FicWad

The tour was going smoothly. Okay, sometimes I thought too smoothly. It felt like I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know the feeling...things are going so good that you just know something bad is going to happen.
The band was four dates into the tour when my feeling proved to be correct. We had arrived at the venue a few hours earlier and the guys had been whisked off to do a radio interview. Gerard had wanted me to go along but I was tired. He made me promise not to leave the bus. Truthfully I hadn't minded promising because I planned on sleeping a few more hours. My cell phone ringing ruined that plan.
"Hello" I said sleepily.
"Laura, it's Donna. How are you, Honey?"
I rolled over, "I'm fine. How are you?"
She didn't answer the question. Instead she asked, "Is Gerard with you?"
"No, they are doing a radio interview this morning." I said with a yawn.
"Oh, then he probably has his phone turned off." Donna seemed to be thinking to herself.
"Yeah, he probably does." I agreed.
"Could you have him call me?" She asked sounding distracted. I thought I heard someone else in the background.
"Sure, is anything wrong?"
She didn't answer for a few moments. Finally she spoke, "I just need to talk to him."
Obviously she wasn't going to tell me what was on her mind. "Okay, I'll tell him as soon as he gets back. That will be a couple of hours though."
"That's fine." She sighed, "Just make sure he calls, okay?"
I promised I would then disconnected. Something in her tone bothered me. I lay staring at the top of the bunk a few minutes then made a decision. I pushed the button and waited until my mother-in-law answered. "Hi again." I said in greeting. She was surprised I'd called back.
"Donna, is something wrong?" I asked coming right to the point.
There was silence on her end and I had begun to wonder if she was still there.
"Laura, I don't want to upset you."
Well, shit. You know when someone says that chances are good they are going to upset you.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Helen just left. She's very upset and I didn't know what to say to her." Donna admitted,
"Why is she upset?' I asked
"She said that she's been told by several people that Merri is in town but that she hasn't been to see her."
I closed my eyes and gripped the phone tightly, "Who told her that Merri's in town?"
"I'm not sure." Donna admitted, "But she said that more than one person told her that they saw Merri at a party that I know you and Gerard were at."
Oh, shit. I tried to sound surprised, "The only party we went to was Tony’s. I'm sure Gee would have mentioned it to me if he'd seen Merri." Oh, God that was the sad truth.
"Well that's what I told Helen." Donna said. "But she seemed very upset."
"I'm sure she is if Merri hasn't been to see her." I said hating to lie but not knowing what else to do.
"I just don't understand what's going on." Donna said with a sigh. "Why hasn't she gone to see her mother?"
I rubbed my forehead feeling a headache coming on. "I don't know." Suddenly I realized that there had to be more to this. Just asking if Gee had seen Merri at a party wouldn't have caused Donna his much stress. "Uh, what else did Helen say?"
"She implied that Gerard knew Merri was in town and that he'd seen her." Donna said softly.
I remembered that Helen was suspicious about the relationship that had once taken place between Gerard and Merri. "She thinks they are seeing each other?" I asked
"I know that's crazy." Donna said quickly. "I tired to tell Helen that but she wouldn't listen. She wanted to talk to Gerard herself."
I so didn't want Helen questioning Gerard about Merri. He didn't need that kind of stress. "I just don't understand." I said, "Is it because of the artwork that she thinks something went on between them?"
"I guess." Donna said sounding tired. "I reminded her that my son was a happily married man now."
"Yeah, he is." I agreed. "I think she's just grasping at straws trying to figure out what's going on." I said feeling sorry for Helen.
"I think so too." Donna agreed.
Once again I could tell she was holding something back. "What aren't you telling me, Donna?"
"I talked to Alicia before I called you." Donna admitted, "She told me that Mikey said he saw Merri at that party."
Oh shit. I clamped my mouth tightly so the words didn't escape. "Really?" I tried to sound very surprised. "Then I guess she was there." I wondered what was going on in Donna's mind.
"Alicia said that Mikey told you and Gerard that he'd seen Merri." She said softly.
Oh, crap. I had to think fast. "Oh I think I remember that now." I hated lying but there was nothing else to do. "Mikey mentioned it in the car. Uh, but we weren’t really paying attention. I don't know if you heard but a fight broke out at that party and we all scattered quickly when the police were called." I didn't want to tell her about the fight but I needed her to believe that hearing Merri at the party hadn't made an impact of Gerard.
"A fight?" Donna repeated. "No, I didn't know about that. I'm not really surprised, though. Lots of parties the boys used to go to ended up that way. So were my boys involved in the fight?"
Once again I had to think fast trying to decide what to tell her. "Pretty much a lot of people were involved." That much as true.
Donna laughed, "Okay by the way you answered I'm guessing my sons were involved. What was it about?"
Shit, shit, shit. I tried to dance around the truth. "One of the merch guys who got fired by the band started some trouble with Gerard."
"Oh." Donna said slowly, "It wasn't Troy, was it?"
Now I was shocked. Donna knew Troy? "Yeah, it was." I answered.
"I never did understand why Gerard was friends with him. I've met him a few times and the guy just strikes me as 'wrong', know what I mean? So what did he do to get fired?"
I sat up slowly and stood. I needed coffee. This conversation was on dangerous ground. "I'm not sure what he did." I said walking down the hall towards the kitchen area. I was relieved to find a pot of coffee on the counter. As I poured myself a cup Donna asked.
"So he started shit at the party, I'm not surprised. What is he doing now? I'm asking cause I saw him a few weeks ago."
I took a sip before answering in a soft voice, "Troy is dead. He died while we were back home."
Donna took a sharp breath, "Dead? What happened?"
"I'm not sure." I answered truthfully, "He was found dead in his apartment. I think drugs might have been involved."
"That's sad." Donna said. "He looked sort of rough when I saw him."
The caffeine was kicking in and my brain was clearing, "Where did you see him?"
"In the grocery store." Donna answered. "He was coming out of the store as I was walking in. It was weird. You know how it is when you see someone and you can't place them right away? I walked in the store but then turned around trying to figure out who he was. He got into a car that was waiting for him at the curb. As it pulled away I realized who he was."
"Oh, who was driving?" I wasn't sure but for some reason the question had popped into my head.
"I didn't get a good look but it was a blond woman."
"Maybe it was Carrie." I guessed.
Donna's response shocked me, "No not if you're talking about the Carrie I know. Carrie Long?"
"Yeah, that's who I was talking about. I didn't realize you knew Carrie."
The silence at the other end of the line surprised me. Finally Donna spoke. "I know Carrie because Gerard used to bring her to the house."
"Oh, really?" I sputtered. "I didn't realize they were friends."
Once again Donna was silent. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. There was something she wasn't telling me. I was about to press her when Jenny walked on to the bus. I told Donna I had to go and reminded her that I would have Gerard call her when he got back. That was he'd call her after I asked him again about Carrie. I was being kept in the dark about something and I didn’t' t like it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your call." Jenny said taking a seat.
"No, problem." I told her. "That was my mother-in-law. She wants Gee to call her."
Jenny laughed, "So his mom has turned to you to make her son call home?"
"Yeah, kinda like that." I giggled. "So what's up?" I nodded to the folders in her hand.
"Well I have a question about tonight’s Meet & Greet. I know I’m suppose to be handling them but something's come up and I wanted your opinion."
I was happy she was asking me. I missed running the Meet & Greets. "What's the problem?"
She explained the situation quickly. The local radio station that was sponsoring the concert had added fifty extra people. There would be no way the band would have time to meet with all the people before the concert. It has a bad situation. No one wanted to disappoint the fans. I sat down on the sofa by her after offering her a cup of coffee, which she declined. Sipping the coffee I thought a moment before speaking. "You've told them at the station that this was totally unacceptable, right?"
She nodded, "I did. The guy I talked with was a jerk. He basically told me that it was too bad if I didn't like the numbers."
I hated when this happened. It put the band in a bad position. They wouldn't have time to meet with the fans unless they were run through so quickly they barely had time to speak to the band members. "Okay, how much time do we have here after the concert?"
"I talked to the crew. They said that we need to leave here no later than an hour after the concert."
"No one is gonna be happy with this but I think the only thing to do is to tell the extra people on the list they won't be able to meet the band until after the concert."
"What are the guys gonna think of that?" Jenny asked.
"They won't be happy. They are gonna be tired but if I explain to them that it's the only way I think they'll understand. They won't want to disappoint these fans."
Jenny grinned, "Are you gonna tell them?"
I laughed, "Yeah, I'll explain the situation to them. Also get a hold of Charles at Reprise and tell him what the radio station did."
"Will do, Boss." Jenny said with a laugh.
I frowned, "Not anymore."
Jenny sobered, "Hey, I really do wish you were still in charge. But I understand your husband wanting to keep you safe."
“I do too.” I sighed. “But I’m pretty bored staying on the bus all day not being able to leave without a shadow.”
“A shadow named Worm.” Jenny smiled.
I nodded, “Yeah.”
We spoke a few more minutes then Jenny left. Alone I sat sipping my coffee and replaying the conversation I’d had with Carrie at the party. Obviously she did indeed know my husband better that I’d thought. Gerard has some explaining to do.