“Let’s go somewhere private.”
“No, tell me why you look like shit suddenly. Tell me now.”
I swallowed hard. “Cass, Trisha left a voicemail while I was on the plane. It’s about Mr. Guidi... Alfredo... he passed away in his sleep.”
Her happy face broke into thousands of unhappy ones.
“When?”
“Two days ago.”
“What happened?”
“His heart gave up.”
I expected Cassie to crumble. She’d lost her gran three months ago. Mr. Guidi had filled some of the void left in her heart. She swayed on her feet for a second or two, but then straightened with a jerk of her neck.
“Does Lucas know?”
“He was told yesterday. Trisha says he didn’t take it well.”
“He didn’t take it well?” She let out a bitter chuckle. “Lucas has now lost the only family he had left. So, no, I guess he didn’t take it that well. Who told him?”
“I don’t know.”
Cassie was already somewhere else mentally. Shawn didn’t exist anymore. I didn’t exist anymore.
“Is there a direct flight from Phoenix to Kansas City?”
I was about to answer with another ‘I don’t know’ but I bit my tongue. Instead I got my smartphone out and kicked the Internet into action. “It might be quicker to get on the first plane out of here and connect on from there.”
She moved to my side and together we roamed around airline websites.
“There!” Her index finger pointed at the screen. “We’ll have to connect in L.A, but if we leave Phoenix before dawn, we could be with Lucas by midday.”
I nodded and started to book the tickets when Shawn cut in. “What about the gig in Vegas tomorrow night?”
Cassie was still part of the tour for another two weeks, but if anything qualified as an emergency, it was this.
She stiffened and turned to Shawn. “I’m sorry. Lucas, my son, needs me. I can’t leave him on his own.”
Shawn shifted position on the edge of the table he’d been sitting on. “Cassie, this isn’t going to fly with Terry. You’re already stepping in for someone who had to bail.” He ran his hand through his hair. “What am I going to say to Will?”
“What’s the deal with Will?” I addressed my question to Cassie.
The corner of her eyes creased. A shrug of her shoulders and it went away. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Will’s flying in from L.A. tomorrow to discuss the album,” said Shawn. “I want him to see Cassie and me perform Sweet Second on stage. I’ll need him onboard to push the duet to the record company.”
Things had gone faster than I’d expected for Cassie. Apparently, the duet wasn’t a castle in the air. It could be the real deal.
I stared down at the flight details on the tiny screen, and then checked on Cassie. She was silent. Again, she reminded me of Lucas. Granted, being absent from a new job a month in—even for a few days—wasn’t the best career move for me either. But I’d find a way through this.
I took hold of Cassie’s elbow and forced her to turn and face me. My thumb massaged the spot where her pulse beat, but her muscles remained stiff under my touch. I pulled her aside. I didn’t want anyone to witness what I was about to say.
We returned to where we’d met earlier, right by the stage. Her guitar still stood against the wall. It was much quieter now. Most of the action was taking place in the temporary bar area.
“Cass, what about I fly first thing tomorrow to Kansas City? You’d only need to stay a couple of extra days, see Will in Vegas, and—”
“—Stop right there, Joshua!” She raised her right hand like a stop sign. “What you’re trying to do is real nice and I appreciate it. But I’m flying tomorrow morning with you.”
“Come on, Cass,” I pleaded, “don’t throw this chance away. We’re a team now, you and me, let me take care of it for a couple of days and—”
“—Take care of it? It is a little five-year-old boy whose world has vanished in a puff of smoke.”
Cass shuffled on her feet, curling and un-curling her fists. She exhaled, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bark at you.” Her gaze hardened though and her eyes pierced mine. “We always want the best for each other, Josh, but this isn’t about us. It should never have been about us. It should always have been about Lucas.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Was Cassie more important to me than my son?
“Cassie, I know how much you love singing—”
“—and I love Lucas much, much more. In fact, the two can’t even be compared. We’re flying to Kansas City tomorrow morning. I can be back on the tour before mid-week if they still want me.”
I lowered my forehead against hers. “Okay, Cass. Let’s fly together.”
I walked her back to the bar area. Shawn hadn’t moved but the girl had come back to hang at his side.
“What’s the plan?” he asked straight to Cassie.
“I’m sorry, Shawn, but I have to be in Missouri tomorrow.”
The guy nodded but his mouth twisted in disapproval. “Listen, I don’t know shit about kids and being a parent. What I know though is how hard it is to break through in this industry.”
Cassie let my hand go and stepped toward Shawn. “I know that but—“
“—Do you, Cassie?” He put his bottle on the table. “Because you sure don’t act like it. You’ve been lucky to get on a tour without having to beg for it. Now you might get to record a song of yours with a top label and you decide not to show up?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“We always have a choice, babe. Look, that whole ‘one chance in a lifetime’ thing probably seems a bit naïve, except this guy, Will?, he doesn’t give a second chance. I don’t like that about him, but his record speaks for himself. Don’t think for a minute that making it in the music industry doesn’t come at a cost.”
I was about to step in but Cassie’s chin lifted. I had to let her fight her own battles. “Giving up on my son when he needs me isn’t a price I’m ready to pay.”
Shawn nodded again but his gaze softened. “Then you made your choice.” He wrapped his arm around the girl’s shoulders and dragged her away from where we stood. “I’ll try and cover for you in front of Terry and Will. But get your ass back on the tour ASAP. In music, it’s not like in love, you don’t often get sweet seconds.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as he was out of earshot, I asked, “You still want to go, Cass?”
“Nothing will make me change my mind.”
CHAPTER 11
Cassie
I hadn’t been allowed to see Lucas.
We made it to Kansas City mid-afternoon on Sunday. In the end, there hadn’t been any seats left on the early morning flight. When we landed in Missouri, I called Trisha again. She called Sharon Sorenson.
Sharon told her Josh and I would have to wait until Monday afternoon to see our son, after he finished kindergarten. Trisha blurted the word ‘routine’ five times on that damn call.
I wasn’t totally delusional. I knew I didn’t know much—or anything—about raising a child. Yet. But what I did know was that my boy wasn’t too young or too dumb to know that his grandfather was gone for good. What I also knew was that he needed a friend to talk it through with. And I was pretty much the only one left from his previous life.
“Be nice to Mrs. Sorenson,” Josh warned me again.
He was right to say so. I’d used a lot of words to describe her over the past twenty-four hours. None fit my new proper-speaking code. I mumbled back an ‘of course’ and crossed my arms over my chest.
But I’d get my son back one way or another. Sooner rather than later.