Endless Love

by Lauren Trevino

  Emma backed up to the barrier to get a wide shot of the full band before moving to the center to zoom in on the lead singer and get some photos of him playing the banjo.

  There were six other photographers maneuvering in front of the stage for the band’s first three songs and Emma realized how much she missed this; the buzz of shooting gigs and live music.

  The photographers left after their three songs and Tori caught up with Emma before she left.

  “So, who are you working for?” Tori asked.

  “Tonight, I’m just freelancing.”

  “I know one of the bigger magazines in the music industry is looking for new photographers. I always thought this was where you did your best work, at concerts.”

  “Thanks…”

  “I can email you the application they sent me.”

  “You’re not interested?” Emma asked.

  “I prefer weddings… Bigger paydays.”

  “Right… Yeah, if you could forward me that email that would be great. I might as well apply.”

  “You should… How’s Cat doing?”

  “Good…”

  “We should go out sometime,” Tori suggested. “The three of us… Maybe four if I have a date.”

  “Sure...” Emma couldn’t imagine the three of them going anywhere especially when Cat didn’t know what Tori did. Emma wasn’t even sure if she’d want to meet up with Tori, never mind the three of them.

  “Your number’s still the same?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay… I’ll text you,” Tori said with a weak smile. “It was good to see you.”

  “You too.”

  Emma watched her leave. It was strange seeing her again, but she was almost relieved to get it out of the way.

  Could we really be friends again?

  Emma did miss her. She just didn’t know if she could get past what she’d done.

  Chapter 54

  July 30th, 2016

  Cat let Emma into the elevator ahead of her and waited for the real estate agent to press the button for the correct floor. Cat watched him lean forward and press the button for the fifth floor.

  Her meeting in New York had gone well, better than she'd expected. Her new record label wanted to move fast, and they planned to have her album be released in early 2017.

  They said that they'd like to gradually release her songs online rather than making the album available all in one day. They said that they'd had a lot of success in the past doing things that way.

  They had a massive following online, especially when it came to videos. They wanted to document the writing and recording process, making it into more content that they could share, bringing more awareness to Cat.

  Cat was excited. She liked the way they handled their clients. They were the next generation of record labels, taking the internet and social media into account rather than traditional CD sales numbers.

  There would be a lot of pressure on her to get enough songs written in the next three or four months. Then she could start recording them and doing promo for the album at the end of 2017 or early 2018.

  Not only did she have that to look forward to, Cat was really into this apartment hunt. She always knew that Emma was serious, but the fact that she suggested this move just proved to Cat how committed she really was.

  Today they were checking out an apartment that Emma found online. The realtor opened the door and gave them a tour. It was a three-bedroom apartment with lots of light. The master bedroom was spacious but the other two rooms were an average size.

  "What do you think?" Emma asked.

  "I love it. The other two rooms aren't that big but it's still more room than I had in L.A."

  "And the office doesn't need to be big. I just need a space where I can sit down and edit my photos."

  "They want someone immediately, right?" Cat asked her.

  "Yeah... Should we go for it?"

  Cat shrugged. "I like it. It's in a good location... What do you think?"

  "Yeah," Emma said, a smile spreading across her lips. "Let's go for it."

  "We probably won't be the only ones who want this place. The rent is reasonable... It's a nice building."

  "Then we should probably let the real estate agent know that we're seriously interested and that we could move in immediately," Emma said as they made their way back to the living room.

  They sat down with the realtor for a few minutes and Emma spoke up about how much they liked the place.

  He said that he'd be in touch once he'd spoken with the owner. They shook hands and then left, both of them already wishing that the apartment was theirs.

  "Do you want to get a drink?" Cat asked as they strolled down the sidewalk, the sun beating down on her bare shoulders.

  "It's a little too soon to celebrate. What if we don't get it?"

  "I have a feeling," Cat said with a grin.

  "Alright."

  They walked a few blocks to one of their regular bars and found a seat down the back. They ordered two beers when the waiter arrived to take their order.

  "That's one of the nicest apartments I've seen, and I've been looking every day," Emma said.

  "I hope we get it."

  "Me too... I'm sorry that I was too tired last night to stay awake and talk about your meeting. How did it go?"

  "It went really well," Cat said, her lips moving into a smile as she thought about it. "I kind of spontaneously decided to hold my ground when we were going over the contract."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, the basic contract wouldn't have given me that much control, so I asked them to rewrite a few bits."

  "And they did?" Emma asked, her eyebrows shooting up.

  "Yeah. I have a say in everything now. Not one hundred percent of course but I didn't want them to have control of everything."

  "Your music you mean?"

  "Everything," Cat said as she leaned forward to rest her forearms on the table. "Where I perform, who's my manager, who I write with... Everything."

  "Wow. That's great. Is that normal?"

  "Not really... These people aren't your typical record label though. They know that things have changed in the last ten, fifteen years and they've embraced it. They're not stuck in the past."

  "They seem like a really good fit," Emma said while the waiter placed a bottle of beer in front of each of them.

  "Yeah. So far, so good. The next few weeks are going to be crazy, but I think I need to keep going and build on the momentum that Melissa created online."

  "Congrats," Emma said, lifting her beer and tilting it towards Cat. "To your new contract."

  "And hopefully our new apartment."

  "Cheers," they both said as they clinked their glasses together.

  Chapter 55

  September 2nd, 2016

  Emma finished putting the dishes away in the cabinet beside the sink and poured herself a glass of wine.

  They'd been living in their new apartment for a month now and Emma finally had everything the way she wanted it. She'd finished unpacking the final few boxes today and cooked herself dinner. Now she just wanted to relax.

  Cat's instruments arrived a few days ago but she'd been too busy to unpack them or think about how she wanted to set up the music room.

  Emma carried her glass of Pinot Grigio with her as she stood in the doorway of her office and peered in. She'd put the finishing touches on it today, the photos from their trip to Toronto, a few of her family and one of her chocolate lab that she grew up with, Roxie.

  She'd put her desk in the middle of the far wall so that she could look out the window while she worked.

  If Cat was busy again tonight, she would come in here and get some work done.

  She hardly saw Cat lately but that was to be expected. Between her trips to New York for meetings and spending hours at a time working on a song, they saw very little of each other.

  Emma was busy too. She applied for that job that Tori had told her about and got accepte
d three weeks ago.

  She had to travel to New York some days too and Atlantic City twice for shows but she loved it. She missed that adrenaline rush of trying to capture the music in a photograph. It was nothing at all like the safe and steady job she'd had for years working at the hotel.

  Emma still did freelance work to cover the rent and the bills. Any jobs that she got from the magazine, she considered to be a bonus.

  "Hey, babe," Cat called. "You home?"

  "Yeah," Emma said padding back into the living room.

  Cat left her bag by the door and crossed the room to wrap her arms around her and kiss her.

  Emma parted her lips against hers, trying to remember the last time she'd kissed her properly and not just a quick kiss because one of them was rushing out the door.

  "Hmmm," Cat groaned into her mouth.

  Their tongues met, and Emma felt a chill run down her spine. Cat's hand was lost in her hair, gently raking across her scalp. Emma held out her wine glass so that she wouldn't accidentally spill any.

  When they broke the kiss a few seconds later they were both a little breathless.

  "Miss me?" Cat asked with a smirk.

  "Just a bit... How was your day?"

  "Good... I wrote for a while with Martin," Cat said as she went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass while Emma went to sit down on the couch. "The label set it up. He's worked with a few of their artists."

  "So, you worked well together?"

  "Yeah. I think he might have helped me figure out what was wrong with the song I was working on yesterday," Cat said as she sat down beside her. "How was your day?"

  "Good. The office is finished... Everything from my place has been unpacked."

  "I have to sort out my stuff... When was the last time we had an evening like this?" Cat asked.

  "When we were both here and we had nothing to do?" Emma asked. "Not since the first week we moved in."

  "Things will calm down soon."

  "I know... It's okay though. I'm just happy that things are going well for you," Emma said with a smile as she reached for Cat's hand.

  "It's kind of surreal... I was thinking about getting in touch with Tori now that we're settled in."

  "Why?" Emma asked as she took a drink.

  "She did such an amazing job with my first album shoot... I wanted to ask her to be a part of the next one."

  Emma sighed softly.

  "Did you guys have a fight or something? I thought I'd have seen her already. You've been back for six weeks and I haven't heard you mention her."

  "It's complicated," Emma said softly.

  "What happened?"

  "I don't know why I didn't tell you sooner... Tori took those photos of us kissing at the Christmas market."

  "What?" Cat asked with a laugh. "You're joking."

  "I'm afraid not... I accidentally saw a text on her phone about it and she didn't even try to deny it. She followed us that night, took those photos and sold them to some site and then they were everywhere."

  Cat's jaw dropped. "Nooo... Why didn’t you tell me?"

  "I don't know... I was embarrassed I guess. My best friend could have ruined your career. She was only thinking about herself and it could have cost you everything."

  "That's crazy," Cat said, running a hand through her straight blond hair. "I can't believe she would do that... Have you talked to her since?"

  "No. Not until I bumped into her in July at a gig... I don't know if we'll ever be friends again."

  "Wow... Okay... I guess I can forget about asking her."

  "Yeah," Emma said softly as she brought her wine glass to her lips.

  "How would you feel about doing it?"

  "Album promo shots?"

  "Yeah."

  "I don't know... The label probably has somebody in mind. Besides, don't you think it's a conflict of interest? We should try and keep our personal and professional lives separate."

  "It worked out okay when you stepped in as my manager for a few weeks," Cat said.

  "That was different. We were in the middle of a crisis... See what the label has to say. They might already have an amazing photographer lined up to work with you."

  "Alright," Cat said as she left her wine glass on the coffee table. "I'll see what they say... Now, what were you saying about keeping our personal and professional lives separate?" Cat asked, reaching for Emma's hand.

  "Just that... That there should be a difference..."

  "I think we've been spending too much of our valuable energy on business and not enough on our personal lives,” Cat said with a mischievous grin.

  “Really? And what should we do about that?”

  “I think you were on to something earlier… The way you kissed me when I got home…”

  “How did I kiss you? I can’t remember…,” Emma teased.

  Cat smiled as she leaned in, her hand moving to the nape of Emma’s neck to pull her in as their lips inched closer together.

  Emma’s lips parted against Cat’s, their tongues easily finding each other in an eager dance as Emma’s hand slid under Cat’s top.

  “Something like that?” Emma asked as she pulled away to meet Cat’s blue eyes, her finger tips still caressing the soft skin above Cat’s hip.

  “Come on,” Cat said as she stood up and grabbed Emma’s hand. “We can never be too busy for this,” Cat said, leading them into their bedroom and kicking the door shut behind her while her lips searched out Emma’s.

  “Agreed,” Emma said between kisses as they both took off their clothes and fell into bed.

  Chapter 56

  September 27th, 2016

  Cat played the same four bars of music three times in a row on her acoustic guitar, waiting for inspiration for the next few notes to strike but it wasn’t happening.

  She put her guitar back on its stand and checked her watch. It was almost one in the morning.

  I should just go to bed.

  Emma never said anything, but Cat was pretty sure that she’d prefer it if she spent less time working. She wished that she could finish earlier in the day, but she never struggled as much as she was now.

  Cat often wrote a song from start to finish in a day or two. Now, a week was the best she could do. She felt like she was forcing the words onto the page instead of them flowing out like they always had.

  Cat knew what the problem was. She was happy.

  In the past, she had plenty of material. She missed Emma. She regretted leaving her. She wondered what it would be like to be with her again.

  Now, she had that perfect relationship that she’d always dreamt of.

  Her first album was full of songs about Emma and what their relationship might have been.

  What am I supposed to write about now?

  She already put together one upbeat song about her current life and she loved it, but it wasn’t the kind of music that she’d made in the past, the music that her fans knew her for.

  That song wasn’t haunting or dark. It was borderline pop. She hadn’t even played it for her label yet. She was afraid that they’d try and push her in that direction.

  So far, Cat only had four songs written and put to music for the new album. She was starting to feel the pressure and that was more than likely the cause of her writer’s block.

  She needed to have at least twelve more songs finished by Christmas and she didn’t know where they were going to come from.

  Cat stood up and stretched her arms over her head, feeling the tension in the muscles in her back.

  I might as well go to bed. I can start again tomorrow.

  Chapter 57

  September 29th, 2016

  Emma turned the oven off but left the roast chicken and vegetables inside to stay warm. She hadn’t seen Cat all day even though she knew that she never left the apartment.

  Cat was holed up in her music room and Emma was almost certain that she hadn’t eaten a thing today.

  It was almost 9 p.m. and although Emma liked to leave Cat
alone when she was working, she thought she should at least check on her.