Chapter Fifteen
Kara kicked her shoes off and threw her keys on the counter in frustration before padding into the kitchen for a soda, ignoring the blinking light on her answering machine. No doubt it was the cousin brigade trying to get her to talk to Brian again. It had been two weeks since their fight, and he and the guys were leaving on the first leg of the tour in a week. She was still angry about the entire episode that had occurred when she’d moved in, so she’d been avoiding his calls. This resulted in Kevin leaving numerous long-winded messages in Brian’s defense, which caused her further avoidance of the telephone. She glared at the appliance as it began to ring, rolling her eyes when Kevin’s voice yet again echoed across the room through the answering machine. She was seriously considering unplugging the damn thing at this point. If she hadn’t been waiting for calls from prospective employers, she would have.
She plopped down on the couch, waiting until she finally heard the machine click off before padding back over to the offensive machine. Five new messages.
“Kara, it’s AJ. Haven’t heard from you in a while, wondering how you’re doing. Give me a call.”
Yeah, right. If she called AJ, they were guaranteed to be nearby.
“Kara, it’s me. I know you haven’t disappeared of the face of the earth, so give me a call back. You really . . . ” Kara fast forwarded through the rest of Kevin’s message. She loved the guy, but he really needed to butt out.
“Ker-bear, it’s Brian. Look, I’m really sorry about what happened. Can we please talk about this? Call me, okay?”
She sighed. Brian really did deserve an explanation, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to have that conversation yet.
“Hey Phelpers! It’s me, Megan. Haven’t talked to you in a while, and was wondering what’s going on. Give me a call when you get a chance . . . I should be around.”
Finally, a call she actually felt like returning! She hadn’t talked to Megan in a while, and it would be good to catch up. She rolled her eyes when Kevin’s voice came through the machine again on the final message, but she listened this time.
“Okay, kiddo. I’m ready to retract my previous statement. Maybe you DID fall off the face of the earth, and I don’t know. PLEASE give me a call . . . I’m starting to worry about you, and AJ said you haven’t returned his calls, either. Call me, okay, baby?”
That one went straight to the delete button. She’d leave him a message on his home machine later. He never checked that thing, so she’d be able to avoid him for a while longer. She grabbed the phone, settling in on the couch as she dialed Megan’s number.
“Hi, it’s me. I’m not here right now, so leave me a message and I’ll get back to you soon.” Damn! Not there.
“Hi, you. It’s Kara calling you back. Give me a call . . . We need to talk.” As soon as she hung up, the phone rang again.
“Hey, Meg! Screening your calls again?”
“Uh . . . actually, this is Leighanne.”
“Oh!” Kara narrowed her eyes. Lovely. Brian was pulling the wife into this whole mess. “What’s up?”
“Well, I’m in town until the boys go on tour, and I was thinking it’s about time you and I went out for that lunch I promised you.”
“Well, I’m pretty busy right now . . . ” Yeah, busy avoiding calls from people connected to Brian. I was doing really good, too, till YOU called.
“Okay. Well, my schedule’s very flexible right now.” Of course. Brian’s in rehearsals, so you don’t have anything to do.
“Just let me know what works for you.” Well, they ARE rehearsing all the time . . .
“Actually, tomorrow would work for me.”
“Oh!” Leighanne’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Well, yeah- that would be great, actually. The guys are rehearsing for the entire day. Twelve-thirty okay with you?”
“Yeah, that works. Where should we go?”
“I heard about this great new Italian place that just opened. It might be hard to get in on such late notice, but if I pull a few strings . . . ” Hah! You mean if you pull the ‘Mrs. Brian Littrell’ card. If I have to pose for pictures . . .
“That one over by the mall?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” Of course . . . we wouldn’t want to go anywhere where your ‘wife of a celebrity’ status would be ignored, now would we? “I’ll call you if anything changes.” Yeah, if for some reason your charm doesn’t work. Like THAT’S gonna happen.
“Sounds like a plan. See you tomorrow!”
“G’bye!” Oh, Lordy! Where had Brian FOUND that woman? She sounded like the tour guide Barbie in Toy Story Two!
Kara hung up the phone, feeling slightly apprehensive. She never knew quite what to expect where Leighanne was concerned. Still, it WOULD be nice to hang out with another woman. The only person she’d been hanging out with lately was AJ, and . . . she wasn’t going to go there!