“Fuck,” she breathes out.
Van stops at the counter and his eyes flick from me, to Luna, and back. “What’s up, guys?” he asks, but there are a hell of a lot more questions written all over his face.
“I just came in to grab some more strings for my niece’s guitar and Luna was having my favorite pizza. I couldn’t help myself.”
Luna looks up at him. “What’s up, Van?”
He shakes his head. “I just thought I’d come by and check on you. You seemed a little off last night when we talked. Wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She offers up a smile and a nod. “I’m fine. I was just so burned out. Needed rest.”
“We have a show tonight. You know that, right?”
She nods. “Yep, I was actually just about to invite Daniel to it.”
“Luna . . . do you really think that’s a good idea?” he asks quietly, but it’s pointless because I’m right here.
She rolls her eyes. “It’s fine.” She looks at me. “Daniel, would you like to come to our show tonight?”
I look from Van, to her, and back. It’s easy to see he doesn’t want me around her any more than I need to be, so I make up an excuse that will appease him. “Uh, I would love to, but I actually have a date tonight. Sorry. Maybe next time?”
Van smiles but she doesn’t look too happy. “Oh, um, yeah, I guess,” she says.
“I should probably get going. I wasn’t supposed to be gone long,” I say, finishing the slice of pizza in my hand and grabbing another to take with me. “See ya, man,” I say to Van as I pass. I get to the door and turn to face Luna. “Thanks for the pizza, Luna. I’ll see you around.”
She offers up a weak smile and I wave as I walk out. On my walk to the car, I grab my phone out of my pocket and send her a quick message.
I’d love to come to your show then take you home afterward.
I climb behind the wheel and watch her from the store window. She picks up her phone, reads the message, smiles, then replies.
9 p.m. at The Westends.
I drop my phone into my lap after reading the message and finish off my slice of pizza. Without waiting around, I put the key in the ignition and start back toward the office, ready to get this day over with.
The weekend quickly approaches and finally, I have Luna all to myself. There are no shows this weekend, no practice, and no label stuff. For once, she has the entire weekend free. The label thought it would be important to take a little time off so the band isn’t burned out by the time the tour starts.
When we’re both done with work on Friday, we meet up at her place for some dinner on the couch, plus it’s also a way to rest before our weekend plans. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re loading up in the car to make the drive down to Calvin’s. She’s going to hang out with the girls while I help Calvin with some building repairs. But it’s also a way for us to get out of the busy city, and away from the band so we can just be ourselves for a little while. I’m dying to know what it would be like to have Luna all to myself. No band, music, or impending fame to get in our way.
The two of us eat our wings on the couch while talking and watching TV. We go to bed early, but don’t actually sleep until late. In the morning, we each shower and have a quick breakfast before setting out for our destination. The car ride is a long drive full of loud music, car karaoke, bathroom stops, and tank fill-ups. But we make it just in time for dinner at Calvin’s house. I park the car in his driveway and lead Luna up to the front door. The door is open but the screen door is shut, so I quickly knock against the wood frame.
Calvin comes to the door and pushes it open with a smile “Hey, I’m glad the two of you could make it. Come in.” He takes a step back but holds the door open for both of us.
I reach out and shake his hand. “It’s good to see ya. And not in a suit. That’s unusual.” I look over at Luna. “Luna, you remember Calvin from the time you visited the office?” I look over at her as she nods. “He’s actually seen you perform. I brought them to one of your shows a while back.”
She smiles sweetly. “Oh, that’s cool. What did you think?”
Calvin nods. “It was a great show. Everyone had a blast. And sorry we bailed before you could meet the group after the concert. We all came in one car, and since Riley’s pregnant, she was feeling exhausted by the end, so we headed out right after you finished.”
“Speaking of the girls, where are they? I’d like to introduce them to Luna.”
Calvin points toward the kitchen. “In there, tearing up the kitchen.” At this point, he leans in toward Luna and lowers his voice. “They don’t know how to cook, so at dinner, just push the food around on your plate and tell them how good it is. They’ll never know the difference.”
She laughs but nods. “Got it.”
Calvin shows us to the kitchen, where I introduce her to both Riley and Piper. They welcome her with open arms and Riley gushes about how awesome she is and how she’s already considered famous in her book. Luna’s face flushes when she meets fans who compliment her. I have a feeling it’s something she’ll have to get used to. She’s not accustomed to people paying her much attention unless she’s on stage. Right now, she still considers herself a normal person. But all that will end soon enough. As soon as she gets a song on the radio and a music video on YouTube, she’ll be treated like a celebrity in no time.
I leave Luna with the girls while Calvin takes me into his home office. The place is already decorated nicely with a dark wooden desk, leather chairs, rows and rows of books, and a fancy liquor cabinet. He pours us each a drink then sits across from me.
“So, I see things are still moving quickly with you two.”
I shrug and take a sip of my scotch. “We’re spending time together because it makes us happy, but we’ve vowed to let go when the time comes.”
He nods. “So you’re putting off the pain for another day.”
I laugh. “Basically, but there’s no better option. Why stay away from each other when we can still be together?”
“Hey, it’s your life. Live it however you want.” He reaches into his desk and pulls out a stack of paperwork. “Here are the plans I have for the new office. What do you think?” he asks, handing them over.
I flip through the pages, impressed. “You did these on your own?” The building is rather small. It looks to have a front desk area, a public restroom, a storage/break room, and two offices. “Why two offices?”
He shrugs. “I just thought it would be better to plan ahead. I don’t want to get so busy that I need to hire someone else and not have the space for them. Plus, you never know . . . you may want to move out of the city and settle down one of these days.”
I laugh long and hard at that. I’ve always been a city boy. I’ve never lived in the country and highly doubt I’m going to start now. I wouldn’t know what to do with a house of my own. I’ve never used a lawn mower, and have never had to fix a leaky pipe, or deal with any other kind of home improvement issue. If something breaks, I just call the super. And grass is something I can honestly say I’ve never even thought about. I grew up in a penthouse apartment. I lived in the dorms in college, and live in an apartment now. I’ve never lived in a house and find the thought of it to be weird. It just seems wasteful to me. Who needs that much space? And what the hell do you do with it all?