A welcome sense of relief came over the room as it sank in that the difficult conversation they’d been steeling themselves for wouldn’t be necessary.
“I get that,” Blade said at last. “It’s probably like the way I feel when we have to pretend stuff for a photo shoot or music video. I can do it, but fuck, it’s way too much effort to keep up for long.”
“That’s just you. I liked being a mechanic for the ‘Empty Girl’ video,” Dice pointed out with a grin.
Angel gave the younger drummer an affectionate look. “I doubt you’d enjoy actually fixing airplanes for a living.”
“It’d be all right if I had Kimmy to help me. She can fix anything.”
The others laughed, poured more drinks, and the conversation broke into multiple threads — Blade grumbling about the outfits they’d worn for the “Empty Girl” video, Crys asking about Rhys’s future and the calls his agent had been getting, Angel teasing Dice about hero-worshiping his drum tech. “Did you meet Kimmy earlier?” Eamonn asked Nell. “Very short hair, lots of piercings. She’s a good drummer in her own right, could probably cover for Dice if he were out sick, and she really can fix anything.”
“Can I ask how you’re going to handle the… transition?” Rhys’s question brought everyone’s attention back to the business at hand. “If at all possible, I’d like to go out without burning bridges or looking bad, you know? Reputation is gold for me right now. Does your label handle something like this?”
Angel sighed. “The gentlemen at Arleigh Hayward keep offering us new public relations people, but anyone they send or endorse will just be another spy for them.” His emphasis on gentlemen suggested the label’s bosses were anything but that. “We need to figure this out on our own.”
“Let’s see…” Sally called up the schedule on her phone. “There’s that party tonight, the radio show tomorrow morning, then your rehearsal slot with Gumdrop Conspiracy in the afternoon. Saturday, we’ve got sound check and the show, and then Sunday there’s a VIP brunch followed by a photo-and-autograph session. I know Kin would have set up a press conference, but I don’t see when, and I don’t know who or how.”
“So, let’s do it on stage,” Eamonn said. “It’s a platform, we’ll be in control, so we just… do it. Rhys can go out and play the first couple of songs, then — let’s say I could pull together a piano part for ‘Star Shot Down’ — we could play one all together before I get up and take over the bass. I’m kind of enjoying the idea of playing keys with a hoodie on and my head down so people are trying to figure out who I am, then coming up to the front and pushing my hood back…”
“I like it,” said Angel. “You’ll need to stay out of sight until Saturday for this to be effective, though. Are you good with that?” He seemed satisfied with Eamonn’s nod.
Blade raised a ringed eyebrow. “You play concert-quality keyboards?” Curiosity was evident in his tone, rather than doubt.
“Piano was my first love,” Eamonn assured him. “We just need to find me an instrument.”
The band, with Rhys, set off to some pre-festival industry party with their security people. The rest of the crew, given a night off-duty, had already vanished into their rooms or headed out to a bar in downtown Napa where apparently road crew from other bands were meeting up.
The courtyard was quiet in the deepening dusk, only broken by insect noises and the occasional gentle slap of water against the side of the swimming pool. “You want to watch a movie?” Eamonn asked Nell.
“What kind of movie?”
“Let’s just see what our choices are.”
“All right. As long as it’s not some cringy so-called comedy. I don’t find sex jokes and people embarrassing themselves funny.”
That made him grin. “Fair. I like science fiction and action and adventure, nothing too gory, but I’ll watch whatever you pick.”
For no reason that made any sense to her, hearing him name her favorite genres annoyed her. “You weren’t supposed to be so perfect,” she blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but there was something about Eamonn Yarrow that made her filters and defenses fail at the worst moments.
“Perfect, am I?” His voice was light and teasing, but the fractional hesitation before he spoke and the absurd lurch of hope in his eyes said otherwise.
Don’t look at me like that, you ridiculous man. And the worst part was that she liked the way he was looking at her. “I just… approve of your taste in movies?” Then, more briskly, she added, “Honestly, a cup of tea to go with the movie would be even more perfect, but I didn’t see a kettle or anything in our room.”
“Well, then,” he said, with a slightly lopsided smile, “there’s that coffee station in the reception area — it probably has tea too.”
There were, in fact, insulated carafes at the coffee station alongside the mugs, and a decent selection of tea bags, so Nell was able to make a pot of decaf cinnamon vanilla tea to take back to their room. Eamonn took a mug of coffee, shrugging when she asked him if it wouldn’t keep him awake. “I’ll be sleepy by the time I’m ready to sleep,” he said.
A small mountain of pillows filled the head of their bed, more than anyone would need for sleeping but very nice to lean against while watching the television on the opposite wall. Rancho Rosal offered several streaming services in addition to cable channels,
