Hayden's Timbre

by Thia Finn

  “I’m good with that. Honey, what about you?” Ryan looked over at Peri. Wheels turned in that pretty head of hers.

  “I guess I’m good with it. We need to talk to Tucker this evening. I don’t want to let this go,” Peri responded to him, and the look on her face said they would.

  “Okay. Problem one, solved. Second problem.” Ryan turned back to me.

  “You remember me telling you that I’d met someone?” I took a sip from the cup.

  “Wait, you didn’t tell me he’d met someone. Who is she? Have I met her?” Peri’s ears practically stood out on the sides of her head to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

  “No, you haven’t met her, yet,” I told her.

  “Why not?” Peri’s excitement over meeting Timbre grew comical.

  “We’ve hardly had time to see each other much less introduce her to y’all.”

  Ryan joined in. “All the guys in the band met her and so has Carter and Halo.”

  “What?” she shrieked in my ears. “So, Chandler and I are the only ones who haven’t, huh?”

  “Hell, Peri, you make it sound like we planned to keep the two of you out of the loop. It happened by accident,” Ryan explained.

  “That’s all true, Peri.” I wanted to talk, not spend my time making explanations. “I like this woman, a lot, but it’s damn near impossible for me to make plans with her. She works at The Bar and makes the most money working on Friday and Saturday nights so seeing her on the weekends won’t work. Weeknight dates can’t happen either with mine and Crew’s schedule. So, basically we’re fucked before we even get started.”

  Peri intently listened like I knew she would do. “Yeah, Hayden, I can see where this has no potential at all. What can we do to help? You know Crew’s always welcome here.”

  “I know, and I appreciate all y’all do for me, but I don’t like having him come over on a weeknight unless it’s absolutely necessary. Why does dating a woman have to be such a pain in the ass?”

  Ryan laughed. “Just so you know, they can be a pain in the ass even after you marry them.”

  “Careful there, big boy, or you’ll find yourself on the other side of that new lock on our door.” She smiled sweetly at her husband. I got the feeling it was anything but a sweet sentiment running through her mind.

  “I’m not ready for Crew to meet her either. I want to know this is going somewhere before I do that. Getting him involved is a long way down the road,” I told them both. “I wish there was another way he could meet her without knowing there might be a thing between us. I’d like to see the two of them get to know each other without any strings attached like us dating.”

  “Yeah, probably a good idea. You wouldn’t want him to get attached to someone that didn’t work out.” Peri always had my son’s best interest at heart. “Tell us what you want us to do then.”

  “I got a few other things to tell you about her that I want changed immediately.” They both stared at me.

  “Has she got some baggage we’ll need to deal with?” Peri knew without me telling her anything that it wasn’t going to be easy from the little I’d told her already.

  “Yes and no. Not that I know of on the baggage end. The thing is she’s living in a homeless shelter trying to save up for an apartment.” I saw their eyes trying to pop out of their heads.

  “Hayden, are you sure this is the kind of person you want to get involved with?” Peri spoke first. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I know people fall on hard times, but does she know you have money and might be looking for an easy way out?”

  “No. It’s not like that at all. If anything that’s a problem for us. She won’t let me do anything for her. I offered her the money she needed to get out of there, and she flat out turned me down. She’s got a lot of pride. It’s just been tarnished a little with this setback.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure about this.” Peri wasn’t convinced.

  “She has a degree from college. Things haven’t worked out too well for her coming to Austin to find a good job.”

  “So we need to find her a job and a place to live?” Ryan finally added his opinion.

  “Yeah, but finding her a place to live is the first thing. I want her out of that fucking shelter. It’s in a questionable part of town, and sketchy people mill around there all the time. It damn sure isn’t safe. She comes home late at night from the bar, and there’s only one guard working a desk. I don’t like it. She needs to get the hell out of that fucking place ASAP.” The longer I talked about it, the madder I got. I stood and started pacing around.

  Peri jumped up and grabbed my arm. “It’s okay, Hayden. We understand. We need to get a place. It’d be great if it was somewhere where Crew could be around her some so you could see how they reacted to each other. That’s not too tall of an order to fill.”

  “Easier said than done. We’ll have to convince her to let us help her out. She’s so damn stubborn about taking help.”

  Ryan spoke up while staring into his half-empty mug. “There’s an easy solution to this first problem, and it’ll make it perfect for Crew.”

  We both turned to look at him. “What?”

  “She needs to move into our pool house. It’s got its own entrance from the outside. It’s separate from the house but still close. The kids are in the backyard all the time so they could have some interaction with her.”

  “I don’t see that happening. She’s not going to move in without paying her way. She’ll see it as charity, and she doesn’t do charity.” I started thinking about the idea. It would be perfect. Crew could see her some and get to know her away from me. I could see her more easily if we could convince her to do it.

  “Let me talk to her. I’ll convince her,” Peri said smiling at me. I knew if she put her mind to something, nothing would do until she got her way.

  Ryan walked up behind his wife wrapping her in his arms. “Yeah, you know this one, Hayden. If she wants it to happen, it will. So that solves problem two. Problem three, a job.”

  Peri looked over her shoulder and smiled a sexy smile at Ryan. Maybe my time was up here. “Do we want to work on this later guys?” I asked grinning at them.

  “Yeah, get the hell out, Hayden. My wife’s got something else to take care of.”

  “No. You can wait. We need to talk about the job problem.”

  “Shit. You see how it is. You marry them, knock ‘em up with a few kids, and suddenly you take the back burner every time.”

  “Keep talking like that and the lock will be padlocked from the inside.” Peri gave him ‘the look.’

  “Yeah, a job,” he quickly said. “What are you thinking?”

  “We were just talking about moving Johnna to a new position. She’s been a great employee and finished her degree in marketing since she’s been there. What if we started Timbre in her position? She could continue working at the bar on weekends if she felt it necessary, but with the salary we would start her at and her living here, she won’t need two jobs.”

  I let out a relieved sigh. This needed to happen. She could have a good job at a great company and a nice place to live until she could get on her feet.

  “Peri, you are the best, babe. I think I love you more than I already do.” I kissed her cheek.

  I looked over at Ryan. “You won the lottery, dude. I hope you always remember that.”

  He nodded his head. He knew it long before me. I only reinforced it for him.

  “See y’all later.”

  She stopped me as I opened the door. “Dude, we need to set up an interview. You’ll take care of getting her to do that?”

  “Not a problem.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “I might have to use my wily ways on her.” I laughed and let the door shut behind me.

  “Do you think I could do the job, Hayden? I mean, I’m a fast learner, but I’ve never worked greeting strangers,” I spoke into the phone. My head spun thinking of what I would need to say in an interview for this type of position.

  “Yeah, bab
e. I can easily see you doing this. Hell, you greet all the guys who come in the bar without any problem, and most of them are drunk when they leave. You deal with shitty problems there all the time with no issues. Sober people coming in to make a good impression should be a piece of cake.”

  He obviously had more confidence in me than I did. Where did that person go that used to exude confidence? I needed to find her and have a serious talk.

  “Eeee. I’m so excited… a real job. I mean, not that working at the bar isn’t a real job. Hell, it’s gotten me through this mess I’m in, but it’s a dead end.”

  “Timbre, you’re too damn educated to be working in a bar. Your degree should count for something.”

  “True. I mean, working as a receptionist isn’t rocket science or anything, and I can’t sit around and psychoanalyse people from behind the desk, but at least I can feel like I’m contributing.” Hayden knew I wanted to put my degree to use.

  “Maybe I could look at going back to school if I make enough so I could get a license to work with people on a private basis. Of course, that’s a long way down the road, but it’s a possibility.”

  “Right, babe. You can do whatever you want to.”

  At least someone had confidence in me these days. Cayson told me that all the time, but his life in California was too busy to spend time boosting my ego.

  “Oh, Hayden, I’m trying not to be too excited. What if I don’t get the job?”

  “You’ll get the job, Timbre. They need someone, and they love to hire people through recommendations.” I knew these people were his friends, so that had to help. Maybe I should be upset that he found me a job, but hell at this point, I was willing to do anything. I’d never been great at relying on other people to get what I needed, but I was sick of living in the shelter.

  “Okay, now that your job situation is settled, let’s talk about you moving, Timbre. I want you out of that shelter.” He must have read my mind.

  “Right. I bet in a month I can save enough to add to what I’ve got now and can be out of there.”

  “No, a month’s too long.”

  “Hayden, even working two jobs, I can’t do it any sooner.”

  “You’re not going to work two jobs, and you’re moving tomorrow.”

  “Are you crazy? Where could I move without enough saved for deposits? I mean, there’s utilities to turn on and all that rent money they’d want. I just can’t do it yet, and no, you are not giving me the money to move.” We’d discussed this already. I didn’t take money from friends, and even though our relationship held more promise than friends, I still didn’t want to take it.

  “Here’s the thing, babe. Peri and Ryan let people who start work at 13 Recordings use their pool house until they can get on their feet. They’ve let several struggling musicians live there.”

  “Did you live there?”

  “No, when they bought the house it was with Crew and me in mind. We had a side, and they had a side. The boys were infants, and we all agreed to be together for a lot of reasons.”

  Hayden hadn’t told me the story about his son and why he always had custody, but I got the feeling that the situation held bad memories for him. Maybe the girl died? Asking him was out of the question, but I wanted him to tell me at some point if we continued to see each other. If I moved in this pool house, I felt like we would see each other more often. The perks were making this seem too good to be true.

  “I see. Well, first I’ll do the interview and see what happens.”

  “Great. It’s going to be a no-brainer for Peri to hire you.”

  I could tell he liked my answer from the way he said it. “So, when is the interview or do I need to call and set it up?”

  “No, it’s tomorrow afternoon before you go to work. I told her your schedule, and she suggested that time.”

  “That quickly? I haven’t even filled out an application.” This moved so fast. How did this even happen?

  “You don’t need to until you accept the position and fill out the paperwork for employment,” he said. His surety of me getting this job amazed me.

  “Okay. Sounds good to me. I suppose I can be ready by then.” What would I wear? Oh God. One more thing for me to ponder. How would these people dress? I had suits from my old job but they were not in the greatest shape. I hoped they all still fit.

  “So, I’ll pick you up at one and drive you to the interview.”

  “That’s too much trouble.”

  “No, Timbre. You’re not riding the bus to an interview. You might get dirty or something.”

  “You’re ridiculous, Hayden. People ride the bus to work all the time.”

  “All right. You caught me. Driving you to the interview lets us spend a little time together. I want to see you, babe. It’s been a few days. I promise not to mess up your clothes.” He gave a little laugh in the phone. “Bring your work clothes, and we’ll go eat and then I’ll drop you off at work.” He had my day all planned out for me. Who was this guy?

  “Sounds good. Now I have to go. Some of us have to work for a living.”

  It was my turn to laugh.

  “I work all the fucking time, babe. You’re just too busy to notice.”

  “Right, right. You always seem like you’re off to me.”

  “I’d like to get off with you, right now. In my bed. With you under me.”

  “Hayden!” I yelled. “Stop, just stop.”

  “Why? I’m only telling you what I’m thinking.”

  “Well, I have to work, and you have other things to do. Get busy.”

  “Babe, that’s what I’m trying to do. Get busy with you.” He chuckled. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Goodbye, Hayden… and Hayden?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you. I know this had to be all you with this job and maybe with the place to live, too. I appreciate what you’re doing to help me.” I needed him to know how grateful I was for his support.

  “You’re welcome, babe. Anything for you.” He hung up with that statement. What did he mean by that?

  I stood at the door waiting for him to drive into the parking lot since walking into the building couldn’t happen. I leaned my head against the cool glass thinking of all the things I had to be thankful for in my life. At the very least, I had a roof over my head and pretty good wages coming in. If I didn’t get this job, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. If I did get it, my life would take the first positive swing in a long time.

  A Mercedes SUV pulled into the parking lot and stopped right at the door. Hayden came walking around from the driver’s door and opened the passenger. Did he have this fancy car, too?

  I walked out and stared at him. “Nice ride, Mr. Rock Star.”

  “I’m not a rock star, babe. I only write their music.”

  “You must write some great tunes to afford this.”

  “The answer to that would be a big no. It’s not my car. It belongs to Peri. I figured you’d be in some tight little pencil skirt and getting in my truck would be too hard.” He looked me up and down. “I’d have been right, too.”

  He leaned in and kissed me. “Don’t want to mess up that pink lipstick, at least not yet,” he added with a wink as I sat in the car. He closed the door behind me.

  He slid in behind the padded steering wheel and took off. “You look beautiful in a career girl sorta way.” He smiled at me.

  “Thank you, I think. I hope that’s a good look.”

  “It’s perfect. You could go in wearing a tank top and cut off shorts and look gorgeous.”

  “Well, thank you again, but I doubt it would make a great impression on the boss.”

  “I don’t know. Cash likes a pretty girl like the rest of us.”

  “Cash? That’s his name?”

  “Yeah. He likes to interview with Peri sometimes. He’s there now.”

  “Have you been there already?” I didn’t realize he did his work there. I never thought about where he did his writing.

 
“Every fucking day, babe.” He reached over and took my hand moving it back to rest on his thigh after he left a kiss on the back of it.

  “I didn’t realize we’d be working together. Is that a good idea?” My head said bad idea. I didn’t like mixing business with pleasure. What if we didn’t work out?

  “We’ll rarely see each other if that’s what you’re thinking. You’ll be out front. I work in the studios or rehearsal rooms, so we’ll run into each other only if I come up front.” I guess he could tell from what I said I was somewhat uncomfortable with the arrangement.

  “Oh, that’s good. I don’t want to bother you while you work.”

  We stopped at a red light, and I looked over at him. He pulled my hand until I was close enough for him to kiss me. This time, he completely messed up my pink lips until a horn honked behind us causing me to jump back to my side.

  He laughed. “I’m sure they can wait one damn minute.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Now what were you saying about bothering me?”

  “Just that I wouldn’t want to run into you and bother what you were doing at work. I’m sure you’re busy.”

  “I’m never too busy for a pretty girl. You can bother me whenever you like.” He turned on that women-melter smile. He didn’t use it too often so when he did, it did all kinds of strange things to my stomach, like little butterflies swarming around in there. I hoped he saved it for me most of the time, but who knew. He might use it to get his own way. All I knew was that it obviously worked on me.

  We pulled into the parking lot, and before I could open the door, he met me halfway to kiss me again, wrapping his hand around the back of my neck. It started out a slow leisurely graze across my lips, and then he licked the seam of my lips to gain entrance. I allowed him access without a second thought. He explored my mouth with slow sensual movements turning my brain to mush. He finally pulled away but didn’t let go of my neck.

  “Now, go in there and dazzle them with all your brilliance. Show them what you’re made of, babe. You’ve got this.” He winked and let me go before he opened his door climbing out to open my door. I glanced in the lighted mirror on the visor, gave my pink lips a fresh swipe of lipstick, and stepped out ready to meet my new boss. I could do this, just like he said.