AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hi, Cole,” Lauren said.
“Hi, Lauren! It was a great show,great. I had such a good time. We all did. These are my friends, Anne, Lola, and Rebecca.” The chorus of impressed hellos overlapped each other as Cole continued. “You sounded so good. Seriously, just…” She offered a dramatic chef’s-kiss gesture. “… Perfection!”
“And I loved Augie’s drum solo,” Lola said, batting her eyelashes. Lauren could see him struggling not to laugh at Maggie’s eyeroll over Lola’s moon-eyed crush.
“It was! And when DJ did ‘Empty Chair?’ O-M-G.” Anne turned six shades of red when DJ smiled at her.
The girls continued with their effusive praise while they got pictures with the band. As Augie autographed Lola and Anne’s arms with a marker, Rebecca told Stevie that his guitar playing was far superior to Dario’s, even though she thought Dario was totally hot. Stevie promised to keep it between them so as not to hurt Dario’s feelings. At the mention of Dario, the girls headed off as a herd to try to find him and Raphael.
Nearby, Atomic Alcatraz’s raucous laughter carried across the room. They were sharing beer and champagne with several young women dressed in short skirts and very high heels. One pressed herself up against the lead singer and let out a squealing laugh when he grabbed her ass.
Joey scowled. “Any of them put a hand on Cole’s behind like that and I’ll bury ’em in the park.”
“You must get a lot of that,” Maggie said to the group.
Lauren didn’t hear who answered Maggie. There were fans—and groupies—in every city, and she’d encountered her share of both. And while she wasn’t one of these singers with multiple partners in every city, she wasn’t a saint either.
Augie’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she came in partway through what he was saying to Joey: “… you know? You can have a whole lot of fun, but you learn quick that girls like those over there? Most are interested inwhatyou are, not inwhoyou are.”
“It can be fun for a night,” DJ said. “But that’s why when you find a goodwoman, you need to hold onto her. Or at least you try to.” He caught Lauren’s eye, and she was about to respond when her father waved to get her attention.
“Sweetie, Carolyn’s getting ready to go. I thought you’d want to say good night.”
Lauren quickly excused herself from the conversation, and Augie followed her. As she threaded her way through a knot of people, Lauren abruptly found herself face-to-face with Jackie.
She was confounded. Jackie had never come to a show before, and after the incident at the sisters’ “girls’ day”, Lauren assumed she’d refuse. They exchanged polite hellos, and Jackie offered a few kind words about the concert.
There was another long, self-conscious pause as both struggled with what they wanted to say, what they should say, and what neither was willing to say. Finally, Jackie broke the silence. “Well, I’ve got to find the kids.”
Lauren turned as her sister brushed by. “Jackie, wait.”
“What?”
“I’m glad you came tonight.”
A smile ghosted Jackie’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said. “About before.”
“Me, too,” Lauren said. “I could have handled things differently. Better.”
“Take care of yourself on tour. You might be a big star, but you’re still my baby sister.”
Before Lauren could say anything else, Jackie gave her a small, awkward wave and hurried away. And she knew that was about as much vulnerability as Jackie was going to offer anyone.
When Lauren found her, Carolyn was struggling with her jacket. Her husband tried to help, only to be tartly told she was perfectly capable of dressing herself. After flailing her arm again in her third unsuccessful attempt to untangle the sleeve, she relented and let him adjust the coat.
“Carolyn! Thank you for coming tonight.” Lauren threw her arms around her sister. She was going to miss everyone in her family, but she was really going to miss Carolyn.
“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Carolyn said. “You were as amazing as ever. Promise you’ll call?” She wiped a few tears away. “Damn pregnancy hormones.”
“Of course! And you’ll call as soon as you have the baby, right? I don’t care what time of day or night it is.”
“I’ll even pinky swear!” Carolyn held up her hand, and the two sisters locked their little fingers.
Carolyn tucked her arm through Greg’s. Lauren watched them go, but any sadness she felt was melting away like spring snow in the face of her excitement to be back out on the road.
Augie appeared next to her. “Dude, I swear to God, I was afraid she was getting carted out of here in an ambulance tonight because she went into labor.”
Lauren scoffed. “Ambulance? No way. She’d have delivered that kid right in the suite. Then held the baby up like she was presenting the Lion King.”
