AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tali
Tomorrow,I would be on a flight to Amsterdam. Today, my head was filled with checklists and spreadsheets. It had been nearly two years since I’d left the country on a work trip, and I was feeling like I was bound to forget something important—more important than power converters and enough socks.
Chewing my lip, I did a mental inventory of everything I’d already done. This trip was months and months in the making. Planning had been down to the minute.
“Your suitcase makes me gag.”
I laid a perfectly rolled pair of jeans into my bag and arched a brow. “Why is that?”
Nina waved her hand toward my luggage. “It’s too perfect. Skeeves me out. Don’t you ever just want to wad up a T-shirt and toss it on top?”
“No, I’ve never considered doing that.” I laid a pair of rolled yoga pants next to my jeans. “I’ve been rolling my clothes when I pack since college. It’s doubtful I’ll stop now because it skeeves you out.”
She lay on her side on my bed, rifling through my toiletry case. “I’m going to miss you, after having you around for so long.”
I smirked. “Even though my fastidiousness makes you feel icky?”
She looked up from my things, her dark eyes alight with the playfulness she possessed in spades and I was still searching for. “It’s notyou, Tals. It’s the way each of your little rolls is perfectly symmetrical and everything is lined up by color. Don’t even get me started on your toiletries.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “We’ve known each other for thirty-four years. This isn’t new information.”
“I guess it’s been a while since I’ve been here to witness the event that is Tali DiPietro packing to go on tour. I’d forgotten how completely fascinating, yet utterly disturbing it is.”
“Me packing is an event, huh? I think maybe you need some more excitement in your life.”
I closed my suitcase because I was tired of Nina looking at the contents like a science experiment. When she left, I’d open it again and double check everything with the list I had on my phone. I had a feeling if I tried to do that now, her head would explode and I’d never hear the end of it.
She sat up, ruffling her short, dark hair. “Not all of us can tour with rock stars.”
“If you think my job is even mildly glamorous, I challenge you to play my assistant.”
“Nope. I have no interest in having the curtain pulled back. Let me continue to believe your life is all sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.”
Laughing, I zipped up my toiletry case—I’d already checked it before Nina got here. “It’s more like celibacy, a glass of wine, and…okay, rock ‘n’ roll. That part’s true.”
We went to my kitchen, which was mostly bare in preparation for my six weeks on tour with the band I managed, Blue is the Color. I only had the essentials to get me through tomorrow morning—a block of really good cheese, half a baguette, and a few bottles of my favorite Czech beer.
I pulled a couple bottles from the fridge, holding one up for Nina’s approval. When she nodded, I popped the lids off and brought some cheese and bread to the bar where she parked herself.
She took a long pull of her beer, then turned to me. “Tell me more about this celibacy. Aren’t there going to be loads of attractive men touring with you? Why would you be celibate for six weeks when you could have your pick?”
“Is that really how you think my life works? I see a man I find attractive, I point to him, and say, ‘Hey, you, come to my lair and pleasure me’?”
She giggled-snorted, rocking forward on her stool. “You kid, but you’re hot as hell, and I highly doubt any man would say no to an offer like that.”
I waved her off. “Most of the guys who work on our tours, I’ve known for years. And if not, they’re far too young for me.”
She would not be deterred. “I Googled the opening acts, and holy hell, Tals. The lead singer of Unrequited could get it.”
“He couldn’t get it from me.” I tore off a piece of bread. “What’s with this line of questioning?”
Nina fingered her engagement ring. “I think I’ve been in a relationship for too long. I have to live vicariously through you.”
Something stirred in my chest. I knew it was jealousy, but I hated to acknowledge it enough to give it a name. Nina had been with Lydia for five years, and they were getting married two weeks after I got back from tour. They owned a house in the ‘burbs—not the scary kind with cookie cutter houses, but an eclectic, artsy little town full of old hippies and hipsters who’d fled the city—and Nina was a step-mom to Lydia’s nine-year-old daughter, Rose.
Having something like that had never been my goal. I was living my goal, and I loved it. I loved working for my boys, managing their careers, traveling the world with them. And for the past year, I’d become partners with them in their small, indie label, Rein Records. My work fulfilled me on nearly every level, but when I went to Nina’s house and hung out with her little family, I couldn’t help the twinge I’d been feeling lately.
The twinge was only slight and completely manageable.
