Page 97 of For Eva

“Hi, I’m actually calling from the KISS Army headquarters. We were going through our records recently and noticed you haven’t been active in the organization since 1979. Would you be interested in renewing your membership…Eva Holloway?”

I cupped my hand over the phone, stifling a laugh. I silently prayed she’d get the joke before hanging up on me. Once Simon told me he’d gotten in touch with her and all the things she’d said, I’d spent countless nights lying awake in bed wondering if I should try to contact her. And what I should say if I did. Starting withWhy’d you disappear on me?seemed a bit harsh, even though I’d spent years wanting an answer to that exact question. Was it the last letter I’d written—the one that went unanswered when I told her I wanted to see her after the tour was over? Or had the song about our night in Cleveland scared her off? Did she know it was about her and didn’t have the heart to tell me she didn’t feel the same?

She was quiet for a moment, and the churning in my stomach quickened. But then I heard it. The most beautiful laugh in the world. God, I’d missed that laugh.

“Okay, who is this?” she managed to choke out. “Did Denise put you up to—”

She gasped. Then silence.

My body tensed, and the momentary relief turned to dread.

Fuck. Did she hang up?

“Oh my God,” she said, her voice softening. “Is this…Eric, is that you?”

“That depends. Is it okay that it’s me?”

“Oh my…Yes! Yes, it’s okay! I can’t believe this. How…What…How…”

“Well, I was just sitting here, listing every KISS album in order of greatness, like normal people do, and I got stuck. IsLove Gunnumber four? Because obviously,Destroyeris number one, followed by the self-titled album, thenCreatures of the Night…but after that, it gets tricky.”

Eva cleared her throat, and I imagined her lips pressed together, trying to hide a smile. “I can see why you called, Eric. This is a very serious quandary. But before I can answer, I need to know if we’re talking only studio recordings, or do live albums count, too? And what about the solo records? In or out?”

I grinned, lifting my bare feet off the wooden planks of the deck and onto the ottoman in front of me. “Fuck! I hadn’t even thought about that. See, you’ve just blown the whole thing wide open.”

She laughed again. Was she tossing her hair behind her shoulder? Was it still long and blond? Simon had told me she was living in Nashville, which explained why the last number I had for her in Chicago had been disconnected that final time I tried to reach her.

We both spoke at the same time.

“So I—”

“So what—”

She chuckled. “You first.”

“Okay, but before I start, I need to know who you were yelling at when you picked up the phone,” I said, taking a sip of water. The inside of my mouth felt like it was lined with cotton.

“Oh, that? That was nothing. Just, you know, something stupid. WhatIwanna know is, am I seriously talking to you right now? I’m not in some, like, parallel-universe-slash-The Matrixthing, am I?”

I looked out at the hazy swirl of orange and purple as the sun began to disappear into the ocean. “Sometimes I wonder that myself. But I’m pretty sure this reality is…real.”

“So then—and I don’t mean this in awhy are you calling meway—but why are you calling me?” She giggled, and I detected a hint of nervousness in her voice, too. “I mean, I’m glad you’re calling me. Was it the article? Did I say something wrong?”

I shook my head, as if she could see me through the phone. “Eva, the fact that you even took the time to talk to Simon…” I paused and cleared my throat as years of suppressed emotions rose up from my core. “I didn’t know if you would. We hadn’t talked in so long, and…well, if I’m being honest, part of the reason I mentioned your name was because I was hoping he would find you. Because thenIcould find you.”

“So you don’t…hate me?”

Her words pricked at my heart. She’d helped launch my career with the band. She’d helped catapult us to stardom.She’d saved my life.

“I could never hate you, Eva.”

“But I…I know I kind of disappeared, and I’m so sorry, I just—”

“Hey. The past is the past. You don’t have to explain it to me.” No matter how badly I wanted to know what I’d done to makeher disappear, there was only one thing that mattered. “The important thing is I found you.”

“Yes, you did.” Her voice radiated warmth all the way to the West Coast. “Did Simon give you my number?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “He’s not technically supposed to do that, but he thought you wouldn’t mind hearing from me. Actually, his exact words were, ‘if you don’t fucking call that fucking woman, you’re mad as a cut snake, mate.’”

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