“You broke up with Andrew? Isn’t it a little…out of the norm for you?”
“Maybe my norm needs a little shaking up.” Maybe it has for a long time and I just didn’t know it.
Annie frowned. “I’ll admit Andrew is a little, well, bland. Maybe not my taste, but you and him seem so suited to each other.”
Emma sucked down a gulp of her margarita. “Yeah. And what does this say about me? My whole life can be summed up in one word. Bland.”
“Sorry, kitten. I only meant it in a…nice way.” Annie picked up her own drink and sipped at it. “So you say you met someone. Who? Where?”
“Okay, don’t leap off your chair and screech, but last Saturday night I went to a rock club.” She took another fortifying sip of her drink, waiting for a reaction.
Annie’s jaw dropped and she almost spilled the contents of her glass. “A rock club? You?”
At least she didn’t screech her disapproval. Not yet, anyway.
“Uh huh.” She stared into her glass, remembering the scene last Saturday. She couldn’t believe it’d only been a week ago. “I think I nearly gave Andrew a heart attack because I jumped up in the middle of watching Full Metal Jacket for the third time, said I couldn’t do this any more, and ran out of the house.”
Annie burst out laughing. “Good for you, girlfriend. It’s about time.”
“About time?” She raised her eyes, startled. “Annie, if you thought I was making a mistake with him, why didn’t you ever say something before this? We’re not exactly strangers, you know.”
Her friend’s face sobered. “Emma, you were so content with your life, everything comfortably planned out. So secure in it. Who was I to rock the boat? I thought that was what you wanted.”
Until she had an epiphany and took a good look inside herself. For the first time in her life, she figured out she didn’t really know she was. That what she wanted wasn’t at all what she had. What she was ‘settling’ for.
“So did I. Until it struck me in a couple of weeks I’m going to be thirty and the most exciting thing I’ve ever done was a joy ride I took when I was seventeen.”
“So what did you do? How’d you end up at the club?” Annie’s mouth curved in a wicked grin. “Come on. I want details.”
By the time Emma had given her the entire story, she’d nearly finished her drink. She didn’t know why she needed the liquid courage to confess everything to Annie, her best friend. It just eased the edges of her anxiety at bringing it all out into the open.
“So there you have it.” She shoved away the empty glass. “All the grubby details.”
Annie had a shocked expression in her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m hearing you right. Are you kidding me or what?”
“Which part are you having the most trouble with? Running out on Andrew? Going to a rock club? Going home with a man I just met?”
“Everything. All of it.” Annie gave Emma a penetrating look. “First of all, Aftershock is the primo rock club in the city, although I’m sure you didn’t know that.” She crunched a chip. “I’ve been there a few of times myself, as a matter of fact.”
“You have?” For a moment Emma was hurt. As close as she and Annie were, as easily as they’d connected and as much as they shared, apparently there were more secrets the woman kept locked away. But then she realized some things were hard for people to tell someone else. If she didn’t need Annie’s help to straighten out her head, would she even have said anything about Marc?
“Uh huh. When there is a particular band I’m dying to see.”
“How come you never mentioned any of that stuff?”
“Emma.” Annie put a hand on her arm. “Rock clubs weren’t exactly part of our conversations. Or even part of your world. You hate the music I listen to, always wanting to change the radio station when we go someplace and I’m driving. You couldn’t even stand the CDs I wanted to play for you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Can I help it if I’ve been fed a steady diet of soft rock and pop?” Emma sighed. “Explaining it just sounds so stupid. The beat’s too heavy, too thumping. The guitars screeched.” She waved her hands in frustration. “What can I say? But Annie, the band I saw was different. The sound was—I don’t know—smoother? More emotional? I can’t explain it.”
“Yeah? So tell me. Who’s this wonder band playing there now?”
She picked up another chip and swirled it in the salsa. “Some band called Lightnin’. I think.”
“You think?” Annie nearly dropped her drink. “Holy shit, Emma. They’re one of the hottest bands around. Everyone says they’re about to really break out.”
“Break out?” Emma frowned, puzzled. There must be an entire segment of the English language she was unfamiliar with. And then her heartbeat stuttered. How much did Annie know about her bass player? “Break out of what?”
“You know. The club scene. Small local concert gigs. I hear they’re about to get a chance at the big time. You should Google them and check out their website. Learn a thing or two. Holy shit, mama. When you decide to do something, you don’t mess around.”
Annie was right. Emma Blake was morphing by the minute into someone she had yet to figure out. She looked at her friend helplessly. “How was I supposed to know all that? I only ended up there by mistake.”
“And you went home with their bass player? I should make such mistakes.”
Emma had to ask. “Do you know him? Have you met him? Do you know anything about him?”
“Honey, no. I just know the buzz about their music. But I’ve seen them
