Max's cell phone woke him up. He answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi, Max," Roxanne's voice said.
Max looked around to see that Roxanne wasn't in the room's bed. She wasn't in the room at all. He knew she wasn't even in the bathroom because the door was opened and there was no one in it. "Hi, Roxanne. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Sorry I left you early, but my husband wants to meet me back in his penthouse as soon as possible. I just called you for three reasons. A: to test that our phone numbers are still working so we can contact each other for future conversations. B: thank you for letting me stay at your motel room last night. I haven't had a better sleep's worth for a long while. And C: Break a leg for your concert tonight."
"Thanks, Roxanne," Max said. "And no problem for last night. It was great to see you again."
"And it was great to see you, too, Max," Roxanne said. "Oh, I'm at the penthouse now. Bye."
"Bye." Max turned his phone off.
"Can we come out now, T-Rax?"
Max looked at the bed. "Of course, Nutsy. Come on out."
The robots got out under the bed.
"Thanks for staying out of sight, guys," Max said, as he got off the couch. "How uncomfortable was it under there?"
"Not bad," Botty said. "Not bad at all."
"It's better than our charging rooms back at home at least," Screwy said.
"Well, thanks again, guys," Max said, as he headed to the bathroom. "You are all very awesome."
"No problem," Botty said. "We were very happy to help you catch up with your special friend." She said all that before Max closed the door behind him.
"Do you think mother will find out about T-Rax and his friend last night?" Nutsy asked.
"Or that we turned off our vision connections to her so she wouldn't know about Max's friend last night?" Screwy asked.
"Well, let's hope she's too busy writing new songs and planning more tours and albums to notice any of this," Botty said.
If the robots turned around, they would notice that a figure that looked like their mother outside the motel room window.
"You three, my children, in league with T-Rax rebelling against me? Well, you three shall be so punished that you will never disobey me ever again!"
Once again, T-Rax had another successful concert that night. After signing autographs for fans as he left the stadium, he was looking forward to a good night's rest. But when he arrived at the motel, he was surprised when he saw Roxanne standing outside his room and at half ten at night. She was wearing a red t-shirt, blue jean shorts, white shoes and sunglasses over her eyes. She was carrying her suitcase – the same one that Hugo and his friends threw into the pond along with her.
"Hi, Roxanne," he greeted. "Is everything okay?"
The only reply he got was when she wrapped her arms around him.
"I just had to see you again," she said.
"Has Hugo done something to you again?" He asked.
She nodded. She took her glasses off.
Max gasped as he looked at her face. Both of her eyes were black eyes. "Oh, you poor thing! Come on inside."
When they went in, Max was surprised that they were two cups of tea ready for them on the table by the couch. Judging by the looks of them, they were made by the robots. They made very good cups of tea.
After Max sat down with Roxanne on the couch and picked up their cups of tea, she began her story. When she went back to meet his husband in his penthouse, he had a go at her for arriving so late and not being in time for his breakfast. She couldn't take his abusive behaviour any longer. She tried to argue with him about the way he had been treating her since they got married, with last night when he and his friends threw her into the pond being a very good example. All he did was justify his horrible behaviour and say it was her own fault for being herself and not being who he wanted her to be. Then he went on about how hard he always worked, even though he had never done any of the sort during his life, and how she was always getting in the way and letting him down and that she should be grateful for a husband like him because no one would tolerate with someone like her. Then when she finally went to do his breakfast for him, she slipped on a banana skin and she fell down on the stairs and that was her she got her black eyes. She remembered when she walked up the stairs to the second floor of the penthouse that was no banana skin there at all. That was how she knew that he somehow threw that banana skin there for her to trip over.
As Roxanne took a breather after explaining so much, she broke down into tears. It hurt as she cried because of her black eyes, but she was so upset that she couldn't help it. "Hugo doesn't do anything at all," she continued. "All he does is rely on his dad's fortune and drink a lot and see other women, even though he's my husband. When he's at home, he just drinks and watches TV while I do all the housework and be his slave."
As she continued to cry, Max wrapped his arms around her and stroked her beautiful red hair, trying to comfort her and make her feel better about herself. She didn't stop crying for at least twenty minutes and then she took some breaths.
"Are you feeling a bit better?" Max asked.
"Much better, thanks, Max." Then she kissed him on the cheek.
Max did his goofy laugh.
"Can I stay with you until your tour finishes, Max?" Roxanne asked. "I really need to get away from Hugo and his friends. I'll pay for my stay here."
"No problem," Max said.
"Oh, thank you!" Roxanne cried happily. "Thank you so much! But this time, don't sleep on the couch. I'll sleep on it this time."
"Do you want to see if both of us can get into the bed?" Max suggested. "If we do, I won't do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. I promise."
"Well, okay," Roxanne said.
After Max put on his dark blue night shorts and white vest and Roxanne put on her sleeveless white nightgown, they got into bed. It was big enough for both of them and they both had enough space.
"Good night, Max," Roxanne said.
"Good night, Roxanne," Max said.
When Max and Roxanne woke up the next morning, they both felt they had a very good night's sleep. They were both surprised to be find themselves wrapped in each other's arms. They had no idea how they did it, but they were glad they did.
"Maybe that's why we slept well together," Max joked.