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Mona gaped in awe at the boxes Alex had displayed on the table between their seats on the flight home. “Did you buy the entire jewelry store, Alex?”
“Just about,” Slater muttered, then shook his head at his wife. “I’m convinced she kept adding things out of stubbornness just so I would let her pay.”
“It worked,” Alex said triumphantly.
“Only on the pieces you wanted to buy for other people,” Slater countered.
“These are for Annette.” Alex held out a box to show Mona the earrings she picked up for their manager.
“I’m glad you got those.” Mona reached into her bag to add a box to the collection. “I got her this.”
“Ooh!” Alex sighed at the black pearl pendant. “That’s beautiful! Now she’ll have a set.” Alex opened another box and grinned widely when Mona gasped at the pearl bracelet.
“Oh, I love that!” Mona breathed.
“Good.” Alex passed her the box. “Because it’s for you.”
Mona smiled with glee and clasped the bauble securely at her wrist. “Thank you, Alex.”
“I thought of you immediately when I saw it. These are for Ben.” She set aside black pearl cufflinks with diamond accents. “This is for Kathleen.” She opened another box with earrings. “And these...” She looked up as Carrie and William approached their seats with after-dinner drinks. “Are for the two of you.” Alex presented the flight attendants with their gifts. She laughed with Mona as they stared at her in shock.
“Alexandra,” Carrie sighed over her new earrings. “These are beautiful.”
“Oh, this is fabulous!” William gushed over his stainless steel watch with a mother-of-pearl face. “Thank you so much.” He looked between Alex and Slater. “We can’t thank you enough for the trip and now for this. It’s all been so amazing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Alex replied with appreciation. “I’m glad you both had a great time.”
“Oh, we did!” Carrie exclaimed. “And any time you want us on a flight, please don’t hesitate to request us.”
“Good to know,” Slater chimed in. “You two up for a tour?”
“Are you serious?” They asked in unison.
Slater looked at Chris, the two of them nodded in agreement. “Yeah. A lot of the tour will be done by bus, but a lot will be flying as well. No sense in getting people who aren’t familiar with us.”
“I’m pretty sure you just fulfilled their ultimate dream.” Alex smiled when they walked off as the two of them vibrated with excitement about the possibility of working Heart & Soul’s tour. “Oh,” she sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. “This was so much fun. I hate saying goodbye to Moorea, but we definitely made memories.”
“Yeah, we did.” Slater kissed the top of her head. “And you definitely made every shopkeeper’s day with your excursion yesterday.”
Alex lifted her head, delight in her eyes. “There was so much to see!”
“And so much to buy,” Slater finished for her.
“I’m ready to get home though,” Alex said with another sigh.
“Yeah, me too,” he agreed. He put his arm around her and held her close.
“Chris, hand me the remote,” Mona requested and turned on the television. “Let’s hear the scoop on your marriage.”
“Oh, please.” Alex rolled her eyes with a wave of her hand. “We have to be old news by now.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.” Chris took the remote from Mona and turned up the volume on the television as the host on E! News announced the headlines with excitement.
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“And on the heels of their marriage announcement, we have exclusive pictures of Alexandra Lorraine and Slater Heart’s honeymoon! It seems the two of them were spotted in Tahiti, on the island of Moorea, enjoying seclusion in their lover’s paradise. Well...” She smiled at her co-host. “Almost secluded, until these pictures were snapped of them skinny dipping two days ago.”
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“Son of a bitch,” Slater muttered while he rolled his eyes.
“Oh, my God!” Alex gasped, then clenched her teeth in irritation when the story continued.
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“Mona Davis and Chris James joined the honeymooners, along with an unknown couple who was seen with them occasionally. Tourists have reported spotting them. Some said Slater Heart and Chris James surprised the crowd one night at a local club with a quick performance while Alexandra happily signed autographs and accepted well wishes graciously from her fans. While we don’t have any footage from the impromptu performance, we do have top-secret snapshots from Alexandra and Slater’s sexy swim.”
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The show cut to footage of Alex standing on the deck of their private bungalow as she removed her swimsuit. Black stars were strategically placed over her bare breasts, the next shot showed a black bar blurring out the lower part of her body. Their playful splashing was documented on film. As was their kiss in the water and the two of them leaving the water in their blurred birthday suits before they returned to their bungalow.
Mona glanced at Alex, reached across to her, and grabbed her hand in support. “You ok?”
“Yeah,” Alex said. Her shoulders drooped with frustration. She squeezed Mona’s hand to reassure her she was fine. “Wow,” she breathed with a shake of her head. “Nothing we do is private, is it?”
“Yeah, it is.” Slater tightened his arm around her. “That may have been caught on camera, but what wasn’t caught was the moment that followed. That was, and always will be, between the two of us.”
“What followed that?” Mona asked, her blue eyes twinkled with mischief. “Lots of sex?”
“An intense moment between me and my wife,” Slater said. “And we’ll leave it at that.” He ignored the questioning looks from Mona and Chris and shared a look with Alex that their private moment would remain private. Satisfied she would keep it that way with a nod of promise, the four of them turned their attention back to the program as the host wrapped up the segment.
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“Heart & Soul’s much-anticipated album will be released in a month. Their manager confirmed today that a ten-month tour will follow in just four short months.”
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“What?” Alex sat up and looked between Slater and Chris. “Is this what you were discussing the other night?”
Slater’s voice was dangerously quiet. “What the fuck, Chris.”
Alex looked at Slater. “You said eight months, give or take a month. That’s two additional months.”
“That’s not a direct quote from Ben,” Chris defended their manager. “But...” He looked at Alex. “There’s demand for it.”
“You didn’t tell me that the other night,” Slater said to Chris.
“You didn’t want to hear it,” Chris answered defensively. “I told you, Ben wanted to add time to the tour-”
“You said a month,” Slater interrupted hotly.
“Well now it looks like two,” Chris shot back. He cleared his throat to calm down, determined for this not to turn into an argument. “Relax. Talk to Ben when we get home.”
“You can guarantee that,” Slater promised.
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And talk to Ben he did. Loudly. After hours of arguing with Ben on the phone, conferencing in Chris and the rest of the band at one point, Slater grudgingly agreed to a ten-month tour, much to Alex’s dismay. Eight months was going to be hard enough to stomach. She had no clue how she was going to deal with the additional two now added to their schedule and held her breath on a daily basis that more months would not be included.
Heart & Soul were always in demand and had been for over ten years. With Slater’s personal life being made so public in the last year, and now with his marriage to Alexandra Lorraine front and center in the news, tickets were snapped up within hours of going on sale.
Another hot topic that made the headlines consistently was the fact that Alexandra Lorraine was now to be known professionally as Alexandra Heart. Something Douglas Reynolds’s production company was trying to fight. They argued that Alexandra Lorraine signed the contract, not Alexandra Heart. Alex fought Annette tooth and nail and stayed firm on the fact that there wasn’t one clause in her contract that stated should she get married, she wasn’t allowed to use her new name. She also let Annette know that she was more than happy to walk away from the film if Douglas was to be so stubborn over her new billing. Through weeks of negotiations, Douglas practically begged Alex to use her former name, even offered her millions more for her role. He extended one final compromise to show her credits in the film as “Alexandra Heart, formerly Alexandra Lorraine” Or “Alexandra Lorraine, now Alexandra Heart”. Alex smiled sweetly at Annette on the new motion during a business lunch and told her if Douglas tried one more angle, she would back out of the film once and for all, legal consequences be damned. Douglas finally gave up. Alexandra Heart would star in his film.
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In the four months that led up to Heart & Soul’s tour, Alex and Slater took all the time they could together to enjoy their newlywed status. Mona finally took the plunge to make her dream come true and began to work with Chris on her debut album. Since her duet with Heart & Soul, Annette had been busy finding Mona a selection of songs to include on the record.
Mona and Chris often spent time in his home recording studio. Chris spared no expense for the sound equipment. He made sure it was top of the line, the same brand Heart & Soul used when they recorded together in the larger studio. Oftentimes, the work Chris created in the comfort of his home ended up on an album. It wasn’t unusual for Slater to record his vocals with Chris instead of a team of engineers. Not because Slater didn’t like to go into the studio, but because Chris lived closer and it allowed for the privacy Slater Heart craved.
One month after the trip to Moorea, Mona and Chris were in his studio, ready to record the first song of her album. It was a ballad she had fallen in love with when she heard the demo. As Chris made himself comfortable at the soundboard, Mona tried to get comfortable on the other side of the soundproof glass. She had drinks lined up on a side table. A bottle of water, a mug of hot water with lemon and honey, and a glass of chardonnay. Sometimes alcohol loosened her vocal cords. She glanced at the lyrics on the stand in front of her, though she didn’t need to. For weeks, she had been practicing the song and could sing it in her sleep. As Chris queued up the sound for the music, Mona’s nerves took over.
Since she was a little girl, Mona Davis had dreamed of fame. She worked hard to get her break on Broadway. While she auditioned and waited for the roles to come, she waited tables until she was discovered by a modeling agent. The gigs were consistent and paid well, and she was able to say goodbye to her time in restaurant service and use her height and her looks to pay the bills. Her hard work paid off when she was cast as Val in A Chorus Line.
Her stint on Broadway opened doors for her, and she was able to make the move back to Los Angeles and focus on getting into film. Television paved her way to the silver screen when she was cast alongside Alexandra Lorraine in the popular family sitcom, A Step Ahead. Between the television series and movies she starred in, Mona Davis was a household name. While she had no complaints about the path of her career or her success, the one thing she always wanted to do had never happened. It wasn’t until one night of drinking after Alex and Slater’s scandal broke, that she found herself singing alongside Slater, and she was offered a duet with the band. Once she got a taste of what it was like to record and hear her voice played back through the speakers, she knew she had to make this dream come true. Usually not one to overthink situations, Mona was suddenly full of dread. What if no one liked it? What if the critics tore her apart? Rejection and bad reviews were a part of what she did for a living, but she knew she’d be devastated to hear someone say she had a bad voice, or the songs were all wrong. What if the album flopped? Had she experienced box office fizzles? Of course. Had there been episodes of the sitcom that weren’t as funny as the others? Yes, but that was typical of any series. This was different. This was what she dreamed of doing her entire life. How many hours were spent in front of her mirror, as she used a hairbrush for a microphone and sang her heart out while her audience of stuffed animals cheered her on? She held a hand to her nervous stomach and glanced at Chris through the glass when his voice brought her back to reality.
“You ok in there?” Chris asked.
Mona took a moment to look at him. From the moment she saw Chris on Heart & Soul’s first poster, she fell in love with him. He was handsome with his shaggy brown hair, those dark brown eyes, and his perfect smile. She fell in love with him a little more every day. In the recent past, he had grown a goatee and it only heightened his good looks. She blinked when he spoke once more.
“What are you doing?” Chris wondered.
Mona answered him honestly. “Looking at you. You’re hot.”
Chris chuckled as he looked her over. “Right back at you.” He pressed a few buttons on the board. “Ready?” When Mona nodded and slipped the headphones on, he pressed another button. “You know where to come in.” He sat back and took a drink of his beer. His head moved subtly up and down to the beat of the music, his eyes narrowed in confusion when she missed her intro. He stopped the music, silently communicated with Mona to try again, and pressed the button to begin once more. When Mona missed it a second time, he pressed the button to speak. “What’s going on?”
Mona inhaled and exhaled to calm her nerves. She shook her head at him and smiled. “Nothing, let’s try it again.”
Chris played the music again. When Mona missed the intro for the third time, he stopped the music and went into the sound booth. “Babe?” he questioned.
Mona tore the headphones off, let them drop to the floor, then covered her face with her hands. “I can’t do this!” she cried, her voice muffled by her hands.
Chris guided her to a chair to sit, then sat down to face her. His voice was soft and full of understanding. “What’s going on?”
She pulled her hands away from her face, tears streamed down her cheeks. Her voice trembled when she confessed her fear. “What if no one likes it?”
Chris took her hand in his and looked into her blue eyes. “You’re awesome,” he praised.
Mona sniffled and wiped away her tears. “This was my dream. Not just modeling and acting, Chris. It was this. Recording, performing for sold-out stadiums. What you do... Well, not what you do because I don’t play guitar, but you know what I mean.” She accepted her wineglass from him and took a sip. “You know what it’s like to reach the dream, to want it so bad.”
“Yeah,” Chris agreed. “So much, I lived out of my car until I started playing with Heart & Soul.” He tilted her chin up when she looked down. “Look how far you’ve come. You’ve modeled, you’ve been on Broadway. You starred in a popular sitcom for seven years. All your movies.” He shook his head in wonder. “You have a pretty impressive resume. What’s got you down?”
Her voice was small in her admission. “I’m afraid I’ll suck.”
“How can you say that?” he wondered. “You’re so full of confidence, I’ve never seen even a hint of insecurity in you.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. I guess I’m so in awe of this, I’m overwhelmed. It was one thing to be in the studio with the band, but this is all me. I don’t have Slater Heart to sing with and play off of. It’s all me. I’m afraid I’m not going to be good enough.”
“Yeah, you are,” Chris insisted.
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“Because.” One corner of his mouth lifted into a grin. “You’re Mona fucking Davis, that’s why.” He kissed her when she laughed softly, then an idea came to him. “Can I try something?” At her nod, he stood up and selected an acoustic guitar, then adjusted microphones on stands and sound levels on the board. He pressed record, then joined her side once more. As he sat on the chair, he adjusted the guitar on his leg, then nodded to the headphones. “Put those on. Let’s run through it with just the guitar.”
Mona’s heart tumbled even more for him to take the time to ease her fears. “You know the music by heart?”
“Damn right, I do,” he answered with a nod. His fingers gently strummed the strings as he looked into Mona’s eyes and counted the song down. “In four, three, two.” He nodded at Mona at the last count and played the guitar as she began to sing.
A wide smile spread across his face as her voice, so clear and bright filled the room. She took his breath away every day. To see the love and happiness that came alive on her face when she sang, took her beauty to another level. He knew her album would be a hit. If Mona wanted to focus on touring and performing in sold-out stadiums, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she could make it happen. He planned to be by her side every step of the way.
Mona ended the song on strong notes. She felt cleansed and full of confidence to sing it this way with only Chris on guitar. “Oh, that sounded good,” she breathed.
“Told ya,” he said with a wink. “You know why?”
“Yes,” she answered with a smile. “Because of what you said.”
“Say it,” Chris demanded. “Say why.”
“Because,” she said softly. “I’m Mona fucking Davis.”