CHAPTER 6
Emma
There’s a freaking huge bus parked in front of my house. Massive and colored metallic brown with sweeps of light bronze and gold on the diagonal with the name “Evan Scott” written in graffiti-style letters, and under it in small letters “The Come Again Tour”.
Pulling my blinds open just a bit more, I angle my head to the left to see better, and I can’t contain the gasp that comes out when I see the rest of the spectacle lining the street.
“What?” my dad asks from behind.
“No words,” I whisper, shaking my head. “There are just no words.”
My dad gives a chuckle and comes to stand beside me. Instead of surreptitiously peeking out the blinds like me, he grabs the cord on the right and pulls on it, causing the blinds to shoot upward and exposing us standing there.
With a shriek, I jump back from the window and then take several more steps backward. My dad just stuffs his hands in his jeans pockets and takes it all in.
Not only is there the massive “Evan Scott” bus, but there’s a matching bus just behind it. Same colors, same announcement on the side, so there’s no doubt as to the fame of the person inside.
And behind the two buses… two tractor-trailers. These are non-descript with full-length, white trailers behind them and I have no idea why they’re sitting there.
“Looks like he’ll put on quite a show,” my dad observes thoughtfully.
I don’t answer, but instead look around my living room. I’ve got two large suitcases filled with my clothes, a smaller rolling case with my toiletries, and a separate duffel filled with necessities for Sirius. He’s currently lying beside it sleeping, as my dad wore him out about half an hour ago playing a vicious game of tug of war.
Am I really doing this? Am I going to join that caravan of musicians and God knows who else, and travel around the country?
I guess I am and still can’t quite wrap my head around the prospect. I’ve never done anything so spontaneous… so ill planned. So… adventurous?
“You’ll have an amazing time,” my dad says softly, and my head snaps toward him. He’s looking at me with a keen paternal understanding. “This will be good for you, Em. You need a little excitement in your life.”
“My life has plenty of excitement,” I mutter, and then my eyes slide back to the window as I see movement outside. The doors open on the first bus, and Evan comes trotting down the steps.
I can’t explain the light, fluttery feeling deep in my belly as he cuts across my lawn. He’s wearing a pair of faded khaki shorts that hang low with frayed hems, a green Mountain Dew t-shirt, and a beat-up old baseball cap done in light blue with UNC’s mascot on the front. I remember reading he actually went to Carolina for three years before he dropped out to pursue music full time. It’s a warm spring day and I notice he’s wearing flip-flops, just as I notice his legs are tanned and muscled. Of course, that leads me to check out his arms, which are also corded with lean muscle, and the fluttering in my belly picks up its pace.
Within moments, Evan’s knocking at my front door. My dad merely takes a few steps to the side from my front window to let him in. Sirius bolts up out of his sleep when he hears we have a visitor and he tries to shoot past me. I lunge, grab onto his collar, and give him a stern, “Sit”. Miraculously, his butt hits the floor where his tail sweeps back and forth along the hardwood with excitement.
“Evan,” my dad says as he extends his hand out. “I’m Cary Peterson.”
Evan shakes my dad’s hand with a smile as he says, “It’s good to meet you, sir.”
“Likewise,” my dad says, and then he steps away from Evan toward me, his hands coming to my shoulders. “Okay, honey… I’m going to head out, but you have a great time on this trip.”
“I’m working, Dad,” I remind him primly. “It’s not a vacation.”
“Well, enjoy yourself anyway,” he chides as he leans in to kiss me on the cheek. When he pulls away, he looks at me somberly for a moment before adding on, “I’m proud of you for doing this. Trying something new.”
“I’m doing this to get a new job,” I remind him, because I had a long talk with him yesterday after Evan left, told him about this “offer of employment,” and that Evan assured me that Midge would help me secure a job in another firm when I completed my duties. He seemed neither shocked nor disappointed by this proclamation, and I suspect that’s because my dad just wants me to be happy and he knows I’m not with Knight & Payne.
“Okay, honey,” my dad says softly and he releases my shoulders. “I love you and we’ll talk on the phone soon. Call me if you need anything at all.”
For a brief moment, I panic at the thought of him leaving. My life is secure and safe and there aren’t any surprises. My dad is my rock and well… since mom died, he’s become my best friend.
I have to physically bite down on my tongue so I don’t inadvertently call out for him that I’ve changed my mind and I watch as he bends over to pick up Kiki’s travel cage. She’s a Maine Coon cat and huge, so the cage is substantial. She gives out a long meow of surprise to be moving.
“Need some help with that?” Evan asks, still standing just inside my doorway with his gaze dubiously pinned on Kiki’s cage.
“I’m good,” my dad tells him. Evan looks relieved, moving several paces away from the door to give a wide berth. I guess he wasn’t kidding when he said he was allergic to cats.
My dad and I exchange “I love you’s” one more time and then he’s gone, leaving Sirius and me alone with Evan.
“You ready?” he asks me.
I don’t answer him directly but instead say, “You didn’t tell me you had an entire convoy for this tour.”
“Does it matter?” he counters.
I merely shrug my shoulders as I let go of Sirius’ collar. The puppy immediately jets toward Evan who locks his body in anticipation of a collision. There’s a smirk on my face as I watch Sirius jump up on Evan, paws going to his shoulders and I don’t bother trying to retrieve him.
“Oh-kay,” Evan chuckles as he pushes Sirius off him, only to have him leap back up again as he desperately tries to lick Evan’s face. “Get down, buddy.”
Evan struggles. Sirius leaps. Drool flies.
“Little help here,” Evan calls to me with a quick glance.
“Push him down,” I instruct calmly. “When he tries to jump up again, raise your knee up to prevent it and tell him to ‘sit’.”
Evan immediately does as I suggest. He pushes Sirius down, who immediately leaps back up. Evan raises his knee and hops on one foot with his hands warding off Sirius, whose tongue is flopping about in a mad attempt to lick Evan’s face.
I have to cover my mouth with my hand to not bust out laughing, and then almost pee my pants when Sirius—clearly bored with this new game now—sits very briefly only to reach out and snag the flip-flop off Evan’s foot that’s held in the air while his knee is still raised.
Quick as a flash, Sirius turns around and shoots out of the living room and down the hallway, where I can hear him leap onto my bed.
“Son of a bitch,” Evan mutters, and I can’t even look at him. I’ll lose it.
Instead, I call over my shoulder as I trot down my hallway, “I’ll get your shoe. Just hold on.”
“Fucking mutt,” he mutters. While I cringe at his casual use of the “F” word, I can’t contain the snicker that pops out of my mouth.
I find Sirius on my bed furiously working at something inside of his mouth. When I look down to my mattress, I see the flip-flop with half the heel gone and immediately hurry to the crazy puppy to pull it out of his mouth.
“Bad dog,” I say sternly, knowing my voice will carry down the hall to Evan, but then I whisper to Sirius and ruffle the fur on his head, “Good dog.”
His tail thumps in abandon over my praise, and I have to say… while I’m not looking forward to getting on that bus and traveling the country, I am relishing just a bit how much Sirius will probably torment Evan.
♦
There’s more cursing by Evan after I hand him half a flip-flop, but it doesn’t last long. He pulls his other shoe off, grabs one of my large suitcases, and walks out door. I take that as my cue to get moving, and I work to get Sirius on his leash to bring him out to the bus. A big, burly man who is bald on top but has a long, red beard walks into my house and gives me a nod of his head, before walking over to my other luggage. Correction… he’s not big. He’s massive. Tall and wide with a bit of a gut hanging low and hands the size of dinner plates. He tucks the duffel under one arm and takes the other large suitcase in one hand, as well as my rolling case in the other, and walks back out my door.
Turning around once, I take a last look at my living room, and I have a moment of sadness to be leaving. I love my house. My little sanctuary where every spare wall is covered with bookcases, and filled with books. I’ve got fiction and non-fiction. Poetry. Self-help books. Romance. Thrillers. Law books.
I’m going to miss my books.
“Come on, Sirius,” I say as I give a little tug on his leash. While he’s a hellion at almost all other times, the minute he’s on a leash, he displays perfect manners and for that, I’m grateful.
We leave my house and I lock up, at least secure in the fact my dad will check on it frequently for me. My bills are all covered, as those were all on auto draft and the only other thing to worry about was my mail, but my neighbor’s going to collect it for me and give it to my dad. He’ll handle any emergencies.
My life is zipped up tidily and now I’m free to go on this… well, whatever this journey is. I still haven’t quite figured it out, because I’m just having an almost impossible time trying to accept that this massive bus in front of me is not only my home for the next thirty days, but my office as well.
Evan waits for me—barefooted—by the open bus doors. I can see the red-bearded guy behind the wheel as I walk Sirius across the front yard, with his nose to the ground sniffing. He pauses, squats, and pees—only because he’s still a puppy and hasn’t figured out how to raise his leg yet—and then we walk up to Evan.
He motions with his hand for us to walk up the steps and says, “Your chariot awaits.”
“It’s a land yacht,” I say out of the side of my mouth to him. “Not a chariot.”
Evan laughs as Sirius and I walk up the steps. At the top, the driver looks at me and says in a low, rough rumble, “Name’s Red.”
“Emma,” I say with a nervous smile. “And this is Sirius.”
Red turns slightly away from me, reaching for something on the side of his seat. When he turns back my way, I see he’s holding a dog biscuit. He holds it up for Sirius to see and says, “Can you sit, little man?”
Sirius’ butt hits the rubberized mat we’re standing on.
“Good boy,” Red praises. I think he’s smiling, but I can’t really see his mouth under all that hair on his face, but his eyes are crinkled so I think so. He tosses the biscuit to Sirius, who catches it with flopping jowls that throws a small thread of drool to the floor.
I grimace and say apologetically, “Sorry about that. I’ll clean it up.”
“Leave it,” Red growls, but in a nice way. “Dogs drool. It’s not the end of the world.”
And this time, I level him with a big smile. Red clearly is a dog person, and he’s already taken to Sirius. His eyes crinkle more, and I definitely take that to mean he’s truly smiling back at me.
A slight cough behind me, and I realize Evan’s waiting to come up the steps.
“Sorry,” I say as I turn left into the main area of the bus and then just gape at what’s before me. In almost a daze, I lean over and unclip the leash from Sirius’ collar. His nose drops to the floor to start investigating the space.
The sumptuous, ridiculously posh space.
I’m staring at a living area with blond hardwood flooring, a cream leather couch on the right, and two swivel leather chairs to my left. On the other side of the chairs is a built in desk with a laptop, and beyond that is a kitchen with tiled flooring and stainless steel appliances. I can see an open doorway leading into a bedroom with plush cream carpeting, as well as a bed decorated in expensive-looking linens. Sirius takes off to the bedroom and makes a flying leap onto the mattress, where he flops onto his back and starts wiggling around.
A warm, heavy hand on my hip causes me to jump, and then Evan’s pushing past me into the living area. With a wave of his hand, he says, “So this is it… the living area. There’s a desk there for you to work. Kitchen. Bathroom is on the other side of it, and then the bedroom in the back. It’s only a full-sized bed but plenty big enough.”
A sizzling jolt of shock slams into me and I blurt out, “I’m not sleeping in that bedroom with you.”
Evan’s eyes flash and his lips curve upward. He takes a step toward me and murmurs, “Your choices are that bedroom or you can stay on the second bus behind us. That’s where the band and a few of the road crew ride. They sleep in bunks built into the wall.”
“But… but…” I stammer, completely stunned by this news.
Then Evan bursts out laughing as he rests a hand on my shoulder. “Relax, Emma. The bedroom is yours. This couch converts and I’ll sleep out here.”
Amazingly, there’s a twinge of disappointment to know that Evan had no intention of sleeping in the same bed as me, but the overwhelming relief obliterates it. I’d simply die if I had to share a bed with such a gorgeous specimen of a man, who is so far out of my league it’s not even funny, not to mention the fact I really don’t like him all that much.
Liar.
“I can’t take the bedroom,” I say hastily. “You’re the star. You deserve the star treatment. So I’ll sleep out here.”
Evan grins at me a moment before he moves to the kitchen area. “You’ll take the bedroom. I’m a southern boy first and foremost and we have our manners before we have anything. I’ll be fine out here. Want something to drink?”
I shake my head. “I’m good.”
“We’re taking off, folks,” Red says from the front, and I hear the doors hiss close. The bus rocks as he steps on the gas and I take a seat on the leather couch, my head spinning. I hear Sirius jump out of the bed and come barreling down the short hallway, through the kitchen, and right past the living area where he flops down on the floor beside Red. I note he absently puts a hand down to briefly scratch my puppy’s head before he returns it to the wheel.
Evan takes a seat on the other end of the couch and that grabs my attention, so my head swings back his way. He stares at me, takes a sip from a can of Diet Coke, and then just stares at me some more.
It’s awkward and before I start fidgeting under his heavy gaze, I try to make desperate conversation. “I went over the tour schedule you emailed me last night. I was sort of exhausted just reading it. Forty-two shows over three months.”
Evan nods. “Pretty much. We’ll do a show, pack up, and drive to the next venue although in the cities where we do two shows, we’ll stay in a hotel for some extra comfort.”
“Is it normal to have this much… um… stuff and people?” I ask, stumbling on the right words to even put a name to the convoy of buses and trucks that are rolling along behind us as we drive through my neighborhood. Atlanta is the kick off for this tour and it starts evening after next.
He bobs his head in acknowledgment. “Apparently. Although this is my first concert tour, so I can’t say for sure. Crazy, right?”
“I’m still not sure I understand it,” I admit.
“Well, there are three musicians who will play with me, since I’m a solo artist. I’ve only been with them for about a month, but they’re really cool. I’ll introduce you when we stop. They sleep on the other bus, along with my manager, Tyler Hannity, and the two bus drivers. Plus, there are two permanent road crews that go to all shows who will do the sound and lighting. The rest of the crew will be local hires at each venue who help to build the stage and set everything up. The tour production company handles hiring that out, as well as other local talent like stylists.”
“It’s overwhelming,” I tell him candidly. Because I’m feeling completely out of place in this world already, and I’ve only been gone from my house for five minutes.
“Hey,” he says as he leans toward me a bit. “You gotta remember… this is all new for me too. I only broke onto the scene last year, and I’d never even opened for another band before. Stepping out on that stage in Atlanta… we’re going to be lucky if I don’t have a stroke. I’m going to be so nervous.”
And that makes me feel all kinds of better, knowing that about Evan. That perhaps both of us are stepping into this world together, and it makes me feel slightly braver knowing he’s overwhelmed by all this as well.
“Now,” he says dramatically as he stands from the couch. “How about we get going on some of the legal mumbo-jumbo I hired you for, so you can get up to speed? There will be reporters in Atlanta we’ll have to address.”
My stomach drops, curdles, and threatens to expel the bagel I ate for a hurried but late lunch today. I hate public speaking and the thought of getting up in front of reporters to field questions about Evan’s legal issues makes me want to hurl my guts up.
But instead, I just put on a brave face and give him a nod, hoping this next month goes by fast so I can get back to the sanctity of my real life and a job that’s much more suited to me.