Page 12 of Willow in the Wind

“Right. Yeah.” James was feeling extraordinarily hot. He touched the back of his neck, which was lined with sweat.

Taylor got up to order them juices from the juice bar. James was suddenly forced to reckon with Aiden by himself. Aiden looked like he didn’t know where he was.

“So, Aiden. Any tours coming up?” James asked. He assumed the answer was no. There was no way a guy like Aiden could organize a tour.

“Um, yeah. We got one starting next week,” Aiden said. “The booking agent just sent me a list.” He tugged his phone with a cracked screen from his back pocket and showed James the schedule. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Boston, Providence, going down the East Coast and then embarking west. James knew almost all of the venues, and they weren’t small. He whistled. He couldn’t help it. He was impressed.

“Did he show you the tour?” Taylor asked, setting down the juices.

“He did,” James said. “It looks amazing.”

Taylor looked thrilled. She sat down and took Aiden’s hand over the table. “I decided to drop out of university next semester and travel with the band.”

James felt it like a javelin through his stomach. He wanted to erupt. He wanted to screamYou will do no such thing! What about your future?

But he bit his tongue, remembering something.Hadn’t he been the same kind of young person? Hadn’t he been similarly reckless? Hadn’t things worked out just fine?

“That’s a big step,” he said.

Taylor couldn’t quit smiling. “I know. It sounds like a lot. But really, it’s just one semester. Pratt University will be here when I get back. And I don’t want to miss the epic times they’ll have ontour. I mean, I was thinking I could even blog about it. Do a little music journalism?”

This was the first time Taylor had indicated she wanted to follow in James’s footsteps. He wasn’t sure he believed her. But it was nice, anyway.

“Have you told your mother yet?” James asked.

Taylor grimaced. “Not yet.”

“You need to tell her,” James said. “She isn’t like me.”

“Exactly,” Taylor said. “I don’t know how to reason with her.”

This isn’t a reasonable thing to do. There’s no reasoning it through.

James took a deep breath. He knew what a tour was like. He wanted her to be safe.

“Can I give you a few phone numbers?” he asked. “I know people from most of these cities. People who can help you if something happens.”

“That would be great, Dad,” Taylor said. “Thank you.”

But James decided not to hesitate. He called Nancy immediately after Aiden and Taylor left the coffee shop.

“I think we should talk,” he said.

Nancy sounded surprised yet grateful. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d seen one another in the flesh. Maybe seven months ago, right after he’d gotten back to Manhattan? That had been right before her wedding to the handsome, rich banker she’d taken up with, and she’d been emotionally all over the place but extremely arrogant with him. James hadn’t managed more than forty minutes with her.

But this was different. They needed to talk about Taylor.

James and Nancy agreed to meet at an Italian restaurant around the corner from Nancy’s place. Nancy’s husband was out of town on business, and he sensed she was bored and curious. He didn’t bother to go home first and instead went immediately to the restaurant, where he had a glass of red wine and waited for her to arrive.

Nancy walked into the restaurant like a movie star.

She wore a black dress with a scarf and a large pair of sunglasses that blocked most of her face. Her newly blond hair cascaded in luscious waves down her shoulders. After she whipped off the sunglasses, she gave him a once-over, then offered a soft smile. That smile had led James to take up with Nancy back in the day. He’d been captivated with it.

“There he is. My ragtag ex-husband,” Nancy said as she approached.

James got up and gave her a hug. “You look wonderful.”

Nancy blushed a little bit and sat across from him. James’s stomach fluttered strangely. Was he nervous? No. That would be ridiculous.

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