Chapter 17

Brent had, in fact, tried to cancel our show in Lexington as well. Thankfully, Kent, who was incredibly pissed when he heard what Brent had done, managed to talk to them before they found someone to replace us. Seth was right when he’d said this just proved that getting rid of Brent was the right move. We were all annoyed at losing the Louisville gig, since aside from when we opened for Linda Chapman, that had been one of the best venues we’d seen for music, but at least it was over. The drama Brent had been causing since we started this leg of the tour was over, and we could get back to focusing on just playing music.

In addition to fixing our show in Lexington, Kent called as we were driving to Lexington to let me know we had a show in Ashville the following Saturday. On top of that, he’d arranged for the Citizen-Time’s entertainment reporter to be at the show and then interview me the next day, which was exciting. I’d done a few radio spots so far on the tour, but that had just been calling into the radio station and talking to them for a few minutes to promote the tour. I guess those were considered interviews, but they were live on the air and went by so fast that it was hard to think of them like that.

This was an actual interview with someone who was going to watch our show and then ask a bunch of questions about us, which at least felt a lot more special. Kent was specific that I was being interviewed, and not the entire band. This was probably going to cause more problems with Marco, but I’d deal with that when we got there. Marco was still important to the band and I liked him, but he was going to have to figure out if he could deal with how things were or not. I was through coddling him and making decisions based on if it was going to annoy him or not. I’d do as much as I could to make sure the whole band was included in things and always give them credit, but Seth and Lyla had come to terms with our contract, and it was time Marco did as well.

I’d been surprised that Kent had gone out of his way to set up this additional show and the press for us. Brent hadn’t mentioned anything about it and had only talked about setting up shows in the Midwest, so I was pretty sure this hadn’t been something he’d been working on. My only guess was Kent felt bad about what had happened with the last show and everything else Brent had been up to and called around to set up something else for us to make up for it. Although I didn’t blame him or the label for Brent, I did appreciate the effort.

The Lexington show itself went off well. The venue was more like the ones we’d played in Raleigh and Nashville than the one we’d missed in Louisville, but that was okay. Having traveled with Dad, I knew the kind of gigs a band like ours got, what with having no name recognition to draw in customers. Some catered more than others to music than to customers drinking, but they were all at least as much a bar as a music venue.

At least this one didn’t have a basement green room that required us to climb down rickety stairs with our equipment while we waited to set up. The crowd was small, which was expected for a Sunday show, but they were into the music.

We sold about the same volume of merch that we’d sold at several of the last shows, which meant we were still behind on our sales thanks to missing an entire gig. Hanna wasn’t worried, because we had the extra gig that Kent set up, so we could make it up, but that had a wrinkle too. Hanna was planning on going back to Raleigh the day before the new gig, so she could spend time getting used to UNC before her classes started. Professor Cross had also asked to see both her original presentation for the merch investors and the spreadsheets she’d been keeping on sales, and she was looking forward to getting his input on it.

That meant she wasn’t going to be available to work the merch table. Kat had been with her the entire time and knew how to do it as well as she did, but she’d had Hanna there as a safety net. Trying to set me up with random girls aside, Kat had made a lot of progress over the summer, and the three of us agreed that it would be a good chance for her to challenge herself. We were going to be back a full week before the gig and Kat had an appointment with her shrink, and agreed to run the idea past her, just to be sure.

If things did break bad, Hanna was only a phone call away and would make sure she was available the night of the show. It wasn’t like Kat was going to be alone. I’d be there to help her, or at least encourage her, and Lyla would help work the table, at least until she decided who she was going to hit on.

We finished up the show, packed up our remaining merch and headed to the hotel for some sleep before the drive back to Wellsville. The extra gig aside, our first tour was in the bag. It hadn’t been without its challenges. We’d both gained and lost a tour manager in the process, played to both our largest and smallest audiences, and had our first friction in the band. We weren’t ‘in the clear’ by any means, but we’d survived all of those challenges and come out the other side.

It felt weird being back home. Nothing had changed, except for Dad being around the trailer all the time, but it still felt completely different. Everything was smaller than it had been. What was weird is that I hadn’t felt like that on our previous stop home. Of course, we had a gig to focus on and I had Dad’s sudden reemergence that could have distracted me enough to not feel the change.

It was all psychological, of course. As the week passed, everything started feeling normal again and neither Hanna nor Kat seemed to think it was that big of a deal. I guess the only reason it struck me was, not having a hometown growing up, I hadn’t considered what leaving the hometown would be like.

I continued to avoid Dad, who was always in the trailer, watching TV or in their room. He stayed for my Nashville show but went home after and had continued our truce, but it still seemed the smart move to limit our contact as much as possible.

Mom didn’t love it and had made some comments about repairing my relationship with Dad, but at least for this week, I had an excuse. This was Hanna’s last week home before she went to college and Kat and I wanted to spend as much time together with her as we could before she left, which even Mom couldn’t argue with. All week I got up early and went to their house for breakfast and stayed there until well after dinner. Her mom had already accepted me as a more or less permanent fixture and even made it clear I was welcome there any time even after Hanna was gone. Of course, Kat was still living there, so I had a reason to visit, but it felt good to have a second home to fall back on.

When Friday morning rolled around, we helped her load all of her stuff in the car and waited while her mom said goodbye. We’d been gone most of the summer and now her daughter was leaving until Thanksgiving, so Kat and I gave them some space. True, she wasn’t going out of state and, at least until the dorms opened, she was staying with her aunt, but it was still a big moment.

Finally, they hugged and her mom went back inside, leaving the three of us.

“So this is it,” I said when we got back to her car.

“I guess so,” Hanna said.

“Earlier this week, I was thinking how strange everything in town felt now that we’re back. That went away, but I swear, this place is really going to be different now.”

“You’ll survive.”

“I’m serious. This is the first place I ever settled down. I really hated it that first month, before school started. I didn’t know anyone and everything seemed so ... I don’t know, boring, I guess. Just when I was thinking it couldn’t be worse, I had that run-in with Aaron, ended up in the hospital, and was sure we’d made a mistake coming here. Then I met you and your mom, and we became friends. Since then, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Now you’re going off to college, and it’s going to be so strange.”

“You won’t be completely alone. You still have Kat,” Hanna said, nodding to the other girl.

“True,” I said. “It’s still not going to be the same.”

“It won’t,” Kat said.

“Things change. In two years, you’re off to college and then you’re going to be a huge rock star and won’t have any time for us anyway.”

“You know that will never happen.”

“What, you don’t think you’re going to get famous?”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Although I also won’t jinx any future success by being dumb enough to say I am going to be famous or popular out loud.”

“Smart. Seriously though, you’ll be fine and I’ll miss you guys just as much.”

“Psh,” Kat said, making a throw-away gesture at the same time. “You’ll be too busy with all the college boys.”

“When have you ever known me to go boy crazy?”

The thing was, Kat had known Hanna when she’d been basically a different person. Given her incredible physique and ... pliable nature, Kat had made her way into the popular group early in her freshman year, which had been at the height of Hanna’s drinking and partying days, before the rape that changed her. Although she wasn’t the same person she’d been back then, she couldn’t exactly say she’d never been boy-crazy, which explained the skeptical look Kat gave her.

“Recently,” Hanna added, seeing the look. “Seriously, I’m going to miss you two a lot, but I’m not going all that far and I’ll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Besides, Chapel Hill’s almost close enough for you to play a Saturday night show in the area, so I might even see you before then.”

“I’ll make sure to point out to whoever manages our shows next that we’d like to have more in that area,” I said.

“Good. And don’t let your dad distract you too much. You’ve done really amazing this last year, and I’d hate to see your issues with him throw you off your game.”

“I’ll try not to,” I said.

We both knew I couldn’t really control that, since a lot of it depended on what he ended up doing, but so far keeping a hands-off approach toward him had worked out. He’d talked to Brent and tried to sell me on dropping out of school, but backed down when I said no and hadn’t pushed for anything else.

“Okay, I gotta get going,” Hanna said, looking at her watch.

“I’ll miss you,” I said.

I was getting a little misty and felt stupid because I didn’t normally break down like that. I’d known she was going for a while and we’d maximized our time together all week because of it, but now that the time was here, it was really hitting home. Kat was straight out crying, tears streaming down her cheeks and occasionally sniffling, but she was also a crier, so no one thought that was weird.

“I’ll miss you too,” she said, pulling me into a crushing hug. “I was so annoyed when Mom made me go get you that job last year, and now I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like without my best friend.”

“Me either.”

“I love you, Charlie,” she said, pressing her head tight against mine, not letting go of the hug.

“I love you, too,” I said.

We both really cared for each other, but hadn’t said that until just now. I meant it, but it was strange. Although I hadn’t really had one yet, I knew it wasn’t a romantic love, and it wasn’t like how I loved my mother. It was its own thing, maybe how I’d feel about a sister, if I’d had one. I was glad I’d told her I loved her before she left, though.