Athena's Daughter (3 page)

“Hey, you guys,” Athena interrupted her new
friends’ chatter. “Are we still going to the V & A today?”

“Certainly,” declared one of the girls.
Vanessa was from Provence, and like Athena was traveling through
the UK on her own before heading to École Nationale Supérieure des
Beaux-Arts in the fall. “I’ve been looking forward to going there
for years.”

Grumbling ensued among the other girls from
the hostel; the Victoria and Albert Museum wasn’t high on their
list of priorities. They were all itching to go to Portobello
Market instead of spending time wandering around stuffy artwork and
exhibits. After a bit of discussion, it was decided that only
Athena and Vanessa would visit the V & A and meet up with the
other girls that afternoon in Hyde Park.

Going to the V & A with Vanessa was a
blast for Athena. Since Vanessa had studied art from a young age
and dreamed of becoming an important painter, she brought the works
of art displayed to life with her passion for them. Athena couldn’t
have chosen a better person to go with her, even though Vanessa
frequently got so excited over a painting she’d lapse into French.
Since Athena only knew a few words in that language, she missed the
details, but the paintings still took on a brighter meaning because
of Vanessa’s enthusiasm for them.

Athena’s favorite part of the museum was the
exhibitions of clothes, and she dragged Vanessa to each display,
oohing and ahhing over every ruffle and bead, and wondering how
women managed to wear corsets every day without going crazy.

As the appointed time to meet the other girls
grew near, they left the museum with reluctance, each of them
excited by what they saw and discussing their favorite exhibits
with enthusiasm. The afternoon was sunny and warm, and they enjoyed
the quick stroll to Hyde Park to meet up with their friends. As
they hurried along the path, Athena’s attention was caught by
several young men swarming over a flatbed truck that looked as out
of place in the park as a large, inflatable rubber duck. Two men
were hefting amplifiers in place on the flatbed, another was busy
setting up a drum kit, while yet another was stringing wires to the
front of the truck.

“Wonder what they’re doing?”

“I don’t know, but we can find out. This
looks interesting.” Vanessa shook back her shaggy black hair and
marched over to the truck, Athena in tow.

As they drew closer, Athena saw that the
wires ran from the amplifiers into the cab of the truck, and she
wondered in confusion if they were plugged into the cigarette
lighter. One of the men noticed the two girls and stopped work to
give them a bright smile.

“You are going to play music, no?” Vanessa
asked him, her dimples dancing.

“No. I mean, yes.” The man laughed and pushed
a hank of blonde hair behind his ear. “Yes, we’re playing music. I
hope you’ll stay and listen.”

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure,”
Vanessa purred.

And, pow! Just like that, the man was
captivated. Athena suppressed a laugh as he melted like warm clay
in Vanessa’s hand. Maybe if she watched Vanessa enough, she’d learn
how to make guys fall with nothing more than a smile and a certain
tone of voice. As it was, she always ended up stammering and
looking like a fool when confronted with attractive males. The only
reason she’d had a prom date senior year was because the boy was
even more awkward than she was. It had not been the stuff of
adolescent dreams.

Leaving Vanessa to work her magic on her
prey, Athena moved nearer to the cab of the truck, still wondering
about those wires. A pair of feet shod in black boots protruded
from the open door, and Athena tilted her head to get a better
view. Her eyes moved from the boots up long legs encased in striped
pants to a very nicely rounded derrière. She admired it for a
moment before letting her gaze follow the lines of the back and
broad shoulders of the person – most definitely male – who had his
head stuck under the truck’s dash as he laid face down over the
bench seat.

Curious, Athena leaned forward to see what he
was doing just as he sat up, cursing under his breath. Uttering a
surprised squeak, she found herself inches from the bluest eyes
she’d ever seen, the breathtaking blue of a clear October sky. In
that frozen moment of surprise she had time to notice the long,
black lashes that surrounded them and the dark eyebrows that
slanted above them, ending in an almost mischievous arch before
sweeping down again.

The owner of the eyes made a startled sound
of surprise, and the heat of a furious blush suffused Athena’s
cheeks. “Sorry,” she mumbled, and took a quick step back.

“It’s all right,” he said. “I just didn’t
know anyone was standing here.”

“I was just wondering what you were…um.” She
waved a hand toward the truck’s dashboard, trying to subdue the
flames of embarrassment that licked up her skin to her hairline.
She knew she must look like a ripe tomato, but her reaction was par
for the course. Handsome guys made her feel like a gawky
pre-adolescent, and this guy was the most handsome one she’d ever
seen.

“Just trying to hook up some power.” He
relaxed against the seat, and one side of his mouth curved up in an
endearing half smile that brought a dimple to his left cheek.

Athena caught her breath and tried not to
swoon. The surprise in his eyes was replaced by an interested
twinkle, and Athena almost turned around to see who he was trying
to charm before she realized it was her. She remembered the way
Vanessa captivated the guy on the flatbed, and tried to emulate her
friend’s easy cool.

“So you’re with the band?”

“Yeah, I play guitar. I’m Derek.” Sunlight
flooded through the truck’s windshield and washed over his dark
wavy hair giving it the appearance of well polished mahogany, the
light picking out glints of shimmering dark auburn.

She cast a glance toward the flatbed. It was
imperative she tear her eyes away from him or she’d fall to the
ground at his feet and start babbling like a fool. “What’s the name
of your band?”

“Wolf.”

Her eyes stuttered back to his face. “Wolf?
Why Wolf?” She was immediately mortified; what a stupid thing to
say.

His grin lit up his face. “Because all of the
good names are already taken.” One hand rose to push his hair back
from his forehead. “So what are you called, then?”

“Oh.” Geez, she hated this part. “It’s
Athena.”

As she’d expected, his eyebrows shot up in
surprise, and her shoulders rose in the apologetic shrug she always
employed when people first heard her name. “Yeah, I know. My
parents are nuts.”

“Not at all,” he replied. “I think Athena’s a
beautiful name.”

On his lips it was beautiful, and the warmth
in his eyes made her feel like she was beautiful, too.

“Athena,” Vanessa’s voice intruded on the
moment. “It’s time for us to find the other girls. We should bring
them to hear this music, don’t you think?”

Some of the light in Derek’s eyes dimmed, and
Athena shook her head as a burst of confidence made her feel light
as air. It was the first time in her life that a good-looking guy
seemed to want to know her, and she wasn’t leaving that spot.

“You can go find them if you want,” she told
Vanessa. “I’m staying here.”

It brought the light back to his eyes and she
smiled, delighted. Glancing at Vanessa, she saw her friend’s sharp
gaze flit over her and then Derek. A Gallic shrug lifted her slim
shoulders.

“I will stay here, too,” she declared.
“Perhaps they will come when they hear the music.” She spun on her
heel and headed back to the blonde guy she’d first approached.
“Paul, I am staying to hear you sing.”

Athena looked back at Derek. “Paul?”

“Our singer,” he explained. A
beautifully-shaped arm gestured toward the makeshift stage. “And
that’s Robin on bass, and Ian on drums.” He fidgeted with a leather
bracelet on one wrist, and Athena quivered with joy. He was
nervous! She’d spent her life watching guys act that way around
other girls, but never with her. To know she affected him the way
he affected her made her feel tall, slim and desirable.

“I can’t wait to hear you play,” she told
him, and was rewarded by another beautiful smile that sparked
warmth in her belly that spread with speed to her fingers and
toes.

His bottom lip was full, accentuated by his
moustache and the line of beard that grew along his jaw line. He
bit down on that lip for a moment and Athena was consumed by a
wild, unexpected desire to nibble on it herself. Overwhelmed, she
almost missed his question.

“After we’ve finished playing, would you like
to get a pint with me?”

Pure joy shot through her. “I’d like that.”
His answering smile made her weak. “How long are you going to
play?”

He laughed. “Until someone comes along and
chases us out. Could be two minutes, could be two hours.”

“I hope it’s longer than two minutes,” Athena
giggled. “I’d really like to hear your music.”

He slid from the cab of the truck. “Your wish
is my command, Athena.”

Memphis, April 5, 1975

Stax of Wax had never been so crowded, not
even on the busiest Saturday before Christmas. Despite the headache
of herding Wolf’s fans to the back of the store, trying to
discourage Paul and Ian from hitting on every female who approached
the table so she could keep the line moving, and keeping an eagle
eye out so no albums from the bins would be stuffed under a
windbreaker for a five-finger discount, Athena welcomed how busy
she was. It kept her from casting the glances she wanted toward
Derek, to see if he was looking back at her. It didn’t, however,
keep her from thinking about when they’d come face-to-face in the
back of the store, and feeling a slow burn of anger at his
reaction.

After that first moment of shock at seeing
her, his eyes turned as cold as blue Arctic ice. Before she’d been
able to utter a word to him, he snapped out a clipped, “Nice to see
you again,” and spun away on his heel. Since then, he ignored her,
but she could sense the contempt and anger radiating off him, even
from across the store. It infuriated her that she was still so
attuned to him that she could tell without looking just what he was
feeling.

What the hell did he have to be angry about?
He must have thought he could keep his nefarious behavior a secret.
Did he even know she called and ended up talking to his snotty
fiancée? Probably not. If he did, he wouldn’t have bombarded her
parents’ mailbox with all those letters for the next year.

For a moment she wondered again just what was
in them. Not for the first time she regretted not reading them;
she’d still like to know what pretty lies they’d contained. The
conceited bastard was probably mad she had enough sense not to
believe them. Well, fuck him and the guitar he rode in on.

An anxious glance at the clock showed her
there were only fifteen minutes left before the signing would be
over. Good. Get the band out and back to wherever they were headed
next, let the crowd thin, and then her life could go back to
normal. Derek would go on his merry way and she need never think of
him again. Until she looked at Elizabeth and saw his eyes. And his
hair. And that little half smile. Damn it.

Before she could stop herself, she looked
toward the table where the band held court. Despite her anger at
Derek, she admired the way they were handling things. At that
moment they were not only signing autographs and carrying on
conversations with excited fans, but fielding questions from a
reporter from the local newspaper and a disc jockey from the campus
radio station. It had been that way all day, with media outlets who
never acted as if they knew Stax of Wax existed stampeding through
the store trying to cash in on the band’s appearance. Though Athena
was glad for the free publicity that would result, she kept their
exposure to the band at a minimum so the guys could focus on the
people who lined up to see them and buy their records. Those were
the people who would come back to the store while she doubted she’d
see representatives from those radio stations and newspapers again
unless they wanted to sell her advertising.

A waving hand caught her attention, and she
looked up to find the band’s manager, Simon Cooper, beckoning to
her. She wove her way through the crowd to where he stood just
behind the band.

“Excellent turn out today, love.” He slipped
an arm around her and squeezed. After a rocky start, Simon had been
one of her biggest supporters during that blissful summer. “But
here’s the scoop. When we’ve wrapped this up we’re going to have
the lads head upstairs to the offices, right? Then the bus will
leave – empty – to draw attention away from the store.”

“Good thinking.” She cast an eye over the
throngs of people crowding the aisles. “I’ll have Hal go out in a
minute to try to disperse some of the crowd still outside.”

“Lovely.” Simon nodded. “After things calm
down a bit we’ll call some cabs to take us to the motel.”

“Okay.” She noticed the disc jockey had left
but the newspaper guy was still buzzing around the band. “Let me
get rid of the reporter and then we’ll wrap things up.”

“Have at it. I’ll go speak to the
driver.”

As Simon headed to the back of the store,
Athena moved forward and touched the reporter on the arm.

“Hi, there. I hope you got everything you
need, because the guys will be leaving in a minute.” As she spoke
she used a gentle but firm touch to pull him away from the band.
“We really appreciate you coming out today to cover the event, and
I can’t wait to read the story.”

The young man’s look was anything but
friendly. “And just who are you?”

Despite his hostility, she kept her smile
calm and warm. “I’m Athena Chandler, the store manager.” Her
peripheral vision caught movement as Derek turned his head in their
direction, but she kept smiling at the reporter. “Be sure to call
me if you need anything else. Again, we really appreciate your
covering the event today. Shall I have one of my employees help you
navigate the crowd?”