Page 123 of Reckless

“You’re dating exclusively.”

“Yes. I don’t want to be with anyone else.”

Solene looks at me for a long time. The others are quiet. Then Paul shrugs.

“I’m happy for you,” he says. “You look less like you’re one step away from a grave. If that is down to her, great.”

I don’t admit that it is. And I’m offended at his assessment, but to be fair, I didn’t look my best when I wandered out of that hotel in Montana.

“Now we’ve got the issues out of the way. Are we going to go to the offices?” Paul looks at his watch. Him being late has put us on a tighter schedule.

Solene bites her lip. Paul turns to look at her.

“Shit, what have you done? You’re usually the level-headed one,” he laughs, but when no one else does, his face falls. “What?”

“We may have a slight issue,” she wrinkles her nose.

Oh yeah, slight doesn’t even touch the surface.

When we get to the labels offices and explain the situation, the news goes down about as well as we’d expected. As in, everyone is pissed.

I’m glad we met up before we came here because every single one of us backs up Solene. Surprisingly, Paul isn’t mad. He was shocked at first, but he got up and hugged Solene. For a long time, he just held her. I don’t know what he whispered to her, but a couple of tears fell down her cheeks.

Ethan looked as if he was about to get up and ask what the hell he was saying, but he saw what I did. She wasn’t crying because he said something horrible. He’d said something she’d been needing to hear. We’re all one hundred percent together on this.

It throws next year’s tour plans into something of a mess. She is due in March so thinks she can still end out the year as part of the tour.

Fisher calms everyone down but expresses concern about making sure Solene doesn’t overdo it. Begrudgingly, we all listen to him.

He works out when she is going to need to step back, and starts tossing around ideas about who we can invite to join us for the duration of her maternity leave. We don’t want to cancel anymore shows. It isn’t unheard of for other musicians to join tours, even ones in their own bands, depending on where they are with their plans.

When the label reps are appeased and leave, Sol stares at Fisher like she doesn’t know who he is.

Sheepishly, he looks around the room.

“I need to apologize for being a dick a couple of years ago,” he says to Solene. “I was a different guy back then and can admit I came on strong.”

Ethan snorts. “Dude, I was getting ready to rip your dick off.”

Fisher winces, remembering Ethan's threats at the time, but nods, accepting that.

“My sister just had a baby. I’ve seen what she’s gone through. It’s hard. And I’m glad you have the support of the band. And the label. We’ll do what we can to make it run as smoothly as possible.”

After a moment, Solene gives him a tentative smile. “Thank you.”

He isn’t asking about the father, or the fall out that will come if Solene announces she is doing it alone. That’ll come in due time.

He acknowledges her thanks with a nod. We talk a little more about the logistics of Sol’s absence, how Paul’s side project is going to affect things and how I’m getting on with my recovery. He doesn’t say it condescendingly. He wants to make sure I’m keeping up with the therapy appointments.

I’ve not been going to them while with Krista, but her presence has done more to soothe the demons in my head than any therapist ever could.

There is some discussion about Cody, but no one wants to dwell on that. The FBI's White Collar Division, and the label’s law team are dealing with it. The press has died down after my interview aired. People move on. There is always another scandal to report on.

We leave the label offices somewhat dazed by how well it all went. Paul’s flight isn’t for another four hours, so we head back to my place and order food, talking about anything but the band.

Ethan is getting excited about becoming an uncle now that the pressure is off. Sol still looks terrified when we talk about the baby, but it’s more of a natural reaction to impending motherhood than anything else.

Once they all leave, I check my phone. It’s early evening and I know from her schedule, Krista is at the authors' dinner, so I send her a quick text letting her know we’re all happy, and the label is on board with everything. Then, I go take a shower.

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