Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (25 page)

Fred
and Kit had been so engrossed that she had no idea a half hour had passed.
 
The phone in the studio rang and prompted
her to pick it up on the first ring.
 
She recognized Giselle’s voice requesting she come back to the office.

She
materialized moments later and noticed Sully sitting in front of Giselle’s desk
with his feet propped up.
 
He nodded
at her.
 
“Hey, babe.
 
I’m headed out in fifteen minutes.”

She nodded
and looked at Giselle.
 
“What time
do they land in Indy?”

Giselle
glanced at the itinerary.
 
“Five-thirty.
 
The limo is
going to take him directly to the hospital where they’ll do the blood
test.
 
They’ll fax the results for
him in the morning.
 
He’ll be back
on the jet to Burbank at ten Indy time, which puts him in here tonight at
around ten, ten-thirty.”

Kit
nodded.
 
“Ok, good.
 
And this works with Daniel too?”

“Yes.
 
One of the limos is already en route to
him now.
 
And just as Sully said,
his will be here in about ten minutes to pick him up.”

She
looked at Sully again, unsure what to do at the moment.
 
He could tell she felt awkward and stood
up.
 
He took her hand and led her
out of the office and into the foyer, silently.
 

He took
her into his arms and held her tightly, feeling a slight resistance that he
wasn’t used to.
 
He whispered into
her ear.
 
“I’m gonna fix this,
Kit.
 
It’s gonna be ok.”
 
He pulled back for a moment, gazed into
her eyes that were rapidly filling with tears and gave her a long kiss in an attempt
to reassure her.
 
“I promise you,
Kitty-Kat, we’ll be ok.”
 
He gently
took her face into his hands.

She
sighed and gazed into his eyes, unable to respond.
 
She was about to open her mouth to say
something when the doorbell rang.
 
Sully rushed over and opened it, greeted by the driver.
 

He
turned around and looked at Kit one last time.
 
“I have to go.
 
I love you, babe.”

She nodded
and waved to him.
 
“I love you
too.”
  
She watched as the
front door shut and felt warm tears slowly roll down her cheeks.
 
She let out a breath, wiped her tears
and headed back to the studio.

The
black sludgy coffee in Kit’s cup was so strong she winced after taking a sip.
 
She had many skills and talents to
contribute to this world, but making coffee certainly was not one of them.
 
She always relied on her housekeeper,
Ariana, or Giselle and Sully to make it for her in a pinch.
 
They all possessed the magical touch of
turning fresh ground Columbian beans into a dark, rich nectar of the gods that
tasted spectacular.
 

Not
this morning.
 
She had been unable
to stay up for Sully the night before—her sleep deprivation from the
previous day had caught up, and she crashed.
 
Her schedule was off.
 
She awoke at four in the morning and
thought it best to dive in and get some work done in the studio since they were
so close to finishing.
 

She
attempted to make coffee for herself, realizing now that she had failed
miserably.
 
She reached for the
cream and sugar, desperately upping her normal dosage in hopes of doctoring up
an already hot mess into something potable that she was easily able to
imbibe.
 
It would have to work until
her Ariana or Giselle appeared and was able to make her a new pot.

She sat
at the boards and admired them thoughtfully.
 
She sighed, experiencing a moment of awe
and wonder like a child.
 
She never
thought she’d be this involved in the making of an album.
 
She was delighted by the thought.
 
The new album seemed to be fairing well
so far.
 
She had a gut feeling it
would be favored by fans and critics alike.

By
eight o’clock, she had made plenty of progress and was confident that Fred
would be grateful she had taken some items off of his plate.
 
She crossed her fingers and dialed her
office inside the house.
 
She prayed
Giselle had come in early.
 
She was
in desperate need of coffee again and wasn’t about to start on the scotch train
so early as she had the morning before.
 

Giselle
picked up on the first ring.
 
Kit
promptly pleaded with her, and she laughed.
 
Ten minutes later, she appeared with a
large thermal carafe of freshly brewed coffee for Kit.

She
smiled, looking relieved.
 
“You are
a lifesaver.
 
Really.
 
You have no idea.
 
I almost killed myself on the shit I
made this morning.”

Giselle
chuckled.
 
“I noticed.”
 
She then grimaced. “It looked pretty
awful, kinda like mud. Ariana and I were laughing about it.
 
She made this coffee, by the way, after
the horrifying discovery of what you made in the wee hours of this morning,
obviously.
 
Just how many scoops did
you put in there once you grinded the beans?”

She
naively shrugged her shoulders.
 
“I
don’t know, like ten or fifteen?”

Giselle
burst out laughing.
 
“Well, no
wonder.
 
Next time, amiga, leave me
and Ariana to the coffee making in this house, ok?
 
I’ll make sure to stock you up with some
instant in the cupboard just in case neither one of us are available.”

She
giggled.
 
“Ok.
 
Thank you.
 
Any faxes come in?”
 
She raised her eyebrows and donned a
hopeful grin.

Giselle
shook her head.
 
“No.
 
Not yet.”

She
nodded.
 
“Ok.
 
I better get back to work.
 
Thanks again for this, G.
 
You’re the best.”

Sully
strolled into the kitchen still waking up from a good night’s sleep, as Giselle
walked in from the studio.
 
He
glanced over at her.
 
“Good morning,
G.”

She
offered a friendly smile.
 
“Good
morning, Sully.
 
How are you feeling
this morning?”

“Good.
 
Better once I have some coffee.”

She
giggled.
 
“Kit attempted to make
coffee for herself this morning.”

He held
the coffee pot in his hand and was poised to pour it into his cup when he
stopped.
 
He gave Giselle a
concerned look.
 
“She made this?”

Giselle
laughed.
 
“No, Ariana did.
 
It’s a newly brewed pot.
 
But she attempted to make some for
herself way earlier this morning, and it was a complete disaster.”

Sully
nodded and laughed.
 
“My wife should
never be allowed to make coffee.
 
Ever.
 
We should have had
that written into our wedding vows.”

They
both laughed, and she left the kitchen.
 
She walked into the office and heard the familiar sound of a
transmission coming through on the fax machine.
 
She ran toward it, catching each page
carefully as it was spit out.
 
She
looked at the cover page and noticed it was from the hospital in Indiana.
 

She
yelled at the top of her lungs.
 
“Sully!
 
Sull, come in here!”

He ran
into the office and looked at her.
 
“What?
 
What’s going on?”

She
handed him the pages.
 
“It’s from
the hospital.
 
It’s the results for
your paternity test.”

He
stared at her temporarily as he seized the pages and looked at them.
 
“What does it say?”

She
shrugged her shoulders.
 
“I
dunno.
 
I only read the cover
page.
 
It said the results were
following on the next page.”

He
swallowed hard and flipped to page two of the fax.
 
He read the document quickly, and an
immediate grin formed on his face.
 
Relieved,
he looked up at Giselle.
 
“Just as I
thought.
 
I’m not the father.”
 
He let out a long deep breath.
 
“Glad this shit is over.
 
What’s next?”

Giselle
shrugged her shoulders.
 
“Not
sure.
 
We’ll have to ask Kit what’s
next from a legal perspective.”

He
nodded.
 
“I gotta tell her the
news.
 
Did you say she’s out in the
studio?”

“Yeah.”

“Is she
out there with Fred?”

“No.
 
She’s alone with her carafe of coffee.
 
Go tell her.”

Sully
walked into the studio, hearing ‘Anything for You’ blaring over the
speakers.
 
He watched carefully and
noticed her listening intently making sure nothing needed a tweak.
 
As he listened to the song, he chuckled
thinking that the timing was perfect.
 
The lyrics of the song couldn’t be more appropriate for the news he was
about to spring on her.
 
It would
only serve to enhance the moment.

He
walked over and took Fred’s seat next to her at the console.
 
She glanced over at him and grinned.
 
She pulled down the faders, reducing the
volume rapidly in the control room.
 
“Good morning, babe.

What’s
up?”

He grinned
and held up the folded paper containing the results.
 
“I want to show you something.”

She
turned her chair to face him.
 
“Ok.”

He
leaned forward, unfolded the paper, turned it to face her and held it up so she
could read it.
 
“Take a look at
this.”

She scanned
it quickly, and a smile of sheer relief spread across her face as tears of joy
flooded her emerald eyes.
 
He
grinned and took her face into his hands.
 
He wiped away her tears and nodded.
 
“I am so sorry I put you through this.
 
I never would want to do anything to
hurt you.
 
I know that I did.
 
Will you forgive me for this?”

She
nodded and hugged him tightly.
 
She
spoke softly while staying in the safety of his strong arms.
 
“Yes.
 
I forgive you, honey.”
 
She pulled back and looked at him,
grinning.

He
gazed into her eyes.
 
“I love you so
much.
 
I promise you that the only
time you’ll hear that I’m the father of a child is when it’s ours.
 
This will not happen again.”

She
stroked his cheek.
 
“I know,
babe.
 
It’s behind us now.
 
Let’s keep it there and move forward.”

He
nodded and interlocked his fingers with hers.
 
“I know we’re finishing an album, and
we’ve got a big tour ahead of us, but don’t think for a minute that I’ve lost
my desire to start a family with you.
 
And don’t give me some bullshit excuse that it’s not going to
happen.
 
We can make anything happen
together.”

She
smiled contently.
 
“I know,
babe.
 
When it’s time.
 
It’s just not time yet.
 
We’ll get there someday.”

He
leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
 
“Yes we will.”

CHAPTER 14

Giselle
looked up with trepidation in her eyes as Kit lay the thick spiral bound book
down on the desk in front of her.
 
“Is
this it?”