Page 62 of Sweet Music
“Lasagna,” he told her. “You guys areright on time. I was just about to take it out to cool and start the garlic bread.”
Nigel let out a celebratory whoop, and Aimee backed away from the oven with her hands up.
“Definitely don’t let us get in the way of that,” she said. “I like seeing you eat real food instead of all those hamburgers, Cash.”
“You know this is just ground beef and cheese and carbs, right?” Cash teased her, winking so she would know he was just giving her a hard time. “Same as a cheeseburger?”
“At least it has tomatoes in it,” she said with a smile. “I’ll take the win. Can we help? I don’t suppose you’ve got stuff for salad in that massive refrigerator?”
“Matter of fact, I do,” he told her.
“It’s like you knew I was coming,” she said.
“Whoa,” Nigel said, lifting the receiver from the landline that was installed on the kitchen wall and playing around with the rotary dial.
“Put that down,” Pete told the boy, laughing. “If you aren’t careful, you’ll call the Kennedy administration.”
“It doesn’t really call back in time,” Nigel said, sounding like he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about that.
They all laughed, and Cash found himself happy to see his bandmates all over again.
“What?” Nigel asked.
“You’re lucky you can drum, kid,” Aimee told him. “Go help Cash with the garlic bread.”
“What’s everyone doing for Christmas?” Cash asked.
They all shared their plans as they worked, and soonthe garlic bread was in the oven and Aimee was putting the finishing touches on a garden salad.
“It’s really good to see you guys,” Cash said. “But seriously, why did you come?”
Hank looked to Pete, and Nigel looked down at the floor.
“It’s time for us to have a talk about the future,” Aimee said crisply, when it was clear no one else was going to speak. “You’ve had a big change in your life.”
Cash lowered himself to one of the stools and sighed, trying to figure out how to move forward.
“Yeah,” he said after a moment. “I canceled that late night appearance, and I’m sorry about that. And I guess I got lucky that all this came out just as the tour hit a break for the holidays.”
Aimee was nodding, no judgement on her face. He knew how lucky he was. He’d been doing fine when she came along, but she had made him a truly wealthy man. He owed her, owed all of them, even Nigel, who was new to the band. It made what he had to say next even harder.
“I know I’ve been focused on touring all these years,” he said. “And I still believe in spreading the music. But I missed out on too many years with my kid, with my whole family. And I’m finally hearing the music again in my mind. I think I need to get back to writing while I can.”
Hank nodded, a serious look on his face.
“But I know this isn’t just about me,” Cash went on. “A lot of people are depending on this tour, you guys, the crew. I don’t want to let anyone down by cutting back the schedule we alreadytalked about…”
“Are you kidding me?” Pete put in. “You know most of us have kids too.”
“And wives,” Hank said. “And the road crew has been grumbling for a while now. We’re not a bunch of twenty-somethings anymore. But we all know you believe in staying on the road, so we didn’t want to complain.”
“Really?” Cash asked.
“My sister just had a baby,” Nigel said, his sweet face wore an almost accusatory expression. “I’ve barely seen him at all.”
“Why didn’t you guys say something?” Cash asked.
“We didn’t know how,” Hank told him gently. “You’re the reason we’re all here. We’ve always followed your lead. And forgive me, but more and more lately it seemed like touring was all you had.”
