Authors: Holly Bargo
“Sure,” he said and obliged. “Ready?”
“I’ve just got to put on my sandals.”
At the mention of footwear, Mick realized his feet were bare, too. With another sheepish grin, he slid his feet into some shoes and waited another minute while Sonia finished buckling an ankle strap. She straightened and grabbed her purse.
“Ready?”
“Let’s go,” she agreed.
“We’ll go shopping after. You need more than just three dresses.”
“Thanks,” she said, mentally calculating how much money she had to spend and what she needed to buy. “Is there a Kohl’s nearby?”
“A what?”
“Kohl’s. It’s a department store. Like Walmart, but somewhat better quality overall. They carry a bit of everything.”
“Oh,” he shook his head, finally honing in on the conversation instead of the music playing in his brain. “Yeah, I think there is.”
“Mind if I turn on the radio?” she asked, hand hovering over the dial.
“No, go ahead.”
She turned on the radio and scanned the stations until she found something she liked. Mick’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“You like country music?” he asked as Lady Antebellum sang about love and yearning.
“Yeah, I do.”
Mick listened for a minute. “That’s stuff’s not too bad. It’s not really what I expected.”
“You expected twang, I suppose? And banjos?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“The lines between country and pop have pretty much blurred over the past thirty years. My parents listen to a lot of Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, and Brooks and Dunn.” She grinned and added, “They also listen to Eagles, Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, and Aerosmith.”
“You grew up with the oldies then.”
“It’s good stuff,” she agreed with a firm nod. “There’s a reason why radio stations and musicians are still playing those songs decades after they were released. The good stuff never gets old and tired.”
Mick nodded. He agreed with that.
The conversation lapsed while Lady Antebellum was followed by the Zac Brown Band and then by Little Big Town, Josh Groban, and Taylor Swift. Darius Rucker’s mellow voice poured from the speakers as they pulled into the police station’s parking lot.
Mick took her hand as they walked into the building. They stopped at the reception desk which was shielded by a thick plate of bullet resistant glass. They gave their names to the officer at the desk and he buzzed them through a locked door to meet the officer who would take their statement.
Sonia had never been inside a police station before and looked about with interest. Overall, it was quiet and filled with the noises typical of any office. Apparently, intake functions weren’t conducted within the administrative area. The officer from the night before greeted them and led them back to his cubicle. They each took a seat and, at the officer’s prompting, told their story. The officer took notes throughout, asking the occasional question for clarity.
“Er, may I see Penny?” Sonia asked.
“Sonia, that’s probably not a good idea,” Mick cautioned.
“Mrs. Hendriksen, your friend is in detox and not available to see anyone except medical personnel and her lawyer,” the officer explained, much to Mick’s relief.
“Oh,” Sonia said and her shoulders slumped.
Taking pity on the young woman who had tried to do the right thing, the officer scribbled on a sticky note and handed it to her. He said, “That’s a professional cleaning service I recommend. Your house is pretty much wrecked and you probably don’t want to tackle that job on your own.”
She looked at the slip of paper, folded it, and tucked it into her purse. “Thanks,” she said.
Dismissed, they rose to be escorted from the office.
“My daughter’s a huge fan of yours, Mr. Hendriksen,” the officer began hesitantly.
Mick’s face assumed a pleasant expression and he offered to sign his autograph for the cop’s daughter. Smiling with gratitude, the policeman pulled out a business card and offered it to Mick. Sonia withdrew a pen from her purse and handed it over. Mick scrawled his name on the back of the card and said, “I hope she’ll be able to attend Iron Falcon’s concert in San Francisco. That will be one of the first stops on our next tour.”
“When does that start?”
“October. We’ll be playing in Las Vegas for three weeks in September.”
“How long is the tour?” Sonia asked.
“Six months,” he answered. “We’ll be hitting about eighty venues in the USA, Canada, a handful of spots in Europe, then over to India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan.”
“That sounds absolutely grueling,” Sonia commented.
“It will be,” he agreed. “But there’s absolutely nothing like performing in front of a live audience. The energy is incredible. And we make our money mostly from ticket sales, not album sales, which requires that we tour.”
“I can’t believe I won’t see you for six months.”
“We’ll get a few short breaks during the tour, a week here, a week there. I’ll fly you out to wherever I’m staying.” He flashed her that panty-melting grin and added, “Until I Ieave, I’m going to want to keep you naked as much as possible.”
Her cheeks reddened even though she did not deign to respond to that last provocative statement. “Mick, I don’t even have a passport.”
“No passport?”
She shrugged and explained, “I’ve never been out of the country. There’s no need for me to have had a passport.”
“Well, we’ll have to fix that.”
“I suppose so.” Privately, she wondered whether she could get time off from her new job to gallivant around the globe for conjugal visits.
The car pulled into the department store parking lot. Mick reached into the back seat to grab a baseball cap with the San Diego Padres logo on it and jammed it on his head. “Hand me my sunglasses,” he asked her. “In the glove box.”
Sonia opened the compartment, found his sunglasses, and handed them over. She shook her head and said, “I can’t believe that works.”
“You’d be surprised,” he replied with that sexy smile. “It works better when I wear long sleeves to cover the tattoos.”
“They are distinctive.”
He grinned again and said, “Ready?”
“Let’s go,” she answered.
The sales clerks stationed at cash registers near the store’s entrance glanced disinterestedly at the two new customers. Sonia snagged a shopping cart and pushed it first to the intimate apparel department where she picked out foundation garments and socks. She detoured to the ladies’ clothing area and spent the next two hours poring over shorts and slacks and tops and dresses.
“I’m going to need another cart,” she groused.
“I’ll get one,” he volunteered and departed briefly to fetch one. He met her in the shoe department where she spent another hour picking out shoes for dressing up, casual wear, athletics, and work. Then she hit the accessories department to pick up combs and clips and other accoutrements for her hair. Finally, she found a couple pairs of jeans.
The cashier raised her eyebrows at the sheer quantity of merchandise, but made no comment. She accepted Sonia’s credit card and ran the charge.
“You saved six hundred and eighty-three dollars today,” the clerk chirped and her eyes widened when the customer’s male companion stretched out his arm to hoist two of the bulging shopping bags in one strong hand. She looked up into he man’s face, shadowed by the hat’s bill, but a little squeal of excitement escaped from her lips.
“Thank you,” Sonia said politely as she grabbed the other two bags and walked away. Mick followed closely, rushing ahead to open the doors for her.
“Let’s scram,” he said as they hurried to the car. They threw the bags into the trunk and were soon on their way as a small crowd of people rushed from the store in search of the poorly disguised rock star. Sonia looked back at the autograph seekers and giggled. It was just all too crazy.
Mick’s phone rang.
“Pick that up, would you?” he asked Sonia.
She answered the call with the standard polite greeting.
“You must be Sonia,” the caller said. “I’m Jay. Put Mick on the line, would you?”
“Um, he’s driving.”
“That’s okay. He’ll talk to me.”
“No, that’s not okay,” she said acidly. “He’s driving. I would prefer that we finish this journey alive and not wrapped around a telephone pole.”
There was a pause as Jay absorbed the sudden resistance of a woman with backbone. “Okay,” he said slowly as though to placate her. “Please tell Mick that Iron Falcon has a special concert in Monterrey on Saturday afternoon at the Monterey Pop Festival. The rest of the band will be flying in tomorrow.”
Sonia dutifully relayed the information as she plugged the phone into the Bluetooth connector so that the conversation could be conducted via the car’s radio.
“What? No, damn it. I’m on vacation. I’m on my honeymoon,” Mick objected loudly enough that Sonia did not have to repeat his words. Jay heard them just fine.
“That little stunt you pulled with the tabloids put paid to your quiet time,” Jay retorted.
“We were in Las Vegas!”
“And you’ve been tracked to Monterey Bay. You’re supposed to keep a low profile when you’re on vacation. You didn’t and now you’ve got to make good on your very public presence.”
Sonia reached over to rub the back of Mick’s neck. “Hey, it’s all right. Get me a backstage pass and I’ll fix some snacks for the band.”
“Bribes?”
“I figure most men are like dogs: feed them well and they’ll be your friends.”
Mick laughed and relaxed. “Okay, Jay, send me the deets. But don’t you ever spring shit like that on us again.”
“Hey, Mick, having a surprise set by Iron Falcon will make you guys some loyal fans this weekend.”
“You say the guys will be here tomorrow?”
“Yes. It’s best they get away from Vegas before Angelo cleans out the casinos and becomes
persona non grata
there. That guy is lucky beyond belief.”
“He always was one lucky bastard,” Mick agreed. “Where are they staying?”
“What about that cottage next to yours?”
“It’s not fit for human habitation,” Mick replied tersely. “You’ll have to find them some other place, because they’re not bunking down with Sonia and me. We need our privacy, Jay.”
“You just don’t want them to see you fucking her on the kitchen table,” Jay joked with lewd humor. Sonia frowned.
“She can hear you, Jay.”
“Oh. Shit.”
“Find some place for them to stay so we can rehearse, Jay.”
“Yeah, will do. Hey, did you look at those condo pictures I sent to you?”
“I haven’t had time yet today. I’ll get back with you tomorrow.”
“Gotcha.” With that, the agent ended the call.
“Wow,” Sonia remarked. “He’s a little abrasive, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, but he’s got to be. It’s a tough business.”
Sonia raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
“You want to stop for a late lunch?” Mick asked.
“That sounds good.”
They pulled into one of the city’s many parks where people walked their dogs, played Frisbee, and enjoyed the fine weather. “Grab a table,” Mick said. “I’ll get us some tacos.”
Sonia quickly found an unoccupied picnic table while Mick walked up to the food truck. She tilted her head, considering the source of the food and decided that it could be very good. She could take that chance. He returned several minutes later bearing food and a couple cans of soda.
“These guys make fabulous tacos,” he said as he handed her two paper-wrapped tacos and unwrapped one of the three he reserved for himself. “I’m told the ingredients are very authentic.”
“Back home the local Kiwanis Club has a food truck competition every summer. They hold it at the county fairgrounds,” Sonia said as she unwrapped the first taco. “The food is fantastic.”
“Well, you’ll like this,” he said and took a big bite of his taco.
Sonia grinned at him and bit into her own. The rich flavor of beef mingled with the heat of chilies and the cool creaminess of fresh avocado. She sighed happily. The taco was really quite good.
They ate in comfortable companionship. Sonia licked her fingers until Mick took her hand and licked them. His heated gaze ignited heat in her.
“Let’s take a walk,” he suggested.
She nodded and they rose from the table. Mick led her into the well-traveled wooded area beyond where there were clearly marked trails. Once they were enveloped by the cool woods, Mick took Sonia’s face in his hands and held her for his kiss. Her tongue tangled with his and she moaned. Reluctantly pulling away from her, he looked up and around them and said, “As much as I enjoy the peace of the ocean and the beach, I also like to come out here and walk in the woods.”
Sonia leaned her cheek against his chest and listened to the steady thump of his heart. She inhaled of the earthy scents of green, growing things, decaying leaf litter, and warm soil.