Page 50 of The Fire Walker
Jessie
When I woke,I never expected to find Dee asleep next tome.
My heart ached as I took in his soft expression—the slight rise and fall of his chest and the way his hair was messed up. It reminded me of the way he’d looked the morning I’d left inLA.
Maybe we didn’t need to fix things. Maybe it was a case of startingover.
I could keep saying I was sorry forever and never get anywhere. If I could get him to see the real me, then we might have a chance at being epicagain.
Before he could wake and catch me staring, I went into the bathroom and had a quick shower. By the time I came out, dressed and ready to go, he still hadn’t woken. He’d driven so far yesterday and not to mention whatever he’d been through before that, it was no wonder he was so tired. Deciding to leave him be for a while, I wandered outside and down the street where a diner sat by the side of the road. I bought a couple of bacon and sausage muffins and two takeout cups of coffee and went straight back to themotel.
Balancing the food in one hand, I closed the door behind me with a soft thud. Dee let out a groan as he rolled over, his sleepy gaze finding mine. For a moment, he looked disoriented like he didn’t realize who he was looking at, then hefrowned.
“I got you something to eat,” I said indifferently. “Coffee,too.”
I turned my back to him and set the food on the bench, then pulled out my share and began eating. There was nowhere to sit, so I propped myself against thecounter.
The mattress squeaked, and a moment later, he was beside me. “Thanks.”
I stiffened slightly at the sound of his voice and nodded. “Noproblem.”
We ate in silence, the smell of fresh bacon and coffee filling the tiny room finally overpowering the trademark mothball smell all motels seemed tohave.
“I’m going to have a shower,” Dee said, and for once, it wasn’t laced with anythinguntoward.
I nodded, not wanting to speak in case I disturbed the uneasyequilibrium.
He disappeared into the bathroom, and my shoulders sagged. Was that progress as minute as itwas?
By the time we were back in the car, it was less frosty than the day before. Dee still ignored me, but the tension in the air wasn’t as thick, and it made me wonder what had begun to change hismind.
“Do you mind stopping at the next gas station?” I asked, breaking thesilence.
He glanced over at me, then back to the road. The only indication he gave me that he’d agreed was when he actually pulled off the highway into a bright, shiny BP that had about six or seven long-haul trucks in the lot. Cutting the engine, he sighed and sank back into the seat, stretching hisarms.
“Want anything?” I asked, fumbling for the doorhandle.
“No thanks.” Grumpy, but stillpolite.
Inside the gas station, I detoured past the ladies’ room and strolled down the aisle, looking for something to eat. Instead, I found myself looking at the magazine rack full of trashy tabloids, newspapers, and assortedpulp.
My gaze fell onto a copy ofRolling Stone. It was the new edition, and I knew there would be an article in there on The Devil’s Tattoo. Remembering the shoot a week and a half ago, the one Georgie had masterfully arranged for me to be absent from, I realized they really had cut it close to the deadline. The edition probably went to print a few hours after theshoot.
I snatched up the magazine with greedy hands and flipped through the pages, finding the spot where they’d printed the photograph. It was a double page with a small article about theband.
Not surprisingly, my gaze was instantly drawn to Dee. He was standing behind everyone, but his presence was imposing even in print. They all looked like rough rocker types, but his eyes were soft, looking over Zoe’s shoulder directly into the camera. Georgie, for all of her shortcomings, did a great job with thestyling.
My fingers traveled across the page, tracing the outline of Dee’s face, and I wished it were the realthing.
Letting the magazine close in my hands, I went up to the counter and bought it, two bottles of water, and an assortment of candy bars, wondering if Dee had even seen the article yet. I couldn’t remember if his cell had rung or if he’d even looked at it the entire time I’d been around. I doubted something like that would have escaped my notice. The thought of him talking to someone else, to another woman, made jealousyflare.
My cell started to ring shrilly in my pocket as I walked across the store, and when I pulled it out, the screen said Unknown Caller. Sighing, I declined the call. It was probably Georgie or some poor intern trying to get hold of me in the wake of another category five hurricane inside the marketing department. She could suck up all she wanted, but I wasn’t hers to order aroundanymore.
I went back out to the car where Dee was still sitting, watching the traffic go past on the highway to hell. He jumped when I dumped the magazine into hislap.
“Have you seen this yet?” I asked. “It just cameout.”
I watched carefully as he flipped open the magazine, settling on the page where the band’s photo was. He looked at it so long I didn’t know what to make of it. Was he unhappy with it? Wasn’t what he was expecting from the shoot? They didn’t write anything bad about them. In fact, the writer had said they were the next big thing. Coming fromRolling Stone, that was cracking the big time. No doubt, as soon as the album came out, it wouldn’t be long before Galaxy put a national tour together. They would try to get the band on the charts so the almighty Galaxy would be able to put another Grammy on their shelves. Strike while the iron was hot andall.
