Chapter 31
31
Checking the clock once again, I pace the front of the bus, waiting for Jack. He is normally punctual, but he was acting shifty this morning. I didn’t call him out on it because I was being shifty, too.
The call with my dad’s friend in New York went fine. He runs an athletic uniform company that services little leagues and schools throughout the eastern US. It has absolutely nothing to do with my career trajectory, but at least that makes turning it down easy. I knew there was no reason to worry Jack over it. Though now, he is worrying me.
I needed to leave five minutes ago in order to get to my grandmother’s on time. When I hear the bus door open, I turn toward the entrance. My heart sinks when Eliza comes up the stairs instead of Jack.
Wrinkling her nose, she greets me. “Is Jack not back from his meeting yet? ”
“No, and I need to leave. Do you know where he is? My calls are going straight to voicemail and none of my texts show as delivered. He’s okay, right?”
“I’m sure he is fine. Security would have notified me otherwise,” she answers dismissively. “He isn’t on a sanctioned media stop, so I can only go off his calendar. All it says is ‘Kennedy.’ Do you know who that might be?”
My stomach twists. Jack has never once mentioned a girl named Kennedy. Oblivious or uncaring about my internal strife, Eliza theorizes out loud. “The only Kennedy I know is his ex. I believe she is leading a seminar at Yale Drama school. Maybe she made the trip up?”
Great. Not only is Jack blowing me off, but it’s for his gorgeous ex who is teaching at an Ivy League school.
“I don’t have time for this,” I grumble. “If you see Jack, tell him I left. Or don’t, since we don’t tell each other where we’re going anymore.”
Eliza gives me a dismissive wave of her hand and I stomp down the stairs, ordering a rideshare as I walk to the front of the arena. It takes longer than I’d like, but it gives me time to collect myself and push out all the negative emotions. I’m not going to let this ruin what should be an amazing visit with my grandmother.
The first thing my grandmother does when I get to her house is pull me into a tight hug and tell me how skinny I’ve gotten. I’ve gained weight during the tour since Jack is constantly feeding me and the general lack of healthy options, but I let her think what she wants.
I’m glad I didn’t warn her beforehand that Jack was coming. I’d hate to see the disappointment in her eyes. Instead, I let her fuss over me.
Ushering me into her kitchen, she pulls out ingredients from her fridge and makes us both lunch. While she preps the ingredients, we chat about Dad, Finn, and what all my cousins are up to. Most of my cousins are older than me. They all either have families, PhDs, or joined the Priesthood.
Once she’s made way more food than the two of us can eat, she sits at the table and we enjoy our meals. Grammy gives me all the gossip about her Mahjong group. She tries to explain the rules of the game to me, but it all goes over my head. We settle into stories of my dad as a kid instead.
Hearing what a sweet, but mischievous boy he was, I wonder when it all changed. I remember when I was super young what a fun dad he was. But somewhere along the way he grew jaded and overly concerned with other people’s opinions. Maybe he was always that way and I was too young to notice, but part of me mourns the relationship we could have had.
“What was so important that you needed to tell me in person and not over the phone?” That question has burned in my mind ever since she demanded I come for a visit. I would have come regardless, but her insistence was suspicious.
“Can’t a grandmother coax her granddaughter to see her with vague statements and declarations?”
“She can, but then she has to deliver.”
“Fair enough. I have an announcement,” she states primly, wiping at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. The woman loves a dramatic pause.
“A real announcement or a ‘the Pope spoke to me in a dream’ announcement?” I ask.
“He did speak to me in a dream!”
“Of course he did.”
She glares at my obvious pacification, but continues on regardless. “On to business. Before your grandfather passed, God rest his soul, we decided to set aside money for each of our grandchildren to help start their new lives. Some of your cousins have used it to buy homes, some for weddings, some for traveling the world. Now that you’ve graduated, it is the right time to bestow this gift on you. I’m sure you will use it to do great things and make us all proud.”
“Grandma,” I choke. “You don’t have to give me anything.”
“Pish posh,” she waves me off. “You’re entering a new phase of your life. If Finnegan and I can make that any easier, we are thrilled to help.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything, lovey. I know whatever you do with it will make me and your grandfather proud.”
Getting up from my seat, I launch myself at her and swallow the small woman up in a hug until she pushes me off. I know she and Grandpa lived frugally. The fact that they would share what they had with me is heartwarming.
“Alright, enough of the gushy stuff. I’m not getting any younger and the Pope told me we should have cake,” she says with a wink. Lifting up the lid of her cake plate, she reveals my favorite cookies.
After tucking the check in my purse and devouring a cookie, I spend the rest of the afternoon reconnecting with grandmother. I turn off my phone to avoid directions and stay longer than intended. Since Jack didn’t come, I have no need to be back at the venue for soundcheck. As long as I get to my post at the merch booth by the time doors open I am good.
On the car ride back to the arena, curiosity wins out and I pull out the check. My jaw drops when I see how much Grammy O gave me. Fifty thousand dollars. The same woman who used Cool Whip tubs as Tupperware gave me fifty thousand dollars. This has to be a mistake. Except in the memo line it says, ‘This is not a mistake.’
My mind stutters, trying to process this. I would have guessed it was five thousand dollars, at most . To be ten times that is mind blowing. I have fourteen cousins. Does that mean she has been sitting on eight hundred thousand dollars since my grandfather passed?
What am I supposed to do with fifty thousand dollars? I don’t even have a job lined up yet. Fifty grand is far and away more supplemental income than I need to live on until I find a job.
My previous conversation with Shonda pops into my mind. I could use this money to open a shop. The idea has grown on me ever since she planted that seed. I’ll have to take her up on her offer to chat with her friend after the tour. This money opens a lot of doors for me in terms of career options. I can’t wait to tell . . . Jack.
Jack, who was potentially with his ex. Jack, who even if he wasn’t missed out on meeting my grandmother for some shady and unknown reason. I hope he has a good explanation when I see him later because the thoughts my mind is conjuring up are not kind.
Getting back during soundcheck, I quickly changed in the bus before staying out of sight for as long as I could. It helped that my dad decided to give me a call. Since I am getting ready and no one else will be on the bus, I put him on speaker.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hi, Ellie. How are you?”
“I’m good, Dad. How about you?”
“I’m well. I just got off the phone with your grandmother.” Geez, Grammy O doesn’t waste time. I’ve barely left her place an hour, and she’s already told Dad all about it. The visit was wonderful, but his tone conveys disapproval.
“That’s nice. I loved spending time with her. I need to make a point to come to Boston more often.”
He grunts in agreement, I think, but it’s hard to tell. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”
Shit. Did my grandmother tell him about the money? I didn’t get the vibe she was going to, but she’s a wildcard. Better play it safe in case she didn’t.
“No?”
“How did your interview go?” Right. Of course, that’s what he wants to discuss.
“It was fine. I’m not sure it’s the best fit, but it is always good to make a connection. Even if the position made sense, I’m looking to move to New York right now.”
“It makes sense you want to stick close now that you have a celebrity boyfriend. It’d be hard to keep his interest from hundreds of miles away.”
“I-what?” Is he referencing what I think he is?
“It’s a small industry, Elenor. Did you think I wouldn’t find out about you and the Ryder boy?” The insistence of my dad calling grown men boys is grating. But right now I’m more concerned he knows about me and Jack. We’ve been super careful about who we share our relationship with. Only the inner circle knows.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Does it matter?” he sneers.
“I’d like to know who is talking about me, yes.”
“The son of a friend worked on the tour and said he was kicked off for talking to you. That’s controlling, don’t you think?”
Fucking Donny. I knew he wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. I’m surprised anyone believed him though.
“I hadn’t heard those rumors,” I reply cautiously .
“Most people don’t believe him since that would be out of character for them, but I remember how you always had a crush on him. I told you that a tour was no place for you. Now you’ve got yourself wrapped up with a musician.”
“You realize that your entire career is built on tours and musicians, right?”
“We aren’t talking about me. We’re talking about the mess you’ve gotten yourself in. Not to mention you haven’t even leveraged your new found relationship to get your dad an in. Johnny Ryder cut me out when the boys were younger. He never liked me for some reason. Now that you’re dating one of them, it only makes sense I join the team.”
That doesn’t make sense to me at all. There is no connection between who I date and where my father works. In fact, this is the first time he’s ever even inquired about my love life. Not that I may even have a relationship with Jack after what went down today, though.
“The tour is almost over. They wouldn’t bring on a new manager this late.”
“You don’t know how these things work. They could bring me on for a trial run of a few shows before hiring me on to help in the future.”
“Dad, I can’t deal with this right now. I’m going to be late for work. We can talk about this later.”
“After everything I’ve done for you, it’s the least you can do.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to them. Bye.”
Hanging up, I throw my brush across the bedroom and scream in frustration. When I go to pick it back up, I swear I see movement, but when I listen, I don’t hear anyone else on the bus. Between my dad and Jack, my head is pounding. It doesn’t help that the similarities between the two are stark today.
When Jack’s texts started rolling in, it took everything in me not to reply. I’ve heard the pretty words my dad said to my mom every time he got caught in a compromising position and I wasn’t interested. He didn’t even deny that he was with Kennedy. I guess kudos on the honesty, but he only seemed remorseful to miss lunch, not the reason behind his absence.
It’s times like these I wish I had anywhere else to hide for the night. Unfortunately, the only thing that will stand between me and Jack is a flimsy door lock. I have a suspicion he isn’t going to let hardware stop him.
I’m confused about everything that went down today. My gut is telling me that Jack isn’t a cheater and there must be another explanation, but I can’t for the life of me think of one. This is the type of issue I would normally talk over with Lainey, but, of course, I can’t.
By the time I got to the merch booth, I knew it was only a matter of minutes until the gates opened. That would allow me plenty of time to stew in my anger over the day. Jack tried his best to get me to talk, but time wasn’t on his side and he had to disappear behind the security checkpoint to avoid being overrun by fans.
Listening to the familiar sound of the Ryder’s set, I attempt to focus on happier thoughts, like what I’m going to do with the money from my grandmother. My attention is much better spent on my next move than wondering what is happening with Jack and me.
As the brothers play their final song, there is a lull in activity at the booth. Seizing the opportunity, I get Shonda’s attention.
“What’s up?” she asks, saddling up beside me.
“Do you think your friend would still be interested in chatting with me about opening a store?”
Her cocky smile tells me she knew we would eventually have this conversation. “She would for sure. In fact, she is expecting your call.”
“How can she be expecting something I decided on today?”
“Call it a hunch. Are you good? You’ve seemed distracted tonight. ”
“I’m fine. Personal stuff and stressing about where I’ll work after the tour.”
She nods her head knowingly. “I’ll text you her number so you can give her a call when you have downtime. For now, let’s get ready for the post-show rush.”