“Why did you tell them that?”
“Why do you think?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because I love you. I have all these love songs I’d written in Galena. You inspired almost every song on the next album. I had to tell them who was my muse. They have to sing the lyrics with me. They have to understand how you touched my life. How you took me back when I’d lied to you and how special you are to me. Almost half the album is complete. We went to work in the studio straight away when I got back. We got clearance to cover a Stevie Wonder song.”
“Which one?”
“Master Blaster Jammin’, it would be nice if he would sing on it but that’s probably not going to happen. It’s his song and he is Stevie Wonder.”
Seeing Jagger talk about music turned me on. He was so animated. His face lit up and his body relaxed. He was the epitome of a great musician.
Jagger sat quietly looking into his cell. He seemed more at ease. I finished putting all the groceries away and walked over to him.
“Kat, in a few months they’ll be an album release party. Will you come? You can meet anyone.”
“Sure. Where is it?”
“L.A.”
“I’ll fly you out for the weekend.”
“Okay.
“Do you have any more chores after this?”
“No. What do you want to do?”
“Can we get in bed and watch reality TV?”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
Jagger stood, towering over me. He took my hand and walked me upstairs to my bedroom.
I took a seat on the bed and he went into his duffel bag that was on the floor by the chair. When he turned to me he was holding a Tiffany box with a white ribbon tied in a bow on top.
He handed the box over. “I got you something.”
I took it. “Thank you.” Why? I said in my head. I didn’t want to be rude. I looked at the pretty box for a few seconds before I place it in my lap and untied it. I moved as fast as I could to get into the box but it still felt like slow motion. There were rose gold diamond hoop earrings inside. This was real bling. The diamonds were glowing.
“Thank you, they’re beautiful.”
He smiled and dropped down beside me on the bed. “Not as beautiful as you.”
“Why did you get me this? I love them, like a lot but—?”
“Your birthday is coming up.”
“Next month.”
“I know but I was thinking about it. Jewelry seemed appropriate then I thought of something better. So I got the earrings and gave them to you now because that’s not your birthday gift.”
“That makes sense.”
He grabbed the box of earrings from my hand and placed them on the bedside table.
The time we were together flew by. I drove Jagger back to the airport where a private jet was waiting for him. I went back home feeling a little empty inside.
Chapter 24
KATRINA
It was October, my birthday month. The weather was dropping fast. It even rained a few times. Good weather was fleeting in this part of the country.
My birthday was only a few days away. Jagger flew in on the Wednesday before my born day. He planned to stay an entire week. Having a week with him was a dream. A long distance relationship took a lot of getting used to.
Jagger showed up clean shaved and with just a little more swag, if that was even possible. This time Jagger had a bevy of suitcases. He also had a lot of video equipment delivered to the house for my son. He had been texting my son and talking about filmmaking. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I didn’t have time to reject the cameras, lenses, lights, and stuff that came to the house. Jagger had been sending me gifts since he’d left the last time. I was curious and looked up the rose gold diamond earrings on the Tiffany & Co. website. They were very expensive at a little over twelve thousand dollars. I didn’t say anything about the cost. My mama raised me with manners.
Waking up next to him was always nice and it brought me back to the times we shared together in Galena. We ate breakfast and dinner together like a family. I loved every minute of it. Things would be perfect if he was older and had a regular job. I lived with a fear that one day he would realize just how old I was and that his future and my future had different trajectories.
Aaron and Jagger spent a lot of time in the basement with the video equipment. Somehow my son recorded Jagger singing a snippet from an unreleased song. Jagger posted it on Instagram and give my son a credit as the videographer. My son’s Instagram blew up because he was a real filmmaker now. He was sixteen and behind a camera that shot a video of a famous person. This all happened Friday. Jagger posted it about an hour before Aaron came home from school. I think they had the whole thing planned.
Jagger’s manager didn’t like it at all. But he couldn’t seriously complain about it because the video of Jagger sitting in a chair in darkness with a single light singing and playing guitar got over five million likes and ten million views. The video was picked up by the blogs and shared all over Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat.
My ex-husband was taking Aaron for the weekend. I hoped Aaron’s newfound fame wouldn’t go to his head. His father wouldn’t ever see this post and I was sure Aaron wouldn’t tell him about it. Erik didn’t monitor his social media accounts. All the real parenting was left up to me.
I dropped Aaron off at his father’s house. It was only a few miles away. I didn’t bring my housemate with me for the ride. I didn’t want any static. I had good sense.
Erik didn’t know
