Page 99 of To Belong Together
“Are you kidding? If I started now, the place would be overrun. All I’ve done is invite a few people from LA, and of course, the crew to make the show work.”
The crew. A show of that size would take every moment John had, moments he’d rather offer Erin. Not that she was asking for them. “You already booked a venue?”
“Weeks ago. But to keep it quiet until we’re ready to start promoting, I told them it was for a singer-songwriter. Melancholy guy with his guitar by the name of Ragnar Woller.”
“Where did you get that name?”
Tim shrugged, grinning.
Even with the precautions to keep the public from learning of the show early on, the arrangements Tim had made wouldn’t be easy to undo. Presumably the people he’d invited from LA were record label executives, and the crew had probably already booked flights.
“And if I don’t agree to this?” John asked.
“Come on. It’s two hours. Invite the girl to the show. She’ll love it.”
He liked the idea of Erin hearing him drum on something other than a steering wheel, but he’d rather it be when he had two hands and when she wasn’t fresh off the loss of the most influential person in her life. “She’s mourning her father, and a show isn’t a two-hour commitment.”
“Maybe her dad liked your music too. It’d be like a tribute.”
“Enough.” John halted, though they were in the middle of a crosswalk. “What are you doing at my house?”
Tim swiveled his head to check for traffic. “I’m not collecting tips for how to come back after a car accident.”
“Obviously.” The light turned, so he cleared the street.
They trailed across the park lawn, where the first few green blades sliced up through the matted leftovers of last year.
Tim sat heavily at the picnic table and poked at his food. “I’m getting my head together.”
“How long will that take?”
Tim lifted his gaze, the family resemblance with Isabella striking for the first time. He looked as lost and hurt as she had when she’d asked if John wanted her to go.
“I’m not saying to leave, but what’s going on?”
“I’ve worked with lots of people over the years, rubbed a lot of shoulders, seen tons of messed up …” He left the blank for John to fill in. Sweet of the guy to edit out profanity. He wasn’t usually so considerate. “Not many people are different.”
“And you want different.”
Tim stared at his cooling hot dog. “I feel like my life is rotting. Like it’s been rotting for years. I mean, with Matt? If it’d been just me when he threw that party the night Gannon fired him …” He shrugged instead of completing the thought.
These concerns must’ve been brewing for a year and a half, since that was when they’d let the former bassist go. The band, along with Tim, had been staying together in Lakeshore at the time.
“If it were just you and him?” John prompted.
“Even if I’d realized he was throwing a party on the property, I wouldn’t have gone to check up on it. If I’d happened on it, I would’ve turned and left without looking around. Who knows what would’ve happened to the underage girl who made her way in?” He clenched and released a fist. “I don’t want to think about it. Man. Why wasn’t my first reaction to back Gannon up? Instead, I was annoyed we had to find a new bassist. Now I’ve got a thirteen-year-old to look out for. How am I supposed to make the right decisions for her when I’ve been making bad decisions for years?”
John picked up his hot dog, hiding a chuckle. “With your own daughter, you’ll be more protective.”
“There are a million decisions between here and fending off sick men.” Tim’s mouth pulled down hard. “And frankly, most days, I feel like a sick man myself—in different ways than Matt, but still.”
And John’s hot dog got relegated to the table again. “We’re all sick. Jesus is the one cure.”
“I figured you’d say something like that.”
“But you don’t believe it.”
“I don’t, but I admit there’s another way to live. You guys haven’t had most of the garbage in your lives I’ve got. The garbage most people have. Most bands, especially. I mean, look at Matt. Went back to rehab, and he’s supposedly clean at the moment, but how long will it last? Bands die over addictions—the lead singer of the one Matt joined after Awestruck overdosed. If you two, you and Gannon, weren’t keeping it together, Awestruck would’ve been on the downward spiral years ago.”
