WARNING: contains multiple partners, drugs
A young musical genius asks her millionaire father to cover expenses for a concert tour for her, but he refuses and she decides to lead a double life. Set in 1970, the end of the Hippie Movement, Rena Reynolds is sedate and lonely in her father’s mansion and wild and happy as a groupie named Lexi working at a motel that caters to big-name bands. Music, drugs and danger fill Lexi’s life and diamonds as gifts from her father for being a good daughter. How long can Rena and Lexi’s personalities be kept separate and what will happen to Lexi in the end?
She drove ninety miles an hour, around a winding road that followed a river until she reached a lake where her dad had a cottage. She loved the cottage that he called The Lodge. She let herself in with the key and then made a cup of coffee. Finally, she sat out on the high deck overlooking the lake. The sun had set and a full moon rode high in the sky.
She had loved Lennie, once. As a matter of fact, he’d been the first to love her, cover her body with kisses. Yet, deep inside, he didn’t really love her. It was a revelation today, seeing him for what he was—a cringing coward. He would have been a good manager for her. She felt close to tears.
“Damn,” she said. “Damn! Damn! Damn!” Then her chin came out stubbornly. She would find a way, a life that would satisfy her without him. She was vaguely aware of that other life, a motel in Calgary and a little guy called Absalom Jones she had just met. Perhaps keeping her father happy, on her side, would be part of it. For, after all, he said he’d pay her, pay her well to stay home. She would also have leeway. He wouldn’t expect her to be there every minute and he was often in Africa for months. She could always slip away to The Lodge for a week or two. Or to her friend, Maxine’s. Yes, Maxie might be useful, too.
The next day, as she pulled up to the Reynolds’ mansion that looked out over the Saskatchewan River valley in Edmonton, Rena realized she found a way. The hurt of long ago, the slap across the face was still there like a hard core within, yet like an oyster, she coated it with diamonds instead of pearls. She knew of another way she could replace concert tours. It was exciting, dangerous, but challenging. Last month, she had just begun that other life at a motel called The Flame, 200 miles south, in Calgary, far enough from home that she could change from Rena to Lexi, her alter-ego, easily and learn a new life. She shivered with delight just thinking about Absalom Jones who owned The Flame and what a funny, nice little guy he was.
As for Lennie? She never thought of him again. He was gone from her life.
