Blue Christmas (The Moody Blue Trilogy | Book One) (34 page)

“Kylie, I
apologize for barging in on you at such short notice and all, but Laura begged
me to come over and talk with you.”

“She’s
persistent, isn’t she? She isn’t at all what I expected.”

Sergio laughed
again. “She’s persistent. That she is. I was headed out the door to the airport
when she lassoed me into this—” He darted his eyes back to her. “I mean—well,
not that she had to—”

“It’s okay. I
met her. You don’t have to explain.”

“Sorry.”

There’s that
smile again.
“You were leaving town?”

“Yeah, I was
making a quick run down to Florida to—”

“Florida?” She
blinked her eyes wide. “Why were you going to Flor—” She caught herself, but it
was too late. She watched it register on his face. He hadn’t missed the slip.

He chuckled. “So
Hannah’s in Florida, is she?”

His enormous
smile melted her like a hair dryer set on high blowing on a bowl of Mint Chocolate
Chip. “Hannah? Oh, no, I was asking about you.
You’re
going to Florida.
Why are you going to Florida?
Where
are you going in Florida? Florida’s
nice. I love Florida.”

“Kylie?”

“Great beaches,
great sunshine, great theme parks—what part of Florida did you say you were
going to?”

“I didn’t say.”

“Oh.”

Silence. His
smile broadened.

She smiled in
return then scratched her eyebrow, hoping to avoid his gaze.

“Orlando.”

“Orlando!
I love Orlando.”

“Kylie, where is
she?”

“So will you be
going to Disney while you’re there? Or Universal Studios? Sea World? I hear
there’s a new—”

“Kylie?”

“Yes?”

“Is Hannah in Orlando?”

“No! No, Hannah
is not in Orlando. No.”

“But she’s in Florida?”

“I didn’t say
that.”

“You didn’t have
to.”

Kylie jumped up.
“Sergio, are you sure you don’t want something to—”

“Actually I do.
But let’s go out. Here—” He tossed her the keys. “I can’t exactly just walk
into a restaurant with all that’s happened, but how about we hit the Sonic? You
like drive-ins?”

Her face
brightened, relieved to have the conversation interrupted. “I love drive-ins!
But why do you want
me
to drive?”

“If I drive, the
waitress brings out our food, and suddenly the Sonic is crawling with lunáticos.
It’s been a wild week for us.”

Kylie grabbed
her coat as they headed for the door. “No problem, I’ll drive. You’ve got
insurance, right?”

The cold air
sent chills down her back but it felt good to get out of the confinement of her
apartment. His questions had cornered her like a caged animal. He led the way
to a sleek black convertible coupe.

“Oh my! You’re
gonna let me drive THIS?”

“Why not? You
have a driver’s license, don’t you?”

“No, it’s just a
really nice car—a reeeeally nice car.”

“It belongs to
the McKenzies. I think it’s one of Frank’s, so you’ll have to take it up with
him if you wreck it.”

Her nervous
laughter fell flat as she tried to swallow. “Whatever you say.” Kylie climbed
into the compact, the soft black leather seats as comfortable as an easy chair.
“This is awesome. Oh, I could
so
get used to this. Whoa. My seat is
warm. Did you—”

“Heated seats.
Just so you know.” He nodded as if affirming the fact. Sergio slammed the door
on his side, fastening his seat belt as Kylie did hers. “Just take it slow and
easy and you’ll be fine.”

“Look at all
these—” A siren wailed as she accidentally hit the panic button on the key.

“THAT WOULD BE
THE SECURITY SYSTEM! HERE—” He grabbed the key from her and pressed the button
again.

“Sorry. What is
all this stuff?”

“All the bells
and whistles. I have one of these back home so I’m used to it. But just don’t
touch anything that—” The wipers began beating a frenzied pattern back and
forth with a generous mist of water shooting across the windshield. “Those, of
course, are the wipers. Let’s hope it doesn’t freeze or you won’t be able to
see.” He laughed, shaking his head.

“Okay. Okay, I
can do this. Here’s the ignition. And here’s the four on the floor. Okay, let’s
go for it.”

She eased the
car out of the parking space, then shifted to forward and—
SCREEEEEECH!!!

“¡Tranquila! Slow
down! Slow down!”

She jammed her
foot on the brakes, jolting them hard against their seat belts. “Sorry.”

“Are you sure
you know how to drive?”

“Of course! It’s
just that I’m not used to such a fancy—”

The car peeled
out again. Sergio let his head fall back on the headrest, letting out a loud
yell. “¡Ayúdame, Jesús!” he shouted, laughing.

“I’m guessing
that was a prayer?”

“You could say
that.” He rattled off another long line of Spanish then laughed again.

They made it to
Sonic in one piece and Kylie guided the car into a remote slot at the far end
of the drive-in. She put the car in park and turned, giving her passenger a
triumphant smile. “See? I did it! We made it safe and—”

“And that would
be the top going down.”

“Oh no! I’m
sorry! Here, let me . . . there! Here it comes back up. No
problem.” Nervous giggle.

“Kylie, do you
live your whole life like this? We’ve only been together for about—” He looked
at his watch. “—twenty minutes now, and frankly, I’m exhausted. And yes, that
would be the windshield wipers again. Kylie! Turn it off! I’m getting soaked!”

Finally, the top
returned securely in place, the wipers were turned off, and Kylie slumped back
in her seat. “I’m
so
embarrassed. I wanted to make such a good
impression on you and look at me. I feel like Lucy here.” She buried her face
in her hands.

“Luuuccccy? You
got some ‘splainin’ to do!” Sergio mimicked.

“Oh, Riiiiccckkky . . . .
waaaaaaah!”

“Now, Luuuccccy,
stop that cryin’ . . .”

They laughed
until they hurt and Kylie wiped tears from her eyes. “I can’t believe this!
Really. Even for me, this is
most
embarrassing.”

Sergio let out a
long sigh. “Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself. To tell you the truth, it feels
great to laugh. I haven’t laughed—well, it’s been a long time.” He winked at
her and her heart skipped a beat.

When she and
Hannah were younger, they used to swoon at Sergio’s signature wink in
interviews and music videos. He was a pro at it.

And to think
this one was just for me.

They ordered
Cokes and a large order of fries to share. When the attendant brought their
order, Kylie was pleased to find the right button to roll down the car window.
She tossed a smug expression toward Sergio and discovered him huddled against
the passenger door, the bill on his cap pulled low.

She handed him
his drink. “Here Sergio—uh, KEN! Here, Ken . . . here’s your
drink, KEN.” She shot the attendant a fake smile. “That’s Ken. Uh, here . . .
keep the change. Thank you. Bye.”

“Smooth,” he
teased. “You’re really good at being discreet.”

“Hey, it’s my
first time! You should have seen Hannah when I—” She winced.

“When you what?”

“Nothing.”

“Kylie, you can
forget the pretense. I know you know where she is. And you and I both know
you’re going to tell me.” He stuffed a couple of French fries in his mouth.

“Oh yeah?”

“Sure. So why
don’t you just ‘splain it all to me, Luuuccccy, and we can get on with it.”

Her brow
wrinkled quizzically as she took a sip of her Coke. “Get on with what?”

“It was a figure
of speech.”

“Oh.”

“So she’s in Florida
and you have her number . . . and . . .?”

She bit into a
fry.

“And this is
where you fill in the rest of the sentence, Kylie.”

I love how he
says my name. I could listen to that for the rest of my life . . .
She snatched another couple of fries.

“You’re hogging
the fries.”

“I’m hungry,”
she mumbled.

He grabbed the
bag away from her. “Nope. No more. Not until you talk.”

She wiped her
hands on a napkin. “And I thought Laura was stubborn.”

“Taught me
everything I know.” He smiled.

“Sergio, do you
really expect me to break my promise and—”

“Yes.”

“—tell you where
she is—”

“Yes.”

“—when she
specifically asked me
not
to tell any of you?”

“She told you
not to tell
me
?”

“Well, she—”

“She actually
said to you, ‘Kylie, don’t tell Sergio where I am.’ She said that to you?”

She took a long
sip of Coke until the straw squawked.

“Ah ha! She
didn’t, did she? So you can tell me. Problem solved.”

“Sergio! Stop
making this so—”

Honk!

“
And that would be the horn you’re
leaning on, Kylie.”

She pulled her
elbows back from the steering wheel. “Good grief! This thing is booby-trapped.”

“Face it, woman,
you are some kind of wicked behind that wheel.”

“Oh yeah? I
kinda like the sound of that . . . say it again,” she flirted.

“Not until you
tell me.”

She shifted in
the seat, careful not to touch anything, tucking her leg beneath her. She
tilted her head and studied him.
Why does he have to be so handsome? Why do
his teeth have to be so straight? Why are his eyes so sexy . . .

“Kylie?”

Kah-lee. Kah-lee,
Kah-lee, Kah-lee. Who knew I had such a sexy name?

“Hannah. Where. Is.
She. We’re all worried sick about her. We got really attached to her over the
last few weeks. When Jackson got shot and we were all together at the hospital—I
mean, she was there for Jason, y’know? She got him through it. But when that
press conference exploded and then they plastered her face all over the news—”

“I know all
this, Sergio,” Kylie interrupted, surprised at the sharp tone of her voice. “I
was there. I saw her face on the news. I was there when she watched the news
reports with Jason
and Jennifer
all over the screen. I was there when
she got so scared she was literally shaking. I was there when the news van came
roaring into her parking lot. I was with her through that, Sergio. And I’ve
seen how Jason
broke her heart
! I’ve had to watch my best friend die
inside because of all of you.” She stopped, short of breath from the outburst.
She looked out her window, not wanting him to see her tears.

“Hey, I’m so sorry,
Kylie.” He reached out, turning her chin toward him with his finger. “I didn’t
mean to hurt you.”

She closed her
eyes, embarrassed to let him see her get so emotional. One minute they were
laughing and now huge crocodile tears were spilling down the side of her face.
He caught the one nearest him. “I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s just that . . .
Sergio, you’ve got to realize I’ve known Hannah almost my entire life. She’s
like a sister to me. And you guys, you all have known her, what—maybe two or three
weeks
? When I left for the holidays, she was bummed about having to work
but she was okay. And when I got back she was devastated. I’ve never seen her
like that before.

“So when Laura—and
now you—ask me to just forget all that and tell you the one thing she asked me
not
to tell you, well, it’s not something I take lightly.”

Sergio studied Kylie. Her face was so fair, sprinkled with tiny freckles.
He’d never known anyone with that many freckles before. But somehow they were
an integral part of who she was. They set her apart, made her special. And they
totally matched her personality. What a piece of work she was.

He noticed the
laugh lines that crinkled when she smiled. Her shining green eyes. And her hair . . .
not even JT ever tried a red that shade! But he had to admit she was cute in
her own special way. There was something so unique, so refreshing about her.

Then he
remembered that he was no longer interested in women or relationships or
getting to know anyone new. He forced himself back to the task.

“First of all,
I’m sorry, Kylie. We blew it. What can I say? It was out of line for Laura and
me to corner you. Okay?”

She nodded her
head without looking at him.

“But you have to
believe me when I tell you we are
only
interested in Hannah’s
well-being. We’re concerned about her. We’ve played the game for years with
this kind of notoriety and scandals and the wild chases with the paparazzi.
It’s not fun and it can be very frightening. Especially to someone who is
unfamiliar with all of it.

“But even beyond
all that, there’s an element of danger. I mean, everyone remembers what
happened to Princess Diana. That’s the extreme edge where this kind of thing
can go. They don’t know when to draw the line. They don’t know when to stop.”