that explains a lot,” she continued, without waiting for an answer.
“Wait a minute, are you and Tia…?” She couldn’t seem to find the rest of the
words.

“We
are!” he said, his smile growing. “She rang you last night—didn’t you get the
message?”

“Shit,
I had to go to a freaking opera, and I lost my phone in a taxi, and I…but who
cares, you and Tia are back together? For real?” She squealed the last words,
her excitement mounting.

His
smile said it all, and she threw herself into his arms and gave him another
huge hug. “You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, but I’m so happy for
both of you!”

The
door opened again, and Ryan stepped out. The first thing he saw was Lexi, his
fiancé
,
in the arms of—holy shit, Dylan Miller? He stopped, frozen in place, watching
her jump all over the guy. They obviously knew each other better than a
backstage meeting at a huge festival somewhere, which was the story he’d been
told. Anger and jealousy boiled up inside him, and he finally found his voice.

“Lexi,
what the fuck?” he exclaimed, raising his palms in disbelief. He couldn’t
believe she was actually standing right there, her arms around his neck! Ryan
sucked a breath in through his teeth and tried to keep his head from exploding.
 He knew that Lexi’d met Miller when she was over in Europe in July—Tia’s
boyfriend’s band was playing at some festival; or so he’d been told—and the
girls had all access passes. Dylan Miller was her fantasy...”Mr. Sexiest Man in
the World”…and Ryan had basically given her carte blanche to sleep with the
dude—‘without guilt or repercussion,’ they’d declared one night while watching
a bad horror flick over even worse wine. “My pick is definitely Dylan Miller!”
she’d said without a second’s hesitation, her smile lighting her face in the
most lascivious of ways. “That man is so hot that hell wouldn’t be able to hold
him,” she’d added.

 Ever
since she got back from that damned trip with Tia she’d been secretive and
elusive; but really? She brought him here, to his country club, and was rubbing
it in his face? The edges of his vision went white, especially when she
untangled her arms and laughed right at him. 

He’d
put two and two together after she got back and guessed pretty quickly that
she’d slept with Miller. Hell, the dude was a celebrity who could probably have
any woman he wanted, and Lexi wasn’t exactly tough on the eyes. Seeing them
standing there together, shit-eating grins on both their faces, pretty much
confirmed his suspicions…but since he’d been asinine enough to give her fucking
permission to do it, there was precious little he could do or say about it.
This was pretty heartless, though, flaunting the damn rock star in his face at
his
country club.