Decked with Holly Read Free Page B

wandering in and out of the recording studio could surely see that I was at my breaking point, I couldn’t force any of my muscles to lose their rigidity. Dominic Wyatt, casual rock star, had left the building. In his place was a shell of a musician, exhausted yet restless, drained yet jumpy, like an insomniac who had just downed a triple-shot espresso after a sleepless night.
    But I wasn’t about to admit as much to my friends. My pride had some limits. So I deflected instead of answering. Even at my most ragged, my Hollywood training in the art of changing the subject had turned it into a reflex.
    â€œLook, if we don’t take a break now we’ll just keep pushing it back. And soon we’ll have the MTV awards, or maybe a movie sound track job, or a concert tour, and it’ll be another night on the road or in a hotel room, scarfing down food between sound checks and performances.”
    I turned to Tim. “You’ve got a boyfriend, Tim. Don’t you want to be able to see him instead of texting between interviews and appointments?”
    I had him there and all of us knew it. He had been trying to schedule more visits to Portland, but it’s not exactly on concert tour routes with the regularity of bigger cities like LA and NYC.
    â€œYou could surprise him for Christmas. You remember Christmas, right? That’s the holiday we’ve worked through for the past two years. And, Chris, weren’t you dating an actress not too long ago? What happened with that?”
    Chris grimaced. “We started living in this studio. That’s what happened.”
    I could sense the two of them slowly coming around to my point of view.
    â€œTim can handle that Cosmo shoot by himself and then fly to Portland. Chris, you didn’t want to leave LA, did you?”
    He shook his head and I found the tension in my back easing a little.
    â€œGreat! Then you can take that movie sound track meeting. That’ll take a day, max. Which should give you plenty of time to pay a certain celebrity a visit. Although, what she sees in a guy like you . . .”
    Chris feigned a punch to my arm and when I moved to block it he smacked me upside the head. But he was grinning the whole time and seemed more relaxed than I had seen him in ages. I might have been the first to admit exhaustion but that didn’t mean I was the only one feeling it, which made me feel slightly better about being the first to break.
    â€œAnd what will you be doing, o mastermind?” Tim wanted to know. “Partying it up in a club?”
    I smiled, glad that the time I had spent poring over our group obligations and upcoming events had paid off.
    â€œRemember that deal we were considering with Famous cruise line? Three nights of concerts and complete freedom the rest of the time? Well, I called up the owner, Jeff Ridgley, and he’s very interested in hiring us. Best of all, he’s open to our provision for limited fan access. So I’ll meet with him and check it out on his eight-day cruise to Mexico and then catch up on my sleep.”
    â€œRight,” Chris replied, his grin growing wider. “With all those girls on board wearing skimpy bathing suits and throwing themselves at you, uninterrupted sleep is exactly what you’ll be looking for at night.”
    â€œI might be interested in other means of relaxation,” I admitted, thinking more about putting my dive certification class to good use in clear tropical waters than girls in swimsuits. Air tanks don’t have a tendency to squeal and ask for autographs.
    Tim raised an eyebrow. “What about all that songwriting you wanted to do?”
    â€œI’m sure I can squeeze in time for that between drinks and dives. Or I can hold off and do my writing back in LA after the trip. After all, if you can do it, it can’t be that hard.”
    He shook his head but laughed all the same. “Okay, so we take one week off