go
anywhere in fear you’d get lost before they needed you again. Beth
thought English TV was weird, but they had nothin’ on this Asian
stuff. The lads enjoyed watching the cute girls on the screen,
though, after he muted the volume to save his ears from their
horrible singing.
“Don’t care what they call—that is not pop.”
“Doesn’t ‘pop’ just stand for popular?” Dylan
argued.
“Come on, it’s a bleedin’ insult on the ear
drums!”
“Doesn’t have to be good to be liked,” Aaron
said. “’Sides, they’re hot.”
“They dance well,” Mikey added.
“Like you’re one to judge,” Bob said. Mikey
threw a bottle cap at him.
“No offence, mates, but get out. We’ve gotta
stop hanging out in hotels.”
“Yeah, yeah, love you, too, Jake…”
Jacob shut the TV off and reached for his
guitar.
****
December Twenty-ninth
To Jake Lindsey: The crowds at the
airports made ET. Looks scary. Stay safe, please. I want you home
in one piece .
After photographing a house for a realtor
this morning, I only had the gallery open a half day. The door
chime sounded while I was in my office.
“Liz?”
“Back here.” I stood from my desk.
My old college friend and
now-sometimes-my-boss Nathan appeared looking as polished as ever.
“What are you up to?”
“Previewing shots I took this morning. Didn’t
know you were in town.”
“You know how it is. Anyway, I’m hungry and
hate eating alone, so I’m darkening your doorstep.”
I locked my computer and turned off the
monitor. “Might as well. Dead this week, anyway.” If not for
working with high-end real estate agents, I’d be hurting these last
two weeks of the year.
Spending time with Nathan was easy, unlike
the rest of the people in my life. Career-focused, too, he’d make a
few polite inquiries about how I was, then we’d talk business or
culture or anything that didn’t matter. No baggage, no strings, and
no feelings. If he picked the restaurant, he paid; if I chose, then
I picked up the check. Simplicity I desperately needed since Jacob
came back into my life.
We walked to a late lunch. Downtown Santa
Monica had its perks.
“Have a nice Christmas?” he asked over
risotto.
“Sure. I was with my family. You?”
“Just on Christmas Day. My grandmother will
haunt me one day if I don’t show up.”
“You’ve got a big place—why don’t you invite
them over?”
“Tradition. And…I like my quiet after work. A
dozen relatives are never quiet.”
I nodded. “True enough. I do think it’s a
shame to hide that architecture from people, though. I loved
shooting that apartment.”
He smiled. “I remember.”
“Old buildings have character. Soul. While
it’s possible to kill it with a really bad reno, most of the time
the bones are still there. Your designer managed to update the
space in a tasteful way.”
“Glad you approve. My door is always open to
old friends.”
My phone buzzed. Text message from Jake
Lindsey: On the way to hotel after packed gig. God, I’m tired. Miss
you . I sent back: Miss you, too. Sleep well . Turning off
my phone, I told Nathan, “Sorry about that. You were saying?”
“That from the wayward boyfriend?”
“He’s not…’wayward’. Why?”
“You smiled when you read it.”
“I smile for a lot of things.”
“Not that kind of smile, Lizzie.
Dessert?”
I shook my head. “I should get back to the
office.”
He shrugged and flagged the waiter for the
check.
****
December Thirtieth
The crowds were huge, the energy fantastic,
but he was tired and homesick. Didn’t let it show onstage, of
course, but every chore seemed to take longer than they used to, an
endless delay to getting to L.A.
“It’s all in your head, man. We’re runnin’
like clockwork,” Bob said.
“Tellin’ me you don’t want to be home with a
certain redhead?”
“Sure. Tired of being intimate with my right
hand but I’m not whining about it. Listen to that crowd and tell me
our jobs