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Chapter Twenty-Six
Heading from Newark Airport to our apartment, I knew I was in for a frosty reception because of the call when I’d been in Phoenix. I knew Billie may have possibly read this as me being angry with her because she’d involved James in our lives, when in reality, my work was what had prevented me from making things right between us before I made it back from the tour.
The day before, our last day in Las Vegas, I hadn’t found the time to call her. We’d been offered a last minute interview and an unplugged session with a local radio station, which we would have been fools to have refused. It had been great exposure for us, and after connecting with a couple of the producers, we then moved on to eat with them at a nearby sports bar.
It had been my intention to call Billie close to Colby’s bedtime, but by the time we returned to the venue, we’d discovered some of our band gear had gone astray. These had been minor nonessential items, apart from the one thing pivotal to Hammer’s performance, his bass drum pedal.
With other things to think about, time had gotten away from me while I helped to find another one, but this had thrown up another problem, how precarious Wiggy’s fragile abstinence was. All it had taken was a valid reason for him to break free of us, and he pressed the issue by showing an unusually keen interest to go out and buy one himself.
This had put the rest of us on our guard and caused us to micro-manage Wiggy’s every move, knowing in any city there was plenty of cocaine in supply if you knew where to look. We also knew he was no stranger to some of the Sin City drug dealers.
Although I was tired after the early morning flight, it had felt exhilarating when I slid my key into our apartment door lock. As soon as I opened it, I heard low chatter from the kitchen.
As I neared where they were, I knew neither of them had heard me arrive. Before I made myself known I crept right up on them. I’d never felt so excited as I had been to spend time with them again.
Yelling, “Surprise,” I leapt out at them. They both stood riveted to the spot in shock before they both screamed. Colby shook his head as if he’d awoken from a trance, ran toward me and hugged me tightly.
Instead of the greeting I’d expected from Billie, she was subdued, and my first thought was that my wife had looked drained and worried. This caused my lips to form a line as she hesitantly wandered over beside me and I sensed her reluctance.
Colby released his grip and I slid my arm around Billie and pulled her close to my chest. Sliding my hand up her back and into her hair, I grabbed a fistful and tugged her head back gently until her worried eyes met mine.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice sounding every bit as concerned as I felt.
“I figured when you didn’t call me yesterday you were still angry with me for—” My lips closed in on hers before she could say another word and I kissed her slowly, bearing in mind Colby was standing beside us. My wife felt stiff in my arms so I broke the short kiss, gave her another warm smile, and slid my arm from around her shoulder to frame her face with both hands.
“You have no idea how insanely frustrated that made me to see him here and me all that distance from home. I know it wasn’t a rational reaction from your perspective, but from mine—”
“Shh, I get it,” she mumbled, her eyes flashing wide at the back of Colby’s head, reminding me he had no clue about the rift between his uncle and me. “If it’s any consolation, James looked petrified when I asked him to stay to dinner and appeared only marginally relieved when Tricia turned up. Neither of them stayed long afterward either and both were gone by 9:30 p.m.”
Hearing Billie’s account of events offered me some reassurance that I had blown things out of proportion and I hugged her tight. “Missed you,” I muttered, dipping my head as I tried to press another soft kiss to her closed lips.
Turning her head to the side, she leaned back and gave me a sideward glance. “Missed doesn’t begin to explain how I’ve felt since you’ve been gone, but we’re so excited to have you home. Isn’t that right, Colby?” she asked, turning her attention to him and held an arm open for him to join in.
Colby stepped into it and I wrapped one around him as well taking a group hug from them both. It felt amazing to have them close to me again, but I couldn’t shake the vibe something was off.
“I missed you too, bud,” I said, ruffling his hair affectionately and patting his back. He rewarded me with a big smile that reached his bright blue eyes. “What does that mean for the next visitation though?”
“It means next weekend and the following one he’ll be with Logan,” Billie informed me.
“Well, that’s not a bad thing, it’ll do you both good to get some regular time instead of this alternate week thing. Sometimes I feel you may just be bonding with your dad when it’s time to come back here again.” I eyed my wife’s face for her reaction but when there was none, I felt concerned she wasn’t okay. “Are you all right, darlin’, you look pale. Are you tired?”
As the conversation had turned boring, Colby took himself off to the couch and turned on the TV, leaving Billie and I talking as I headed into our bedroom with my leather carry-on. When we entered the room, she moved ahead of me, turned and sat on the bed.
“Colby and I did a bit of shopping yesterday and ended up eating at a small mom-and-pop diner. I think I ate something bad. I haven’t felt well from the moment we’d gotten home. By the evening I felt nauseous and decided to have an early night. At around 11:30 p.m. I woke up feeling as if I was about to vomit and barely made it to the bathroom.”
“You were sick?” I asked, my chest tightened and she nodded.
“I was up half the night and I must have emptied the whole contents of my stomach. I’d never been so violently sick in my life before. It was horrible.”
Kneeling beside her I cradled her face in my hands. “Fuck, I’m sorry, darlin’. Get yourself back into bed and lay your head down. I’ll take care of Colby; you must be exhausted. I could see the moment I came through the door there was something wrong.”
“I’m in the middle of making you lunch,” she muttered and shook her head.
“And I don’t know how to cook? It’s fine, get in and grab some sleep, Colby and I will be fine.”
Pulling the blankets back, I insisted she lie down and I covered her up. Tucking her in, I bent and kissed her head again. “Food poisoning is horrible, but a few hours sleep should help you, Billie,” I said, as I stood up straight.
It wasn’t exactly the welcome home I’d envisioned in my mind, but it was real life. I’d remembered it was around the anniversary of when we’d met again in Kevy’s bar. I compared how the excitement I’d felt at seeing her again and compared this to how I felt a year later. My feelings of desire and lust paled when I considered how my love for her had grown.
