Page 54 of After Care

He stepped out of the tub first, and then handed me a towel. After exiting the tub, he worked the towel over me like a child, drying me off and wrapping it around me. He led me to his bed and pulled back the covers.

“I’ll set an alarm,” he said, setting up the time on his phone. I climbed under the covers and he tugged the towel off of me. “Naked cuddling,” he said, slipping behind me.

“Why aren’t you married, Tommy Carrigan?” I joked, but a tad serious in the asking. I didn’t understand. He was perfect in so many ways.

“Not my thing,” he muttered, wrapping an arm over me and dragging my back to his chest. I wanted more details. I’d already sensed he’d been scarred by love in the past. His songs were filled with pain, but I didn’t ask. After what felt like five minutes but was actually an hour and a half, I woke to dress.

“Don’t like you leaving my bed, darlin’,” he said with a groggy voice, leaving the bed as well to dress.

“Go back to sleep, baby,” I whispered, but he dressed regardless.

“Need to be a gentleman and walk you back to your room,” he said, reaching out for my hand as he led me out his door.

He kissed me at my door and waited as I swiped the keycard (Isn’t it a key card?). When I entered, I saw West standing in the living room, Masie on her feet behind him. They both looked guilty, in a way only teenagers can look guilty.

“West,” I addressed him. “Masie, honey, it’s getting kind of late.”

West nodded and stepped forward without a glance back at my daughter. Her eyes followed his retreat. As he passed me with a short, “Good night,” my eyes didn’t leave Masie. Her body language screamed of longing, and mine ached at recognizing in her how I felt.

Leaving Thomas Lawson Carrigan was starting to feel impossible.

+ + +

We went to the beach to surf on our day before the last, and some of the band decided to join us. Petty and Jared were practically pros, balancing and maneuvering as one with the water. Caleb, Masie and West were a little shaky. Masie, however, had balance as a former cheerleader, but for all of Caleb’s athleticism, he couldn’t stay on the board. Tommy told me West was from the East Coast.

“He’d never been on a board before, but he took to it pretty easily when he showed up in California.”

“What about Gage?” I asked, sitting on the white beach, watching all these young people enjoying sunshine and surf. Tommy laughed.

“I don’t think Gage trusts anything he can’t fully control, and since he isn’t mightier than the ocean, that would be a no to surfing.”

I smiled, staring off at the sea. We watched in amazement, soaking up the sun and letting the day drift. Tommy took a black notebook out of his bag and starting scribbling down notes. He looked up once, out at the sea, and then returned to writing.

“What’s that? A little black book,” I joked.

“Every man’s got to have one,” he teased.

“Surprised there are any blank pages in that one,” I retorted, feeling a little uneasy at the possibility that he owned an infamous black book, filled with phone numbers, amongst other things.

He glanced over at me. “Green is such a pretty shade on you.” His lips curled at one corner.

“Why do you always say that to me?” I laughed, knowing jealousy actually wasn’t attractive.

“It means you want only me for only you.” My breath hitched. He was so sweet. We stared at one another for a moment before he broke eye contact and wrote more in the book.

“Going to show me what’s in there, then? Since I’m jealous and all.” He snapped the pages closed with a soft clap.

“Nope,” he replied, slipping it back into his bag. Then he turned to me again.

“Have dinner with me tonight, darlin’?” His voice lowered, as if he were nervous.

“Of course,” I replied, leaning over and bumping his shoulder. His hand came up to my lower back and he tugged me to him for stolen kisses.

“Dress nice, like that black dress from our first night.” My brows rose at his recollection of my body-hugging black dress with the scoop neck.

“Okay.”

The day passed quickly, and I took my time to prepare for my final date with Tommy, because that’s what this night would be. The next day, we would leave one another. He’d return to California, and I’d go to Chicago, and despite the modern technology of texting and social media, I didn’t see how we’d keep up with one another. He was in a rock star world after all, and I was in plastic production.