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In the Way
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2024-10-29 19:42:56When Jim knew Silvia would go to Buenos Aires with a friend, he told their road manager Tim Costa he needed two full-access passes for Argentina. He didn’t want anything to come in her way to get to him in any situation.
“Okay, I’ll email the local producer,” said Tim. He noticed Jim’s look and smiled. “Give me the full names and some ID number, so they can go pick up the passes before we get there. I’ll warn the locals to wait for them.”
Jim knew a thousand ways that could go wrong, so he turned to Deborah, dead serious. “I ain’t playing unless she’s at the stageside, Deb.”
“Okay, but who is she? Someone from the local Squad?”
“She’s a friend.”
“Don’t worry, Jim. We’ve got this,” she replied, just as serious.
“You better.”
Tim hardly waited for Jim to leave to turn to Deborah. “A friend?&
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“Hurry up.” Jim chuckled when he saw the picture of Silvia’s tablet on a bed, the screen showing his own last post on the Hey, Jay! “Leave a light on 4 me,” he typed on the comments. He glanced up and found Sean’s frown across the bus aisle, where he was sitting with Jo. Jim winked at him and went back to his Twitter feed, while their bus cruised through Rio to their hotel. Sean grunted under his breath, because he already suspected who was the only person in the whole world that could make his brother chuckle and smile like that. He launched his fist across the aisle to punch Jim’s arm. “Fuck you,” Jim grumbled, rubbing his arm. “News from Argentina?” asked Sean in his best casual tone. Tom heard him and turned around in his seat. “Sold out, both shows. Deborah is opening a third show on Sunday.” “Busy weekend,” said Jo. “Don’t say,” said Jim. Sean scowled at them and turned t
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The picture showed Silvia and Claudia outside the Vector building, holding their green passes. The foot read, “Four frigging hours to get them!”Jim showed the picture to Tim, who frowned when he read the foot.“Four hours? Damn!”“You should have emailed them like I told you.”“I did!”“Then good thing she’s nothing like me and had the patience to wait, huh?”Deborah saw the way Jim glanced at her, his eyes full of reproach, and decided to pretend she hadn’t noticed it. But she took careful note of how much Jim seemed to care about this woman coming to see him in Buenos Aires.Silvia’s post to the Hey, Jay! included a link to a photo album on Facebook, but Jim kept it for later.The dead time on the trailer, waiting to play, felt shorter that night, following her on pictures all over Buenos Aires. He recognized Silvia’s little
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Just like any highly-expected and carefully-planned moment, Thursday didn’t think so. Silvia couldn’t believe the thousand ways things got complicated, in a geometric progression that seemed determined to push absurd into plain surrealistic before her gaping eyes, taking any control out of her hands until she could only hope she’d made it through alive. Claudia’s parents lived forty minutes away from Jim’s hotel by car. The other way to get there was by train and bus, and it took almost two hours on a good day, like a Saturday afternoon. So the Commodore had promised he’d take them there. Keeping traffic and other odds in mind, they would be leaving about four to get there by five. Until the Commodore’s phone rang and he was asked to cover for a colleague that had just called in sick. He was assigned a flight scheduled to take off at four, so he hardly had a chance to grab a bite before leaving for the airport. On the family car, of course. C
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Sean saw Jo’s nod to the hall behind him and turned around. Deborah came into the bar, looking around as she approached him.“Where’s Jim?” she asked, still scanning the faces in the room.“Busy. What’s up?”“Busy?” Deborah repeated. “But he asked me to wait for—”“She here? Bring her in.”Sean and Jo watched Deborah go back to the hallway and invite the two women in.“Which one?” whispered Jo, excited.“You tell me,” Sean replied with a little smirk.Jo studied them both, and was about to pick the hot younger one when the other woman met Sean’s eyes and flashed a tight smile.“Oh, my God,” Jo muttered when the woman headed straight toward them, tugging at her friend’s sleeve to make her follow.“Hey, Sean,” the woman said with a quick nod.“Hey.”
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“So what now, soldiers?” asked Tom, trying to bring the situation to more regular grounds.“Dunno, dude,” said Liam. “Deb said something about reservations for dinner, but it’s almost eight already”.“Here we have dinner about nine,” said Claudia.“What?” cried Walt. “I’m fucking starving!”Jim and Sean looked around and spotted Deborah with Ron and Tim, talking to some locals. Jim took a hand to his lips.“I’ll get her,” said Sean, before Jim whistled at her and Deborah punched his lights out.“How are you for an allnighter, woman?” Jim asked Silvia.“Like a scout, always ready,” she replied. “What’s the plan?”“Dunno, but guess it’s dinner, some drinks and some dancing. You up?” Jim heard Claudia’s muffled giggle and turned to her, raising his eyebrows. “
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Silvia woke up to Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus.The sun was setting and she was alone in bed, tucked in soft sheets that smelled of lemon and the fat white comforter. Jim had left a few hours ago to let her rest, because after those weeks apart, it was plain to see she wouldn’t get any rest with him around.She’d fallen sound asleep, exhausted, and now she had the persistent feeling of being still lost in a dream. But she wasn’t. This was not the Black Rock. It was the Ashtray, her new home, and that music had to be a phone ringing.But not hers. She’d never used that song as a ringtone.She followed the music to the other nightstand, where she found a new phone still inside its open box with a red ribbon. And she laughed out loud when she grabbed it and saw the caller was My Personal J.“Hey, you awake?” Jim asked when she picked up, still chuckling.“Hey, you just woke me u
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Silvia almost missed her flight, too absorbed staring at the tiny thing on the table before her.What on God’s green earth was that thing doing there, and in her keep?That white-gold band with a little, discreet diamond.An engagement ring.That frigging coward! Throwing it at her from ten feet away!But no matter the delivery method, Jim had given it to her.His mother’s, he’d said.Bring it back, he’d said.She felt lucky her brain was able to register the last boarding call. She looked up, startled, and jumped to her feet. She was about to hurry away when she remembered the ring. Actually, it was more like feeling a leash tugging at her neck, stopping her from walking away from the table.She spun around on her heels and scowled down at the damned thing.“You…” she growled.The moment she had it in her hand again, she realized how small and light it wa
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“Hurry up or I’m calling a cab!”“Bet you’re dying to do it, you chicken.”“Please, Jay!”Silvia finished raiding the master bedroom one last time, to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything.“Jay!”“Coming.”She snorted and went to canvass the ground floor. She was just done when Jim came down the stairs in no hurry.“Can we go before I have a heart attack, milord?”“Cool down, woman, we have plenty of time,” he said, grabbing her duffel bag on his way to the front door, where she waited with her rucksack. He paused at the doorway to poke her nose. “Really, such a rush to leave me.”Silvia wasn’t about to explain she was always that upset whenever she had a bus or a plane to catch, so she just scowled at him and followed him out.“Got everything? Tickets, passport?”Silvia ch
