Then, he answered.
“O’Leary,” he answeredcoolly.
Ididn’t feel cool. I felt like an old, tired dad who couldn’t get something sobasic asfeelingsunder control. Whatthe hell did he want to do with someone like me?
“Devin, hey,” Ianswered, uncertain of myself and my words. “It’s Jon.”
“Oh!” The surprise inhis tone told me he hadn’t expected me to call. I smiled weakly at that. “Heyman, good to hear from you. How’s itgoin’?”
“Good,” I lied.Everybody lies when they’re asked that question, don’t they? “How are you?”
“Excellent.” I listenedas a door shut, before he said, “I’m really fucking happy you called, actually.You thought it over?”
I had. I’d spent theentire night mulling it over, weighing all the possibilities, wracking my brainof all the pros and cons, and rights and wrongs. I had laid in bed, asking—begging—Beth for a sign, and when mypleas went unanswered, I’d settled into the reality that Tess was right. Thiswasmylife I was living now. Notours.
“Yeah,” I replied,nodding, “and I’m really interested.”
“You just made myfreakin’ day, man,” Devin said. I could hear his grin. “So,how would you feel about coming up to Connecticut to play withSeband me? I have a studio at my place we could jam in.”
“Oh, uh,” I stammered,raking my fingers through my hair and staring blankly into my room. “When?”
“How’s this weekend foryou?”
My eyes snapped open. “Thisweekend?” I repeated in a strangledtone. “Uh, well …”
“Hey, if it’s too shortnotice, that’s cool. Next weekend, the weekend after that … it all works forme, man. I just thought, the sooner we can do this, the better for everyone.”
Devin explained to me,while I remained silent and pathetic, that he and his band were planning ongetting in the studio within the next couple of months to record his nextalbum. He told me that, if I wasdefinitely onboard,he’d like me to also be on the album with them as my official welcome into theband before heading out on tour.
“What do you think?” heasked, and when I didn’t respond right away, he laughed. “Dude, Jon, you stillthere?”
Snapping out of mystate of shock and disbelief, I wiped a hand over my face and sat down on thebed. “O-oh, yeah, I’m here. Um, sure, I think this weekend could work. I justgottatell my brother I can’t make it to the club. Oh, andIgottafind out if, uh, if my babysitter can takethe girls, or if my parents—”
“Yo,bring them with you!”
“Bring them?”
“Yeah, man! It’d befun! I have two daughters. I mean, one of them is a newborn, but Livy istwo-and-a-half, so—”
“So is Annabel,” Istated. “My youngest. She’s also two-and-a-half.”
“Dude.” Devin sounded bewildered. “Are you thinking what I’mthinking?”
“Uh, I—”
“Playdates, man!” heshouted excitably. “Holy crap. Kylie—my wife—is going to be fucking excited tohave other girls around. She’s been trying to up the estrogen for a while. Youshould’ve seen the party she threw whenSebgotmarried. How old are your other daughters?”
“Uh, four and six.”
“Jeez, you got yourhands full, huh?” A tinge of sympathy was laced into his words, and I wasstruck with the immediate need to tell him I wasn’t alone anymore, that I hadTess, and then,no. I didn’thaveTess. I paid Tess to watch thegirls while I was at work. She wasn’tmine.She wasn’t my anything.
Right?
“Yeah,” I responded,and then added for good measure, “But my babysitter is awesome.” Because thatmuch was true.
“Youwannabring her, too?”
“Oh, I couldn’t dothat,” I told him immediately.
