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Two and a half years ago she had wanted an explanation.
Two and a half years ago, she would have been thrilled to have him show up at her door.
But it was two and a half years too late.
She closed the door behind him and locked it.
“I am going to bed,” she said to Asa on her way to her room in the back of the house.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
She stopped and turned back to him. He was asking about more than her arm, obviously. Asa had been there when she’d first met André. And he’d been there when André didn’t show up. And he’d been there when Nikki had figured out, too late, that André was never going to be there.
“Yeah,” she said honestly with a soft smile. “I really am.”
He relaxed and nodded his head once. “Because I can go out there and kick his ass if it’ll help.”
She smiled fully at him. “Not necessary. He has to live with his choices. There’s no worse punishment for him.”
One thing she had learned in those two and a half years? André Debois was a speed bump. He was nothing and no one to her life.
He’d been a lesson and she’d learned it.
CHAPTERTHREE
FEEL IT ALL (AND NOTHING)
NIKKI
She had thought about taking the day off. It wasn’t too often you could use “hit by a car” to get out of work.
But after her hardy breakfast of yogurt and Advil, she wasn’t feeling too bad.
And besides, if she stayed home, she’d just get bored and buy things she didn’t need online.
Also, she had the unusual benefit of liking her job.
Actually, shelovedher job.
Especially these days.
It was safe to say that XY Records was having a moment.
She’d been making music since she was a child but she’d beenworkingin music for more than a decade. She’d started as a runner at XY Records and worked her way up to mixing engineer. She had been working on mastering in her spare time, but mastering wasn’t as exciting as the tracking and mixing was.
She’d been able to learn from some of the best in the industry. She’d gone from admiring them, referring to them as peers, and finally, to calling them friends.
Some days were still too wild to describe. When she’d be asked to fly out to LA or New York for a week to mix something for someone who could afford the best—and they’d chosen her.
While the old-fashioned aspect of recording music was fading into obscurity, there were still those who subscribed to tradition.
Nikki had kept up on the tech of the industry and she could do it all. From using the old-school analog Neve board and recording to tape, to doing it all digital, and everything in between.
If anyone asked, she didn’t have a preference.
But if they weren’t asking and she was talking to friends she trusted not to judge her unfairly, she’d admit to loving the practice of the old ways.
There was just something about the rawness of recording to tape. She loved the art of imperfection. It was part of the artist’s voice. Digital tended to erase that.
