California Dream by Kara Jorges

lives so far away.” Eddie changed the subject back to Lee as if Roddy had not spoken. “What are you going to do about that?
    “Nothing.”
    “Yet. You’re going to get tired of traveling to Minneapolis all the time.”
    “I’m not going back to Minneapolis.”
    “Sending somebody a one-way ticket to LA?”
    “No!”
    “Then you’re going back to Minneapolis.” Eddie was really starting to wear on Roddy’s nerves.
    “Says who?”
    “Says five hundred bucks.”
    Roddy glared balefully at his best friend. “I guess I could use another pair of boots.”
    Eddie grinned back. “I can always use some new toys.”
    Roddy noticed his friend no longer seemed so helpless, or drunk. Instead, he seemed to be having fun playing devil’s advocate. He was forcing Roddy to think about things he wanted to push out of his mind at the moment. And, he was planting ideas in Roddy’s head that he shouldn’t entertain.
    Sending Lee a ticket to LA was a crazy idea. She had a job and friends and a life in Minneapolis and wouldn’t be willing to leave it all behind. Still, Roddy couldn’t quiet the little voice in his head that kept saying her life there was so unfulfilling she had dropped everything and thrown herself into a weekend affair with him without having to make even a single phone call.
    He left Eddie’s house in a pensive mood, damning his friend for planting seeds in his head. Just like that, his mind was working on solutions to problems that had seemed insurmountable only a couple of days ago.
    Before he could effect any changes in his life, though, he did have one person he needed to see. It had been ages since Roddy paid a visit to his mother.
    Margaret O’Neill lived in a modest house in Pasadena. Roddy wanted to buy her something much grander, but she insisted on staying in her small, two-bedroom dwelling in its quiet, unassuming neighborhood.
    Some days, Roddy was glad she had insisted. Every time he went to visit her, it brought him back down to earth, which he especially needed after the hype and glitz of a concert tour. Sometimes he needed the reminder that underneath it all, he was just an average guy who happened to have a lucrative career. He didn’t want to start believing his own press, which was easy to do when he retired to a beautiful home in Beverly Hills at the end of the day.
    Roddy’s mother was having coffee with a neighbor when his Maserati pulled into her driveway. He noticed her through her kitchen window when he hopped out of the car and loped up the front walk. She met him at the door, and he enveloped her in a bear hug, then twirled her around in circles.
    Her neighbor said a smiling hello, then excused herself, knowing Roddy hadn’t been to see his mother in months. Roddy knew she would get all the details of his visit later on.
    Margaret laughed and demanded Roddy set her down before her neighbor had closed the door. “Even after all those girls on tour, you’ve still got so much energy!” she remarked.
    “There weren’t that many,” he argued, giving her a squeeze.
    “At least not on the second half, hmm?” Margaret asked wisely.
    Roddy ignored the comment. “How are you, Ma?”
    “I’m fine, dear. But I have to admit I’ve been a little worried about you. Eddie told me you had to take care of some kind of business in Minneapolis.”
    Roddy scowled. “When did you talk to Eddie?”
    Margaret made a face and waved her hands. “When that Claire was making her threats. You weren’t here, so he called to ask me for advice.”
    “I can’t believe he dragged you into his problems,” he grumbled.
    “It’s okay, Roddy,” she said gently. “Eddie needs a mother, since he hasn’t spoken to his own parents in over ten years. By the way, how is he?”
    Roddy sighed long and hard. “He’s okay now. He paid Claire off and I dropped her at a friend’s house to make sure she really left.”
    “I can’t figure out why he ever let her move in.”
    “You’re not