The Hardest Set (Willow Son #4/Brothers of Rock #19) Read Free Page A

big
smile on her face and a bottle of wine in her hand.
    “ Here, ” she said. “ Now let me in. ”
    “ That
wasn ’ t funny, ” Natalie said. “ The police thing. ”
    “ Why?
Do you have the cops after you? ”
    “ No, ” Natalie said. “ I just … nothing. Thanks for the wine. Come in. ”
    “ As
soon as you said that, ” Andrea said, “ I couldn't
imagine it. A night without wine? That ’ s
like being homeless. ”
    Might be me soon.
    Natalie went to the kitchen and
opened the bottle. She poured two glasses and turned to find Andrea with two
things in her hands.
    The first was the drawing. “ This is good, Natalie. Really
good. ” The second item was
the eviction notice. “ This
is bad, Natalie. Really bad. ”
    “ I
know, ” Natalie said.
    “ You
said it wasn ’ t that bad. ”
    “ It ’ s not. ”
    “ This
is an eviction notice, ” Andrea said.
    “ Here,
drink some wine, ” Natalie
said. “ You worry too much. ”
    “ Worry?
How are you not worrying? ”
    Natalie swallowed hard and sipped
the wine. “ This helps. ”
    “ How … well, okay. The job thing.
Sure. I mean, but, oh, Nat. ”
    Natalie frowned and shrugged her
shoulders. “ I called you,
right? ”
    “ Yeah,
you did. I wish you would have called earlier. Like, when everything was
getting bad. And I didn ’ t
realize it was …” Andrea put
the wineglass down. She grabbed her bag and tossed it to the table. She pulled
out a calendar book.
    “ You
still use paper? ” Natalie
asked. “ Don ’ t most people use calendars in
their phones? ”
    “ I
do that too, ” Andrea said. “ I just like this better. ”
    She flipped through some of the
pages. Her head bobbed left to right.
    “ What
are you doing? ”
    “ Well,
I have the weekends all booked. I can add you to them though. I mean, I ’ m not sure how much you ’ ll make. I could pull someone
off …”
    “ No, ” Natalie said. “ Don ’ t you dare take someone ’ s job and give it to me. No. ”
    Andrea looked at Natalie. “ You ’ re more important. ”
    “ No,
I ’ m not. Andrea, I ’ ll figure this out. If I get
kicked out, then I get kicked out. I can work something out. ”
    “ What
are you going to do? Sleep with the landlord? ”
    “ Hmm … I haven ’ t thought of that. ”
    “ Oh,
gosh, ” Andrea said. “ Please, don ’ t do that. He ’ s … old and smelly, Nat. ”
    Natalie pinched her nose. “ I could clothespin my nose. Shut
my eyes. ”
    “ You ’ re starting to gross me out, ” Andrea yelled. She went back to
work, flipping through the calendar. She stopped and put her finger down. “ Well … I have this one. ”
    “ What
is it? ”
    “ It ’ s a big one. ”
    “ What
does that mean? ”
    Andrea looked at Natalie and
cringed. “ It ’ s a really big deal for me. One
of my most important events. Ever. ”
    “ Ever? ”
    “ Ever, ” Andrea said. “ I ’ m
talking business people. Famous people. ”
    “ Famous?
Celebrities? ”
    Andrea nodded. “ I could use an extra person.
There ’ s a lot of money to
be made. But to do it, you have to keep cool. There ’ s no picture taking. There ’ s no asking for autographs. There ’ s no … googly eyes and stuff. ”
    “ Who
is going to be there? ” Natalie asked.
    “ It ’ s a record company event. There ’ s going to be some musicians,
models, movie stars. The biggest name is Willow Son. The entire band. ”
    “ Willow
Son? Are you serious? ”
    “ Yes,
I ’ m serious. Are you a fan? ”
    Natalie smiled. “ Actually, I was just listening
to them before you came in. I really like their new stuff. That acoustic stuff.
That ’ s more my style. ”
    “ Well,
leave the fan stuff back home, okay? ”
    “ Okay, ” Natalie said. “ I can handle it. I swear. I ’ m not going to get all weird. ”
    “ You
are weird already. ”
    “ Ouch.
Thanks. ”
    Andrea reached for the eviction
notice. “ How much do you
need for this? ”
    “ More
than one night of work,