“For the fucking girl?” Mack asked. I nodded. “Do you know how expensive that’s going to be?”
“Do you think I care? If you had a woman you loved, wouldn’t you do anything for her?”
A shadow flashed across Mack’s face. There was a story with him that I didn’t think any of us knew. “Let’s see where we are.” After running back to his room to grab his iPad, Mack dropped back into the seat he’d just vacated then began tapping away. If you want to get up in the middle of the night, we’ll be in New York. You could get an Uber to take you to the airport for an eight a.m. flight. Get to Detroit around ten.”
“That’ll work for me. I need to get to the airport by seven?” I confirmed. He nodded. “Perfect. What about return?”
“You’d have to be on the 3:50 flight. Get you back before six. I wouldn’t feel comfortable cutting it any closer.”
“That’s enough time,” I told him.
He tapped away, then said, “Credit card.” He held his hand out to me. I had to get it from my bunk, but I didn’t give a fuck how much it was. I needed to see her. He worked away, then gave it back to me and said, “The information was emailed to you. Set your alarm.”
“Thanks.”
“Hope she’s worth it.” He pushed off and headed back to his bedroom.
“She is.”
He waved over his shoulder but didn’t look back or respond.
Now I knew I was going to have the hardest time sleeping. It was worth it when I stepped off the flight in Detroit. I had a carry-on bag around my shoulder, which meant I got to skip the luggage area. The car was waiting for me by the time I got out of the airport.
“Can you turn that up?” I asked the Uber driver when I heard Jurnie’s voice on the radio. He didn’t move his hands, but the volume went up.
“So you changed your major because you’ve found your calling with us here in the studio,” one DJ said to her.
“If you want to put it that way, yes.” That was the voice of an angel. An angel whom I missed the hell out of.
“So you’re about to become our intern,” the other one pointed out.
“She’s lousy at music trivia,” the first one pointed out, which was totally true. I’d work on her musical education. “So we can’t have a trivia spot with you.”
“How about advice?” the second one asked. “You any good at advice?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “I’d have to try it.”
“How about we get some callers who want help with a problem?”
“Let’s do it.” I could hear the happiness in her voice as I fumbled with my phone to get on that line.
“OK, we’re going to go to commercial and get a couple lined up for you.”
Somehow it rang on the first try as I waited.
“K98, are you calling for advice?” the first one, I thought it was Ned, answered.
“Yeah. Is this Ned or Brian?” I asked.
“Ned.”
“This is Bonham, Jurnie’s boyfriend, but don’t tell her it’s me. I’m trusting you here, man.”
“You got it. What can I do?”
“I fucked up with Jurnie and I just flew into Detroit to make it right. I’d like her to not know it’s me.”
“We can do that. Give us just a minute.”
I went back on hold as the Uber pulled up to the radio station. After thanking him, I hopped out and went around to the side of building where Jurnie had taken me before. There were a couple of benches and a trashcan in case people ate out here.
“Anonymous Lucy has a problem that he needs some advice on,” Ned started. “Go ahead, Anonymous Lucy.”
“I messed up with my girlfriend,” I told her, assuming she’d recognize my voice right away. “I hurt her by letting girls hang all over me at work. Now, I wanted nothing to do with them, and it’s kind of part of my job, but I should’ve put up better boundaries. What can I do to make this right?”
I jammed my free hand into my pocket and held my breath.
“Well,” Jurnie began, sounding hesitant. “I think that your girlfriend was probably shocked. Like she knew this was part of your job but was taken aback by seeing it in front of her face. It probably got her worried, even though you may not have done anything to deserve that.”
“I’d never hurt her. I honestly just didn’t think about it because it’s part of my day.”
“She doesn’t want to have to babysit you,” she said. Fuck. I didn’t want her to think she had to babysit me. Even if she hadn’t been there, that woman and I never would’ve done anything. “I mean probably. I wouldn’t want to have to babysit my boyfriend.”
“She doesn’t need to,” I told her. “I love her and I’d never do that to her.”
Jurnie cleared her throat. “So you’re saying that you’ll be better at putting up those boundaries?”
“Yes,” I answered her before she fully finished. “I can’t completely cut these people out, but I’ve already put the boundaries up.”
“Then you’ll be fine. She loves you and that’s all she really needed to know.”
This sense of relief washed over me. This life was hard and I loved it. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if we hadn’t worked this out.
“Thank you,” I told her.
“Thanks for letting K98 help you out,” Ned said, cutting in. “We’ll be right back.”
I ended the call and immediately pulled up Jurnie’s name.
“How did you know I was on the radio?” she asked, though she knew that with the internet, you could listen to any station’s broadcast online.
“Can you come outside?” I asked.
“What?”
“The station. Can you come outside?”
There was a rustling then I heard, “Bonham?” but not through the phone.
I stepped out from the alcove and saw
