"Well, I was thinking…" Harli said while pacing around her dressing room.
"Actually I was wondering if maybe I could come stay with you and Claudia for a
little while, if you want me to that is."
"Goodness child you had me worried." Her grandmother laughed. "Why would you ask
a thing like that? You know you're always welcome here! By all means, come on
down."
"I know, but I didn't want to just barge in without asking first." She said,
somewhat relieved. She knew her grandmother wouldn't decline a visit from her
but she didn't realize it would make her that happy. "So, I guess I'll be down
in a few days? Unless that's too soon."
"No no, that's fine. That'll be great. I can't wait to tell Claudia the news!
She'll be so excited to see you again. But Harli, honey…" she paused. "Not that
I don't want you to come but, why exactly are you coming? I mean how are you
getting all this free time all of the sudden? Is everything okay?"
"Uhm…no not exactly. The show just got cancelled."
"Oh no sweetheart I'm so sorry." She said back sympathetically. "Things were
going so well for you, that's just too bad."
"Yeah, but we were all pretty much expecting it. So I'm okay, I just need to get
away from…from all of this, you know?"
"I'm sure you do. Well…I'm going to go finish cleaning up my dishes and then get
started on the guest room!" she said happily. "When do you think you'll be
here?"
"Probably Thursday at the latest, I'll be driving."
"Okay, be careful dear, and we'll see you soon!"
"Thanks Grandma. Love you."
"Love you too Harli. Bye now."
Harli happily finished packing the rest of her belongings around her dressing
room, at least the stuff she would be able to haul home by herself. She had a
lot of packing to do when she got home as well. She was so excited to be going
back to the country. Away from the fast-paced and stressful life she had had for
the past couple of years. Finally she would be able to just relax and forget
about all of her problems. Picking up her box and heading toward the door, she
took one last look at the place she had spent most of her waking hours in the
entire time she had lived there. She had turned to leave when the door flew
open.
"I can NOT believe this! The nerve of them! They had the meeting without me??"
"Hi PJ."
"Don't 'Hi PJ' me!" her sister sneered at her. "You could have called me!"
"What was the use?"
"Oh I don't know Harli, maybe the fact that I'm your manager? That could have
something to do with it. What if I could have done something to help?"
"But you couldn't have." Harli sighed at her sister's usual babblings about how
she could single-handedly save the freaking world. "They had already made up
their minds to cancel us. There was nothing you could do. And honestly, I'm glad
its over. The show was dead, it was time to move on."
"Well…they still could've called." PJ muttered to herself. "Do you need any help
with this stuff?"
"They're gonna have some movers bring everything else to the house." Harli said
as they made their way out to the empty hall and walked toward the parking lot.
"But if you're just dying to help me, you could do me a favor and house-sit if
you want."
"I guess I can't turn down house-sitting a mansion." PJ laughed. "Where are you
going? On a wild goose hunt to find Justin?"
Harli glared back at her. "Just for that, I'm not telling you."
"Oh get over yourself, and before I forget…" she reached into her purse and
pulled out a new cell phone. "Here's your phone. Don't break this one."
"Oh thank God I was so sick of using this ancient one! Thanks for picking it up
for me."
"You're welcome. I guess I should take on the role of errand girl now since I'm
not a good enough manager to come to your important meetings."
"Would you stop grumbling." Harli playfully smacked her. "You'd think you were
the one who just lost a job."
"Might as well! My one and only client just lost her's."
"We're still getting our salaries PJ until the end of the season." She said as
her sister sighed a breath of relief. Harli smiled. "Yeah I see what you were so
worried about now. You probably wouldn't have come to that meeting if you had
known about it." She joked.
"Yeah well…I, so where are you heading off to?" PJ said changing the subject.
"I'm going to Alabama to stay with Grandma and Claudia." Harli carefully sat the
box in the backseat of her car. "I've been needing to get away for so long, I
know it sounds crazy but I'm actually relieved that the show has been cancelled.
If I had to spend one more day in this town…" she shook her head and shrugged.
"Do you think I made a mistake?"
"I think you're always making mistakes." Her sister replied tiredly. "Be more
specific."
Harli rolled her eyes. "I mean by coming out here. By leaving home."
"This was your dream. You went for it and…you ended up with more than you
intended I think. I don't think you should regret all of it. Maybe
choosing your first manager…." She mumbled.
"Sometimes…I don't know, I just wish I had a normal life. But I've always loved
performing and entertaining. I don't know if I could live without that either.
Is it possible to have some adoration for what you do but not be totally hounded
by the media every waking moment?"
"I don't know sis, I don't know what to tell you." PJ said sympathetically.
"Its okay PJ." Harli said while getting into her car. "I'll just have to find
out for myself." She slipped her sunglasses on and looked back at her. "I'll
call before I leave, that is if you want to house sit for me."
"Yeah sure, just give me a call. I'll be there."
The long day had finally started to come to an end. PJ arrived at Harli's house
early the next morning, helped her load up her luggage and wished her a safe
trip there and back. Harli wondered herself when and if she would be
coming back to her home in sunny California. She smiled while driving down the
long interstate; thoughts of traveling around the country filled her mind.
Despite all of the bad things that had happened, she realized that she was
actually at a very good point in her life. She had the freedom to do whatever
she wanted, along with the money to do it with.
The sun was beginning to set as Harli crossed over the Oklahoma border. She
decided it would be a good idea to stop and rest for the night. Taking the next
exit, she drove a couple miles and stopped at the first motel she saw. Grabbing
a small travel bag, she locked her car and walked inside.
"Hi, I'd like a room for the night please."
"Sure honey." The older lady behind the desk replied with a thick southern
accent. "Let me see what rooms we have available here and…Oh my goodness! You're
that girl on TV!" she exclaimed. "Aren't you that girl on TV?"
"Uh…well I," Harli froze and felt like smacking herself for not being smarter
and taking a plane to Alabama instead of driving cross country alone,
without any security! "I---I get told that a lot." She said laughing nervously
and shrugging her shoulders. "I honestly don't know where people get that."
"Oh. Well you look just like her. I don't know what her real name is…" the lady
mumbled while Harli breathed a sigh of relief after handing over her credit
card. "Ah well, I guess you should take it as a compliment dear. I know I don't
have anyone telling me that I look like a celebrity." The woman laughed. "Here's
your key hun, room's right down the hall, 22b"
"Thank you." She quickly took the key and hurried off to her room.
Closing and locking the door behind her, Harli sighed again. "That was close."
She said, slamming her bag down beside her. "Well…its not the Hilton, but I
guess that's something I'll just have to get used to." She said while taking a
tour of the room. It wasn't much but it served the purpose. At least the bed was
comfortable so that she could get a good night's sleep before heading out on the
road again.
The next morning…
Riiinnngggg
"Oh. God. My. Head." Justin muttered as he tossed and turned in the bed, trying
his best to ignore the phone. And the machine was just taking forever to answer
it. This was supposed to be one of the very few days he got to spend at home and
sleep in. Obviously it wasn't turning out that way. He groaned even more once
the machine did pick up and he heard the person on the other end. Another
interview in another state in another town. The Jive execs were all about
promoting his new album. By this time Justin wish they'd stick their promotions
somewhere else. He was actually beginning to wish he hadn't released the album.
The same old questions over and over….it was getting old. Fast.
Along with all of that, he also had Harli on his mind a lot, ever since he'd
talked to her. His mind was getting overcrowded with all of the things he had to
do and all the things he wanted to do.
"….Anyway, contact us as soon as you get this Mr.Timberlake…"
"Okay, that's good. I won't be." He said while wandering past the answering
machine into the kitchen. He sat down with a cup of black coffee and tried to
stay awake long enough to drink it.
…when the phone rang again.
"That's it." He yelled, smacking the table with his hands before standing up. "I
am getting out of here, I am taking a break for all of this madness." He picked
up the phone, slammed it back down to stop the ringing, and picked it up again.
He dialed his mother's phone number and waited for her machine to pick up.
"Momma, I think I'm gonna go away for a few days or so. I'll call you later and
let you know where I'm at. I may go see Grandma; I just need to get away. So
anyway, you'll have to cancel some stuff for me. I'll talk about all that later
though. Love you. Bye."
"Checking out so soon hun?" The same lady behind the desk asked Harli as she
walked up to return the key.
"Yeah, I guess I better get back on the road. I had a great night's rest though,
Thank you."
"Well you're welcome. Come back anytime. And I still say you look like that
little girl on TV, never can remember her name though."
"Um…well, thanks for the compliment." Harli smiled as she picked up her bag
quickly to leave. Just then another lady walked up behind the desk.
"You have a nice day now." The owner said to Harli. "Thelma, tell me who you
think that girl looks like, wait right there a minute sweetie."
Thelma removed her sunglasses. "Why you're Harli aren't you? Harli Landon."
"Uh…I really need to be going…." Harli said slowly. She didn't know what she was
going to do now.
"Yeah. She's that girl on "To Be With You" Pearl." Thelma continued. "You know,
that Tamera girl."
"Yes! I remember now."
"Well gracious, are you okay honey?" Thelma walked around the desk over to Harli
as she continued to stand there frozen. "You look like you've seen a ghost or
something."
"I---I shouldn't have left home all by myself like this. I am so stupid!" Harli
said while letting her bag fall to the floor. "What if I run upon a stalker or a
crazy person or…"
"Now now, you just calm down and come around here and have a seat. Nothing like
that is going to happen to you." Pearl said while Thelma led her over to a
chair.
"But, I have to do something, Will you all help me?"
"We'll do whatever we can for you, Do you need us to call someone?" Pearl asked.
"No, that's okay. I need…" she paused. "Do you know anyone who could cut and dye
my hair?"
Thelma smiled. "Certified beautician right here."
"Oh." Harli smiled back timidly as she looked over Thelma's frosted hairdo.
"That's great."
Back in North Carolina…
"Sabrina! Guess what?" Lance said bursting through Jakob's nursery door.
"Uh…You get to rock our kid back to sleep?" she said annoyingly as Jakob began
crying again.
"Sorry." Lance said as he walked over to the crib. "Anyway, guess what??"
"What?" she said unenthused.
"NASA wants me to do a conference in Huntsville. They said I might be able to
get back into the program in couple years if I want. Of course I said yes."
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Of course."
"So we get to go to Alabama." He said trying to cheer her up. "Won't that be
fun? I thought about maybe seeing if one of the guys wanted to come along."
"Please don't choose Chris." She mumbled.
"I heard that." Lance laughed. "And I thought we could just get him to baby-sit
instead."
"You're kidding. Right?"
"Sabrina, we don't need to take Jakey along with us all the way to Alabama."
"I'll stay here."
Lance sighed. "He'll be fine with Chris. You tend to forget that he has several
younger sisters that he helped take care of. He's good with kids."
"Fine. I'll go." Sabrina said getting up from the rocking chair. "But expect a
huge cell phone bill."
"Okay dear.." Lance said sheepishly before Sabrina slammed the door. "Thank you
honey!"
The following day.
Justin shifted in his seat on the plane to get more comfortable. But it wasn't
the seat that was making him feel so restless.
"Quit poking me with your bony elbows." Joey said in the seat beside him. Justin
asked him to come along on his trip to Memphis. He was supposed to be getting
away from everything and resting, but Justin wasn't too sure how things were
going to work out.
"Sorry!" Justin said as Joey nudged him again. Joey ignored him by placing his
headphones back on. "Why don't you just call her already?"
"Who? Grandma? I called her yesterday, she knows we're coming." Joey gave him a
bored look and then turned back to look out the window. "What??"
"You know I was not talking about your Grandma."
Justin sighed and jerked his cell phone out of his pocket. "Fine. If it'll make
you feel better."
"It'll make my ARM feel better!" Joey yelled before Justin rammed his elbow into
his arm again, this time on purpose.
"She's not home, the machine picked up."
"She may answer if she hears your voice."
Justin sighed again and put the phone back up to his ear. "Harli? Its Justin. I
was calling to see how you were, I guess you're not home now so…" Suddenly
someone picked up the phone.
"Justin??"
"Harli?"
"No. its PJ."
"PJ?"
"AJ?" Joey said confused while pulling off his headphones.
"PJ!!" Justin yelled back at him.
"OK!" Joey said throwing his hands up.
"Would you stop yelling at me!" PJ said. "I shouldn't have picked the phone up."
"I'm sorry PJ, I'm traveling with an idiot." Justin said. "Is Harli around?"
"Nope."
"Oh, she's not?"
"No, and she gave me strict orders not to tell anyone where she went."
"Not even me?"
"Especially not you!" PJ giggled. "I'm kidding. No seriously though. I think she'd rather me not tell anyone. She just wanted to get away for awhile and the less people that know where she's at the better you know?"
"Yeah, trust me I do." Justin sighed as he gazed past Joey out the window of the plane. "Just tell her I called when you talk to her okay."
"Will do."
"And don't you be throwin' no wild parties at her house now ya hear?" He managed to yell out before PJ hang up the phone. "Well, see? Didn't solve anything there. She's not at home. She's actually taking a little vacation of her own." he said to Joey.
"Where'd she go?"
"Don't know. PJ wouldn't say. Said she just needed to get away."
"I'd say so." Joey said shrugging his shoulders. "Too bad about her show being cancelled. Wonder what she's going to do now?"
"I'm not sure but I know she'll find something." Justin said while buckling his seat belt. "I know she's not ready to give up yet."
"Okay! Let's see what all we have here." Thelma said as she busily rummaged through her cosmetic supplies. "You say you wanted to go brunette?"
"Yeah I think that'd probably be the best." Harli nodded. "People surely wouldn't notice me as easily with brown hair. And maybe you could cut it?"
"Oh your hair would be so pretty in layers, now what else can we do...Oh! Here we go!" she said while pulling out a small box of colored contacts. "Take your pick dear. They're just for looks so you don't have to worry about them affecting your eyesight. Which ones do you want?"
"The hazel ones would look nice with my hair. You think?"
"Yeah. Why we're going to have you looking like a totally different person miss Harli." Thelma exclaimed happily. "I bet Justin wouldn't even recognize you after we get done."
Harli managed to force out a tiny smile. She knew practically everyone knew about her relationship with Justin, but it seemed so odd to hear a complete stranger talk about it. "No, he probably won't." She said back quietly. Her mind started to drift off as Thelma began to put the coloring into her hair. She wondered how long she would be able to stay out of the spotlight. All the freedom she once had was coming back to her. Now she would be able to go places without the media hounding over her every move. It was almost as if she had been imprisoned and was just now set free. Like a bird out of a cage, spreading its wings to take flight. The possibilities were endless for her and Harli was going to take advantage of it for as long as she could.
After thanking Pearl and Thelma for their all their help, Harli gathered her things and headed out on the road once again. She couldn't stop glancing at her new image in the rear-view mirror. She was amazed at how different she looked! Now she could drive down the interstate with the top down and not worry about the people passing by her, wondering if that's 'who they think they saw'. Now she was just another ordinary everyday girl. No one special. No one knew who she was, or even cared. No one was concerned about her love life or lack thereof. Flipping through the radio stations, Harli smiled uncontrollably as she stopped on a classic rock station and 'Freebird' began playing. She turned up the volume and sang along while crossing over the Alabama state line.
"So what do you want to do first?" Justin said to Joey after they loaded up the rental car with their luggage and began driving from the airport.
"Ummm..." Joey pondered. "Go Cow Tipping!!" He yelled as they passed by a field full of cows. "Mooooooo!! mmmmoooooo!!"
"Joey! Please! It could be mating season." Justin yelled angrily and began to regret not taking the trip alone. "What do you want to do besides cow tipping?"
"Clubbin?"
"Okay, but only if you promise not to get too drunk."
"Can't promise that!"
"Well you can at least promise not to be leering at all the girls man! Geez, you creep all of them out before anyone can even make a move."
"Ummm..." he said pretending to think. "Nope, can't promise that either. What?" He said laughing as Justin shook his head in annoyance. "Okay, for one, I do not leer."
"You SO freaking LEER!"
"I am checking out the merchandise before I decide to...cash in on it."
"Sure Joey. And when I go buy a loaf of bread I stand there in a drunken gaze before I decide which one I want to buy."
"That's all it is man."
"Fine whatever...just...Don't be checking out my merchandise okay?"
"Gotcha." Joey said before turning back to look at him. "Wait a minute, you mean...Justin tha playa is back? You wannna get lucky tonight?"
"God help me." Justin mumbled. "Do you have to make everything sound so trashy? Never mind." He said as Joey started laughing again. "No I don't wanna get lucky. I just may want to talk or dance with someone if we go out, I don't know. There's no harm in that right? Wait, never mind that too. I forgot who I was talking to."
"No its okay, Its just kinda surprising. I mean one minute you're hung up on Harli and the next you're talking about meeting some chicks at a club."
"I'm not still hung up on Harli. We broke up, things were pretty ugly between us, and now we've started talking again. It doesn't mean anything is going on or that I suddenly have feelings for her again..."
"Justin you never lost those feelings for her in the first place."
"Don't tell me what I have or have not lost feelings for. You don't know, are you me? No."
"Okay fine! I didn't come on this trip to argue with you about this." Joey said. "You came to relax and I came to have fun so I'm not going to waste all my fun time trying to tell you what to do, even if it is for the best. You're old enough and have enough sense to know better. So go ahead and do what you want, and when you make a mistake, I'll be here to say I told you so."
"Um...thank you. I think." Justin replied.
"You're welcome."
"And...thanks for coming on this trip with me Joey. I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome."
"And Joey?"
"Yeah?"
"STOP MOO-ING!" he said smacking him as Joey had his head hanging out the window of the car, bellowing at the cows.
Harli pulled in to her grandmother's long gravel driveway. Everything looked exactly the same as it had when she was a child. The old barn was still standing in the open field. The trees were beginning to sprout new leaves for spring. This was exactly where she needed to be right then. At last, total relaxation!
"Oh Harli, you're finally here!" Her grandmother yelled as she walked quickly across the old wooden front porch. "And what have you done to your hair?" she said getting closer.
"Hello Grandma." Harli smiled as she gave her a hug. "I had it dyed, so people wouldn't recognize me."
"Well, I guess its better to be safe than sorry." she sighed. "Come on inside! We'll get your bags out in a little bit. You need to sit down and rest after such a long drive! I don't know why you didn't just fly out here, it'd been so much easier on you."
"I wanted to drive. I needed the time alone. It was fun."
"Well, whatever makes you happy." her grandmother continued to ramble. "Now just come in and sit down and I'll get you something to drink. Dinner is almost ready. "
"Do you want me to help you?" Harli said as they walked inside.
"No no no, I can do it. You rest."
Harli followed her into the kitchen and looked out the window where the garden once was. To her surprise, it was still there, all plowed and ready for new seeds to be sown for the spring. She had assumed the old field would have been grown up by now, since her grandmother was getting older and wouldn't be able to tend to a garden. "I can't believe you still have the energy to keep the garden up grandma. You shouldn't work so hard!"
"Oh I know dear, I don't. I've got some people to do that for me now. Its so much easier just to pay someone to do the work for you at my age. And of course, Claudia's not a hand to plant a garden." she said as they both started laughing.
"Where is Claudia. Is she still living here?"
"Yes she's still here, she's working right now. Got her own business you know."
"She does? I didn't know that. That's great!"
"Yeah, she should be home here in a little while.. She's so excited about seeing you again." she said before looking outside the window. "Oh, here comes Alex. I guess he's finished for the day. Excuse me dear, I'm going to go get the money to pay him."
"Oh...okay." Harli said before getting up to see who she was talking about and was surprised to see a guy around her own age instead of an old farmer. He was tall with dark curly hair, gorgeous smile, dressed in old overalls, no shirt... Harli blinked out of her daze when she heard her grandmother coming back downstairs.
"Uh, grandma, who is that again?" Harli asked.
"Well excuse my manners, come on out and meet him dear."
"Oh no, I was just wanting to know who he was...I didn't..."
"Now come on, don't start that shyness stuff again, I thought you'd grown out of that." She said as Harli reluctantly followed her to the door.
"It's not that Grandma." she said stopping. "I just don't want anyone to know I'm out here.People recognize my name easily and...."
"Well we'll just use your middle name." Her grandmother smiled back before heading out the door.
"Here you go honey." she said handing him a check. "I just can't thank you
enough for helping me out here. You don't know what it means to me."
"Anytime Miss Landon, Are you doing allright today?" He asked her in a gentle
tone. Harli smiled at his kindness toward her.
"Oh I'm doing wonderful. My granddaughter is here to stay with me for a little while. "Renee, this is Alex Wood."
"Its nice to meet you." Harli said as he shook her hand.
"A pleasure to meet you too." he said back, letting a slight accent escape this time. "I'm originally from England, I get that look a lot from people around here." he said laughing at her expression.
"Oh, I'm sorry it was just, odd." Harli said laughing. " I was expecting you to say something like 'yall' or 'yonder'." she quickly stopped laughing and prayed that she hadn't just said that.
"Well, I could if it'd make you more comfortable." he smiled and held her gaze until someone else came pulling into the driveway.
"Are we having a car show here today, Grandma!!" Claudia yelled as she got out of her car. "Oh its just the ole' Brit." she said punching Alex's arm before looking up to where Harli was standing. "AND---"
"Renee. Claudia," Harli said staring at her and hoping she would catch on. "Don't you know how to say hi to your cousin RENEE?"
"Yes I do!" Claudia squealed as she jumped up on the porch and wrapped her arms around Harli. "Why are we using your middle name?" she whispered.
"Cause I don't want strangers to know who I am." Harli whispered back.
"Gotcha. What the heck did you do to your hair??"
"Well I guess I'll be going ladies. It was nice meeting you Renee." Alex said.
"Hmm? Oh. Thank you. I mean...it was nice meeting you too." Harli replied.
"See you tonight Claudia?"
"I better!" she said while placing her hands on her hips and glaring down at him. "And don't be late this time."
"I won't." he laughed. "Thanks again Miss Landon." He said holding up the check.
Harli's face had managed to change a million shades of red by the time the three of them went back inside. "So..." she finally managed to choke out. "That's your boyfriend?"
"What??" Claudia said laughing hysterically. "Wha...No!! Geez no Harli! He works for me. At the club!"
"Ohhhh..." Harli said, relieved that she hadn't been drooling over her
cousin's boyfriend. "That's good." she said smiling. "And club? what club??"
"My club that I own.." Claudia smiled. "The Nekkid Squirrel. And we're going tonight, no buts about it."
"Girls, Dinner's ready. Come on and eat." Their grandmother called from the kitchen.
Harli stood there confused as Claudia walked into the kitchen. "The Nekkid SQUIRREL?? What in the world...." she said shaking her head. "I've not been here twenty minutes and the girl already has me totally confused." she said to herself before walking in the kitchen to eat.