Rockstar Romeo - Abbie Zanders Page 0,62

continued. “Sometimes, they looked like sapphires, and other times, like amethysts.”

I stilled, then turned to look at him. “Amethysts, huh?”

He nodded. “And her hair. Golden on top, deep cherry red underneath, like living flames.”

He was talking about Eva.

“You talked to her?”

“Yeah, a little. It was more like silent, mutual commiseration than a conversation. She was having a lousy day, just like me. Guy trouble, I think. If you ask me, whoever let a woman like her walk away is a fucking idiot.”

No argument there.

“Did she happen to say where she was headed?”

He shook his head. “No, but wherever it is, I hope she finds what she’s looking for.”

I dropped a few bills on the bar, paying for his drink as well as mine. Ignoring his thanks, I went back to the gate and waited for my flight.

Chapter 18

Dear Ida,

I’ve just made one of the hardest decisions of my life and I’m sick about it. My head says I’m doing the right thing, but my heart says I’m a fool. – Torn & Confused

* * *

Dear Torn & Confused,

Listen to your heart. If you’re still on the fence, try reaching out to the people who love you, especially family members who may have been in a similar situation and want to see you find happiness.

~ * ~

Eva

The drive to New York City was about six hours, according to the GPS. I didn’t mind. That was six hours to myself where I could think and hurt and feel without having to maintain a mask.

It had been a long time since I’d taken a road trip and even longer since I’d taken one along such a scenic route. It was a clear night, the almost-full moon shining down and casting everything in a cool, silvery glow. Upstate and Central New York was a lot like the small town I’d grown up in, adding a pang of homesickness to my heartbreak.

I tried listening to the radio but turned it off when the block of Dark Wing songs made tears well up and blur my vision. Hearing Jace’s deep voice coming through the speakers, as rich as it was powerful, reminded me of why my decision was the right one. He was simply too good at what he did to do anything else. I couldn’t be selfish, and I’d certainly never want him to walk away from what he loved. Nor could I live a life of waiting in the wings for inevitable disappointment.

Rather than dwell on what I’d left behind, I tried to focus on where I was going. I hadn’t seen Soraya in years. She was by far my favorite cousin, even though she was several years younger than me. We’d bonded early on when her dad left her mother for another woman, and Soraya and her mom and sister had come to stay with us for a while.

Until then, I’d liked my uncle Frank. But after hearing about how’d he left my aunt for a widow and was more interested in being a father to her children than his own, I hated him almost as much as Soraya did. I wasn’t alone. What Frank had done polarized the family, and sides had taken up along expected boundaries.

But out of that, Soraya and I had formed an instant and lasting bond. She was a curvy Italian girl, too, with a free spirit and a voracious passion for life that our parents didn’t understand. Her dream had been to finish college and travel the world. Mine had been to be the next Annie Lennox or Lita Ford. Life didn’t work out that way for either of us though. She’d become an assistant to a legendary advice columnist—definitely not her dream job—and I’d become a single mother and taken a job behind the stage instead of on it.

We didn’t see each other often, but we did keep in touch. As I was older, she’d sometimes reach out to me when she needed someone to talk to, someone who understood. We called each other on our birthdays and around the holidays. And, of course, there were my occasional emails to Ask Ida.

Soraya also kept me up-to-date on family stuff. I needed that, more than anyone knew. She was the sole remaining secret link to my past, a past that had admittedly been pretty great up until I broke my parents’ hearts.

Mostly, I admired her ability to be herself and to not give a damn about what anyone else thought. She always encouraged me to follow my