‘I will listen to you, child, whenever you want to talk, but we don’t have to come to an expensive dress shop to do it.’ Tawanda reached across and took one of Autumn’s hands in hers.
‘It was either here or the coffee shop on Penny Road,’ she said with a sniff.
‘How about I take you to where I shop? That green dress of yours, the one Mr Nathan liked so much, we’ll find something like that for you,’ Tawanda suggested.
‘I think I’d really like that,’ Autumn replied, taking a drink of her coffee.
She put her cup down and beckoned Lydia over. ‘Lydia, there’s a cerise-pink dress over there that would look fantastic on you. I want you to try it on, and if you like it, I want you to buy it… put it on my account.’
‘Oh, but I couldn’t possibly…’ Lydia started, her cheeks brightening with embarrassment.
‘I insist, and the customer is always right. Please don’t make me go to the manager.’
‘I…’
Autumn picked up her purse and got to her feet. ‘Get the dress, Lydia. Go out tonight and enjoy it,’ she said.
The joy written all over the sales assistant’s face made Autumn’s insides warm. That expensive dress she could buy ten of and not even think about the cost was going to make that young girl’s year. She couldn’t feel happiness right now, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t spread a little.
‘Come on, child, let’s give these photographers the slip, and I’ll introduce you to an indoor market,’ Tawanda said, heading for the door.
‘A what?’ Autumn asked.
Forty-Four
She held up the very understated ivory-colored dress and positioned it over her, holding the hanger out of the way. It had cost her less than thirty pounds that day in the indoor market, and Tawanda had had to pay. She never carried cash, and this particular market stall wouldn’t take credit cards, even from the country’s most well-known singer.
The fabric was cheap in comparison to what she usually wore, but the cut gave her body curves, and when she had tried it on behind a makeshift dressing room of tent poles and a shower curtain, Tawanda had let out an excited yelp. Hearing that reassurance, she knew her eyes hadn’t deceived her when she’d seen herself in the stall holder’s cracked full-length mirror.
She had hundreds of dresses in her apartment, but she still couldn’t bear to go there. Memories of Juan and Janey, those people she had relied on for so long, in her room, having been in her bed—it made her feel sick. But it wasn’t just that. It was the whole place, the luxury, the over-embellishment of everything, the money she had spent, or rather wasted, turning it into some high-tech den she hardly spent any time in.
She had everything that was important to her right with her. Tawanda, her keyboard, the photo of Nathan, and her memories. Then there was her mother. Things had been tough for Alison at work, although she would never admit to it. Every night since the kidnapping, she had come home exhausted. At first, Autumn had been too wrapped up in her grief to notice, but there were definite worry lines appearing on her mother’s forehead that Botox wasn’t shifting, and she never seemed to be able to really relax.
But Autumn couldn’t help her. She just didn’t know how to yet. The best thing she could do, the only thing she could do, was get on stage tonight and do what she did best. Sing, play the piano, honor her father, honor Blu-Daddy. Honor Nathan. Those people had given her everything. It was time she gave something back.
There was a knock on her dressing room door. She was expecting Tawanda. It was barely thirty minutes before the awards were to start, and they really should have been on their way to their places by now.
‘Come in,’ Autumn called.
The door opened, and in stepped a tall man with sandy-colored hair, dressed in a tuxedo.
‘Who are you?’ Autumn asked, holding the dress over her body and looking for something more substantial to cover up her underwear.
‘My name is Tyler James, Miss Raine. I’m your new security coordinator,’ he stated and closed the door behind him.
‘My what?’
‘Security coordinator, ma’am. Bodyguard, if you like.’
He picked up a robe from the back of the door and hung it around her shoulders in one quick movement, leaving Autumn to fasten the tie.
‘I didn’t hire a bodyguard.’ The word almost caught on her tongue.
This was the work of her mother. Despite knowing most things there were to know about Tawanda and her assassination capabilities, Alison still felt the need to bring in outside help. Autumn gritted her teeth. She tried to remind herself that this was not the fault of the blond-haired, blue-eyed individual in front of her.
‘We should take our seats, ma’am, but perhaps it might be a good idea to put some clothes on first,’ he remarked with a hint of a smile playing on his lips and his blue eyes sparkling.
‘Was that supposed to be a joke? Because I don’t do jokes at the moment, Mr James, and I’m not sure when joking will be resumed. Is that clear?’ Autumn asked.
‘Absolutely, ma’am. I apologize.’
‘I will be ready in ten minutes. Please wait outside.’
‘No problem, ma’am,’ He opened the dressing room door and retreated.
Once he had closed the door, she took a deep breath. She didn’t want a new security advisor or whatever he’d called himself. The awards event planners were providing all the security in the arena. She didn’t want anyone else. She especially didn’t want anyone else calling himself her bodyguard. She’d only had one of those, and she wasn’t ready for someone else to take up the vacant position just yet.
She took off the gown he had wrapped around her and threw it over the
