Who knew a week could fly by so quickly. Inevitably, the day came for Justin to leave and when he did they made sure the goodbyes were as quick as possible. There were no tearful farewells at the airport; instead, Natalia kissed him goodbye at his front door after spending the night at his house, then, a little reluctantly, left to drive home, leaving Justin to wait for his ride to the airport.
Only when she stopped at a red light on her way home did she stop to wonder when she would see him again…if she would see him again. No, she reprimanded herself. They had both grown more secure in their relationship, especially in this last week together, and she knew she was being silly, it was just easy to slip back into that insecure frame of mind.
One thing was for sure, though. This was going to be a lot harder than she’d expected.
“What’s up, J?”
Justin was lying back on the couch in the bus as they travelled to the next venue on the tour. Pop Odyssey was two weeks old and the initial excitement was beginning to wear thin. The shows were still fantastic, there was no doubt about that, but this was when homesickness began to kick in and they started missing people.
“Nothing,” Justin said, with a sigh that indicated there was indeed something wrong.
JC raised an eyebrow as he seated himself on the couch across from Justin.
“Where’s Chris?” Justin asked, staring at the ceiling blankly.
“On his cell catching up with people back home.”
Justin heaved another big sigh, which caused JC to grin, shaking his head knowingly. “Justin, just call her,” JC said.
“Already tried.” He lifted his phone up for JC to see. “She’s not in.”
“So you’re just gonna mope?” JC asked, his mouth twitching in amusement. Oh he knew Justin too well. Things weren’t going his way so he had to sulk, as if it would solve all his problems.
Justin turned his head. Unlike JC he did not look amused in the slightest. “Leave me alone, I haven’t talked to her for two days.” Which seemed like forever when he was so far away.
JC threw his hands up. “So write her a letter or something,” he suggested, grabbing for ideas to get Justin out of his sulk. Justin of course looked at him like he was crazy.
JC chuckled at his expression. “Justin, you look like a lovesick fool. You really like her, huh?”
Justin shook his head, suddenly very serious. “Nah, C,” he sighed softly. “I love her.”
JC looked a little surprised. “That serious?”
“It’s just something about her; hell if I know what it is, though.”
JC smiled sadly. “Tell me about it. Women, they have a knack of stealing your heart. They do it without your permission and you don’t even realise it’s happened until it’s too late.”
Justin frowned at JC’s wistful expression. It seemed JC’s heart hadn’t completely mended since its last battering.
Justin took pity on his friend and decided to change the subject. “Want to battle it out on the Playstation?”
JC gave him a small smile. “You’re on.”
Maybe it would distract Justin for a while, too.
“You missed Justin again,” Alexei informed Natalia as she stepped through the door.
“Damn,” she muttered. She’d been tied up at work again, a virus sweeping the office having forced a large portion of their staff to their sickbeds.
The day had definitely not been one of her greatest. In fact the past week had been hell, and it was only going to get worse. The Markov contract had landed on her desk Monday morning and while she had been delegating as much of the work as possible, the meeting with the company’s admin team she could not wriggle out of.
She was due to meet Sandra Williams the next morning. The name didn’t ring a bell to Natalia so she must have been a new addition to the staff. That could only be a good thing. It would help in her plan to slip in and out unnoticed.
Natalia looked at her watch. Justin would be in the middle of his show. “I’ll call him later,” she told her brother, grabbing the phone to take to her room.
She laid down on her bed and allowed her eyes to flutter closed, just wanting to rest her eyes for a moment before she took a long hot bath and returned Justin’s call. The game of phone tag they’d been playing the past couple of days was beginning to grow old and she couldn’t think of anyone better to calm her nerves. Unfortunately, moments later her breathing began to even out as sleep claimed her for the night.
“Please, take a seat.”
Natalia slid into the offered seat and carefully set her briefcase down on the floor beside her.
Looking around the office she could see not much had changed. A few more awards sat in the display cases; the walls in the halls were lined with more performance photos and advertising posters, but the general look was the same. It still looked like the world she’d grown up in.
Sandra Williams, a middle-aged brunette, smiled at her. “You share a name with our director. No relation I assume,” she chuckled, unknowingly.
Natalia eyes grew wide before she realised this woman didn’t have a clue who she was. She swallowed dryly, forcing a smile, one that came out looking somewhat uneasy under the circumstances. “What a coincidence.”
“So I’m told you have some plans to show me.”
Right down to business, that was a relief, something she was comfortable with. She eagerly grabbed her briefcase, producing an assortment of documents. Fingers crossed they could stick to work related matters and God forbid they had any unexpected visitors.
An hour later, Natalia breathed a sigh of relief as she left Sandra William’s office. The meeting had run smoothly and now there was just the short trip down the hall before she would be out of the building.
“Natalia?”
She froze, her whole body stiffening at the voice behind her.
“Nat, is that you?”
She slowly turned at the voice, a voice full of surprise and concern. Somewhere in the back of Natalia’s mind it registered that the voice was familiar, and the person not at all a threat to her.
“Stephanie?” Natalia whispered.
The young woman gasped. “Oh my goodness. I thought it was you but…what are you doing here?” Not waiting for an answer she tossed her black bag from her shoulder and ran to Natalia, throwing her arms around her.
Natalia stumbled back before steadying herself enough to hold onto the friend she hadn’t seen in four years.
Stephanie held Natalia at arms’ length. “What are you doing here?” she asked for the second time. “You’re the last person I expected to see. Did you come to see your dad?” she asked softly, the worry evident on her face.
“No,” she answered firmly, with a shake of the head. In fact he was the one person she wanted to avoid, and so far she was doing a pretty good job of it.
Stephanie shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re here. I missed you, girl,” she said with a small smile. “Same goes for everyone else around here. It’s not the same without you.”
“I missed you too,” Natalia said sadly. “I’m sorry I-”
Stephanie cut her off. “Shh, no apologies. It’s okay, I understand.”
There were voices from down the hall and Stephanie couldn’t miss the look of panic on Natalia’s face. “Are you busy later?” she asked quickly.
Natalia shook her head.
“I’ve got rehearsals for the rest of the afternoon but I should be able to get out of here about 6 o’clock. Meet me at the coffeehouse at the end of the block. Do you know which one I mean?”
Natalia nodded.
The voices grew louder as the people neared.
“You won’t-” Natalia started.
“No, I promise, I never saw you here,” she smiled knowingly. “Go, get out of here,” Stephanie said, shooing Natalia away.
Natalia practically ran out of the building, not stopping until she reached her car. She looked back one last time, not quite believing what had just happened. There was no doubt in her mind, she wanted to see Stephanie again, she had missed her friend enormously. But she couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling deep inside telling her that this had trouble written all over it.
Justin closed the door of his dressing room and pulled his cell phone out of his bag, quickly pulling Natalia’s number up and pressing send.
The phone rang three times before somebody picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Alex, it’s Justin. Is Nat there?”
“Nope, you’re outta luck, she just left.”
Justin frowned; annoyed that he’d missed her yet again. The girl seriously needed to get herself a cell phone.
“She gone to the dance studios?” Justin asked.
“Nope, she left her dance bag here. I have no idea where she’s gone, but she was acting mighty strange at dinner.”
Justin’s brow crumpled with worry. Where could she be? “Tell her I called?” he asked.
“Sure, man. How’s the tour going?” Alexei asked.
Justin barely heard the question as he fell deep into thought. “Uh yeah, it’s good. Listen, could you get Nat to call me when she gets in?” Justin’s mind wouldn’t rest until he talked to her. Something was up, he could feel it.
“Sure I can. What time does your show finish? You have one tonight, right?”
“Yeah, in about 30 minutes actually. I’m just heading back to the hotel after so I should be back in my room by 11 pm."
“Okay, I’ll pass the message on.”
“Thanks, Alex.”
“No problem.”
When Justin hung up he quickly sought out Melinda. “Big, big favour,” he warned her as he approached.
Melinda groaned. Those words coming out of Justin’s mouth usually meant trouble. “What?” she asked cautiously.
“Think you can get your hands on a cell phone for me?”
Her eyebrows raised in surprise. “That’s it?”
“Yeah,” Justin confirmed, looking at her strangely.
“Okay, fine, done.” She quickly agreed before he could add to his request. “Get to wardrobe, Justin, you have a show in 20 minutes.”
Justin was quickly hustled into wardrobe. Time to put the love life on hold for a couple of hours, he had fans to entertain.
Natalia sat in one of the back booths, cradling a latte between her hands as she waited for Stephanie to arrive. She looked up with a smile as a breathless blonde collapsed into the seat opposite her.
“Sorry I’m late, your dad’s a slave driver.” She winced when she realised what she’d said. “Sorry.”
Natalia shook her head. “Steph, you don’t have to censor yourself around me. I’m not gonna break down if you mention his name.”
Stephanie waved a waitress over and ordered herself a strong coffee. She released her hair from the knot at the nape of her neck. “So Nat, what’ve you been up to?”
Natalia took a deep breath. Just where did she start?
Chapter 27
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