Page 30 of Our Moon (JACT #1)

I get off work early one Wednesday afternoon because of the rain, and decide to take advantage and visit Ally.

Trevor and Alex will still be at work, so I know I won’t bump into them there.

This has become sort of a tradition. Any time it rains and the construction site closes, and I get off early, I visit Ally.

On these days, I talk to her for hours. I tell her about my days, I tell her how much I miss her.

I tell her how beautiful she still is and how much I will always love her.

Some days I just lay my head on her bed, hold her hand and cry.

I cry for what she’s lost, for what we’ve lost. I cry because she has no idea, no idea what’s happened .

Today, I’m bringing my guitar with me. I wrote a song for her. I don’t usually write lyrics, and I don’t know that she can really hear me, but I’m still nervous.

I pull the light blue, faux suede arm chair up to her bedside and unpack my guitar. I pluck a few strings, making sure it’s tuned right, as I get myself situated. Then I begin.

Lying here with you,

It’s better than I imagined it would be.

Waiting here with you,

How worthwhile I know it will be.

Under our moon,

Promises made.

Under our moon,

A love I wish had stayed.

Now you’re gone,

But not that far away.

You’ll come back,

It’s all I ever pray.

Under our moon,

Promises made.

Under our moon ,

A love I wish had stayed.

I’m left here missing you,

And no one understands.

The pain I feel every day,

It’s all in someone else’s hands.

Under our moon,

Promises made.

Under our moon,

A love I wish had stayed.

Baby, come back to me,

And happy we will be.

Baby, please,

Please just find your way,

Until then, forever yours I will stay.

I rest my cheek on the bed beside her, looking up at her face. I will her to wake up and to open her eyes. I would give anything, even my own life, just to look into her beautiful blue eyes again.

“That was beautiful,” a voice says from behind me, and I jump up. It’s just one of the nurses. The younger, nicer one. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay,” I say, wiping the tears I didn’t realize had escaped. “It’s just always so quiet around here.”

“It is,” she nods. “Did you write that?” she asks as she checks Ally’s stats.

“Yeah. Is she okay?” I ask, concerned.

“The same,” she replies as she takes down some notes. I nod and begin to pack up my things. “You don’t have to go, visiting hours aren’t over yet.”

“I know, I just have to get out of here before her brothers stop by.” She looks at me a little strangely. “They don’t know about us,” I tell her. “We never got the chance to tell them.”

She nods sadly, “I understand. I won’t say anything if I see them, but they could always check the visitor’s log.”

“We’re all best friends, so it’s okay if they know I came. It’s just if they knew how…personal…the visits are…”

She nods, “Fair enough.”

“Thanks,” I say to her. Then I turn back to Ally and kiss her forehead. “I love you, baby girl.”

As I walk past the nurse on the way out, I swear I see tears in her eyes.

** *

One of the interesting things about playing a restaurant near the airport is that you just never know who is going to walk through the door. Once in a while, we’ve seen actors who are vacationing or filming nearby. Occasionally it’s musicians and their suits who are passing through town on tour.

Tonight, it’s the tour manager for one of the hottest bands on the radio right now, Infrared Flamingos. Apparently he loved our set and they just had one of their opening bands drop out of the tour back in Maryland.

“I’d like to talk to the execs about you guys, got a manager?”

“No, man,” I tell him. “Trevor here handles our bookings and finances.”

“The label could probably hook you up with someone for the tour, if they decide they want you. A temporary thing, just so you could just focus on the music and let someone else handle the business side of things.”

Trevor nods, “Sounds good.” The tour manager, Bill, gets Trevor’s number and tells him he’ll be in touch within the week.

Turns out we didn’t have to wait that long at all.

Bill called back two days later, on Monday, and said the execs loved the clip he had recorded on his phone and played for them.

They wanted to fly us up to New York to hear us in person and go over the tour contract.

We ask Mr. Adelson, Mr. Monroe’s old partner, to join us since we don’t know a thing about contracts.

“This all looks legit,” Mr. Adelson says as he finishes reading the last page. “Just show up for the shows, stay out of trouble, and you’re all set.”

Our audition went off without a hitch, and the suits loved us. Said we were just what they were looking for, both for the tour and possibly the label. They quickly corralled us in a conference room and handed over stacks of paperwork.

“What about transportation?” Trevor asks.

“We’ve room on one of our buses. You’d have to bunk with other bands, but it beats having to come up with your own ride,” one of the execs tells us.

“Can we have a minute to discuss it privately?” Trevor asks him.

“Absolutely,” the exec says and they all step out.

“I’ll be right outside,” Mr. Adelson says as he gets up and follows them out.

“So what do you guys think?” Trevor asks.

“It sounds awesome,” Joey says.

“Yeah,” Alex nods, but I can tell something is holding him back. The same thing that’s probably holding me back, and Trevor.

“What about Ally?” I ask.

Trevor looks at me, relief that someone else is thinking about where she fits into this is clear on his face. “I don’t want to leave her, but she would want us to do this, right?”

I think about it for a minute, and decide that yes, Ally would want us to do this. She would be over the moon for us. “Yeah, she definitely would.”

“She would be pissed if we didn’t,” Joey adds.

“Hell, yeah, she would,” Alex agrees.

“And look at the tour stops,” Trevor points. “Several of them are on the east coast. There’s opportunity to stop by and visit with her.”

“But what if something happens with her condition and we have to come back? What if we have to break the contract?” I ask.

Trevor sighs. “Maybe we can talk to them? Explain our situation beforehand and see if they’ll give us any flexibility for a family emergency.”

“Doesn’t hurt to try,” I say.

We call Mr. Adelson and the remaining suit back in the room, and Trevor doesn’t waste any time.

“Look, we have a family commitment tying us to Charlotte. Our sister,” he gestured to himself and Alex, “is in a coma. If anything changes with her condition, we’re going to need to be there.

We want you to know that we’re taking this offer very seriously, but our parents just died, and she’s all we have left.

And we’re all she has left. She’s the most important thing to us right now, to all of us.

We can’t sign anything that prevents us from going to her if she needs us.

And we’re not going to sign anything that penalizes us for doing that either. ”

Mr. Adelson looks impressed with Trevor’s speech, but the suit remains expressionless.

The room is silent for a full minute before he finally speaks.

“Your attorney here was just telling me a bit about you boys and your character while we were standing outside. Said you’re upstanding young men, never get into trouble, and that family was, is, important to you.

He mentioned you had a recent tragedy and might not be willing to leave the area for a prolonged period of time.

In fact, he said he was surprised you were entertaining the idea of a tour at all. ”

Well, this isn’t the direction we were hoping this would go. It sounds like the guy is about to rescind the offer. Thanks a lot, Adelson.

“But,” he starts back up and he has our undivided attention, “you have an impressive talent. We want you on this tour, and we will do just about anything to get you on it. Think of it as a long-term audition. If we like what we see, you may just get a record deal out of it.”

We look at each other like we can’t believe what we’re hearing. First a tour, then a record deal? But he still hasn’t addressed our concern. What happens if Ally needs us?

“As for the tour, we will need a contract. That’s non-negotiable in business, as I’m sure you can expect. But I’m sure our legal department can work in some kind of ‘escape clause’ pertaining to your sister. So what do you say? We got a deal?”

We look at each other, able to read each other’s’ facial expressions after spending so much time together.

“Yeah, we’ve got a deal,” Trevor says for the group as he steps forward to shake the man’s hand.

“Good,” he smiles as he shakes the rest of our hands. “I will have our legal team revise the contract immediately, and I will have it back to you to review within the hour. Why don’t you head on down to the cafeteria and have lunch and meet me back up here afterwards?”

“Sounds good, sir. Thank you,” Trevor, our apparent spokesperson, says.

We float down in the elevator on a cloud.

We’re going on tour. We’re going on tour with an awesome band that we idolize.

We could get signed to a label, to their label.

After the absolute hell we’ve experienced over the past three months, things are finally starting to look up.

If only Ally was awake to enjoy the ride with us.