Ravensong (18 page)

* * *

“
Spill it.”

Elena frowned at Kate, then
returned her attention to the road. “Spill it?”

Kate kicked her shoes off
and extended her legs under the dash board. “I saw the way the two
of you danced. Don’t try to tell me nothing’s happened between
you?”

Elena sighed, easing the
car into the late night traffic. “It was a mistake.”

“
Really?”

Elena brought the car to a
stop at the light and shifted in the seat to stare into her
friend’s eyes. “I cheated on John and I feel sick about
it.”

Kate looked shocked.

Elena gave a bitter laugh.
“You told me to spill it,” she said, applying the accelerator.
“There it is.”

“
You and
Ravensong...”

“
Yes,” Elena preempted her.
“We did.”

“
Did you break it off with
John?”

Elena braced her forehead
with one hand. “Not yet.” Thinking of John made her insides roil.
“I don’t know what to tell him and it seems downright cowardly to
tell him over the phone.”

Kate didn’t
answer.

Elena shot a look at her.
“You think I’m a horrible person, don’t you?”

Kate was silent so long,
Elena thought she was going to be sick. “It’s not that,” she said
with hesitation. She shifted on the seat, bringing her leg up
beside her. “Look, Ellie, I told you I thought a fling with him
would be good for you and I still do, but I meant maybe a one time
thing, one night, nothing more. Just sex.”

“
That’s what we had,
nothing more,” said Elena, unable to keep the disappointment from
her voice.

Kate didn’t answer
immediately. Elena glanced at her again.

“
What?”

“
What I saw tonight wasn’t
a one time thing. I saw two people who have strong feelings for
each other.”

Elena’s fingers tightened
on the steering wheel, but she kept her voice even. “Well, you’re
wrong. We just had a dance, that’s all.”

“
Ellie, don’t lie to me.
I’m your best friend. I know you as well as you know
yourself.”

Elena felt the wall inside
of her crumble. “Oh God, Katie, what am I going to do? I can’t stop
thinking about him.”

Kate touched her arm. “I
don’t know. He’s trouble, Ellie. He’s got a drug addiction, a crazy
career, and a child by another woman. Not to mention his suicide
attempt. You don’t need any of that, Ellie.”

“
I know, but...”

“
But?”

Elena shook her head
miserably. “But nothing. You’re right.” She forced a smile for her
friend’s benefit. “Look, don’t worry. He leaves for tour in a few
weeks. They’ll be gone at least six months. I’m staying here. This
attraction should have run it’s course by then and maybe...maybe by
then I’ll have met someone new.”

CHAPTER 8

Elena dropped the last bag
beside the plastic chairs and surveyed the large crowd who had
gathered to see
Avalanche
on its way. The band members were scattered around
the small waiting area, saying goodbye to family members and
friends. Elena’s eyes involuntarily drifted to Ravensong. He was
hugging a dark-haired little girl and she was clinging to him as if
she feared she’d never see him again. An older woman waited
patiently behind them.

David blocked her field of
vision and she blinked up at the manager with a smile. “Do you have
everything you need?”

David nodded. “Don’t know
why we couldn’t book a charter. Why are we flying commercial
again?”

Elena smiled. They’d had
this discussion many times already. “Julian says it promotes the
band and is good...”

“
P.R.,” finished
David.

“
Precisely.”

“
We’ll call when we land in
Philly. You’ll hold down the fort back here?”

“
I’ve got it covered. We
have three shows to equip by this weekend, one in Concord, one in
Oakland, and one in SF. Next week we have five.” She lifted her
electronic planner. “It’s all in here.”

“
Call me by cell if you
need anything.”

“
I won’t, but I also have
that in here.”

He smiled at her. “Enjoy
the quiet.”

“
I will.”

Elliot approached them.
“I’ll miss you,” he said.

Elena started to make a
witty come-back, but something in his expression held her off. He
seemed too serious. “Take care of yourself, Elliot,” she said,
moving forward and giving him a brief hug.

He didn’t release her as
quickly as she expected and she frowned as she looked into his
eyes. “Send me an email or two, will ya?”

“
Sure,” she answered,
somewhat baffled by his demeanor.

She was distracted a moment
later by Julian. “Don’t forget to fax the itinerary each day. We
also need maps of the stadiums, and all of the various routes to
get there. Make sure you contact the limo company each morning and
confirm our reservation and the hotels each afternoon. If
we...”

“
I’ve got it, Julian,” she
said. “It’ll all run as smoothly as possible.”

The boarding call echoed
over the intercom and the band members began to disentangle
themselves from their families. Joshua’s eye caught Elena’s over
his daughter’s shoulder. He gave the little girl a final kiss, then
the older woman drew her away, moving into line with the rest of
the family members who were vacating the waiting room.

Elena held back, hoping for a word
from him, a parting signal, anything. He held her stare as he bent
and slung his carry-on bag over his shoulder, but he made no effort
to approach her.

She gave him a smile and
shrugged.

He smiled in return, then lifted his
hand just enough for her to catch the motion. Elliot moved up
beside him, slinging an arm around his shoulder and directing him
toward the boarding ramp. A moment later he disappeared from
view.

“
My band could have opened
for you,” said a voice.

Elena jumped and glanced over her
shoulder to see the roadie, Alec, waiting for his turn to board the
plane. She placed a hand over her heart. “You startled me again,
Alec.”

He handed her a CD. The
name,
Roaring Bobcats
, was written in permanent marker across the cover.

She turned it over in her hand and
gave him a quizzical look. “What’s this?” she asked.

“
My band? We could have
opened for you. We’re better than Ravensong’s friend.”

She nodded slowly. “I see. I didn’t
know you had a band.”

“
I told you I played piano,
remember? That night? I play as good as Ravensong.”

“
Right,” she said with a
quick nod. “I remember now.” She glanced at the CD again. “I’m
sorry, Alec. I didn’t know about your band.”

He gave her a tight smile. “It’s
okay.” He shrugged. “People just think us roadies are only good for
moving things.”

She motioned to the boarding ramp.
“They’re almost loaded. You’d better hurry.”

He gave an uncomfortable laugh and
hitched his bag on his shoulder. “Yeah, who knows? Ravensong might
want a water or something, huh?”

She didn’t answer, just forced a
smile. “Have a good trip, Alec, okay?”

“
Yeah, I will. See ya
later.”

Elena kept the smile fixed
on her face until he disappeared into the boarding ramp.
Crazy nutter
, she
thought, then dismissed him from her mind. She waited until the
last passenger moved into the boarding tunnel and the doors closed,
then she went to the windows and stood, staring out at the huge
plane waiting to take to the run-way.

She couldn’t see anyone on
board, but that didn’t stop her from watching until it left the
hanger and taxied into position. Her heart pounded as it
accelerated, then lifted off, angling back over the terminal and
disappearing from view.

* * *

Elena had little time to
think about Ravensong over the next few weeks. At least she told
herself she didn’t think about him. However, when the office went
quiet at night, she found herself wandering down the hallway toward
his office and peering inside at the emptiness.

The days kept her occupied,
racing from one task to another, but after the first week, it
became routine and she had to give it less and less of her
attention. She talked to David and Julian every day, sometimes
more. She talked to Elliot more often than she’d expected and every
night there was an email waiting for her on her home computer. She
even heard from Evan, the singer from the opening band,
Rage
.

But she never heard from
Ravensong. It seemed that he had forgotten about her the moment the
band left on tour. She knew how demanding these six months would
be. The band never stayed in a city more than two days and their
breaks were few and far between. Still, she’d expected him to try
and make contact with her at least once.

His lack of attention
should have been comforting if she was truly going to excise him
from her life, but it wasn’t. She missed him terribly and it hurt
to think he’d forgotten her that easily. She had told herself she
was nothing more than a one-night’s novelty, but she hadn’t really
believed it until now.

It made her feel surly and
irritable. She snapped at Kate and she hung up on John. Well, in
truth, she hung up on John because she couldn’t talk to him without
feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt, but there was no call to be
short with her best friend.

She knew she had to face
John to break off the engagement. It was getting harder and harder
to avoid visiting him in Colorado, and he was now pressing her to
pick a date for their wedding. Still she couldn’t tell him by phone
and it wasn’t the best time to leave San Francisco with the band
out of town.

“
Did you really want catsup
on your salad?” said Kate, sitting on the other side of the desk
from her.

Elena blinked, coming out of her inner
thoughts. She frowned at Kate, then looked down at her salad. The
entire top layer was covered in a line of red paste. She sighed and
pushed it away.

“
What’s bothering you?”
asked Kate. “You haven’t eaten a bite and you’re not the best
conversationalist right now.”

“
I need to tell John it’s
over.”

“
I say send him
a
Dear John
letter. It might be cliché, but it works.”

Elena grimaced. “Really bad
joke, Katie,” she said.

Kate laughed. “Well, I’m
just glad you’re so deep in thought over something important. I was
afraid you were mooning over Ravensong.”

Elena didn’t
answer.

Kate speared a lettuce leaf
and lifted it to her mouth, but she stopped before taking a bite.
“Tell me you’re not.”

Elena gave her a frank
look. “I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t on my mind, but I know
there can’t be anything between us. For one thing, he completely
forgot about me the moment he left on tour.”

“
What does that
mean?”

“
It means I haven’t heard a
word from him at all.”

“
He’s probably busy,
Ellie.”

“
Elliot writes every
night and I’ve already gotten two calls from
him
.”

Kate poked her fork into
her bowl again. “I say leave well enough alone. You don’t need to
hear from him. You don’t need to have any more to do with him at
all. Eat your salad and stop mooning. I hate it.”

Elena shook her head in
amusement. “Some friend you are.”

“
That’s right. I’m here to
keep your head on straight, since you obviously can’t do it
yourself. Rock stars are for fun romps, nothing more. If you’re
going to keep sleeping with them, you’d better learn
that.”

“
Thanks for making my night
seem so cheap.”

“
Hey, those are the best
kind, baby,” laughed Kate, filling her mouth with food.

* * *

“
You’re gonna need to mic
up the saxophone,” said Elena, glancing down at her clipboard and
motioning toward the equipment she wanted loaded on the trailers
headed for Oakland. “They’ll need the larger of the
amplifiers.”

“
What about those
speakers?”

“
Both of them go,” she
said, grabbing the paperwork from one of the drivers and signing
the delivery invoice. “Be careful with that, it’s
fragile.”

“
Elena,” came her
assistant’s voice at her back.

“
Just a minute, Simone.”
She hurried after the driver. “Wait a minute. Make sure those amps
are strapped in back there.”

“
Elena!”

“
Unless something’s on
fire, can you please handle it?” she called over her
shoulder.

“
Julian’s on the phone in
the office. He says it’s important, told me to locate you
post-haste.”