“Uh, hi.” I glanced back at the one-way mirror, as if I could telepathically understand when Thanh released me from this embarrassing ordeal.
The guy sat patiently, expecting me to do something. So I reached over and adjusted one of the wires, up by the machines. He went back to watching the screen, as if I were just another technician. Nobody interesting.
I backed out of the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, I asked Thanh, “What the hell was that?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. I expected something more. Some kind of reaction.” He started to place the vial back in the drawer. Then he had a second thought. “Do you like how this smells?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s good.”
“Take it.” He tossed it over, and I threw it into my purse.
The rest of the day passed slowly as I listened to Kelly and Stacy argue over the radio station or fight over some impossibly gorgeous actor or front man they’d never meet. Finally at four, I swung into the ladies’ room and changed out of my work clothes, which consisted of a rayon suit skirt and a button-up pin-striped shirt. Knowing I’d be hanging with Micah in the club later, I’d brought a pair of comfortable jeans and one of his band’s T-shirts. I shook my ponytail out and let my hair fall to my shoulders.
When I went back to the lab to grab my purse and laptop, I wasn’t a bit surprised that Kelly disapproved of my entire look.
“I have a low-cut shirt in my car if you want something more attractive.” She offered it as though she actually would’ve lent it to me. Knowing I’d decline, she got in a free dig at my wardrobe choices. We were a study in opposites—she with her overpermed blond hair and salon tan, me with my short-clipped fingernails and functioning brain cells.
“No, thanks. Maybe next time.”
“At least let me fix your makeup. Are you even wearing any?”
I pretended she wasn’t bothering me. “No time. I have a train to catch.”
She sniffed. “Well, you smell nice anyway. New perfume?”
“Uh, yeah. It was a gift.” Her normally pouting lips rounded in anticipation of her next question. I zipped my computer bag and said, “Gotta go. See ya tomorrow, Stacy?”
Stacy waved without turning her head away from whatever gossip site she’d logged on to, and I slipped out the door.
As I stood on the train platform waiting for the 5:35 North-east Corridor train to Penn Station, I heard someone calling “Hello?” from inside my purse. I fetched my phone and found it connected somehow to my mom, whose voice messages I’d been ignoring.
Foiled by technology and the gremlins living in my bag, I placed the phone to my ear. “Mom?”
“Oh, there you are, Eden. I’m making corned beef and gravy tonight. Why don’t you come by before you go out?”
I didn’t know how to cook, so my mom’s invitation was meant as charity. But since she was the reason I couldn’t cook, her promise of shit on a shingle wasn’t enough to lure me from my original plans.
“No, thanks, Mom. I’m on my way into the city to hear Micah play tonight.”
“Oh. Well, we’ll see you Sunday I hope. Would you come to church with us? We have a wonderful new minister and—”
“No, Mom. But I’ll come by the house later.”
“All right. Oh, don’t forget you’ve got a date with Dr. Whedon tomorrow night.”
I groaned. She was relentless. “Is it too late to cancel?”
“What’s the problem now, Eden?”
I pictured Dr. Rick Whedon, DDS, tonguing my bicuspid as we French kissed. But she wouldn’t understand why I’d refuse to date a dentist, so instead, I presented an iron-clad excuse. “Mom, if we got married, I’d be Eden Whedon.”
Her sigh came across loud and clear. “Eden, don’t be so unreasonable.”
“I keep telling you you’re wasting your time, Mom.”
“And you’re letting it slip by, waiting on a nonexistent man. You’re going to be twenty-nine soon.”
The train approached the station, so I put my finger in my ear and yelled into the phone. “In six months, Mom.”
“What was wrong with Jack Talbot?”
I thought for a second and then placed the last guy she’d tried to set me up with. “He had a mustache, Mom. And a tattoo. Also, he lives with his parents.”
“That’s only temporary,” she snapped.
“The mustache or the tattoo?” I thought back to the guy from the lab. “And you never know. Maybe I’ll meet Mr. Perfect soon.”
“Well, if you do, bring him over on Sunday.”
I chortled. The idea of bringing a guy over to my crazy house before I had a ring on my finger was ludicrous. “Sure, Mom. I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Tell Micah to come, too?”
My turn to sigh. Their pride in him was unflappable, and yet, I’d been the one to do everything they’d ever encouraged me to do, while he’d run off to pursue a pipe dream in music. So maybe they hadn’t encouraged me to work in the sex-drug industry, but at least I had a college degree and a stable income.
“Okay, Mom. I’ll mention it. The train’s here. I have to go.”
I climbed on the train and relaxed, so tired of everyone harassing me. At least I could count on Micah not to meddle in my love life.
Chapter 2
At seven thirty, I arrived at the back door of the club, trailing a cloud of profanity. “Fuck. My fucking phone died.”
Micah exchanged a glance with the club owner, Tobin. “See? Eden doesn’t count.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” After two hours fighting mass transit, I’d lost my patience. My attitude would need to be recalibrated to match Micah’s easygoing demeanor.
Micah ground out his cigarette with a twist of his shoe. “Tobin was laying a wager that only women would show up tonight, but I said you’d be here.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Micah’s small but avid female fan base faithfully came out whenever he put on an acoustic show. His hard-rock band, Theater of the Absurd, catered to a larger male following and performed to ever-increasing audiences. But he loved playing these smaller rooms, bantering with the crowd, hearing people sing along with familiar choruses.
Before Tobin could get in on the act, I blurted, “Can I charge my phone in the green room?”
I made a wide berth around Tobin’s plumage of cigarette smoke and followed Micah down the shabby narrow back hall. Dimly lit eight-by-eleven glossy posters plastered the walls, advertising upcoming bands and many other acts that had already passed through. Nobody curated the leftover fliers although hundreds of staples held torn triangles of paper from some distant past. A brand-new poster showing Micah’s anticipated club dates hung near the door to the ladies’ room. That would disappear during the night as some fan co-opted it for him to autograph, and Tobin would have to replace it. Again.
The green room was actually dark red and held furniture that looked like someone had found it on the curb near the trash. And it smelled like they’d brought the trash, too. God knew what had transpired in here over the years. I tried to touch nothing. Micah flopped down on the sofa and picked up a box of half-eaten Chinese food. His red Converse tennis shoes and dark green pants clashed with the brown-gold hues that stained the formerly whitish sofa.
I plugged in my phone, praying I’d remember to fetch it before I left. I fished out some ibuprofen and grabbed Micah’s beer to wash it down. I waved off his interest in the drugs I was popping. “Birth control,” I lied.
Without looking up from his noodles, he said, “Oh, good. I was starting to worry you’d joined a convent.”
When Micah finished eating, he led me to the front of the club and put me to work setting up his merch table. His band’s CDs wouldn’t sell, but his self-produced EP of solo work would disappear. Mostly for girls to have something for him to autograph. They’d already own his music digitally. A suitcase filled with rolled-up T-shirts lay under the table. I bent down and selected one of each design to displa
y as samples.
Micah moved around onstage, helping the club employees drag cables and whatnot. Not for the first time, I envied him for inheriting some of Mom’s Scandinavian coloring and height, while I got Dad’s pale Irish skin and raven hair. Micah repeated “one-two-three check” into the mic a few times and then disappeared around back to grab one last smoke before he had to transform from my sweet older brother into that charismatic guy who held a crowd in the palm of his hand.
Right before the doors opened to the public, one of the guys I’d seen setting up the stage stopped by the table and flipped through the T-shirts and CDs. He picked up Micah’s EP and then raised dark brown eyes. “Micah Sinclair. You like his music?”
He wore faded jeans and a threadbare T-shirt from a long-forgotten AC/DC concert under a maroon hoodie. His black hair fell somewhere between tousled and bed head. I saw no traces of product, so I assumed he came by that look through honest negligence rather than studied indifference.
My quick scan revealed: too grungy, probably unwashed, poor. I resisted the urge to pull the merch away from his wandering fingers. But I wouldn’t risk the sale, so I leaned in on my elbows, all smiles.
“He’s amazing. Will you get a chance to hear him perform?”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” He set the EP down and held out his hand. “I’m Adam, by the way.”
I wrapped my hand around his out of sheer politeness and proper upbringing, but I couldn’t help laughing and saying, “Just so you know, my worst nightmare would be dating a guy named Adam.”
He quirked his eyebrow. “That’s kind of discriminatory.”
“My name’s Eden.” I waited a beat for the significance to register, but I guess any guy named Adam would’ve already dealt with such issues of nomenclature. His eyes lit up immediately.
“Oh. Seriously?” He chuckled, and his smile transformed his features. I sucked in my breath. Underneath the dark hair, dark eyes, and hobo wardrobe, he was awfully cute. “I’ll rethink that marriage proposal. But could I get you anything? You want a beer?”
This was a new twist. Usually, the ladies were offering drinks to my brother. I loved getting the attention for a change. “Sure. Whatever lager or pilsner they have on tap.”
He walked off, and I snickered. Maybe some guys like pale brunettes, Kelly. As he leaned against the bar, I assessed him from the rear. Tall enough, but too skinny. Questionable employment. Either an employee of the club, a musician, a wannabe musician, or a fan. Shame.
Micah strolled up. “Is everything ready?”
I forced my gaze away from Adam’s backside. “Are you?”
He scratched his five-o’clock chin scruff. “That’s the thing. I may need some help tonight. Do you think you could maybe sing backup on one song? I was hoping to harmonize on ‘Gravity.’ ”
“Sure.” What were sisters for? I had his whole catalog memorized, even the music from his band, although that music ran a little too hard rock for my tastes.
Micah left me alone at the merch table, and Adam returned with a glass. “Did I just miss Micah?”
He’d pulled his hoodie up so his face fell into shadow, giving him a sinister appearance. With the nonexistent lighting in the club, I could barely make out his features. This odd behavior, coupled with his interest in my brother, made me worry maybe he was in fact one of the crazy fans who found ways to get closer than normal, and not, as I’d first thought, an employee of the club. How had he gotten inside before the doors opened?
Before I could ask him, a woman’s sharp voice interrupted. “Will Micah be coming out after the show?”
I looked toward the club’s entrance, where people had begun to stream in. I took a deep breath and prepared to deal with the intensity of music fandom.
“I assume so. He usually does.”
She didn’t move. “It’s just that I brought something for him.” She held up a canister of something I guessed was homemade. I’d advised Micah not to eat whatever they gave him, but he never listened. And so far he’d never landed in the hospital. I knew his fans meant well, but who knew if those cookies had been baked alongside seven long-haired cats?
“I could take it back to him if you like.” I made the offer, knowing full well it wouldn’t do at all.
“No. Thank you. I’ll just wait and give them to him later. If he comes out.” She wandered off toward the stage.
I spotted one of Micah’s regular fans, Susan something-or-other, making a beeline for the merch table. She looked put out that I was there before her. “Eden, if you like, I’m more than happy to man the merch.”
I never understood what she got out of working merch for Micah. He didn’t pay except possibly in a waived cover charge. And she was farther from the stage and possibly distracted from the performances. Perhaps it gave her status. Whatever it was, it made her happy, and I was glad to relinquish the duty to her.
“Thank you, Susan.”
She beamed. “Oh, it’s no problem.” She began to chatter with the other women crowding up to the merch table. I overheard her saying, “Micah told me he’ll be performing a new song tonight.”
Adam caught my eye, and we exchanged a knowing smile. So okay, he wasn’t a fan. He stepped beside me as I walked to the bar to get a seat on a stool. “So you’re not the number one fan, then?” he asked.
I smiled. “Of course I am.”
Before we could discuss our reasons for being there, the room plunged into near-total darkness, and Tobin stepped onto the stage to introduce the opening act, a tall blonde whose explosion of wild hair had to weigh more than the rest of her.
She pulled up a stool and started into her first song without further ado. Out of respect, I kept quiet and listened, although her performance was a bit shaky, and the between-song banter didn’t help. It pleased me that Adam didn’t turn to me to say anything snarky about the poor girl or talk at all. I had to glare over at the women hanging around the merch table a few times, though. They’d shut up when Micah came on, but they didn’t seem to care that other musicians preferred to play to a rapt audience, too.
In the time between acts, Adam ordered me another beer. At some point he’d dropped his hood back, but with the terrible lighting in the club, I had to squint to see his face. Normally, I wasn’t a big fan of facial hair of any kind, but Adam’s slight scruff caused my wires to cross. On the one hand, I worried he couldn’t afford a razor out there in the cardboard box he lived in. On the other hand, I had a visceral urge to reach up and touch his cheek. And run my finger down the side of his neck.
He caught me staring when he leaned closer to ask me how long Micah had been performing.
I wasn’t sure what he was asking, so I gave him the full answer. “He’s been singing since he was old enough to talk. He started playing acoustic when he was eleven, but picked up electric when he was fifteen. He formed a metal band in high school, and the first time they performed live anywhere beyond the garage was a battle of the bands.”
Adam’s expression changed subtly as I recounted Micah’s life history, and I could tell he was reassessing my level of crazy fantardness. I laughed and said, “I told you I was his number one fan.”
His smile slipped, but he managed to reply politely. “He must be very talented.”
Something about the timbre in his voice resonated with me, almost familiar, and I regretted my flippant sarcasm.
Before I could repair my social missteps, the lights faded again, and the girls near the stage screamed in anticipation. A spotlight hit the mic, and Micah unceremoniously took the stage. He strummed a few notes and broke directly into a song everyone knew. The girls up front sang along, swaying and trying to out-do each other in their excitement.
Adam twisted around and watched me, eyebrow raised. Maybe he expected me to sing along, too. I raised an eyebrow back and mouthed the words along with Micah. Wouldn’t want to disappoint him. Finally, Adam straightened up to watch the performance, ignoring me for several songs.
Micah p
erformed another well-known song, then a new one, introducing each with some casual-seeming banter. I knew he planned every word he said onstage, but the stories he told were no less sincere for that. He controlled his stage presence like a pro.
Before the fourth song, he announced, “This next song requires some assistance. If you would all encourage my sister, Eden, to come join me, I’m sure she’d hop up here and lend me a hand.”
The audience applauded on cue. As my feet hit the floor, Adam’s eyes narrowed and then opened wide as he did the math. I curtsied and left him behind to climb up onstage to perform—Micah’s support vocals once again. Micah strummed a chord, and I hummed the pitch. Then he began to play the song, a beautiful ballad about a man with an unflagging devotion to a woman. The ladies in the front row ate it up. Micah knew I got a kick out of performing, and I suspected he asked me up so I could live his musician life vicariously.
When the song ended, I headed back to the anonymity of my stool. The hard-core fans all knew who I was, but if they weren’t pumping me for information about Micah, they didn’t pay much attention to me. There was a fresh beer waiting, and I nodded to Adam, appreciative. He winked and faced forward to listen to Micah. That was the extent of our conversation until Micah performed his last encore and the lights came back up.
Then he turned back. “You were right. He’s very talented.” He tilted his head. “But you held out on me. Your opinion was a little bit biased.”
“I was telling you the truth,” I deadpanned. “I am his number one fan.”
“You two look nothing alike. I’d never have guessed.”
“We have a crazy mix of genetics.”
As we chatted, the area behind us, near the merch table, filled up with people waiting for a chance to talk to Micah, get an autograph, or take a picture with him. The lady with the cathair cookies had nabbed the first place in the amorphous line. I scanned the rest of the crowd and discovered that Tobin had lost his bet. A pair of teenage boys holding guitars stood on their toes, trying to get a glimpse of Micah over the heads of the other fans, but he hadn’t come out yet. They were most likely fans of his edgier rock band, taking advantage of the smaller venue to meet him, pick his brain about music, and have him sign their guitars. They’d still be competing with at least thirty people for Micah’s time.
A Crazy Kind of Love Page 29