Read Online Have to Have It by Melody Mayer - Free Book Online Page A

to cut your losses and come home.”
    “Don't worry at all about the ticket. Mrs. Bowers has already given me a check for that,” Kiley said quickly. “That's how much she wants me to work for her.”
    Another sigh from her mom's end as the Toby Keith song ended.
    “I just don't like the idea, Kiley.”
    If it called for groveling, fine. Kiley was prepared to grovel.
    She tightened her grip on the phone. “Please, Mom. I want this so much. Mrs. Bowers said she'd call you herself tomorrow morning, you know, to introduce herself. I'll be on that call, too. She wants to make sure you're comfortable with this whole arrangement.”
    “But… what if it doesn't work out? What will you do then?”
    “It
will
work out, Mom. I know it will.”
    “I don't know, Kiley. What if she turns out to be as weird as Platinum, or even weirder? So many things could go wrong. When I think of you all alone out there, working for some woman I've never met… I just don't know about this.”
    Kiley could hear her mother's voice soaring upward through the octaves, a sure sign that she was rounding the bend to a fullblown panic attack.
    “It's okay Mom,” she soothed. “Really. It'll be fine. Remember when you said that you trusted me and that was why you were letting me stay in L.A. even though I'm still a minor?”
    “Yes …”
    Kiley could hear the doubt in her mother's voice. She pressed on.
    “Remember how you told me you don't want me to be like you, scared of things?”
    Silence. Then: “I did say that,” her mother admitted softly.
    “I know you meant it,” Kiley insisted. “Well, I'm asking you to trust me, Mom. Just like you said you would. I'll do everything I can to make you comfortable with this. Mrs. Bowers is a publicist. Maybe … you can even meet her through a video hookup or something. Or … I know—maybe she'll pay for you to come out here to meet her!”
    More silence. Kiley knew that this last suggestion was a shot in the dark and highly unlikely, but she crossed her fingers and sent up a silent prayer to whatever higher power might be involved in this sort of fateful decision anyway.
Please
, she prayed, knowing how stupid and even selfish it was to pray for this when she didn't pray for anything else, but doing it anyway.
Please, please, please. I deserve this, I deserve this, I deserve this, I de—
    “All right, Kiley.”
    Kiley's heart jumped.
    “Did you just say … all right?”
    “Yes, honey, I did. But Kiley, please have Mrs. Bowers call me in the morning. I won't rest easy until I hear her voice.”
    Kiley punched the air with glee. Tom rewarded this positive gesture with a huge smile.
    “Absolutely, Mom,” Kiley promised. “Thank you so much—”
    “Kiley?”
    Something about her mom's voice made Kiley feel as if she was seven years old again.
    “Yeah, Mom?”
    “Sweetheart, if you pull another stunt like the one you pulled with Platinum—and I know you know what I'm talking about—”
    Kiley did. She'd lied terribly to her mother. She felt terrible about it, too.
    “I'll be completely honest this time, Mom. Whatever happens. But nothing is going to happen,” Kiley added hastily. “I swear it. This time things are going to work out.”
    “Yes. Well, life has a way of fouling up the best-laid plans, Kiley.” Another heavy sigh as Toby Keith started singing again in the background. “I just hope I'm doing the right thing.”
    “You are, Mom. You definitely are!”
    Kiley thanked her mother profusely, told her how much she loved her, and hung up. Then she threw herself into Tom's arms.
    The sandy-haired valet shot them a dirty look when Tom, casually clad in Diesel denim, a Le Tigre polo, and chocolate brown suede Pumas, finally handed over the car keys. But since he also handed over a ten-dollar tip, the guy was somewhat mollified.
    They pushed through the front door of the Velvet Margarita and were greeted by Mexican-tinged sights, sounds, and smells. Mariachis draped in fringed