Josiah
Sammie wasn’t mad at them for not keeping her up to date. Once she’d gotten the details of their deadline, she cackled madly and just… yeah.
She also moved in with them, as there was another guestroom and she’d finally decided to do some house-hunting herself.
“I mean it’s obvious I want a home base in the Chicago area now. My record label is here”—Denny beamed from the armchair where he was reading something—“and you guys are here so….” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal she wanted to stay around. She could’ve gone anywhere.
“How’s being off-tour?” Jo asked, letting go of her foot he’d been rubbing and grabbed the other one.
“Awesome. I mean, I’m not saying I’m old or anything, but holy shit.” Whatever she had been meaning to say next got lost in a long groan when he hit a good spot near her toes.
“Your dad already call?” Denny smiled at them fondly.
“Yeah, I texted him as soon as I was back on his preferred soil and he called me last night. I have to go visit them soon. Hopefully like, in a few days. Once I’m used to being back again.”
It always took her time to get back to the not-working mindset. She’d start writing songs and end up in the studio again in no time, but the days in between, once tours were over and some interviews about those tours were done, she drifted a little.
Denny’s phone beeped on the end table and he picked it up. By now, Josiah had lived with him long enough to know it was his email notification. Sometimes he’d read it on the phone, and on other times he’d go hunting for wherever he’d left the laptop.
Denny frowned. “Well, shit.”
“What’s up?” Josiah asked.
“The thing in Sweden is going ahead and I’m expected to attend,” he replied grumpily. “I hate flying.”
“Wait, you get to go to Sweden and you’re complaining?” Sammie turned her head to look at Denny. “Dude, I wished I had more time in the Nordic countries on tour.”
“When and for how long?” Josiah tried to remember what they’d discussed before.
“Oh, everything was pretty much ready but they just changed the venue, so it won’t be postponed after all,” Denny said, reading that information off the email. “So it’ll be next week, on Friday.”
That felt fast, but Josiah knew that it wasn’t. There’d been some extensive water damage at the first venue for this event, an international record company whatever it was, and they’d been searching for other places. It wasn’t sudden, but on some level Josiah had hoped Denny wouldn’t be leaving even for those few days.
“I’m too fucking clingy,” he admitted out loud.
Sammie wiggled her toes and smile-frowned in commiseration. “Yeah. I get that. It’s always rough to be away from you guys and with what you two are now heading toward, it must be harder.”
“It is,” Denny said, and when Josiah looked at him, he could see the emotions battling on Denny’s face.
“You’re going. It’s important to get the connections with these newer record companies. You said so yourself.”
“Yeah, except… ugh.”
Sammie let out a giggle. “Eloquent, but true.”
Because of some previous arrangements, Sammie’s dad and stepmom wouldn’t be available until the same weekend Denny was going to be away.
Josiah felt dread. He had a weird feeling that something would go wrong somehow. That just because both of his people were going to be gone, something would happen to one of them.
He talked about that with Dr. Jarvis on Wednesday, the day before both Denny and Sammie would travel.
“Like, don’t get me wrong,” Josiah said, curling up in the hanging chair again. “I know it’s an abandonment issue thing. It’s just… another one of those irrational fears, I guess.”
Dr. Jarvis hummed thoughtfully. “We all know that life and the world can be unpredictable and that adds many variables into every situation. When you have, like you said, issues with abandonment and I would say maybe mild anxiety, then it naturally feels much worse when your routines change. In this case, your best friends are your security net. You just had them both here quite literally at arm’s reach, and now they’re both going away for a few days. I would hazard to say most people would feel a little unsettled, but for you, with how much your life has been rapidly changing in the last month or so, it might be a bit more severe than that.”
Josiah turned in the chair slightly, fidgeting until it turned halfway toward the window. “Yeah, it makes sense. It’s just… what it is.”
“If you need me during the time they’re gone, call me, all right? I know you won’t call them if something happens here because you don’t want to worry them.”
