by Max Hudson
He pushed the complaints out of his head. He had to talk to someone about all of this. So, he selected a few pictures from his phone and sent them over to Annie.
It took less than a minute for his phone to ring again. He answered, but never had a chance to say anything once he had hit that button. He could hear the screaming the moment that the call connected. It was so loud that he didn’t even have to get it to his ear. “I can’t believe this. It can’t be true. Why? When? Where? How? Why?”
“It just kind of happened.”
“Things like that don’t really just happen.” She was screeching with excitement.
“It was just a weird thing.”
“You have to tell me everything.”
“Calm down and I’ll do it.”
“Are you going to tell me that you photoshopped that whole thing?”
“I can’t tell you that.” Devlin shook his head. He was having trouble getting a word in edgewise.
“You’re dating Chance Bradford. I can’t believe this. It’s crazy. It’s insane. How can anything like this happen? This doesn’t happen. It has to be a trick, doesn’t it?”
“I would think the same thing. But it’s true.”
“This isn’t true. It can’t be true at all.”
“I know it sounds insane.”
“You’re damn right it sounds insane.” But she was starting to calm down a little bit.
“I know it’s a shock.”
“This is more than just a shock.”
Devlin sighed and let the woman rant for a while, talking about the way that something like this wasn’t possible at all. “I know.”
“It’s crazy. Absolutely insane. It’s all crazy. Just so crazy.” He could picture her shaking her head. “My hands are shaking. Please tell me… wait? What’s today’s date?”
“Uh, it’s the 18th.”
“Damn it. This has to be some kind of crazy prank. Am I going to be on one of those shows? Did you set me up?”
“I didn’t set you up. This is the truth.”
“It’s not April. Why wouldn’t you save this for April?”
“Why would I save it for April?”
“April Fool’s Day. I mean this can’t be true. You’re a great guy, but this kind of luck is insane.” She was continuing on.
“Can you just let me explain this?” Devlin spoke up. “Let me tell you how it happened.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Just calm down and I’ll explain the problem.”
“All right.” She took a breath deep enough for him to hear over the phone. She was forcing herself to calm down. “Tell me every single detail.”
Devlin blushed. “I don’t think that you want every detail.”
“Well, not those details. Unless you want to tell me those details. I would totally listen to those details.”
He laughed and started to give the details of the past few weeks, laying out the confusing and strange story about a star that seemed to have so much interest in him. He talked about the vacation. He talked about everything that had happened. That Chance had been helping him with his work while he was here. “It’s all the truth.”
“I still can’t believe it. But if it is true, how is this a problem, like at all?”
“There are a few things. First, he’s a pretty famous guy. He doesn’t have a lot of time. And he’s always on the road.”
“It’s pretty early to be worrying about all of that, isn’t it?”
“I guess so. It’s just moving pretty quick.”
“Uncomfortably quick?”
“Yeah. Did you remember to delete the pics?”
“I did. I didn’t want to, but I totally did.”
“Thanks for that.” Devlin smiled widely. “I appreciate it.”
“Yeah, well, do you have any idea how much those pictures could sell for? Chance Bradford in candid shots. Selfies with a guy he’s dating. You could be really famous. You could really make a splash with your stuff.”
“I don’t want to get it from that.” Devlin shook his head.
“I get that, but listen to me. This is insane. And it’s huge.”
“That’s not the problem. That’s something that we may have to figure out if it goes further than this, but there’s something else.”
“What is it?”
“He has this like this secret book. That he’s been taking notes in.”
“Huh? Maybe he’s getting ready to run a background check on you. He might be worried that you’re a scammer.”
“He already did that. And told me about it. Apparently, I passed, or he wouldn’t have shown up like he did. It’s kind of crazy.”
“What could it be?”
“I don’t know, but he keeps looking at me all weird while he writes on it. And hides it when he thinks that I notice.”
“Maybe he’s drawing or something?”
“Why would he draw me and not tell me about it?”
“I don’t know. This is all way to insane.” Annie sighed. “I can’t explain it.”
“What do I do about it?”
“I really don’t know. It’s hard to even guess. Maybe ask him about it.”
“What if that scares him away?” The fear of that seized in his chest. There was so much that he didn’t know. So much that he should have known. It was a level of insanity and insecurity that he hadn’t felt before.
“Maybe you should just ask him.”
“I can’t just call him up and ask him something like that.”
“You can’t. Not over the phone. This isn’t something like that. You’ll have to do it in person.”
“It may be a while until I see him again.”
“Why don’t you go see him?”
Devlin sighed. “He asked me if I would go with him, but I said that I had to do my job.”
“You don’t want to make him think that you’re losing him, but can you afford to take a few days off?”
“Maybe. I’ll see what I can do. Give me a couple of weeks to get ahead of the game and I’ll see if I can swing it.”
“Good. Do that.” Annie sounded a bit relieved. “I still can’t believe that this happened to you.”
“Neither can I.” Devlin shook his head. He was still so unsure. But he was feeling a little better. Annie had helped him develop some sort of plan, even if there was a good chance that it wouldn’t work.
He hung up the phone and checked his bank account. He could pull out of his savings to buy a plane ticket, but he had to make sure he did it at the right time. A couple of weeks to get ahead of the game on the stock he liked to keep handy then go for a couple of days during the week so he wouldn’t miss a farmer’s market.
That was the plan. And now it was a matter of making it work.
Chapter Fifteen
The hotel room was almost painfully quiet and empty. Another room that didn’t mean anything. Another bed that had nothing special about it. It was a nice place, comfortable furniture with everything in the best possible shape. It was a really nice place, but it didn’t feel right.
In fact, it felt emptier somehow. Emptier than every other time that he had stayed in this hotel. He was missing something.
“Devlin.” He mumbled the name under his breath. There was no one there to overhear. “Devlin should be here.” Something about the name seemed to shatter through the haze of loneliness that had settled over the room. Even saying the name seemed to make him feel better.
Devlin wasn’t going to be there though. He had left him behind in El Paso almost a month ago. They had talked every day but hadn’t actually spoken in person. Mostly because Chance hadn’t had the chance to get away. It wasn’t for lack of trying, however.
He sighed, pacing through the room before deciding that feeling bad wasn’t going to help at all. He was risking falling into bad habits and moping. It was time to put a stop to that. He grabbed his phone and shot off a text, but Devlin had said he would be busy for most of the day, so he hoped for a res
ponse, but didn’t really expect it to happen. He couldn’t count on Devlin to pull him out of this. He had to do it on his own.
He thought about it for a while before deciding that it was time to get out of that room. There was no good that would happen there. He had to get out of there and do something. So, he quickly changed, put on a pair of sunglasses and headed out of the room.
Making sure he had his wallet on him, he headed into the elevator and dragged himself to the small bar that they had off of the lobby. It would be open late enough for him to get a drink. Maybe he could even find someone to talk to about it.
Not that he would talk about too much to anyone. After all, it was important to respect the privacy of the artist that he couldn’t get off of his mind.
The bar was empty, just a few people scattered in the room. Probably because it was a Tuesday night. Not a good day for people to be drinking a little after ten at night. He slid onto the bar and ordered himself a beer.
The bartender smiled at him. “How’s it going?”
“Just feeling a little bored.”
“Business trip not going like you planned it?”
“Not really.” He shrugged. “It’s not really about the trip though.”
“It never is.” She offered a quick smile. “Life can get pretty tough sometimes.”
“Something like that, yeah.” Chance nodded. “Are you trying to be a counselor?”
“You looked like you needed to talk about stuff.” She shrugged. “I’m usually pretty good at spotting it and it helps my tips.”
“I appreciate your honesty.” Chance smiled. “But this is the kind of thing that’s almost impossible to talk about.”
“I get it. But I’m here to listen and don’t care enough to spread it around.” She laughed.
“I guess that’s an advantage for you.”
“I like learning about stuff. And I never know who can teach me it.” She refilled his drink. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”
“I am. It’s just missing someone.”
“Oh, I get that. It’s kind of hard to deal with that. How long have you been away?”
“About a month.”
“Wow. That’s got to be so hard. No wonder you’re here.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s exactly why. I’m just missing this guy.”
“He’s something really special, then?”
Chance didn’t even have to take a moment to think. He nodded almost immediately. “Yeah. He really is.”
“When you get the chance, go check it out then.”
“Are you going to do the whole cliché thing with the if it’s meant to be, it’ll be kind of thing?”
She grinned. “Did you read the bartender handbook?”
“I worked as one a long time ago. Of course, I held a lot of jobs. And I wasn’t very good at most of them.”
“I hope you’re good at the job you’re doing now.”
“I seem to be doing pretty good.” The woman didn’t seem to recognize him. That made him feel a lot better about stepping out of his room. It was either that or she was told specifically to treat him like he was just another guy. If that was the case, however, she was doing a really good job. “It’s a better job for me.”
“Good. Do you need anything else?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“I’ve got to go check on my other guys, I’ll be back in a few.” She smirked at him.
He had the sudden impression that she was hitting on him. And all it did was make him uncomfortable. She was a beautiful woman, but his mind was firmly stuck on Devlin.
He vaguely considered sneaking away from all of the meetings and plans. Ignoring all the of the events that he was supposed to be at and the interview that he was supposed to do. He wanted to fly down to El Paso.
He actually pulled out his phone and priced a flight, but paused before it was time to book the flight. “Bad idea.”
“What’s a bad idea?” The bartender was back.
“Nothing.” He smiled. “I’d like to settle my tab.”
“Sure. Let me take care of that.”
And it was handled within moments. Chance was heading back to his room. He waited at the elevator and as he climbed into it, someone else breezed in with him.
A familiar scent hit his nose. The smell of the ocean. Or at least what soap that claimed to smell like the ocean smelled like. He closed his eyes. “Chance?”
The voice was familiar. “Devlin?” He opened his eyes and tilted his head toward the person he was sharing the elevator with.
“Yeah.” Devlin blushed and looked down at the ground.
“What?” Chance was bewildered. “Why?”
Devlin smiled shyly. “I wanted to come and see you. You told me where you were and what hotel you were at. Do you mind?”
Chance shook his head. “I really don’t mind. Why would I mind?”
“I don’t know. I’m kind of surprising you.”
“I did the same thing to you.” The elevator doors opened, but Chance didn’t notice. He was staring at the man that was there for him. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About all sorts of stuff. I wanted to see you.” Devlin shrugged. He was nervous.
“Yeah. Yeah. My room is…” He paused and looked at the open elevator doors. “Here.” He darted out and held the door open as it was starting to close.
Devlin followed him out. “Thanks.”
“No problem. I just can’t believe that you’re here. How did you get here?”
“I flew.” Devlin shrugged. “I had enough saved to pay for the ticket.”
“If you wanted to come, I could have arranged it. You just had to tell me.”
“I kind of wanted to surprise you.” Devlin followed him down the hall. “You did it to me.”
“I thought you were having trouble?”
“I got ahead on the work. I’m only here for a couple of days.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it. I wish I could stay longer, but that was all that I could do.”
“Are you sure you’re going to be ok, you know, financially?”
“I wouldn’t have done it if I couldn’t afford to do it. Don’t worry.”
Chance stopped at the door. “This is my room.”
“I can get my own.”
“No. No. Don’t do that.” He started to dig in his pocket. “You can stay with me. Even if you don’t want to stay there with me, I have a sofa in the suite.”
“That sounds pretty fancy.”
“They pay for good rooms for me.” He produced his room key and opened up the door.
“Wow.” Devlin stared around the room. “This room is as big as my whole apartment.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Yeah. It really is. I wasn’t expecting this sort of thing.” Devlin stepped inside and kept staring. “You have two rooms?”
“I have a bedroom, yeah.” Chance nodded. “That’s kind of a weird thing. Suites like this. Especially when I don’t have any sort of company. Like ever.”
“Never?”
“No. I don’t entertain.”
“Are you sure you don’t want your privacy?”
“No. I want you here. I really do.”
Devlin gave a shaky nod. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“It feels a little crazy to do it, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, something like that. It’s so strange. I always kind of played it safe before.”
“Did you want a drink? Or something to eat? I could order something.”
“You don’t have to do that. I wanted to talk to you.”
“What is it?”
Devlin walked over to the couch. “This is probably stupid.” He sat on the edge of the couch like he was waiting to run if he had to. Chance walked himself over there and sat down next to the painter. He was a little confused about it. “I don’t
know how to talk about this.”
“You don’t have to worry about it. Ask me anything you want to.”
“I saw you with that book. You seem so nervous about it. And you kept looking at me when you had it out around me.”
Chance drew in his breath with a sharp hiss. “That is hard to explain.”
“I just wanted to know if you’re taking notes on me for some reason. Or if it’s something that I have to worry about it.”
“You don’t have to worry about it. What’s in that book will never see the light of day.”
“What is it then?” Devlin looked worried.
Chance walked over to his bag and pulled the book out. “It’s something I don’t really share.”
“But you seem to always have it.”
“I do.” He walked back over and handed it over. “Take a look.”
Devlin looked up at him. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Take a look. You should probably know.”
Devlin nodded and started to flip through the booklet. His breath caught. “Is this real?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“What is it?”
“Songs.”
“These aren’t any of the songs that you sing?” Devlin seemed confused. “You write these songs that you don’t actually ever record?”
“Yeah. Because they’re not Rock.”
“What are they then?”
“Folk songs, I guess.”
“Do you want to play them?”
“I would.” Chance shrugged. “But the label won’t do this sort of stuff for me. It’s just impossible.”
“Could you find one that would let you?”
“Do you think they’re any good?”
“I don’t know music, but the lyrics are amazing. They just feel so true. Even like, as a poem.”
Chance smiled and turned a few pages of the book toward the last of the used pages. “These are the ones that you saw me writing on.”
Devlin looked down. “Wait. These are about me?”
“They are, yeah. You inspired them.”
The painter grinned. “This is amazing.”
“I don’t think I’m going to do anything with them.” Chance shook his head.
“You should try to make it happen. I don’t know how, but maybe you could talk to someone that knows about it.”