LESSON SIX
Let Go
THERE’S Areason they call it falling in love. Notclimbingin love, notcareful and gradual descentinto love. Falling. A terrifying, uncontrolled, unintentional downward movement.
But there’s that moment before you hit the air, when you’re teetering on the edge, arms windmilling. There’s that stretched-out second when you know you could go back. You could dig your fingers into the cliff face and walk away intact.
And sure, you don’t want to let go without having some reasonable hope that things will work out the way you want them to.
On the other hand, you can’t expect someone else to jump if you’re not willing to fall yourself.
Easier said than done, though, right?
Chapter Sixteen
EDMONTON WENTbetter than Calgary. Neither Max nor Joe was 100 percent, but they were both improving. They fussed with the set list to give Joe’s voice more of a break and made sure Max stayed hydrated, and if it wasn’t a great show, at least Jeff didn’t feel like he had to avoid Twitter.
Which turned out to be a good thing, because the overnight drive from Edmonton to Winnipeg was long and Jeff was too anxious over the potential of getting out of their record contract to sleep for more than a few hours on the bus, and catching up on Twitter early the next morning led to an incredible discovery.
@smokeybearlake started following you.
Jeff almost hit his head on the top of the bunk. “Oh my God.”
Max must not have been asleep either, because he poked his head out the side of the bunk. “What?”
Half hanging over the side of his bunk, Jeff hit the Play button on his phone and handed it down so Max could watch the video—posted to Great Bear Lake’s official Twitter account—of Carter in full Public Service Announcement mode, describing the importance of not transporting firewood from areas with emerald ash borer, how to build a campfire, and how to put it out again safely.
The video had a thousand likes. Carter’s quoted tweet of it from his personal account had fifteen hundred.
Max laughed quietly so as not to wake the others. “That is the most wholesome shit I’ve ever seen. Tell me he’s not Dudley Do-Right all the time.”
With a cough, Jeff pulled his phone back up. “No comment?”
This time Max had to muffle his laughter in a pillow.
Jeff went back to Twitter and followed @smokeybearlake. Then he texted Carter.Trying to get more famous than me???
This was your idea, Carter pointed out.
You should do the next one shirtless.
They made it into Winnipeg around lunchtime and checked into their hotel. Max and Jeff had adjoining rooms, which Jeff discovered when he dropped his bag on the chair next to the bed only to hear a knock from his left.
Jeff opened the door and Max poked his head in. “Huh. My room’s way nicer than yours.”
“What?” Jeff pushed past him into Max’s room… which was a mirror image of his own.
“Made ya look.”
Ugh.“I can’t believe I fell for that. You’re the worst.”
Max was still laughing when Jeff closed the door in his face. He fell into bed and woke up three hours later to a text from Dina.Managed to rent practice space for tonight, followed by the address and details.
THANK YOU, Jeff replied, all caps, because they really did need to get to work on writing that album.
He really needed to find them a manager like her. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel so paranoid all the time.
A quick rinse later, Joe and Trix had given a thumbs-up to meeting in the lobby, but Max hadn’t responded.
