We’re all there when Preacher turns up and…
[Pauses]
Give me a minute.
Of course.
[Lengthier pause, clears throat]
He looks good.
Shortish hair, few threads of silver in it, big, full beard, no silver in that.
He’s leaner than I remember which means he seems taller.
And he just looks…
[Let’s out a deep breath]
Good.
We all, of course, immediately give him shit for the silver in his hair, until Simone gets fed up with it and offers to pluck [affects bad French accent], “All tree of deez I see, beebee.”
And then I wait until she’s not around to bust Tommy’s chops about the fact I’d come just listening to his wife talk.
Though I don’t know why I bother since, first, she’s in his bed, and second, he’s manning the grill while Tim moans about having steak juice all over his veggie grate and there’s no place Tommy’s happier than standing at a grill, except, presumably, when he’s in bed with Simone.
[Grins]
Brody hits hero worship approximately point-oh-five seconds after he lays eyes on Preacher.
Vanessa manages to keep her water from breaking.
Everyone dances around the fact that Preacher is there and we’re all rapping, we’re all reminiscing, we’re talkin’ about the gig Shawn’s putting together and catching up, and Preacher is not saying shit about what he’s been up to the last six years.
And no one mentions Lyla.
Simone, God bless her, uses Brody goin’ to bed as an excuse to corral Marty and Vanessa in the kitchen to drink champagne or whatever elegant French chicks do in a kitchen, though I know it ain’t the dishes, and Vanessa didn’t drink any champagne.
And the guys all wander down to the beach where we collectively decide when we’re done wandering and we all sit on our asses under the moonlight in the sand.
That’s when he does it.
Fuckin’ hell.
[Wipes eyes]
That’s when Preach says, waves lapping the shore, and he’s talkin’ real quiet.
“How is she?”
Now, Lyla has had an eventful six years.
Love the guy, and still, when I see him, which lucky for us both is not often, I gotta fight the urge to punch Cat Trelane in the face ’cause he sniffed around her after she and Preacher split and she never shared. No clue how far that went.
I only know they’re still good friends to this day.
Or as far as her man will let her be good friends with a dude she may, or may not, have had sex with, but one thing is for certain, that dude wanted to have sex with her.
Which, you know, for Lyla’s man, as far as he’ll let her be good friends with Trelane isn’t very far, so I figure Trelane gets a Christmas card.
Maybe.
After the trial, and the big split, it takes a while for her to lose the media attention, and in an effort to help her with this, anytime she’s with the band, we’re real careful to make sure there isn’t any press around that might catch it.
We aren’t always successful at this, but we do okay.
Sonia moves to Phoenix for work, so Lyla follows her, which is good.
Shawn’s in Louisiana making music with his family, but the rest of us are still in LA.
Except, it’s a guess at this point, Preacher.
He could be Howard Hughes, moving from penthouse to penthouse and making people sign an NDA before he dropped his suitcases for all I know and for all he’s sharing.
Bottom line, where Lyla lands, Lyla’s got Sonia close and she isn’t far away from us.
And we aren’t far away from her.
So, this is a good place for her to be.
She found her footing during this time, and when she did, we all felt like fuckin’ morons because it was so perfect, right there in front of us the whole time, she’d even had a job at one once, we were all so wrapped up in our own shit, including Lyla, we didn’t see it.
She goes back to school and gets her social work degree, learning Spanish while she’s at it, all while working at a center for at-risk youth with an emphasis on music and the performing arts.
She works with the kids and looks after them, did some counseling for a while, but that’s not her jam.
It’s admin and fundraising that’s her jam.
She’s a really good writer and the grants she writes have an unparalleled funding rate.
[Grins]
I’m totally making that up. I have no idea if they did.
I just know a lot of them got funded.
But she loves it and it’s perfect for her.
She takes care of people.
That’s what she’s good at.
She watched Preach take care of the band and Tommy take care of the band and she took care of the band.
And she’s seen a lot, done a lot, took her knocks, been around others that took way worse ones.
She might not get every story of every kid she hears, but she’s in a place, on some level, she can understand.
So, she’s got experience.
And they dig her, and not only because she’s all that is Lyla.
But because she’s all that’s Lyla.
So, now she looks after the kids and her staff, supporting them, nurturing them, helping them grow.
See what I mean?
That shit is perfect for her.
She doesn’t lean too heavy on me or the guys, never asks, we offer, but she doesn’t take us up on it very often because she doesn’t want it to get to be a thing.
You know, us helping her raise money or pitching up to work with the kids.
She knows she, Lyla, muse to the Roadmasters, Preacher McCade’s and Cat Trelane’s—maybe on that last—ex, could detract from the work she does, and distract from it, and even put her place there in jeopardy.
We all know that too fuckin’ well so we do what we can and give her her space to do what she digs.
Though, gotta say, she doesn’t turn down our yearly donations.
[Smiles]
That said, I think that was about her not wanting that shit to come out again.
You know, Lyla, of Lyla and Preacher, doin’ something, even something for good, with the Roadmasters.
It’d open a can of worms she wrassled back into the tin and she wasn’t feelin’ lettin’ them back out.
And you know?
Who could blame her?
But on that beach, none of us know what the fuck to say to Preacher’s question because, yeah, she’s good.
But each and every one of us know he nearly destroyed her when he walked away.
Dave dives in first, not to answer, to ask Shawn, “She comin’ to the gig?”
Shawn answers, “She hasn’t decided.”
“She needs to come to the gig,” Tim says.
“She needs to do what she needs to do,” I say.
That’s when Preach says, “Shawn, get her to the gig.”
[Picks up empty bourbon glass from the table beside him and tips it to look at the bottom]
I shoulda brought the bottle.
[Puts the glass back down]
We break up because Shawn’s wife needs to get to bed, Tim wants to check on his kid and Tom probably wants to take his wife home in order to do her.