What?
My dad rested his arm on my shoulder pulling me from their conversation just as Rainier was responding. I wanted to hear what he said, but I turned around and looked at my dad who was motioning for me to get up andfollowhim.
“How do they seem to be taking it?” he asked, once we were a short distance away from thetable.
“Good. I guess it’s just the kick Rainier and his band needed to take it to the nextlevel.”
“The one that had you smiling theotherday?”
“Thatveryone.”
“Good for them. My buddy, Norm, owns a place in Boise. A lot of popular local bands play there. Maybe I can ask him to give them a listen and call it a severance package,” he said with asmile.
I thought of Jenny and how she said she was joining the band. The competitive part of me wanted to tell my dad not to go through all that trouble. I didn't want him to do her any favors. However, the thought of Rainier needing the money made me thinktwice.
“Would it be apayinggig?”
“If he likes them, yeah. I know he pays the people who play there nicely. Live music brings more people intohisbar.”
“Can you call himrightnow?”
“Calm down, Princess. It’s still early and he probably won’t be up for another hour. I’ll make sure he gives them afairshot.”
“Thanks, dad,” I said, lifting up on my tiptoes and hugging him. “You’rethebest.”
He chuckled. “Not too long ago, I was ruining your life. If I knew a phone call to Norm was all it took, I would have done it before asking you to come workforme.”
“You didn’t exactly ask me to come workforyou.”
“I didn’t, but I also don’tregretit.”
“Me neither,” I said, surprising myself. “Butwhatnow?”
“I think you’ve earned yourself asummeroff.”
“Justlikethat?”
“Once you finish your last couple of shifts. But yeah, justlikethat.”
It should have been great news, but it meant I would have to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my summer. My priorities had shifted in the last few weeks, which meant I would have some planningtodo.
ChapterEighteen
Rainier
“Itoldyou it was a bad idea to have Jenny join the band,” my sister said as she watched me gather my equipment for the showtonight.
It had been a stressful week, and I was still trying to wrap my head around it. First, there was the closing of Between The Pages. I still had three more shifts, but knowing I was done after that was hard. I’d been working there off and on for the last three years. It was my first job. I wasn’t ready to start looking for newemployment.
That brought me to the second unexpected change, which was Jenny joining the band and pushing hard for us to hit it big. I'm not sure what happened when she and Matt got together, but they were on the same page in thatregard.
And she was a great addition musically, but things were uncomfortable between us. At least on my end. She would laugh just a little too loudly at my jokes and was just a little too touchy-feely atpractice.
I hadn’t wanted to see it, but I couldn’t deny Jenny was into me. I didn’t want to cause any drama, especially now that we were playing together and playing someplace new thatnight.
It left me in an uncomfortableposition.
We’d had one show at Wild Bill’s to practice before playing at The Imperial. I felt so much pressure to succeed even though I still planned on leaving the band in August. It was so important to everyone else, and I couldn’t letthemdown.
