She rolled hereyes. “No, because I don’t hang out with people from the nineteenth century.”
“Well, that’swhat you are.” He nodded. “And that’s what I’m gonna call you when you’reacting unnecessarily worried.”
“I’m neverunnecessarily worried.”
“Okay, Wart,I’ll take your word for it.”
“You call methat and I’m gonna take that guitar and smash it—”
“Hey there,Melody, it’s so great to meet you,” a man rushed out, interrupting her threat.“I’m Joel, the show’s producer. Jinny and Jeff are super excited to have youhere this morning. We’re all big fans. We’re in commercial right now, so comeon in, get your cans on, and we’ll be ready to go back on the air in threeminutes.”
I chuckled,winking at Melody as she glared at me and followed Joel into the sound booth.
“Look, Jeff, yousaid if I went in with you on that timeshare, it would be a fifty-fifty split.I just don’t think eight-hundred dollars is too much to ask,” Jinny snapped.
“You know myex-wife is bleeding me dry,” Jeff replied. “I don’t have your money, Jin.”
“Don’t Jin me,Jeffrey,” she growled.
Joel knocked onthe open door. “Hey, you two, are we interrupting anything?”
Jeff shook hishead. “Just the inevitable decay of my horrible life.”
He said this,just as the engineer called out, “And we’re back in five, four, three, two…
“Good morning,Phoenix, it’s ten-fifteen in the a.m., and we’re super pumped to have with usin studio, Melody Morgan. Aren’t we, Jinny?”
“That’s right,Jeff! Melody Morgan. But first, with a quick update on this morning’s commute,we go to our eye in the sky, Scotty Blades. We’ll be right back.”
The engineerswitched over to the traffic guy and while Joel handed Melody and meheadphones, Jinny leaned closer to Jeff and hissed, “I don’t wanna hear aboutyour fucking problems, Jeffrey. I will expect my eight-hundred and seventy-twodollars by tomorrow morning, or I will tell your wife’s divorce attorney aboutyour boat.”
“You wouldn’t,”he snarled. “She’s all I have.”
“She’s a boat,Jeffrey. Or should I call her your houseboat. Otherwise known as your house,”she hissed. “You’re not fooling anyone, we all know you’re living there.”
“You keep yourfilthy she-devil hands off my Giselle.”
“…and that’sit from your eye in the sky, Scotty Blades. Back to you, Jinny and Jeff.”
“Thanks,Scotty,” Jinny said without missing a beat. “Sounds like a real mess out there.Well, here’s something that’ll put y’all in a really good mood. Melody Morgan,everyone. Welcome. Big fan. Big fan.”
“We here at WKABhave been playing the heck out of your new album,” Jeff said. “I know I forone, am a huge fan of your new hit single Flowers of Fire.”
“FlowersonFire,” Melody corrected.
“How about wetalk about your tour?” Jinny said.
“Yeah, we’rereally excited to be playing all across the country,” Melody said. “Especiallyin some of the cities we missed on the last tour.”
“Can you clue usin on any surprises that are waiting for your fans during the live show?” Jinnyasked.
“Well, onesurprise for all of us was finding this guy here. To my left, is the lovableand talented Courtland Nash, but we all call him Train,” Melody said.
I gave them achin lift.
“Ah, so it’sradio, not TV, buddy,” Jeff said.
I forced asmile, instantly joining Team Jinny and wondering if I had enough time beforethe show to comb the marina for his boat with a gas can and a book of matches.“Right. Hi.”
