After swapping tales of the chaos in the Keys, Sophia, Juanita, and I ventured down to the hotel bar. We enjoyed drinks and appetizers, over a formal dinner, and listened to the bartenders and fellow patrons abuzz from the previous police activity. I didn’t offer my story and the girls knew not to, either. While not specifically being instructed to, I wanted to respect the Murphy family’s privacy.
Shortly after we came back to the room, there was a knock at the door. Juanita, who had been reading a book, jumped up from her bed to answer it. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, though, because it was a little bit of a distance from the sofa, where I was sitting and mentally backtracking my day.
“Maya!” Juanita said as the door closed behind her and she came closer. “The card is addressed to you.”
I slowly got up and met her at the desk, where she was putting down an ice bucket. Oh, God—our ice bucket! I must have dropped it when I had scooped up Chance in the hallway. That was the last time I remembered seeing it. And, clearly, it was ours. The room number was inscribed on the side. Inside, however, it was not only filled with ice, but there was a bottle of champagne. Sophia, standing on the open balcony, quickly wrapped up her phone conversation with her husband in Maryland and joined us.
I took the card from Juanita, opened it up, and read out loud. “Think one of these things is yours. The other is in appreciation for helping keep my family safe today. I can’t thank you enough. I would also be quite honored if you and your friends would accept backstage passes to the show tomorrow. Just call Hawk and let him know how many. Finn Murphy.”
Sophia and Juanita had obviously heard about my close encounter with the country music king. But the note, with phone number attached, brought on a whole new level of excitement. There they were, grown adults, screaming like teeny boppers. While it was fun watching their faces light up in excitement, I was glad I didn’t act that way.
“Maya, God, that’s awesome!” Juanita let out a light squeal.
And although it really was, practical Maya spoke. “That’s ridiculous. I got caught up in gunfire and am being rewarded.”
“You helped his kids,” Sophia explained.
“Yeah, but who wouldn’t? Who—” I started.
“Who”—Juanita emphasized the first word—“cares? Get the passes. One.” She pointed to herself. “Two.” She pointed to Sophia. “Three.” Finally, to me. “Tell him three passes. Yes, absolutely.”
“Well, I’m glad I made the cut,” I joked. “Okay. Okay.”
“Now, Maya!” Juanita started walking me toward my cell phone. “So when do we want to indulge in this lovely?” She held up the champagne bottle.
“Let’s drink it before the concert tomorrow,” Sophia suggested.
“Yeah, all right. Sounds like a plan,” Juanita agreed and looked at me.
I had the card in one hand and my phone in the other. I dialed the number. I supposed I would, after all, see, or at least talk with, Hawk again.
But I didn’t. I got an extremely brief voicemail, to which I left an embarrassingly disorganized message about receiving the bottle and the offer. I hated asking people for things. It was like a pet peeve of mine. I think it was because everybody gave me so much after Jeff died. And that was another circumstance where I most certainly didn’t deserve it. But while food and donations were their compensation for a husband lost, I guess backstage passes were for a family saved. At least this time it was a happy occasion.
***
And before we knew it, it was the next evening and there we were…three women in our mid-thirties with star-struck eyes, taking in the behind-the-scenes of a major recording artist. Per Hawk’s text message, we met a security guard who directed us backstage right before Finn was set to perform. There was so much action, commotion, and noise as people were moving things and yelling out directives, it was a little overwhelming.
I spotted Hawk just as the security guard went to help someone else. He was dressed similarly to when we had been holed up in the hotel room—a T-shirt and a lighter shade of cargos. In contrast, I, hopefully, looked a little better than I had before, wearing black capris and a sleeveless, fuchsia slouchy top. Anything would have been an improvement over my lazy, beyond casual, roaming-the-hallway-for-ice attire.
“Maya. Everything all right? Do you need anything?” he asked upon approach.
“No. This is great. Just don’t want to get in anyone’s way.”
“You ladies are fine here. Finn will be up in a minute. I gotta bolt. Have someone flag me down if you need something.” And he was off. Just like everything else backstage, Hawk was moving at super-speed.
Fiddling with the long necklace she had bought at a local shop that day, Sophia started to say something but stopped mid-sentence. When I followed her gaze, it was obvious why. Finn was making his way toward us.
“I think I’m going to faint,” Juanita whispered.
“Oh, God,” I groaned. “Please don’t.” But I was sure any guy in the near vicinity would have jumped to do mouth-to-mouth on my friend, considering how her spaghetti-strap, black floral dress hugged her curves. And even though she was in a pretty serious relationship back home, I’m sure Juanita wouldn’t have minded.
Standing next to us, Finn spoke. “Hi. Hawk just told me you girls made it. I’m so glad. Everything good?”
Still trying to figure out Hawk’s role, I said, “More than. Uh, these are my friends…Sophia and Juanita.”
“Hi, friends.” Finn smiled a full set of teeth and, from the corner of my eye, I think I saw Juanita sway. “So, listen, they’re going to bring out some seats for you here on the edge of the stage if that is okay. Or if you prefer your other…I know it’s kind of a side point of view.”
“God, no.” Juanita managed some words. “Our seats are crap. We’ll take these.”
Finn laughed. “These you will have, then.”
“Thanks…” I started and, oh geez, I was stumbling on his name.
I mean, I remembered it. But should I call him by his first or his formal? Yikes!
“Finn,” I settled with. After all, I thought, he wasn’t my elder. We were the same age.
“Thank you, Maya,” he said, and then there were lights going down and even more flurry backstage. “I’m sorry. We’re ready to do this thing. We’ll talk after, yes?” He looked at all three of us.
“Sure.” Sophia had her turn.
“Enjoy the show, ladies.” And with that, he rushed onto the stage and began singing one of his top hits from a few years back. He had so many, I’m sure there wasn’t enough time to pack all of them into a single show.
I had been to a couple Finn Murphy concerts before with Jeff. They were fantastically produced, and Finn always gave his all. Each time we had attended one of them, both my husband and I had felt reenergized and younger.
And Finn did not let down that night, either. His energy level had all three of us not using our seats for even a second of the ninety-minute set. We saw Hawk a few times, meandering through like he was a programmed machine, and then Lara appeared during the encore. I only saw her at the last moment, though, as I was completely into the booming bass of one of my personal favorite tunes.
“Hey.” She sidled up next to me.
“Hi.” I acknowledged the superstar’s wife. “He puts on a fantastic show.”
“He does.” She beamed with pride. We listened as Finn completed the song. And then when he started taking bows and signing a few front-row autographs, Lara said, “Chance can’t stop talking about that fort.”
“Sorry.” I chuckled. “Hope you don’t mind a lot of messy pillows and blankets in your future.”
“No.” She laughed right back. “He’s a good cleaner-upper, too. I’m glad he wasn’t too scared. From what I understand, you were a big help with that.”
“Thanks, but I think he’s just a brave little dude,” I replied, while Hawk joined our group of women.
“Not always,” she said as her husband, drenched in sweat like he had been in a wet T-shirt contest, made his way off stage and wrapped his arms around her from behind. They looked like the ideal couple. It was not only in their coordinating outfits—he in jeans and a black T-shirt with white guitar graphic and she in an all-black tank top and jeans—but in the way they melded naturally into one another.
“Hi, Beauty,” I heard him coo into her ear.
“Chief…water?” Hawk handed a bottle to Finn, who took it and swallowed a few hearty gulps.
“Whatcha think, ladies?” Finn turned to Sophia, Juanita, and me.
“The best,” was Sophia’s response.
“Awesome,” was Juanita’s.
“I’m afraid any concert after this is going to be anticlimactic,” I concluded.
Finn laughed and started fist-pumping and high-fiving the band as they made their way off the stage, after finishing the instrumentals to lead the concert-goers out of the venue. “There’s some complimentary merch on the table over there if you want to grab it on your way out.”
“Thanks. Awesome.” Juanita’s word again. “Can we get a pic first?”
“Uh, sure.” Finn obliged, wiping his brow with a white hand towel that had somehow taken occupancy in his hand.
“Here, I’ll take the pictures.” I reached for both Juanita and Sophia’s cell phones.
“Maya, join us,” Sophia said as she flanked the side of Finn that Juanita wasn’t already occupying.
“I can—” Lara started to offer, which I thought was incredibly thoughtful, considering there were two women almost getting handsy with her husband.
“It’s all right. I got it.” And I clicked the photo button a number of times on each of the ladies’ phones.
“Thanks!” Almost as if they were participating in a cheerleading competition, they bounced, giving their joint appreciation to Finn.
“No problem,” he countered with the slightest of eye rolls.
As my friends started toward the merchandise table, I told them I would join them in a minute. I wanted to extend my gratitude in a more subdued manner. Although, admittedly, the concert had been terribly thrilling.
“Well, thanks.” I tried to look at Finn, Lara, and Hawk simultaneously. “If you can’t tell, we had a really great time.”
“I could tell,” the singer concurred with a chuckle. “You don’t want a picture or anything?”
“Uh, not much of a picture person. Besides, you didn’t ask to take a picture of me.” As soon as I got my sarcastic remark out, Lara, who was once again wrapped onto her husband’s side, busted out in a genuine laugh. “Sorry. Did I offend you?” I asked.
Finn’s laugh was as robust as his wife’s. “No.”
“Finn’s not an ego guy.” Hawk jumped in to the conversation. “Believe me. He’s just used to people celebritizing.”
Sarcasm aside, I spoke honestly. “I don’t know. We’re all the same, right? We just chose different paths in life. You make a lot—well, a heck of a lot—more money than I do. But I wouldn’t want to be on stage like you. And if you heard me singing in the shower, you wouldn’t want me to be, either.”
“Sorta like my dancing.” Lara’s eyes lifted to her husband’s green ones, which made me think they weren’t that color in the hotel room—they were a cool gray, like Chance’s.
“Totally agree about being all the same.” Finn made a point of dragging out the first word. After the slightest of pauses, he added, “And agree about her dancing.” When his wife playfully hit him, Finn did a quick wink in the direction of Hawk and me. “It was very nice meeting you, Maya. Enjoy the rest of your trip.”
“Yeah, just tomorrow. Then back to colder weather on Monday,” I lamented.
“Hopefully there will be another concert in your future,” the entertainer said.
“For sure.” I smiled one last smile and said goodbye, not only to the three people standing in front of me but to the magical evening that had taken place through a series of unlikely and unfortunate events.
***
Of course, we didn’t—couldn’t—go right to sleep once we made our way back to the hotel room. All three of us ladies were wound up. There was the retelling of the night…step by step. There was watching the concert videos on cell phones. There was looking at their photos with Finn and mooning over how handsome he was. There was examining our backstage passes like we had never seen them before. There was looking through the merchandise bags, which each included a poster and a towel.
And, finally, there was Sophia’s comment—the one I had been thinking before she even said it. “Jeff would have loved this. All of it. The entire trip.”
I took a slow, cleansing breath from the sofa. I had let Sophia and Juanita take the two regular beds because I had been used to sofas. After all, I had slept on mine at home for months after Jeff died. I had not been able to be in our bed alone and needed to feel the snugness of something against me, even if it was just a cushioned sofa back. It had been my new year’s resolution to once again sleep in our bed. And, with much initial sadness, I had managed to do it.
I tried to keep things light. “Jeff would have been making fun of you with your idol-screaming routine.”
Laughing, my sister-in-law admitted, “He would have!” And then she said, with more seriousness, “Of course, he would have never let you be in any danger. He would have been up there in that room yesterday getting you out.”
“But immediately afterward, he would have been right in the middle of it,” I amended, and noticed I had subconsciously been twirling my wedding band.
All three of us took pause. There were no truer words. There had been no truer words the night he was killed. Yes, it was in the line of duty, but he also took the lead and initiative. It was just like him. One of the things everyone loved about him. But also the very thing that made me an early widow.
“To Jeff.” Juanita picked up the nearly empty bottle of champagne and took a sip.
Sophia stood up and took a hearty gulp before handing it to me. I finished the effervescent, bubbly liquid and let that be the final word. Curling under the blanket, I hugged my pillow and, with the influence of alcohol and an exciting, exhausting evening, fell asleep.
***
“But this is the one with the narrow, dark tunnel,” I whined. “I’m not going to like it.”
“It’s just for the tiniest of moments in the beginning-middle-ish part. Come on, you know I’ll be with you,” he said.
That somewhat reassured me. So I carefully climbed into the empty car of the roller coaster. As soon as I did, the protective bar practically slammed down on top of me, locking me securely in place. He was right behind me because each seat only held one person. And then, we started to move.
The first part was fine. We were winding around some bends but in open air. But then, swoosh, it came on so sudden and with a loud, terrifying bang. We were definitely in the suffocating tunnel.
“Jeff!” I yelled out.
“Maya, it’s okay…just hold on.” His voice was soothing…more so than I ever recalled. “I’m looking out for you. See, it’s getting light.” I tried to focus on his voice because I couldn’t see him. “There’s a little uphill and then there are so many people waiting for you…who love you.”
I did as I was told, and it was true. As we neared the top of the hill and it started to level, I could see Sophia and Juanita. And there were children. Who were they? The faces were blurry because of the speed. Oh, Chance and Arinn, I thought, and possibly more, and some other people who were starting to come in a little more clearly.
“Jeff,” I yelled.
“You’re on the right track, Mai Tai.” He used his loving nickname for me, and then his roller coaster car separated from mine and went skyward.
“Jeff!” I called out again.
I woke up in a semi-sweat. It had been a dream. Of course it was. Jeff was dead. I was holding on to a sofa, not a roller coaster. Jeff was dead. But I didn’t feel so alone. The frightening nightmare had startled me. Yet in the center had been my husband and his reassuring words. He was with me, and I was on the right track, even though I had no idea which direction I was going.
***
I wasn’t able to get back to sleep. So I surrendered by sitting on the balcony and watching the sunrise. The dream about Jeff stayed with me. I ran through it over and over again in my mind. It seemed, somehow, so prolific and final.
When I knew replaying it was doing more harm than good, I reentered the room. Both Sophia and Juanita were starting to stir from their slumbers. But I still needed some alone time. So, after much friendly teasing that we didn’t need any ice, I got dressed and headed out for a walk along the beach. I told them I would be back so we could all go for brunch together.
It was toward the end of my hour-long stroll when my phone buzzed a text. Thinking the girls were hungry and wanted me to hustle, I almost didn’t look. After all, I was nearly back to the room. But the vibrating was going to drive me crazy. So I swiped my phone and looked. It wasn’t Sophia or Juanita at all. It was a message from Hawk. He was texting on Finn and Lara’s behalf. They wanted to know if I would join them for drinks that night.
What? What! A second look at the message turned into a third and fourth. Yes, I had read it correctly.
I plopped down right there on the uneven, sandy surface. I didn’t care that the bottom of my shorts was going to be covered with tiny beach remnants. I didn’t care that I was pretty much in the middle of a natural walkway near the water. I did care what that message read and, more importantly, what it meant. Why would they want to meet with me? The concert and champagne were far and beyond enough thanks, especially when I felt like I hadn’t done anything.
The only way I was going to find out, though, was by responding to the text. Me? Drinks? Tonight? And I signed my name, just in case he had sent the message to the wrong number.
The text from Hawk came back immediately. Yeah. & food. They want to talk w/U about something. 7ish?
I guess.
My hesitation, speculation, and curiosity must have come across in my two-little-word reply because Hawk’s text back to me was equally as short but reassuring. It’s all good.
Still in a semi state of shock, I confirmed. OK.
I’ll pick U up @ 7.
The questions were compounding in my head. Where R we going?
Their suite in the other hotel.
The other hotel? I thought they were staying at the same hotel as we were. What hotel? I didn’t even really know this Hawk guy, and he was going to drive me to another hotel? I mean, ninety-some percent of me knew it was legit. But being the wife of a police officer for seven years made the other percent just a little cautious.
Before I could question or reply, though, Hawk sent a follow-up text. It was almost as if he was reading my mind. It’s 2 blocks away. We’ll walk.
Ah, yes, I knew the hotel. Fine. Whatever. There’s not much more that could surprise me on this trip, anyway, I thought.
Boy, was I wrong.