Lucky kicked the trashcan as he threw away the rest of his morning coffee. Glancing at his watch, he realized he still had ten minutes before he was actually scheduled to meet Patrick. While Cameron loved the two weeks he spent with Tony and Lisa every summer, Lucky had to admit not having him around really messed with his schedule.
They had tried all night. Courtney had been true to her word and not given them anything remotely useful in finding the girls. He was not inclined to take her up on any of her suggestions about where exactly they could wait until Robin and Elizabeth decided to return. His ears still burned with the names she had tossed in their directions. Apparently someone had decided to teach Courtney how to curse people out in Spanish.
Not that he didn't deserve it. He had one mother of an apology to deliver to Elizabeth. If he could find her to give it. Or if she stuck around long enough to hear it. At this very second he was almost positive that Max was ranking better than he was. How could he have been so stupid? Had he been drunk? There had been drinking involved, but thanks to Cruz's newfound love of weak beer, Lucky hadn't been close to a buzz much less drunk. High? He hadn't even managed a way to stand cigarette smoke and his father smoked a cigar! There was no logical explanation for his loose lips except one. He had been one stupid asshole.
Lucky kicked the defenseless trash can again. Kevin Collins lied. Taking anger out on inanimate objects didn't help. It made him angrier and his foot hurt. "Spend all night looking and all you got is a hurt foot. Real tribute to your Spencer genes," he muttered.
"Are you ever a tribute to the Spencer genes?" Patrick wondered as he walked upon his cousin.
Lucky narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "Sleep on the lawn?"
Patrick thought about taking offense to his cousin's comment, but he, himself, hadn't even consulted his mirror this morning. He knew what he'd find if he looked: puffy red eyes from little sleep and tangled, messy hair. He wasn't sure why he had thought Courtney might break eventually, especially with all that was going on between the two roommates, but he had underestimated her loyalty. For all the time they spent reasoning with her, he could have found Robin. "Sleep is overrated."
Lucky managed a shrug in agreement. It wasn't as if he was standing on any higher ground. He was still in the same clothes he had worn last night, once clean and pressed, now completely wrinkled and crumpled. The bags that always appeared when he worked all night were more than likely visible beneath his bloodshot eyes. It was probably a good thing they hadn't actually found where the girls had run to last night. Their current appearance would probably scare them off for good. "How much crow do you think he'll make us eat?" He gestured to the door.
It was a crap shoot. Family was one thing, but there were more than a few conflicts of interest in this situation. They had come here because they were literally out of ideas. The longer the girls were gone, the more trouble they would be in. As far as Robin was concerned, he didn't want to think that he had given her enough time to revert back to hating him. "Our situations will probably amuse him like they always do."
"So the usual. We're just going to give him a million more jokes to use at the dinners." Lucky squared his shoulders and moved to enter the small store front. "Come on. The longer we wait out here, the more he's going to make fun of us. We both know he saw us out here."
"Probably made a list of all the hoops he wants us to jump through." Patrick figured, following Lucky into the office.
Lucas tried to hide his smile as he watched his cousins walk into his office. He had been wondering when they were going to ask him for help ever since Lulu had called him last night and given all the gory details. Glancing at his watch, he noted the time. 8:15 a.m. Damn, he was going to owe Dillon ten bucks. He had thought it would at least take them until noon to show up.
"Lucky. Patrick. What are you doing here?" It was hard, but Lucas did manage to keep the laugh out of his voice.
Lucky rolled his eyes. "Don't pretend you don't know. Lulu probably called you five seconds after we left." He pushed back one of the two chairs Lucas had for client consultations and dropped himself in. Holding a hand up to block the morning sun from blinding him in the eyes, he glared at his cousin. "I thought private eyes were supposed to have dark, gritty offices."
"Yeah but gay private eyes are supposed to have neon and pink everywhere. I split the difference."
"You know why we're here, so let's cut through the yellow tape and get to business." Patrick suggested, taking the seat next to Lucky and folding down into it. Amazing how he could feel so small when he was the tallest of the three men.
Lucas turned towards his computer, preparing to type in the need information. "Ok I know the basics on both girls. Aunt Laura is very good at getting information. I bet if I really needed their social security numbers she would have already had them. I'm assuming that they stopped and changed before they took off so what they wore last night won't be helpful. Where did you all look?"
"Audrey Hardy's, Robin and Courtney's and, on a real long shot, Kelly's." Lucky ticked off.
Lucas shot them both an incredulous stare. "Kelly's? You actually thought they would have gone to Kelly's? Everyone runs to Kelly's. It's way too obvious."
"We also checked the train and bus stations along with the airport. Wherever they've gone, they aren't too far. Robin would never put an incredible distance between her and Morgan." Patrick added with a shake of his head.
Lucas nodded his agreement. Both Morgan and Lance were in the same camp this week. "Did you check car rental agencies?"
"Why would they rent a car? They each have their own." Patrick glanced over at Lucky for verification.
"And we found Elizabeth's at Audrey's and Robin's at the loft." Lucky remembered with a groan. "Remember? We thought Courtney had driven them to the airport or somewhere."
"That's right." Patrick recalled vaguely. Though he knew it was a long shot, he really hoped Robin would let him catch a few hours' sleep once they made up.
"I'll start there. Probably won't lead anywhere unless they turn the car in wherever they are but it's a start. Any ideas where they would have gone?"
"They were really upset." Patrick told Lucas solemnly. "They could be anywhere."
"You think Courtney helped them any?"
"Since she cussed us up one side and back down the other all night? Yeah she helped." Lucky answered.
"No doubt about it. And she thinks she's so clever." Patrick muttered.
"So major metropolitan area, within driving distance, close enough to return in case of emergency. And knowing Courtney, I'd say a spa is involved somehow."
Her "pool shoes," as the taffy-pink flip flops had been dubbed, slapped angrily against the smooth concrete as Robin rounded the pool, spotting her friend in the hot tub with cucumbers over her eyes and her hair done-up in a strict bun. The noise barely alerted Elizabeth, but a simple tap on the shoulder sent the cucumbers flying and her friend sputtering water as she tried to find her bearings.
"Got kicked out of the kitchen?" Elizabeth smirked as Robin lowered herself into the heated water. She had tried to tell her friend going to "help out in the kitchen" was a bad idea, but Robin hadn't listened.
"You'd think I was a nutritionist by the way they were carrying on." Robin leaned back so that her neck was rested on the edge of the hot tub.
"Robin you do realize the point of a spa is to relax right? Trying to convince the kitchen staff to change the way they make bagels is not anyone's idea of relaxing."
"It was only a suggestion. They tasted like burnt cardboard." Robin argued, forcing her eyes to close. To say she had "relaxed" at all would have been a flat-out lie. Having woken up every three hours, she finally gave up and watched the night give way to the day. She had already been asleep by the time Elizabeth found her in the balcony lounge chair.
"How long are we going to avoid it?" Elizabeth wondered. She hadn't slept at all last night and fought the urge to pick up her cell phone every ten minutes. Giving up on sleep, she had put the TV on mute and watched the flickering images until sunlight blinded her eyes.
"I'm sure we can find something else to eat for breakfast." Robin reasoned.
"Not what I meant and you know it."
"Talking about it doesn't make it hurt any less." Robin pointed out.
"True. Alright. I have a proposal."
"Please share." Robin was desperate. Elizabeth could suggest anything short of moving to Vegas and becoming pole dancers and she bet she'd go along with it.
"Unless it is to plot the sheer tonnage of glass they will be forced to eat, we do not mention the Princes of Dickville while we are here. We will be hot, single women out for nothing but a good time."
Robin was glad she had learned to think before she spoke otherwise she would have admitted a very clear truth: she didn't want to be single. For all of his flaws, and there were a lot, Patrick gave her the attention she needed. Just as long as she kept reminding herself why she was so mad at him and why she'd never trust him again, she might survive this mini-vacation. "Okay." She said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.
Elizabeth could hear the insincerity in Robin's voice. In her heart, she knew she wouldn't be able to follow through with it either. She had not wanted to fall for anyone, much less someone with Lucky's reputation, and yet she had. And here she was hurt, just like she knew she would be. But the craziest thing was, she was actually considering accepting an apology should he give one. Then she would remember why she was mad at him in the first place and hurt all over again. "We are so pathetic."
"We're not pathetic. We're just sick of being hurt. You'd think our pasts would make us less susceptible to the opposite sex." Robin sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"It would help if it made us less susceptible to sex period." Elizabeth leaned her head back on the edge of the tub.
Robin made a face. "I don't think I'd survive a convent."
"Well the outfits would do nothing for our complexions."
"We'd piss off a lot of penguins." Robin offered her friend a smile and found that the effort it took wasn't quite as destabilizing as she had expected.
Elizabeth did manage a small smile. "Well penguins are all kinds of hot right now. We don't want to piss them off."
"Do we forget them completely, or get to work on their punishments?" Robin wondered, opening her eyes and catching Elizabeth's weary expression.
In her humble opinion, revenge was best served while gorging on chocolate and getting good and wasted on a bottle of wine. Was it too early for that? Since they had just eaten breakfast, it most likely was. "The type of punishments they deserve require much alcohol and fattening dessert type food."
"I love dessert type food!" Robin exclaimed, catching the attention of a group of teenage boys splashing each other in the pool.
"So chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, revenge, and manicures in the salon then?"
Robin smiled. "Absolutely. Let's show these guys who they're messing with."
Bobbie wandered out onto her back porch with her morning cup of coffee in her hand. Placing the mug down on the patio table, she adjusted the belt of her short cotton robe tightly against her body. Sitting down in the padded chair, she pulled her knees up under her, bringing the steaming mug up to her lips.
Before she had come down the stairs this morning, she had peeked through the blinds and spotted his SUV still parked in her driveway. Before she had gone to bed, she had put earplugs in to drown out any additional attempts of Cruz to get into the house, so she could not say for sure if he had left last night and come back or stayed out there all night.
As mad as she was with him, she hated to admit she missed him. She missed feeling his arms around her as she slept, feeling his breath on the back of her neck. Hell she even missed his habit of stealing all the covers. She just plain missed him.
Bobbie was woman enough to admit that if he started to apologize again, she would most likely cave and forgive him. Especially if he gave her those puppy dog eyes of his. Even when she knew he was just trying to manipulate her with those, she could not resist them. But that didn't meant she couldn't make him sweat out there in the car just a bit longer.
There was something about sleeping on plywood without a pillow, blanket, or mattress to speak of that made Cruz feel about a hundred years old. The idea might not have been the smartest thing he had ever done, but he had read plenty of horror stories about idiotic teenagers falling asleep in a car and never waking up to know that he didn't want to tempt Fate. She was, most likely, on Bobbie's side. The tree house had looked abandoned, but still well-kept. Of course, it had been a hit or miss if it could support his weight. At least if he fell, he had reasoned the previous night, Bobbie would feel obligated to nurse him back to health.
Before last night he had thought maybe the rumor of the evil Blue Jay was nothing more than that. Before last night he hadn't held a special hatred for all things poultry. Before last night he had been so sure his relationship with Bobbie was steady and could weather anything. The fact that she hadn't let him in the house despite his dogged attempts made him uneasy. The concept of them as a couple had always felt too good to be true, and maybe now God had decided it was time to cut him off. Cruz could hear his friends in the back of his mind reminding him that now was probably the best time to cut all ties before he got himself hurt. Having never been dumped, Cruz admitted he might be a little spoiled and egotistical. The mere idea that a woman could decide to live her life without him in it was preposterous.
And then there was Barbara Jean Spencer. He had thought that maybe he was to thank for her learning to live and trust again, but he now saw how backwards he had gotten it. She had changed him...for the better. She had pushed him. She had supported him. Hell, she hadn't seem the least bit surprised when his magazine took home that award. It was her faith in him, her unwillingness to let him settle, that made her the one person he felt he could count on no matter what.
Now he had possibly lost his best friend. What if she never forgave him? What if he couldn't get her to see his side of things? If that were the case, he was not above announcing their relationship to anyone within a hundred-mile radius. He couldn't lose her. He didn't want all of her fine work to have been for nothing. He could trust in his own talent and she was the driving force behind his confidence. Cruz had always put up a convincing front for his friends, usually poking fun at their life choices, but, until Barbara Jean Spencer, he had been hiding his true self. Who was to say that Lucky and Patrick would even be able to recognize him anymore?
It was the creaking of the boards that caught her attention first. The tree house Tony had built Lucas and BJ when they were small had always had a problem with creaks. It had made it easy to tell exactly where the kids were at all times. Looking up, she squinted to see if she could see anyone. Morgan and Lance were at camp. Cameron was visiting his other grandparents. It wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility Michael had run from AJ and camped out there but it was unlikely. AJ called every time Michael had attempted that stunt.
"Michael? Is that you sweetie?" she called up just to be sure.
The voice was muffled but it was unmistakably Bobbie's. She must have found him out. Her tone was friendly, goading. For a brief couple of seconds, he entertained the idea that she had spotted him and was ready to make-up. Calling back down to her, he caught the sight of her standing on the last step, the sun surrounding her perfect frame in a flawless silhouette.
Hurrying down the toothpick-thin stairs, he stumbled to the ground and half-jogged, half-ran to where his girlfriend waited. As soon as her eyes fell upon his, she turned slightly to the left, looking like she might dash inside, but his hand was on her right wrist and she didn't move an inch. "Bobbie."
She had frozen the second he made his way down the stairs. He was in no way her grandson. And how the hell could he look so appealing still after sleeping outside all night? She hurriedly ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't think it was you."
"Are you going to stand there and tell me that you're upset it is me?" His very breath rested on her answer.
"Did you sleep there are all night?" She hedged, trying to avoid answering his question. It was one thing to know you would cave and forgive him; it was quite another to speed up the timetable because of his unexpected appearance.
"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are when you're asleep?" Her window slightly open, the curtains slapping against the pale yellow walls of her bedroom, giving Cruz an unobstructed view of her restless form. It was then that he decided to leave her for the night, but not to go too far. He hadn't wanted to disturb her.
"Flattery? You are seriously trying flattery at this point?"
"I was going more for honesty." Cruz kept his tone level, not wanting to press his luck.
She pulled her arm out of his grasp and crossed her arms across her chest. "Funny. I didn't realize you were acquainted with the concept of honesty these days."
"I made a mistake. I've never claimed to be perfect." Cruz defended.
"I never asked you to be perfect. I do recall asking you to be honest."
"Would you have come with me if I'd told you the truth? No. You would have stayed hidden, just like always." Cruz scoffed.
So they were here already. Not that it was that big of a surprise to her, Bobbie supposed. She knew this part of the fight at least was coming. "You know I have my reasons for that."
"What do I really know Bobbie? The longer we hide, the more it makes me think…" Cruz let the uncertainty hang in the air between them.
"Think what?" When he started to look away from her, Bobbie reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "You brought this up. Don't walk away like that."
"That you're ashamed to be with me." Cruz whispered brokenly.
Shocked, Bobbie sunk down on the steps. Ashamed of him? Why on earth would she be ashamed of him? It should be the other way around, shouldn't it? There were many reasons she wanted to hide away with him, but shame wasn't one of them. "Baby," she whispered reaching for his hand. "I'd never be ashamed to be with you. Never."
Cruz wanted to lean into her, wanted to show her just a little of the vulnerability he knew to be swirling around in his hazelnut brown eyes, but his reaction was far more knee-jerk. He turned away from her touch as if she had burned him. He recognized the pity in her tone. How could he have thought there was more here than that? She wasn't with him because she wanted a future with him; she just didn't want to hurt him. He had gotten invested and she was trying her best to backpedal before she lost a part of herself too.
"If anything baby I'm afraid of what would happen if we went public." She continued, walking slowly up behind him.
"You're not the only one with something to lose Bobbie." Cruz reminded her.
"It's not me I'm worried about. It's you."
"I don't care. Don't you see? As long as I've got you, I don't care what the cost is." Cruz knew it'd kill him if Lucky and Patrick found that they couldn't stand the sight of him anymore, but he might as well lay down in his grave now if he was going to have to give up the woman he loved.
Bobbie wiped at her eyes stinging with tears. Although she was fairly certain she had heard similar words before, never had they touched her so deeply as they did right now. She could see clearly for the first time just how empty her life would be now if she lost him. She had lost so many over the years for various reasons. Some serious and some entirely stupid. This fight was inching closer and closer to the stupid side with every passing second. Lovingly running her fingers through his hair, she smiled softly. "What about a compromise?"
"I don't want a compromise." Cruz shook his head, facing her now. "I want all of you."
"You already have all of me. What I need is time. And that is what I am proposing here."
"We're not doing anything wrong." Cruz insisted, trailing his thumb over her left cheek.
"I know we aren't. But letting everyone else in on this is not going to be easy."
"I'm not looking for easy." Cruz challenged.
"I'm getting that." She nuzzled her cheek against his hand. "I will promise to be more willing to go public, but you have to be honest about it from here on out. No more lies or guilt trips." She moved to kiss the inside of his palm. "If you had just told me you really wanted me there, I would have found it impossible to tell you no."
"When did you get so logical Miss Spencer?" Cruz teased, kissing the tip of her nose.
"It's a curse of old age."
Cruz chuckled. "I don't see Patrick anywhere, so you'll forgive me if I don't see anyone suffering from old age around here."
"And now we're back to flattery are we?" Bobbie teased pulling him closer to her. "That still won't get you out of the apology you owe me."
"Yes, but I have all day to show you just how sorry I am." Cruz whispered, pressing his mouth to her ear.