miserably. “Does that mean you no longer love me?”
“Oh, you silly, you! Of course I love you. Like my brother, like Patty as my sister.”
Thank God she hadn’t asked him what his feelings were. Instead of responding to Sophie’s explanation, Nick walked over to the bathroom door, and said, “We’re leaving now, Patty.”
The door opened, and Patty stepped out. “Whoa!” Nick whistled. “You look… spectacular! First day on the job for Fox, and you are going to be the star.”
Patty laughed as she smoothed down her dress. She did look good in a wholesome next-door kind of way. “Bet you say that to all the girls! Jed loves this dress. He said it’s me. Today, Kala and Spenser are the stars. No pun intended. I’m just going to do the reporting. You guys go ahead. I’m meeting Kala and Spenser before the press conference. Good luck, Sophie!”
“Thanks, Patty. Nick’s right, you look gorgeous! By the way, are we still going to go to the Star mansion today?”
“If you want to.” Patty’s phone took that moment to ring. She reached for it on the counter, clicked on, and said, “Hi.” She listened, her eyebrows almost shooting up to her hairline. “No kidding! And it was there all this time!” She continued to listen, then she frowned. “Gotcha! I’m leaving the house now. So are Nick and Sophie. See ya.”
“What happened?” Nick asked.
“Kala found Audrey Star’s last journal. It was in the mail sack I picked up over a week ago, along with Ben’s mail. She didn’t go through it till last night. She said she called Spenser, and he came over, and they went through it word for word, page by page. Where Audrey Star stopped writing, Adam started to write. I guess he wrote right up until he died. Kala said they were up all night. Listen, I gotta run. I’ll see you at the courthouse. Drive carefully, Nick.”
“Yes, Mother,” Nick drawled.
Patty laughed as she raced out the door.
Nick held the door open for Sophie. “Do you want me to put the top up?”
“That would be nice,” Sophie said, settling herself in the passenger side of the car. “What does all that mean, Nick?”
“You mean about finding the journal?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. Patty didn’t say. She was excited, though. It takes a lot to get Patty excited. You must remember that about her. I assume it’s all good.”
“I wonder why Kala didn’t call last night to tell
“I don’t know. It can’t be bad, so it has to be good. For you. I’m assuming all the unanswered questions are going to be answered.”
There was an anxiousness in Sophie’s voice Nick hadn’t heard before. “Are you worried?”
“Wouldn’t you be?” Sophie said coolly.
“Actually, no.” Nick took his eyes off the busy highway just long enough to stare at Sophie. She looked… angry? Scared? “By the way, you look really pretty, Sophie. I meant to tell you that back at Patty’s, but then she got that call.”
“I haven’t changed, Nick. I just got a haircut and a suntan. Oh, and a dog.” She laughed, but the laughter sounded forced to Nick. “How long do you think the press conference will be?”
“Those things are usually no more than fifteen minutes, if that. I’m sure Spenser and Kala will be reading from a statement. They aren’t going to take any questions. I guess you’re just going to stand there so all of Atlanta can see you. I really don’t know too much about how these legal things work. I’m speaking from an entertainment/sports perspective. I know that I personally hate them.”
“I thought I was going to be interviewed.”
“You are. Patty has the exclusive. You’re part of the package.”
“Part of the package? Is that what you said?” Sophie hissed.
“Maybe that was a poor choice of words. I wouldn’t worry, Kala has done well by you up until now, and there’s no reason to think she won’t continue to do so.”
“Don’t forget how well paid she is, or the firm,” Sophie hissed again.
“Since when did you become so money driven?”
“That’s not it, Nick, and you know it. I just think I should have been consulted, and I shouldn’t have had to hear all this from you. Not even Patty, who didn’t really say anything except that Kala found Mrs. Star’s journal. Something’s not right,” Sophie sniffed.
Now that what he thought of as his love life was in shambles, Nick was never so glad to park his car and get out. It took him several minutes to work the stiffness out of his hip and legs. Minutes too long for Sophie, who got out of the car and walked around to where Nick was wincing with pain. “Work through it, Nick. Don’t let the pain win. I learned that in prison. It actually works. You have to shift to a neutral zone and work from there.”
“This is physical pain, Sophie, not mental pain. There’s a difference.”
“No, there isn’t. Pain is pain. Mental pain can be ten times worse than physical pain. I’m the living proof.”
Satisfied that he’d worked out the kinks, Nick led the way to the elevator. He pressed the button, then stepped aside for Sophie to enter. She offered up what he thought of as a million-dollar smile. He stretched his own facial muscles into something that resembled a smile. They rode up the elevator in silence.
Standing in the hallway when they exited the elevator were the members of Camp Aulani and Ryan Spenser.
Nick hung back until Patty walked over to him. Inched her way was more like it, he thought. “What the hell is going on here?” he whispered. “I was expecting… not exactly a party atmosphere but something close to it. Why is everyone looking so damn serious? What was in that journal, Patty? By the way, Sophie doesn’t love me.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Patty said.
Nick stiffened. “What exactly does that mean, Patty?”
“It means Sophie has kicked us to the curb. We aren’t kids or young adults anymore. Well, you and I are, but Sophie has not joined our two-man admiration club. She’s moved on. Don’t you get it? We’re the past, we’re bad memories now, and Jon is gone. Sophie has a new life now. You tell me where you think either one of us fits in to that new life of hers.”
“She said she’ll grieve for Jon when she has more time,” Nick said in a choked voice.
Patty threw her arms around Nick and whispered in his ear, “Don’t take it so hard. You still have me, Nick, and we both have Jon and all our memories-the good ones and now some that aren’t so good.”
Patty gave Nick an extrahard squeeze until he said “Uncle.” “I have to go now,” she said. “I belong out there with the press. Catch you later.”
“This feels like a funeral procession,” Nick said to no one in particular.
“You can say that again,” Jay said. Linda nodded in agreement.
Then they were all outside in the bright sunshine. Spenser, seeing how large the crowd of media was, knew that there was no room inside that could hold everyone. It had been his decision to move it all outside, and they were running twenty minutes late, not that anyone was complaining, as a small podium had to be erected along with several miles of cable.
Spenser took the lead at Kala’s insistence. Even though the sun was blinding, he removed his sunglasses, as did Kala. Everyone else kept theirs on.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming. Miss Aulani and I have a joint statement to make. We will not be taking any questions, but in several hours we’ll have a press release for you at the Aulani law firm. Or we can fax it to you, it’s your choice. Right now, we’d both like to introduce you to Sophie Lee.” Sophie stepped forward, smiled a little-girl smile, then stepped back to take her place between Spenser and Kala.
“Last night, Mr. Spenser and I found Audrey Star’s last journal,” Kala began. “We spent the entire night going through it. But before I get into that, I want to assure all of you, and all the lawyers out there who tried cases against Mr. Spenser, and still might think there were irregularities in some of those cases. You are wrong. We hired investigators who dissected each and every case. There was no wrongdoing on Mr. Spenser’s part whatsoever. All of you out there vilified this man to sell papers, to get headlines. You ruined his life. A life he dedicated to this city. I say shame on all of you.
