Chapter Twenty-four

Denise came down to the hotel dining room the next morning for breakfast, surprised and pleased to see everyone else was already there. She sat down in an empty chair beside Nick and passed him a stack of papers.

“What’s this?” he asked, setting down his fork and taking them.

“Revised tour schedules. Take one and pass it on.”

“Whaaat? It’s only the second day!” Megan said.

Denise poured herself a glass of juice and smiled. “What we had when we left wasn’t complete. This is the complete schedule for the rest of the tour.”

“Any cancellations?” Kevin wondered.

“Nope. Three additions though. Baton Rouge, Des Moines, and -”

“Phoenix,” Megan whispered, staring at the paper in her hands. “Phoenix.”

Everyone paused to look at her.

“That’s right,” Denise said. “Phoenix.”

Dana, seated beside Megan, gently reached out and touched her friend’s shoulder. Megan seemed to snap out of her daze, looked at Dana, and stood up. She set her napkin and the schedule on the table and stepped away from her chair.

“Um, please excuse me,” she said, and then turned around and ran from the dining room.

“What was that all about?” Nick asked once she was gone.

AJ stroked his goatee thoughtfully. “Didn’t she say her mom lives in Arizona? Does she live in Phoenix?”

All eyes turned and focused on Dana, who was busily poking at her scrambled eggs. She slowly raised her eyes and sighed.

“Yes, her mom lives in Phoenix,” she said.

“So what’s the scoop?” Brian asked.

“It’s really not my place to say.”

“Aww come on. You know Megan’s not gonna spill,” Nick complained. “Please? How bad can it be?”

Dana fiddled with her napkin. “It’s pretty bad. Let’s just say that if she never saw her mother again, it would be too soon.”

Megan sat in the bathtub hugging her knees. After seeing that dreaded city name on the tour schedule, she’d fled the dining room and taken the stairs all the way back to her and AJ’s room. Her heart was pounding wildy in her ears as she let herself inside and then froze. She had nowhere to go now.

And then she remembered where she used to go when she was alone and afraid. She locked herself in the bathroom and crawled into the tub.

She sat there, wishing that her past would just stay where it belonged, behind her. The memories were too painful, and for the longest time, she’d been able to block them out completely. And then, just seeing that one word on a piece of white paper had brought everything back in a nanosecond.

“Why?” she whispered out loud. “Why does it still haunt me?”

A sudden knock came at the bathroom door and AJ’s worried voice called out, “Megs? Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer right away. She just sat there, rocking back and forth in the bathtub.

“Megan? Please unlock the door. It’s just me,” AJ pleaded.

Megan forced herself to stand up and step out of the tub. Then she unlocked the door and went right back into it. AJ came inside, saw her sitting there and his heart nearly broke. She looked like a broken child who had no one to turn to with her troubles.

But she has me now, AJ thought. I can help her, if she’ll let me.

He sat down on the edge of the tub and rubbed her knees.

“You’re probably wondering what the hell’s wrong with me,” she stated simply.

“Well, sorta. Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not really. I’d rather avoid the subject entirely, along with the state of Arizona.”

“Is this about your mother?”

She jerked and looked at him. “What do you know about my mom?”

“Nothing. I just, we just,” he stuttered. “Dana said-”

Megan jumped to her feet and cried, “Dana said what? Did she tell you?!”

AJ stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her.

“Nothing! She wouldn’t say anything. We guessed it was your mother, but she didn’t want to tell us. She said it wasn’t her place.”

Megan relaxed a little and fell against him. He quickly got in the tub with her and lowered them both to the bottom. He continued to hug her.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” he murmured in her ear.

“No I can’t.”

“Yes you can. Hey, I know this probably isn’t the same, but my dad was a jerk and ditched my mom and me. I didn’t know him as I grew up, not at all.”

“Ditching me would have been the best thing my mom could have done for me,” Megan muttered.

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head and wiped the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

“Nothing. Forget it. I’ll survive Phoenix. It’s a big city, we’ll probably never meet.”

“Are you sure she still lives there?”

“I know she does.”

“And if you saw her again. . .?” AJ prompted.