Real Time

by Jeanine Binder

  “So, how trashed were you that Monday morning in Chicago? That was some pretty nice, single malt Scotch you were power drinking.”

  Nick couldn’t help but grin. “That’s why it took me two hours to come over to the arena with you. Hadn’t quite cleared the hangover.” He put the half eaten piece of toast back on her plate and stood up. “I’m going back to bed, love.”

  “I am going to go run to the store and a couple of other places. I shouldn’t be gone too long.”

  “Come roust me when you get back?” Kate nodded and Nick disappeared out of the room.

  * * *

  Nick was better the next day and they spent the majority of the afternoon at Kate’s parent’s house. Kate spent the time helping her mom in the kitchen. She had never forgotten what they had done for her so many years ago. Her mom, Nancy, had been wary about Kate marrying Nick for the same reasons Kate had doubts. But seeing them together, Nancy always smiled. She did regret that Kate couldn’t have children but had resigned herself years ago that there would be no grandchildren. There was still a chance that they could adopt, but it didn’t seem like either of them were planning to slow down any time soon.

  “Things are well, honey?” Nancy asked.

  “Very,” Kate confirmed. “Busy though. Nick’s planning to go back out on the road after Labor Day.”

  “He never stops, does he?” she asked.

  Kate shook her head. “Not that I know of. Even when we are on the road, he’s busy. Songwriting, most of the time – says he gets his best inspirations when he’s touring. Maybe because of all the different places he sees.”

  “I hope he makes time for you.”

  “He does. I can’t complain,” Kate said smiling fondly while watching him interact with her stepdad.

  Dinner was nice and Kate smirked at Nick when he turned down the wine her stepfather offered at dinner. He shot her a look but Kate could see his eyes laughing. The subject of Nick’s thirtieth record came up and her parents were very supportive, congratulating him and treating him like a son instead of the public person he was. That was one of the reasons her husband liked going to their house, because he was able to talk all kinds of subjects with his father-in-law and Allen was becoming the father that Nick’s never was. Nick had tried to get him to come and work for the studio to do their legal work, but her stepfather had declined, saying he liked the partnership he was with and liked being out of the limelight. Nick left the offer open in the event he ever changed his mind but there was still no sign of that happening.

  As they were undressing for bed, Kate pulled a small box out of her purse. “I have something for you, Nick.” She handed the box to Nick, watching his face as he opened it. Inside was a ring - it was white gold, so it looked silver. Two panthers were upraised in the metal, facing each other on each side, with single rubies eyes. Nick was born in July, the rubies were his birthstone. In between the two panthers, was the letter ‘M’ for Marshall, with a single carat diamond in the indent of the M.

  “I knew when you put the ring on my finger what it meant and I also knew that you would never wear one, just based on how fans would react and how the press would spin it. And, so you know, I don’t care what hand you wear this ring on. I just wanted to put my mark on you, same as you have done. I had it made like a signet ring. The guys are not going to buy it’s not a wedding band, but the fans and the press will.”

  “I don’t know what to say, love,” Nick answered, turning the jewelry in his fingers. “This has to be the finest piece of work I’ve ever seen.”

  “And the best part is none of ‘your’ money paid for it. That was important to me,” Kate told him, watching as he slipped it onto the ring finger of his left hand, which is where she was hoping he’d wear it. The fit was perfect. “I did not come into this relationship to take from you, Nick.”

  “And you don’t. You give far more than I have ever deserved.”

  “It’s mutual,” she said softly. “I love the way we are together. I feel like you’ve always been there.”

  “I like that you’re independent,” he told her. “I don’t have to put all my energies into making you happy every hour of every day. Had a girlfriend like that once; helped to put me off of dating and relationships for a long time.”

  “I know you’ve relaxed on a lot of things in the past two years, but something you said in the beginning sticks with me. I know under the difficult person you can be, is the Nick I fell in love with. The Nick that could stand there and let tears fall after you came back from London. The rest of it is a product of what you do.”

  “You are the first person to ever see that,” he murmured, moving to stand in front of her. “The real me - not some icon of someone famous.”

  “I saw lots of famous people when I was working for Michael. They didn’t even affect me. The only reason I was nervous auditioning for you was because I knew you didn’t normally hire women. I was a longshot at best.”

  “Best decision I ever made,” he said softly, lifting her chin up to kiss her. “Well, second best anyway. Marrying you was the best.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kate was bored. There were only about two months left before Labor Day and Nick was planning to start his next road trip then. Kate didn’t want to start a session with anyone because, most of the time, the sessions went well over three months. She also didn’t want to have to try to find someone to finish for her. To occupy her time, she’d started sitting in the sound booth with Ron while he worked. He found her a headset and she would listen to what he was doing as he recorded the tracks. After about three weeks, he let her work the board for one of the new artists; he’d been amazed at how much she picked up. Kate was diligent and made sure she was getting things right the first time. Any additional takes were not because of anything she had done.

  They were in the studio doing the tracks for the band, Great Escape. The instrumentals were finished and they were working on vocals. Unfortunately, the lead singer for this group was Christian Long, Nick’s drummer about six years ago before he decided to go out on his own. Trent was his brother and Nick hired him with a recommendation from Christian, agreeing to a contract of three records with his band, once he had heard a demo of their music. The other four band members were reasonable to work with but Christian was a nightmare. Biggest problem was he was too much into the drug scene and usually showed up on a big high, which tended to put him off his game. Kate didn’t like the man and had no clue how he had ever ended up working for Nick because her husband would never have put up with this attitude. Nick wasn’t into drugs – he told Kate he had done them early in his career and didn’t like the way he felt when he was high nor did he like the feeling when he was coming down off of that high. Kate attributed his dislike to the control obsession Nick wouldn’t admit to having. He did not like not being in control of a situation.

  Arlan came into the booth and whispered something to Ron which caused him to stand up. He told Kate to go ahead and set up the next take so that things would be ready when he got back. Five minutes later he came back in looking upset.

  “What’s the matter, Ron?” Kate asked.

  “My wife was on the phone. Her dad called to tell her that her mom passed away. I need to leave and take care of her.”

  “Go ahead,” Kate told him. “I can finish this for you until Tony gets back on Monday.” Tony and Patrick were the other two sound engineers - both were away on vacation because the schedule had been slower.

  “I’ll tell Arlan what’s going on,” Ron said, and Kate stood to give him a hug.

  Ron left the booth and Kate turned back to the studio. They were laying down backup vocals because Christian had not yet appeared this morning. Kate didn’t want to admit it but things went a lot faster when the band was here doing stuff and their lead singer was late. Sometimes she wondered if he really was forty because Christian acted like a petulant two year old most of the time.

  Since it was lunch time and Christian stil
l wasn’t there, Kate dismissed the band for a couple of hours. Randy, the lead guitarist said he would go see if he could figure out what was delaying their lead singer. Kate nodded in approval and went out into the hall. Arlan was there talking to Nick, which didn’t surprise her. Nick was funny about things being out of the ordinary and Kate running the sound board for Ron – that would be out of the ordinary. Kate walked up and didn’t say anything while they continued their conversation.

  “You’re a bundle of surprises, love,” Nick said turning to her. “I had no clue you knew how to work a sound board.”

  “Ron’s been teaching me,” she confirmed. “I didn’t want to take a session because you want to leave in three weeks or so. You hold the record for the shortest recording time and I didn’t want to start something I couldn’t finish.”

  “You good to run this while he’s gone?” Arlan asked. “I can call Tony or Patrick back.”

  “I can do it,” she assured them. “I did most of the tracks on Marlena St. Clair’s album we finished last week. And there won’t be much work to do if Christian Long doesn’t get in here.”

  “Trouble?” Nick asked.

  “Nick, he’s a pain in the ass. I have no idea how he ever worked for you - not with your attention to detail.”

  “He wasn’t into drugs then. This is the last record we have under contract. I’m breaking even, barely, with his music and have no interest in extending it. Don’t tell him that – I’ll lay it down to him when his manager comes looking for the next contract.”

  “I told the band to get lunch and disappear for a couple hours. Randy said he’d go try to find Christian. I was just going downstairs to get something to eat. Either of you want to come with me?”

  Arlan declined but Nick agreed it was a good idea. They had a cafeteria on the second floor of the building so people didn’t have to go out into the city for lunch if they didn’t want to. And it allowed Nick to be free to roam the building with no chance of fan encounters or press barrages. They walked down to the elevator and Kate pressed the button for the second floor.

  “Do you like doing the recording, love?” Nick asked.

  “Its new and challenging,” she admitted. “I could do this part time if you needed me to. I’m still a musician at heart.”

  “I was just thinking we could open up Studio Four when we got back, if you were going to run the sound board. Good sound engineers are hard to come by.”

  “That’s what Ron said. He told me the last two couldn’t cut it.”

  “It pays more than session work,” Nick said teasing her.

  “Oh sure,” she said laughing as they got on the elevator together. “Bribe me with a new job.”

  “Did it work?”

  “I’ll run some of it for you, Nick,” she answered. “And, for the record, you don’t have to pay me either. Since I’m taking work for Michael, I’d rather spend his cash than yours.”

  “Not going to get any argument from me, love. Sure that’s what you want to do?”

  “I’m sure. Besides, I’m going to be really selective about what I take from him and it will cost more than his usual prices.”

  Nick laughed as they exited onto the second floor. The cafeteria was at the east end and Nick had spent a small fortune to get good food and a nice eating area in place. This was one of the many changes that happened once Nick took over as a half partner, putting his finances in to make it happen. He did the same thing in the New York studio, as well as the one in Britain, both on a smaller scale since both were just recording sets with some offices for the public relations folks. All the main corporate offices were in Los Angeles. In the other two locations, he did a survey of the employees and made a contract with their favorite fast food restaurants to open up in their building. Job turnover came to a screeching halt after that.

  Kate put together a salad from the salad bar and Nick got a hamburger from the grill. They sat at a table toward the back of the eating area, to keep Nick out of the way. He wasn’t bothered by crowds here, like he would be in a public restaurant, but old habits die hard. Kate didn’t mind – she was just happy to spend time with him because this was rare, even with them working in the same building. Kate tried to stay out of his office as much as possible to give him the space he needed to run his business. The important people that ran the studio knew they were married but a lot of the lesser employees – mail staff, general office people, did not. Kate got a few bad looks here and there but didn’t let them bother her. Nick was a good looking man and there wasn’t much she could do, especially since he was well known.

  Once they finished, Nick went back to his office and Kate returned to Studio Two. She was surprised the band was back and even more astounded to see Christian with them. But what she didn’t like was how Christian was looking. She had seen that look before in her eight year career and knew he was about to crash. Kate picked the receiver off the wall behind her and asked the operator to find Arlan and send him over. Arlan usually had a radio headset for these kinds of things and she knew he would get there reasonably fast. She tried to ignore the state Christian was in and opened the microphone into the studio to see what they wanted to do. Christian mumbled something and fell off the stool to the floor. Arlan walked in at that moment and ran into the studio. He bent over Christian, making it was apparent he wasn’t breathing. Kate saw him radio for help before he started performing CPR. She was frozen in place, watching the scene unfold in front of her. Two of the employees who were EMT certified came running into the studio. Arlan turned over the CPR to one of them and came into the booth with Kate.

  “He’s not breathing,” Arlan said. “Did you call Nick?”

  “No. I didn’t know how you wanted to handle it,” she said, moving out of the way as the paramedics came in the room. Nick was right on their heels.

  “What the bloody hell happened?” Nick asked.

  “He collapsed,” Kate told him. “I came back from lunch and he was sitting there, looking really green, like he was going to be sick. Then he fell.”

  “This isn’t the first time,” Nick said in an even tone. “I don’t look forward to calling Trent and telling him that Christian overdosed again.”

  “Looks like they got him breathing,” Arlan observed. “He wasn’t before the EMT’s came in.”

  The paramedics put Christian on a stretcher and walked it through the sound booth, out of the room. Kate could see the rest of the guys packing up their equipment - it was now a waiting game to see if Christian would survive. Nick said something to Randy, who nodded, and the band walked out of the studio. Kate started turning off the equipment and Nick left without saying anything else.

  “I still don’t know Nick very well,” Arlan started. “What will he do next?”

  “Christian’s brother, Trent, is his drummer; Nick will call him as next of kin. Their parents are dead – Christian raised Trent through his teens and got him the job with Nick when he went off to start Great Escape. After that, your guess is as good as mine. Nick is mad, no doubt.”

  “Michael always vocalized his... displeasure. It’s been difficult learning to read Nick’s silent moods.”

  “Good luck with that. We’ve been married almost two years and I still have trouble with some of them. This one is easy though.” Kate’s tone was definite.

  “How so?”

  “He’s mad because Christian is being an idiot. Nick has high standards and I know he wouldn’t have put up with the drugs back then. So this behavior has been relatively new. I can tell you this, though, Arlan,” Kate said confidently. “If he is angry with you, you will know. Trust me. “

  “I hope so. Guess I’ll go up and see what he needs me to do.”

  “I’ll finish shutting things down and then I am going to take off. Let Nick know when you go up there?”

  “Sure thing,” he assured her.

  * * *

  Arlan went back out, heading for the elevator and pressed the call button with a sigh. He selected
the button for the fifteen floor once getting inside and rode it to the top. The scenery was beautiful with the floor to ceiling windows but sometimes the height made him a little dizzy. He stopped and confirmed with Terry that Nick had come back and then knocked on the office door. Arlan heard him call out and walked into the office, closing the door behind him. Nick was on his cell phone.

  “I’ll go down to the hospital and try to talk to him,” Nick was saying into the phone. “I offered him rehab the last time but he wouldn’t take it.”

  Arlan assumed he was talking to Christian’s brother, Trent. He went and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk while he finished the conversation. Nick talked for another couple minutes and then sat down facing Arlan. “I hate having to make that call,” he said.

  “Sounds like this isn’t the first time,” Arlan observed.

  “First time here at the studio, but not the first time. Christian has overdosed three times in the past year.”

  “This time was almost his last. He wasn’t breathing when I originally went into the studio.”

  “Trent is fed up. He said if Christian doesn’t go to rehab and kick this addiction he’s done with him,” Nick told him. “I don’t blame him, mate.”

  “It’s a bad deal all around,” Arlan agreed. “My oldest got mixed up with crack for a while. It was a hard time getting him to go to rehab and even harder to keep him clean. “

  “Christian’s biggest problem is he has no family support. Trent is all he has.”

  “That’s what Kate said. Oh, and she said to tell you she was leaving for the rest of the day.”

  “I might follow her after I get done at the hospital. I told Trent I would meet him there in an hour,” Nick told him.

  “Nothing going on here that you need to stay for, Boss,” Arlan acknowledged. “Call me if you need anything.”

  “Thanks.”

  * * *

  Nick drove down to Cedar Sinai Hospital where the paramedics had taken Christian. Trent was in the waiting room and came over when he saw him. Trent was trying to be angry but Nick could see the anguish in his eyes. He reached over and pulled the man into a hug, knowing how upset he was. Trent clung to him for a moment, breaking away and looking determined. Thankfully the news of Christian’s overdose hadn’t leaked to the press yet - there were no reporters hovering around.