Real Time (6 page)

* * *

A
bout two hours later, Nick came strolling onto the stage with her. He stopped for a moment and watched her while she was deep in thought.
This was why I wanted a piano player and not someone who could just play keyboards
, Nick thought. It looked like she was making notes and, once he got closer to her, he saw she was writing new music notes. “Find something you didn’t like, love?” Nick asked.

Kate jumped as he spoke; she hadn’t heard him walk across the stage. “It sounds wrong through the middle. I was making some notes on how to possibly correct it.”

“I didn’t know you wrote music,” he said, surprised.

Kate shook her head. “I don’t as a rule. But I know the basics and this section is choppy. I was going to bring it back so you could review it.”

“Why don’t we go through it now? That’s why I came over. Run through the melody and we could see if what I had put together worked.”

“Sounds good to me. It’s nice, from what I’ve been playing. I was trying to picture it with the rest of the guitars and Trent stomping with his lead foot on the bass drum.”

Nick laughed and pulled out the acoustic guitar he always kept with him, rather than transporting it on the truck with the rest of the gear. It wasn’t bright and shiny like the electric one he usually played on stage. This one was much older and showed obvious use. Pulling up the drummer’s stool, he sat down next to Kate. He counted off three and Kate started to play. It was a good minute before he started
.
When they got to the part Kate had been working on, she stopped. Nick stopped with her, lifting his eyebrows to question her.

“Which version do you want? Yours or mine?”

“Let go with yours. I know what mine sounded like, love,” he answered.

They went back to the start of the verse and Nick could easily hear the changes she had made. And they seemed to fit nicely. This suited him fine because he hated doing arrangements. The studio had a company they contracted with to do this kind of work, but the movie guys had called before he flew to London, informing him the release of the movie had been moved up. They needed the title song in seven weeks – which was the week they got back to Los Angeles, in between the two tours.

“Rock on,” he told her. “I like what you did. “

“Me too,” she agreed.

“We don’t have time to mess with it. I need to have the song done in six weeks. Everything – all the parts - and it has to be perfect the first time around because we won’t have a week to make corrections.”

“Why the push?” Kate asked.

“The movie producers changed the movie release date to spring break,” he answered. He continued to play a couple of cords and strum a few notes. “Last night,” he said, a mischievous smile turning up the corners of his mouth. “Sam wasn’t supposed to let anyone in the room.”

“I got that part,” Kate said. “Your greeting wasn’t exactly blooming with sunshine.”

“I should be angry about it. I gave him pretty direct orders,” Nick said, in a definite tone. “They don’t usually disobey direct orders.”

“So why aren’t you angry then?”

“Because all my anger went out the window with your touch,” Nick told her softly. “I lost this argument with myself last night; I need to know how you feel, love. Because I’m not going to open myself any further if this road is going nowhere.”

“I like you, Nick,” Kate answered him honestly, her tone level and smooth. “More than just a friend or my boss. I almost couldn’t stand the calls from London – all I could hear was the hurt in your voice and I was powerless to help.”

“You did more than you know,” Nick confirmed. “But let me ask you this – do you have the patience to wait another six weeks to sort this out? Right now I’m your boss and it’s the difficulty I’m having. I’ve already said and done more than I should.”

“What’s going to be different in six weeks? I’ll still work for you,” Kate said. “Unless you plan to fire me when we get back.”

Nick smiled at her. “I’m not going to fire you, Kate. But I barely know you – outside of the fact you like sugar in your coffee and don’t like to leave your hair down.”

“It gets in the way when I play,” Kate said, amusement sparkling in her eyes as she teased him.

“Good to know, love,” he said, laughing as he put the guitar back in the case. “Seriously though, are you game for this? I’ll tell you straight up I’m a difficult bastard most of the time.”

“I know, Nick. But it’s only a mask you put on so people don’t get close.”

“Letting people close only gets you hurt,” Nick answered quietly. “That’s why the way I feel about you is scaring the hell out of me. But I don’t want to spend any more time guessing whether you feel the same.”

“I can handle six weeks,” Kate said, looking at him intently.

Nick smiled broadly at her. “Ready to go back to the hotel?” He asked, standing up. He held a hand down to her and she stood up beside him.

Nick released her hand, picked up the guitar, and started down the stairs with Kate beside him. They walked over to where Brock and Mike were waiting. “You weren’t serious, were you,” Kate asked, “about this is all you do at night?”

Nick laughed, liking how she moved back into a generic conversation. “No, I was giving you all crap,” he admitted. “I’ve been spending a lot of time writing this song, but I spend most of my free time on the phone with the studio.”

“Checking up on you?”

“Not exactly,” Nick said. “I own half of it. I have lots of work to do there which has nothing to do with my music. Recording my own records and going out on the road, that’s what I do for fun.”

“Wow,” Kate exclaimed. “I didn’t know you had so many irons in the fire.”

“Keeps me busy, love,” he answered. “I do less thinking.”

Nick didn’t have to say any more. He was glad they had this conversation; he had been a little nervous starting it, for fear she was going to reject him. And he was going to have to figure out how to get past the block he had as her boss if this was going to work. But he was really pleased she was willing to be patient with the whole mechanics of this odd relationship. Women in his past experience wanted his attention full time and were not patient about anything. This was a refreshing change for him and one of the things he liked about her.

T
he next few weeks were smooth – everyone could feel the end of the tour looming and it was easy to see everyone was ready to have some time away. All the band members got along; it’s just hard to have the same people day in and day out in your face. Nick was making a subtle effort toward Kate, which didn’t escape her notice. Simple things like ending up next to her at dinner, being in the same limousine to each venue, or joining the almost-nightly poker game, she saw as him trying to spend more time with her. Kate asked Andy about it one night, wanting to make sure his behavior wasn’t unusual, and he told her Nick tended to be a lot more relaxed in the last shows. Andy’s opinion was there wasn’t as much chaos with only two or three weeks until the end.

The final city of the US tour was in Monterey, California, and Kate wasn’t her usual energetic self. During the last two shows she was less outspoken, and tonight, she wasn’t saying much to anyone. Tomorrow they would be back in Los Angeles and the following day, Monday, they would be in the studio recording the song for the movie. Kate knew she was sick but was doing her best to keep it from the others and especially Nick. The fever wasn’t too bad but her throat was sore. She was glad she didn’t sing because tonight there would be no chance. Her voice was giving out – it was raspy now and she kept quiet to hide it. Hot tea, which was soothing, helped with the disguise. After the show, champagne came out and everyone was celebrating in the dressing room. When the others were well into the festivities, she pulled Brock away and asked him to get her a car back to the hotel. Brock questioned why she wanted to leave early and she was as straight as she could be, telling him she had a headache and didn’t feel good. It wasn’t a lie but the achiness was starting to drag her down. Lucky for her he complied, getting her into a limo and traveled with her as was normal. Kate went straight up to the fifth floor and into her room, putting on her lounging pajamas – the ones she normally wore before she went to bed. Kate slept naked as a normal rule, but she was chilled to the bone and wanted as much warmth as possible. She made another cup of tea with the hot water portion of the small coffee maker in her room and settled into the pillows watching a little television. No one had noticed she had left early.

The ride back to Los Angeles was going to be about five hours. The tea she had been drinking, almost by the gallon, had restored her voice enough to sound almost normal. She told the others she hadn’t slept well and was going to crash for part of the trip. No one questioned her and she asked Brock to wake her up when they got within an hour of Los Angeles. Brock agreed – she wasn’t fooling him any and he knew she was sick. She knew he was fond of her and was willing to keep her secret as long as she didn’t get any sicker than she was. If this happened, then she knew he would have to tell Nick. At least he could understand her wanting to keep things quiet and not get anyone else involved.

As instructed, Brock woke her up as they were passing though Santa Barbara, which was roughly an hour out. The nap had helped some, but Kate was aware she was going to have to stay focused to keep up the ruse. She stayed to the end of one couch, drinking a bottle of water and listening to the guys argue over which football team was the best. Since she wasn’t a football fan, she was content to be a bystander and not participate. Looking toward the front of the bus, she saw Nick sitting up in the front seat across from Mickey. He smiled at her when their eyes met.

Before pulling into the studio parking lot, Nick reminded everyone to be at the studio in the morning by six so they would have the entire day to get the track done. Kate was thankful she would have today to sleep and possibly get on the other side of whatever this bug was. Putting her suitcases in the trunk of her car, she left for home without saying anything to anyone.  Nick had gotten off the bus and gone inside the studio building with Mickey, so she had been able to sneak away quietly and without fanfare. The drive to her house was only about thirty minutes and Sunday traffic was light. Once inside her apartment, she turned the heater on because it was ice cold in the place. After making herself a comfortable nest on the couch, she fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

S
he awoke to her cell phone ringing and the caller ID showed it was Nick. Kate thought about not answering it but knew he would get irritated if she didn’t. “Hello?”

“Kate?” he asked his voice a little confused.

“It’s me, Nick,” she said, her voice raspy again while she slept.

There was a brief pause on the other end. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were sick, love?”

Nice
, she thought.
Now he’s worked up about this
. “I didn’t tell anyone,” she said defending herself. “I didn’t want anyone to worry over me. I’ll be fine. I had a nap on the bus and have been sleeping since I got home. I feel better already.”

“You don’t sound
better
,” Nick countered. “I’m coming over. What’s your address?”

“Nick, you don’t have to come all the way out here,” she protested. “I’m fine, really.”

There was another pause on the phone. “Kate, if I have to turn around and go back to the studio to look up your address, I’m not going to be a very happy person when I get there.”

She sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue with him. “1818 Hastings Court. It’s in Huntington Beach.”

“Fabulous, I’m almost there. I live above you in Sunset Beach.”

Fabulous
was not the word Kate was thinking of. One never knew what Nick was going to be sensitive over. Steve had been sick about three weeks into the tour and Nick never said anything special to him about it. “You don’t have to come over here,” she tried again.

“Kate.” That was all he said. Then as an afterthought, “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” And he disconnected their call.

Since all she had done since coming home was sleep, Kate took a minute to put her suitcases in the bedroom and made sure her hair wasn’t standing straight up. She never liked being fussed over when she was sick – leave her alone and let it run its course. This was one of the negative perks of starting a relationship with a man who was used to things going his way. He was not going to be happy until everything was how he wanted it.

Almost fifteen minutes exactly, the doorbell rang and Kate got up to let Nick inside. She had seen this look on his face before but last time it hadn’t been directed at her. She knew he was at the very least irritated. She watched him as he looked around her condo; she had floor to ceiling windows in the living room giving an excellent ocean view. She kept watching his expression as he took in the room, seeing it was starting to soften it some. She was not feeling well enough to deal with any of his hard moods.

“Nice place,” he commented.

Kate went back to the couch and pulled the blanket over her. “You didn’t have to come over here,” she repeated, feeling like a broken record. Only this time, she got a stern look as Nick turned to face her.

“With anyone else, maybe,” he answered. “But not you. I wanted to see for myself you were ‘
fine
’ and you sure don’t look it to me, love.”

“I’ll bet you don’t look glamorous when you’re sick,” she retorted.

Nick started to laugh. “That’s my Kate. Are you sure you’ll be okay tomorrow?”

Kate nodded. “I’ll be fine. Not like I have to sing any of it.”

“True,” he agreed, sitting down beside her on the couch. “Promise you will tell me next time? I almost had a heart attack when I heard your voice and realized I hadn’t dialed a wrong number.”

Kate laid her head on his shoulder. “I promise.”

Nick put his arm around her. “You’re running a fever,” he said, concerned.

“I took some stuff for it after you called. Just have to let it run its course.”