Different Circles

He was shaking his head. “I do not think you should go out again,” he assured her. “Especially not with Z and his low-budget tour funding. You’ve been traveling with an A-lister. You don’t really want to go back to traveling in a bus from venue to venue and sleeping in cheap motels after flying private air and staying in luxury suites, right?”

“No,” she said immediately. “I’ve definitely been spoiled by touring with C.”

“Then it sounds like the decision is made,” he said. “The only question is whether or not it is a permanent decision.”

“A permanent decision?”

He nodded. “Are you ever going to want to tour again?” he asked. “Maybe for Celia’s next CD?”

“I don’t know,” she said after a moment’s thought. “It’s kind of a moot point right now, isn’t it? Neither you nor Celia is working on anything new right now.”

“That is true,” he agreed. “I’ll be far too busy getting Phil and the boys recorded and promoted to work up any new material of my own. And Celia seems like she just wants to take a little break and live a little before she starts a new project.”

“So, there is nothing really for me to decide on right now except the Bobby Z offer, right?”

“That’s right,” Jake said. “And it seems like you’ve already made you decision on Z.”

“I have,” she said. “I want to be with my husband now. I’ll help you and Celia out when you decide to start your next CDs, but I’ll hold off an any commitment beyond that.”

“Fair enough,” Jake said happily.

They drank two hot buttered rums apiece and then decided to go up to their third-floor suite, fuck, and then take a little nap before dinner. But when they got up to the room the message light blinking on the phone derailed their plans.

“I gotta pee first,” Laura told him.

“By all means,” Jake said, kicking off his ski boots. “I’ll just see what this message is about and meet you in bed.”

“Don’t make me wait too long,” she said with a smile. She stepped into the suite’s bedroom and began to undress.

Jake watched her until her shirt and bra came off and then reluctantly turned his back to her and sat down at the writing desk. He picked up the phone and pushed the message button, which automatically connected him to the hotel phone operator.

“How can I help you?” the nasally female voice enquired politely.

“This is Glenn Sutter,” Jake told her, giving his hotel name. “I understand you have messages for me.”

“Yes, we do, Mr. Sutter,” she said. Of course, she knew that Glenn Sutter was really Jake Kingsley—especially since Steve the real estate developer had made it well-known in media and publicity circles that Jake and Laura were current guests at the resort—but this was how the game was played. “I have a request from Pauline Kingsley in Los Angeles for you to call her as soon as possible on her private, home number.”

“Okay,” Jake said, wondering what this was about. “Thank you for the information.”

“Would you like me to connect you?” she asked.

“Uh ... sure,” Jake said. “That would be cool.” He recited the area code and number for her.

The phone beeped and booped in his ear for a moment and then began to ring. It was picked up on the second ring and his sister’s voice spoke. “Pauline Kingsley.”

“Hey, Paulie,” Jake said. “It’s me. Just got your message. What’s up?”

“Hey, little bro,” she said. “How goes the skiing?”

“It’s a little painful at times,” he admitted. “A lot of fun though.”

“Maybe I’ll give it a try one of these days,” she said. “Obie used to be into it back in the days before me, but he lost interest after breaking his leg and his arm in Aspen.”

“I can see how that would dissuade one,” Jake said. “Anyway, what’s up? Do we have new shit hitting the fan, or do you have some good news for me?”

“I’m not exactly sure what kind of news this is,” she said. “Is Teach there?”

“Yeah, she’s in the other room changing. We just got back from the slopes.” The fact that what she was changing into was her birthday suit, he did not mention.

“I fielded a call earlier today at the studio,” she said. “It was from a gentleman by the name of Joseph Best ... the second.”

“Joseph Best the second?” Jake said, pondering that. Best was Laura’s maiden name. Joseph Best, he had been told a few times during their relationship with each other, was the name of her father, the staunch, conservative, rigidly orthodox Mormon who had disowned her back when she had taken up residence with Phil and stopped contributing ten percent of her meager income to the tithe. Joseph Best II would have to be one of her two brothers, likely the oldest, the one who she had once told him had not moved to Los Angeles from Idaho with the rest of the family and was not in a state of grace with the rest of the Bests for reasons that were never explained to him.

“He says he’s Teach’s oldest brother,” Pauline confirmed for him.

“What does he want?” Jake asked carefully.

“To speak to her,” she said. “He gave me no details as to what it was about, only that it was important.”