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“Did Marcus get married to Gabe? Xander? Levi? How many others are in that band?”
“No, but he saved Kasey Becker from drowning in his own pool. He’s a national treasure now.”
“Captain America strikes again.” I make a power salute and say, “I’m off back to bed. Where’s the hangover cure?” He plonks the rancid looking concoction in my hand and I drink it down in one. “Check I’m alive at 6 p.m.,” I call over my shoulder as I shuffle off back to bed.
Clearly my wake up call had no effect, and I wake the next day feeling like a normal human being. My phone is full of pictures and messages from the boys. No one’s married, no one’s pregnant. Well, at least as far as they know. They’ve done the Grand Canyon and the dune buggies are next, then they’re heading back to LA for yachts and race cars. There’s a separate message from James saying he’s met with Marcus and they’ve sorted things out. He’s meeting him again before he comes home. He tells me they met alone and will do the same next time too. I smile at that. James is dictating terms. Marcus will just have to deal.
I send him a thumbs up and start to get organised to go out. Knowing the boys are safe and sorted, I decide to focus on me—my business. Start the year off on the right foot and all that.
I’ve had my eye on a building, an old factory with the most gorgeous façade. Loads of old painted signs run around its sides. Every time I look at it, I see apartments, lobbies, shops—the beginnings of a community. The area around it is derelict, and old docklands but could be so amazing with some TLC.
I’ve been digging and buying discreetly for around two years on my own. I mentioned it to the boys but nobody was interested. I’ve researched and done my homework, owning nearly all of it now. Just this factory to go. I love buildings, especially old ones. They don’t have to be in tip top condition either. If they have character, I’m all over them. I love the stories they can tell. Who lived there, how they lived. I love to restore them and give them back some of those stories, as well as help them create new ones. Jude calls me the building whisperer. I suppose I am, and I love it.
My phone rings, it's Marshall. I smile into the phone as I say, “I don’t owe you any extra money Marshall. The only thing Pinky did was eat hay.”
He cackles at me, “No, but that hay is a fortune. Inflation, Evie. Pinky eats more than Crocket. Do you want to pay me to keep her here? I’ll discount for cash.”
“Marshall you would manage to prize blood out of a stone. Fine, let me know the cost and I’ll get the cash to you. Let me know when the money runs out. She might as well stay there, save us retrieving her every week.”
“She’ll be fine here, midarlin’.” Marshall’s tone turns serious when he asks me, “Are you okay, Evie?”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Marshall use this tone before, and I've known him since I was three years old.
“I’m good Marshall, thanks for asking.” I can’t help wondering what’s brought that on and where he’s going with it. He’s always watched out for me. Cared for me.
“Well you tell me if you’re not, and I’ll get us another batch of whiskey sent over.”
“Sweet oblivion. I’ll definitely let you know, Marsh. And I’ll see you in a couple of weeks. I’ve got lots of meetings, so won’t be back for a bit. You’ll let me know about Pinky though, yes?”
“I will, midarlin. See you then.”
On the ride back to London I ask Jude if I’d said anything weird to Marshall. He couldn’t think of anything, but then admitted he couldn’t remember much after midnight. I tried to recall the conversations but draw a blank. In fact, I also think midnight was about my limit.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
EVIE
All is normal in the Greystone house. Well, I say normal, normal for us. January has come and gone in a blur of dark nights and short dreary days. I keep to my mantra that Valentine’s Day will bring lighter nights. Exams will start in May and end in June, and summer is just around the corner, but no one seems to be listening. They all look ready to finish before they’ve begun.
The boys have been studying for exams since they returned from LA, and they’re feeling the pressure. I’ve planned a few days out for them to break the monotony of studying. James has been speaking to Marcus more while he’s on tour.
To be honest, you could follow his tour without knowing anything about the dates. Just from the headlines. As each headline pops in, Marcus is on the phone telling James if it’s true or not. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It seems to me that the tame ones are always false, but the most outrageous are always true.
Amber, it seems, has committed a cardinal sin and spilled the beans about the night in LA, making it seem like she’d had sex with everyone in the house. James and his bandmates included. Gabe and Marcus were outed. Again. But Marcus handled that really well, and I must give him credit where credit is due. We watch clips of him on some US chat show, being very candid about his lifestyle. Saying he isn’t gay but that it would make no difference if he was. If he loved the person he was with, it wouldn’t matter to him what gender they were. The audience oohs and ahhs at that, all falling madly in love with him.
I think it’s a moot point. The man has never loved anyone but himself, and that will never change.
He talked about James too. Said if his son chose to share and talk about his sexuality with him, it would make no difference how he felt about him. He would love him the same, as James is a person, regardless of any choices.
I’m not loving that my son was being discussed on late night US chat shows in the context of sex. Especially as I felt it was Marcus’s fault in the first place. If he had not been so indifferent or blase to anyone around him, James could have been discussed as a person as opposed to a pawn as Marcus dealt with the aftermath of his reckless and poorly judged behaviour. But I add it to the list of things I don’t like about the relationship between Marcus and James, and I silently carry on.
The boys have received a lot of invites for tours and chat shows via the now signed record deal, finally happening after the reconciliation meeting between James and Marcus. But a condition of it is they don’t start anything until after exams. On that I’m immovable.
My phone starts to ring again. It’s the same random number in the states I’ve sent to voicemail every time, refusing to even find out who it belongs to. I meant to get Jonno to stop them but keep forgetting. Well, curiosity called me today, and I decide to answer.
“Hallo,” I say in a very clipped English tone. “Who is this?”
