When we separated, he said, “The floor is hard and not very sanitary. Want to walk down to the park?”
“Sure.” I didn’t mind ditching the closet-office ambiance, although nursing home chic would be okay as long as it had Lee in it.
The evening air felt cool and fresh as we headed down the sidewalk side by side. “Fall’s coming,” Lee noted.
I kicked at a fallen leaf. “It’s already here. The summer was just so hot we didn’t notice. Hell, Rocktoberfest’s only a month away.”
He eyed me. “Were you serious about making that your last big show?”
“Serious about not touring, yeah. If I got invited to some other one-time festival, would I take a few days? Probably. I still love to play. But the thought of that city-to-city where-the-hell-are-we-today grind of a tour? No, not again.”
“Even if, say, Maiden Voyage asked you to open for them?”
I laughed. “My style and theirs don’t overlap enough to make that even a pipe dream, but yeah. Even iftheydid, I still don’t want to chase all over the world in that stew of pressure and egos and drugs and managers and labels insisting that everything be dumbed down to the lowest level. Crowds and paps and cameras in my face asking how Ifeeeeeeel? No, thanks.” The more I thought about my old life, the truer that felt.
“Can you afford to retire?” Lee sat on a bench across from the empty playground.
“Not entirely.” I had no regrets about giving my money to Linda’s kids, but the coffers were kind of bare. “Rocktoberfest is a real nice chunk of change landing in my lap, and I have some residuals from my albums and songs I wrote for other folks. There are some other venues within a day’s drive that might be happy to have me, too, although the pay will be low. Eventually, I’ll probably have to get a real job. I thought about teaching music, but now with a criminal record…” I clutched to top of the food bag, staring out at the swing-set and slides.Would anyone trust me with their kids?It wasn’t like I was a sex offender, but criminal carelessness wasn’t a good look.
“I think you’d be a great teacher. Even better if you recognized boyfriend starvation when you saw it.” He made grabby hands at the food.
I unfolded the bag, not showing how much I liked the wordboyfriend. “Did you eatanylunch?”
“I had some chips at my desk.”
“And you with the nutrition training.” The containers of pad Thaiand curry felt only warm to the touch, despite the extra layer I’d packed them in, but The Curried Noodle’s food didn’t have to be burning hot to be good. I passed over napkins and cutlery, and Lee fell on his meal like a starving wolf.
“So goo’” he mumbled through a mouthful. “You’re a god among men.”
“Promoted from angel to god.” I’d ordered my pork dish mild, in deference to my throat irritation that wasn’t going away as fast as usual. Even so, I coughed a little at the salty soy and lime.
“You okay?” Lee asked.
“Yeah. Went down the wrong way.” I dropped the hand I’d been rubbing my neck with and smiled.
“Don’t ignore a sore throat. You’re doing the elderly germ circuit these days. We have strep, RSV, flu, and COVID for your testing pleasure. If you have symptoms, maybe take a day off.”
“I don’t feel sick. Just tried to do too long of a Lemmy Kilmister impression.”
“I’ll pretend I know what you just said.” Lee shoveled another spoonful of noodles into his mouth.
“Sang too deep and harsh for my voice.” I ate a smaller bite. “Like the end of my tour forHawk Untethered. I was sucking honey candy and writing notes to everybody to save my voice for the shows. Took almost a month off after that to recover.”
“I have to say, I like your softer rock better.”
“Unlike Harvey.” I grinned.
“Yeah.” Lee laughed, then sobered. “He’s been kind of down the last few days. Even his roommate noticed.”
“Getting older’s not for the faint of heart.”
“You don’t come in on the weekends, but maybe Monday you could give him another private concert?”
I set the cover on my half-finished meal. Lee had polished off his. “How about now? If you think he’d still be awake and it’s not too late for his roommate? You could scare up that guitar for me and hang out, clap for my brilliance.” Plus it would give Lee a longer break from his work to relax. The man needed someone to take care of him so he didn’t burn himself out.
“It’s not even seven o’clock. That could work.” He eyed me as I set the dishes back in the bag. “You only have a couple more months at the rate you’re going to finish your mandated community service. Do you think you might keep coming round after that?”
“Sure thing. Gotta look good to the fans, and my lyrics aren’t fit for a children’s hospital.”
