Page 2 of Still Her
I see the scenery behind him change, and can tell he’s now inside of a tour bus. After a few more steps, he holds the phone away from him so I can see what’s behind him, which is a closed door.
“You ready for this?” he asks. He opens the door while I nod vigorously. It swings open to reveal a queen-sized bed draped in a white down comforter, and a plethora of pillows lining the headboard.
“Yes!” I say with a fist pump, warm-fuzzies spreading through my chest at the sight. “Finally!” At this point in the career of Turn it Up, we’ve finally payed our dues and get a bedroom on our bus. With Jack singing to me, and now this, I’m feeling the high that would normally come with a thrill ride. I’m glowing and giggling. He’d told me when he called me the first day out on tour that we had upgraded, but this is the first time he’s remembered to show me.
“You need to get out here and get in this thing with me,” he says with a smirk, jerking his head towards the bed.
“Four more days and I will!” I try not to blush. Yeah, Jack can still make me do that.
“Uh-huh,” he says, giving me his bedroom eyes. “Just wait, you’re gonna be in so much trouble.”
“Yeah?” I say, flirting. “That a promise?”
“Ooh, yeah. The things I’m going to do toyou…” he teases. I involuntarily do a Kegel at his words, unable to save my panties from impending wetness.
“I can’t wait for that.” I say, making sexy eyes right back at him.
“Jack!” We both hear Matt, Turn it Up’s bassist and Jacks best friend calling him.
“Shit,” Jack mumbles, looking in the direction of Matt’s voice and then back to me. “Gotta run, baby. Sound check. Keep thinking those sexy thoughts for me,” he winks, the background getting jumbled as he gets moving again. “I love you. I’ll call you later.”
“Love you!” I call out before we disconnect. I give myself a second to recover from the thrill that goes up my spine, literally making my shoulders give a delightful little shudder. These two weeks we spend apart at the beginning of every tour is like an adrenaline shot, giving our relationship a little surge that wasn’t necessarily needed, but welcome, none the less.
“Can I come out now?” I hear my sister-in-law, Sarah, call from down the hall. She’s making her voice sound forlorn on purpose, giving me shit for having sexy talk with her brother.
“Don’t be silly, of course you can. And in my defense, you were in the bathroom.”
“For the fortieth time,” she says, emerging from the hallway and rubbing her round, pregnant belly where two babies are currently taking up residence. “And I came out and heard your conversation take a sharp turn into naughty-ville, so I turned and went back.”
“Sorry, but, mmm…” I say, squinting one eye and looking up at the ceiling like I’m thinking, “…not sorry.” I shuffle some papers on the countertop and close my laptop. “And you missed him singing to me. It was sooo sweet,” I say, dreamily.
“Yeah, yeah,” she waves me off with a knowing smirk. “How much longer on my brownies?” she asks, leaning over to look through the oven door.
“Six more minutes, and then you have to wait for them to cool.”
“Thanks again for being cool with me storming in here and demanding them,” she says, rolling her eyes at herself, looking a little sheepish. “These cravings are insane. I had no idea. I had no business becoming an OB surgeon before even being pregnant myself.”
“Well if my baby niece and nephew want my famous double-fudge brownies, that’s what they’re going to get.” I say, cooing and rubbing Sarah’s five month baby bump.
“Better pack some up to take to Jack too,” she says, settling down in the booth-style breakfast nook. This house came with a perfect alcove in the kitchen, and Jack had no problem installing the bench that I found gorgeous bluish-gray padding for.
“I will, don’t worry,” I smirk, before changing to a more delicate tone. “Have you heard anything from Melanie?” Melanie is Jack and Sarah’s elusive sister who has been doing nothing but traveling the globe. She drifts from one place to another, lives out of a suitcase, and rarely contacts anyone in the family. When Jack and I met, she’d already been away for almost a year. It was almost three years when she finally came home last year for a few months. As far as anyone could tell, she’d gotten the wanderlust out of her system and was ready to settle down, maybe meet someone and get married. Then out of nowhere, she seemed to change her mind and took off to travel the world some more. We’ve only heard from her a handful of times ever since.
Sarah sighs. “Yeah, finally, after three months. She finally called so I could tell her she’s going to be an aunt. She congratulated me of course, but has no plans to come home yet. Says she’s got too good of a thing going right now in Indonesia. Before I could tell her she’s traveled and been selfish enough for the last four years, the call got dropped, and – uggghhh” she grunts. “Enough about her, on to more cheerful things. Are you excited?” she asks, plastering on a grin and resting a hand on her belly.
“Are you kidding? Of course I am,” I say, wiping down the countertop. “The only part I don’t look forward to is flying out there with the dogs. The trip is always such a bitch. I have to get to the airport unbelievably early, and then when we land, I’m there forever, retrieving them and getting them checked out. Doesn’t help that they’re both so big.” I open the dishwasher to put the mixing bowls and spoons in. “At least the roadies send an SUV to pick us up so that I’m not dealing with cabs or Ubers.” They kicked off the tour in Vancouver, but tickets sold out so fast that they had to schedule multiple shows in some cities. I’ll be flying in the afternoon before the first show in L.A..
When the oven buzzer goes off, I slip on some mitts and pull the brownies out to find perfection; gooey on the inside, crispy on top.
After Sarah has crammed two in her mouth, one for each baby, so she says, I pack up the rest for her to take home. Hopefully they last her the car ride.
After seeing Sarah off, I head to the back slider, allowing Trooper and Penny, our German Shepard and Rottweiler, to prance back inside after airing out the brownie smell, before picking up my laptop and heading to the living room to get comfortable at the end of our navy blue sectional double wide couch. I’m not a very demanding person, but one thing I would not budge on when Jack and I bought new furniture was that the couch had to be double wide, and I have not heard one complaint out of him. It’s perfect for snuggling, and goes great in our bright and airy living room that has a vaulted ceiling and tall windows that let in plenty of daylight. As Turn it Up became more and more well known, our new life called for more space and privacy. Jack and I were lucky to find this house on a 10-acre lot, surrounded by a perimeter of trees that block its view from the road. It’s not huge and sprawling like Sarah and her husband Mike’s house, but it’s perfect for us and the dogs. It has two stories, three bedrooms, a finished basement, and that’s all we need. Jack’s career and my occasional guest appearances as a choreographer onAmericas Next Top Dancerrequire us to spend a lot of time in L.A., but we’re both very reluctant to uproot and relocate. When we have to be out there, we usually stay in a hotel, or with our friends, George and his wife Erin. We met and bonded with them when Turn it Up got its starter mainstream gig opening for George’s band, The Shock Wave, three years ago.
I settle in with my feet up, and put my computer in my lap. At the end of that first opening tour, I catalogued Jack’s and my adventures as a newly married couple embarking on a new life together in the music industry, touring in particular. Oh, yeah. For those of you just joining us, Jack and I had only been married for two weeks when opportunity knocked, and a month when we actually went on tour. It was two whirlwinds coming together to create the perfect storm, let me tell you. The bright side is that we came out of it stronger than ever, and it made for a good book.Rock Life as a Rock Wifewas a successful bestseller that turned into a just as successful blog. I love writing it, and I have a lot of kind and devoted readers that follow it.
I open up to my trusty calendar, surveying the mapped out plan I have for the next few days before I leave. A sleepover with my best friend, Annie, is included tomorrow, so that I can soak as much of her up as I can before I have to go without her for three months. We’re going to watch dumb movies, pig out, hate ourselves in the morning, and try to make up for it with yoga and dance classes. It’ll be epic.
I’m hoping to finish this week’s post, and hopefully get a start on next week’s, so that I have the first couple of days that I arrive on tour free to moon over my husband. After taking a cleansing breath, ever so content in the moment, I get to work…