Page 6 of Everything After

For two days, I’d managed to shut out the world, forget about music, and had lived a blissfully normal-ish existence with my wife. However, as always, the time we’d spent together had passed much too quickly. So, when Oscar, my new bodyguard, called to pick me up on a dreary, London morning, Lily and I said another long, angst-filled goodbye—again. Tearing my gaze away from her soulful, green eyes tore at my heart.

Each time I left her had gotten harder than the last and I’d grown frustrated and tired of the lack of normality in our lives. Chasing my dream had become jaded by the fact I was living it mostly alone.

The rest of my band had already boarded as Oscar and I climbed upon my private plane for the flight from California to Australia. From there on out our schedule of gigs was tight for another five weeks. Due to my bird undergoing an engine service, I’d flown by a commercial flight to London where I’d met up with Lily.

My fatigued eyes met Drew’s. I sat down across from him and buckled myself in my seat, already regretting not flying directly to Brisbane from the UK. From the way my buddy’s brows knitted together in concern, I guessed I must have looked as wrecked on the outside as I had felt inside.

“You look as if you haven’t slept for a week,” he muttered, his gaze dark.

“I’m good, just dog-tired after the flight.” My jaw ticked as I ground my teeth and stared silently toward him, momentarily jealous of the set-up at home he had.

“You need to cut yourself some slack. There are two of you in your relationship, and a marriage is more than meeting and hooking up.”

“Thanks, Dr. Ruth,” I bit back, pissed that he’d voiced his opinion when his life ran so smoothly. Elle, his wife… and Lily’s best female friend, gave up her career as a dancer to become a full-time mom.

Before she’d become a parent, I would have sworn Elle was too high maintenance for my bandmate Drew. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

We were about to embark on another four and a half weeks of travel with concerts in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. After those, we were headed back to Europe. Knowing that by the time we hit the Schengen region Lily would be Stateside in New York, brought fresh pain to my heart again.

As we taxied the runway, I believed my mindset required a major shift because right then, I was emotionally unprepared toentertain our fans as I’d ever been at the thought of facing the following month alone again.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about us taking a break,” Drew disclosed as we began our ascent to the sky.

“A break? We have a couple of months after this before the promoter plans anything else.

“That’s just it, I need longer. With the new baby coming, Elle’s going to need me around for a while.”

“True.” I shrugged. “Okay, what do you need? I mean it’s not like we’re desperate for money or fame now.”

“I want a year. I don’t want to miss all those precious milestones during my kid’s first year like I did the last two times.”

“Alright, I get it,” I replied. A small pang of envy tugged at my heart. Drew had that one aspect I’d felt was missing from my life. A wife that was happy to follow him wherever life took him.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been immensely proud of Lily, and all the hurdles she’s overcome to be a lead in a famous band. But the personal cost of success to us had me questioning how our future would play out.

“Okay, guys, what say we take a year off after Europe?”

“Cool,” Andy, our drummer, replied.

“I’m in,” Des agreed.

“That’s settled then. Let’s get the next five weeks over with, and I’ll let the record label, PR and everyone else know we’re taking a year off, once we get back to the States.”

CHAPTER 5

ALFIE

SIX WEEKS LATER

Relief washed over me the second my plane touched down on home soil. The Florida sunshine and the ninety-degree heat hadn’t let me down either.

Five long weeks apart had felt like five months without Lily. I’m not sure whether it had been because I knew we were winding down or what, but the only time I’d felt remotely centered had been during our set, up on stage.

The tour had gone off without incident and even though I’d personally felt we’d given lackluster musical performances, the reviews had been great, and our fans had raved about us long after we’d moved on to the next gig.

Sliding into the back seat of my ride, I had Oscar, take me to the helipad. There I had a discussion with the maintenance crew about my newest toy. After checking that it was in tiptop condition, I checked the time and realized I still had time to kill.Too little of it, to make it home for any length of time. But too much to spend hanging around the airport.

Something I’d planned for later that month came to mind, and when I realized what day it was, I believed right then was the right time to act on it. So, I instructed Oscar to take me on a short trip that would link me to my past.