Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Josie stops walking.
I keep her arm in mine so she has to stop with me, face to face on the empty sidewalk under a streetlight buzzing overhead, and I make myself say the rest, because she’s the one person, I don’t get to give the short version to.
“If it is him, he called my show, Jojo. Sat somewhere and dialed a stranger because he couldn’t dial me and asked how a man comes back to a son he threw away. And I didn’t know him. I gave him the kindest answer I had. I told my own father how to find the door. A door I don’t know if it’s open or not. The shit he did . . .” I shake my head and look to the ground.
She doesn’t reach for my face or tell me how I feel. She just steps in and puts her forehead against my jaw and her hand flat over my heart and stands there with me in the cold on an empty sidewalk.
“Okay,” she says, finally, into my collar. “Okay. So now I know it too. Whatever it turns into, you’re not the only one carrying it anymore. That’s the deal. That’s always been the deal.”
“I know.”
“Do you, though?” She leans back to look at me. “Because you’ve had all week to tell me and you waited until I asked. If this is the result of one caller, your father or not, I don’t like it. Maybe this show isn’t for you.”
“I vowed a long time ago to never let that man ruin anything for us.”
“We’re too strong for him. He’s never known the kind of love we share, the kind we have for our children. He’s an afterthought and taking advantage of the vulnerability you’re putting out there for your fans. He’s not a fan.”
She takes my face in both hands. “You are so much more of a man than he could ever dream of being and you owe him nothing.”
“I hate not knowing if it was him.”
“Then we don’t know together and now you’re sharing the burden.” She tucks back into my side and turns us toward the truck. “Come on. Walk me to the truck, rock star. Take me to the water tower and you might get a second date out of this yet.”
“I don’t know,” I tell her as I help her into the truck. “If I remember correctly, you want to do some things that probably shouldn’t happen on the first date.”
“It’s a ritual now.” she winks as I close the door.
FOURTEEN
Bex comes in early and finds me in my production room, listening to a new singer Elle found. She brought him to Beaumont to lay down a track and asked me to air it this week during the show.
“Good morning,” she says after I take off my headphones. She motions for me to follow her out of the room. In the hall, she hands me a sheet of numbers.
“What’s this?”
“We’re growing faster than I expected.”
“That’s because I’m charismatic.”
Bex rolls her eyes. I think she’s tired of me already. “It’s because of you, yes. But let’s not forget, I had the idea.”
I nod because yes, she’s without a doubt, the brains behind all of this. The show’s outgrowing the room. “I’ll be serious now.”
“Thanks. As I was saying, we’re growing and growth is great, but I can’t keep up. We are getting too many calls in our time block, and the station is getting calls when you’re not on the air, which is causing them more work.”
“So, what are you suggesting?”
“We launch our own internet radio station.” Her words come out in a jumbled mess, but I hear them loud and clear. Bex grimaces and hunches her shoulders.
“Like satellite radio?”
She nods and bites her lower lip.
I hand the papers back to her without looking at any of the data. “Make it happen. Call it 4225 West. You have our entire catalog. Elle will give you whatever. Use my phone to call my friends. I’ll even get Harrison and JD down here to help.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am. Whatever you need.”
“Space,” she says before I can walk away. “We need more space. I want to give Paige her own office, where she can film for FMG Records, do her editing. And I’d like to hire an assistant producer to help with the calls.”
I nod and hold my finger up to tell her I’ll be right back. I peek my head into the studio and catch Elle’s attention. “Is there anything going in next door yet?”
She shakes her head. “Not that I know of. I don’t think it’s been shown in months.”
“How do you feel about expanding?”
“God yes,” she says. “Can we knock out the wall and put in glass? I think people would love to see what we’re doing.”
“That means I can’t pick my ass or nose.”