“Someone to see you,” she said, and then the door swung open.
“Oh my God, Jem!” The woman who swung him up into her arms was a tall redhead in jeans and an older Flat TiresT-shirt, vintage from one of their first tours. River noted with amusement that she didn’t even look at anyone but Jem. “That was so amazing! What the hell!” And then she took a step back, held him at arm’s length, and raised an eyebrow. “That isnotthe shirt you sent me for your pre-show fit check, Jem. You slut.”
Okay, yes, River liked her immediately. Jem ignored her commentary and just said, “Hi, Tori,” confirming that this was in fact his college-assigned lesbian bestie.
Which made the dark-haired woman behind her, whose tiny body seemed to be supporting a watermelon under her shirt, her wife and Jem’s lawyer, Ivy. “Hey, Ivy,” Jem continued, gesturing her inside. “Did you guys enjoy the show?”
“Not as much as you did,” Ivy said sweetly.
A holler went up around the room. When it died off, River prompted, “How about some introductions, sunshine?”
He hadn’t been sure what to expect from Jem’s friends, especially because these ones knew Jem and River’s acquaintance had stemmed from a financial arrangement. But he didn’t get a shovel talk or even so much as a threatening look. Ivy just gave him a grateful smile when he offered her a chair and laughed when River joked that she was basically carrying around a guitar she couldn’t take off. “It’s more like a drum shape,” she said ruefully. “Tori could tell you the one I mean.” She tapped out a rhythm on her belly.
The effect was definitely a bit conga-like, when she sat like that.
As if summoned, Tori and Jem reappeared from making the rounds of introductions. Tori perched on the armrest of Ivy’s chair, leaned forward with her eyes locked on River’s, and said, “Okay, this has been bugging me forliteral years—the musical allusions in ‘Tombstone.’” And for half an hour, they nerded outabout music, ignoring just about everyone else except Lara, who joined in to offer her insight.
They might have gone on like that for another hour, except Ivy yawned like a sleepy lioness, and Jem said, “Oh shit, sorry, Ives, you must be exhausted. I can call you a car if Tori wants to stay…?”
Tori poked him in the side. “Hands off my wife, Anderson.”
Ivy gave a rueful smile and rubbed her eyes. “Sorry. I really am having fun, I just—” Another yawn swallowed the end of her sentence. “I just need to go to bed, I think,” she finished. She shook her head and smiled. “But it was really great to meet you, River. Jem, you should bring him to the baby shower, okay?”
Tori cackled. “Oh my God, please, will you come? Ivy’s brother will shit a brick if Jem shows up with you.”
River turned to Jem. “Oh, the one who hates you?”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Ivy corrected.
Everyone turned to look at her.
“He’s just… super weird about you.”
“I think I have to see this in person,” River admitted. And also maybe mess with this guy a little. Who the hell didn’t likeJem? That was just unnatural. “If it fits in the tour schedule, I’ll be there.”
River, Jem, and Nat walked Ivy and Tori out to their car, and the rest of the Flat Tires’ extended family tagged along. They didn’t do much of an after-party for home shows since Ward and Eric started families, but with the band’s expiration date creeping up on them, River felt the urge to celebrate.
But he could tell by the way Eric was holding his kid that a band party wasn’t in the cards for tonight. They’d have plenty of chances on the road in the next few weeks, maybe somethingspecial after the next LA show—though River didn’t know how he’d get through that, knowing it would be the last one ever.
Maybe they should have a family picnic or something instead. It would feel less momentous.
But still, not quite right. They’d think of something.
“Hey.”
A touch on his arm. The parking lot had emptied; the goodbyes had been said. It was just Jem and River now, the night settling around them, still full of possibilities.
It struck him once again that Jem was in the same boat he was, or about to be, with his best friend starting her own family, with his mother on the other side of the country. But they didn’t have to be alone.
And Jem looked too good, in a stolen merch shirt and those jeans, to just go home.
River said, “Hey. Let’s go dancing.”
Jem’s laugh echoed through the parking garage. “All right,” he said. “Sounds fun.”
For once,River was up before Jem the next morning. Not that he was particularly useful. He made it as far as the kitchen and thought about making espresso, and then instead of doing that he opened Uber Eats and ordered a keg of coffee and enough greasy breakfast to give a polar bear a heart attack. His feet hurt. His arms hurt. His face hurt, a little, like he’d spent too much time smiling yesterday.
Also, he was starving, which wasweird. Clearly Jem had spoiled him, if his body was giving him noticeable hunger cues now.
