“Morning.”
I smile at Josh as he enters the kitchen and makes a beeline for the coffee maker.
“Hey. What time did you get home last night? I didn’t hear you come in.”
He pours coffee into his favorite mug and leans against the kitchen counter. “It was late. Like two a.m.”
“Ooh. So the date went well?”
He shrugs. “Eh. She was okay.”
Putting my book down, I look at him across the room, wearing gray sweatpants and a white V-neck T-shirt. The front of his blond hair is longer now, hanging down almost to his eyes, and it makes him look edgy and sexy. He’s been doing a lot of photoshoots lately and even landed a hair product commercial not too long ago.
“Just okay?
“She has a lot of shoes.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Do you feel threatened by shoes?”
“No, seriously, Piper. She has about a thousand pairs of shoes. She collects them. She has an entire room in her condo just for shoes. They’re all sorted by color and heel height. It was scary.”
“Well it could be worse. She could collect dolls,” I tease.
“I would’ve jumped out the window. I love fashion, but having that many of anything isn’t normal.”
“It’s expensive, too.”
“No doubt. They were all expensive brands. I don’t know how she can even afford that many shoes.”
“Maybe she steals them.”
He gulps the last of his coffee and puts his mug in the dishwasher.
“I’m not going to see her again. I tried. She’s nice but I think she’s got hoarder potential or at the very least will run me into debt in six months flat.”
“You do realize you have double the dating pool and you still can’t find someone you like? Maybe you’re being too picky?”
Shrugging, he looks out the window into the backyard. “I’m not settling for someone just to be with someone. I’m happy. I have friends, I have family, I have you and Lyric. I don’t need a shoe hoarder or a guy who wants me to call him Daddy. I’m all set.” He turns back to me. “Where’s Lyric?”
“She’s in the playroom with Acorn doing that puzzle you gave her.”
“Have you been online this morning? Read any of the entertainment news?”
I narrow my eyes at him, suspicious of his random questions. “No… I haven’t been on my laptop yet. Why?”
“You might want to. Looks like your boy’s on a bender.”
“What are you talking about?”
He just shakes his head. “Go look. I’ll be out raking the backyard if you want to talk.”
Dread sends a feverish chill through me as I check on Lyric and then retrieve my laptop from where I left it on the coffee table last night. Sitting on the couch, I pull it onto my lap, wait impatiently for the dial-up to connect, and then open up my AOL account. I click on the Entertainment section and there it is.
The beginning of the downfall.
Thousands of Las Vegas concert-goes were disappointed and rightfully outraged last week when No Tomorrow front man repeatedly botched his own lyrics, cursed at fans, and stumbled around on stage in a clear state of intoxication before walking off stage mid-concert and refusing to come back.
Sources confirmed Von Bleu then disappeared with no contact for four days and was found wandering incoherently in the desert. He is currently hospitalized for dehydration and exposure but is in stable condition.
Back-up vocalist Reece Blackstone publicly apologized to No Tomorrow fans for canceling the last three shows of the tour and claims Blue has been suffering a breakdown from extreme stress coupled with a recent shoulder injury. He advised that Blue is receiving treatment and they will resume working on their new album soon.
There’s a video alongside the article, and I immediately regret clicking on it. Like a train wreck, I can’t look away from the ugliness of it. Even though I just read the details of his behavior, seeing him so out of control on stage, a complete disheveled drunken mess, barely able to stand or speak—let alone sing—is devastating and cringeworthy. Fans are yelling and booing at him, and I can understand why. The man stumbling around is nothing like the soft spoken, charismatic vocalist they came to see.
I want to bleach my brain. The videos and photographs make me nauseous on so many levels. And that whole disappearing thing. Just the thought of him walking into the desert, most likely with nothing but his guitar and his backpack, is disturbing.
Worried, I chew my thumbnail while I try to process my thoughts. I want to call or email Reece and make sure Blue is really okay, but he may tell me things I don’t want to hear. I’m not sure I can be trusted to stay away if Reece tells me Blue is in a lot worse shape than this news article is letting on. And then what? Do I fly out there to see him? Get dragged further into this spiral of push and pull with him? If he’s this much of a mess, it will destroy me to leave him. I’ll want to bring him home with me and try to fix him. And him? He’ll probably fight me like a wild animal and ricochet between making me leave and begging me to stay. But other than Reece, who else does he have? What if he needs me?
I open up my email program and search for Reece’s email address, which I added to my contacts the day he came to talk to me and gave me his card.
“Mommy?”
I look up from the screen. Josh holds Lyric in the doorway. Acorn is beside them. “Uncle Josh is gonna teach me to plant flowers. Will you come, too?”
I hover my fingers over the keyboard for a few seconds, and then I exit out of the email. Standing, I smile at my beautiful baby girl. “I would love that,” I reply, catching Josh’s slight approving nod.
I need to focus on the good things in my life, and they’re all right here in front of me.
