“It is. I’ve seen what goes on in Micah’s fan forum, and it can get pretty ugly.”
That was an understatement. I knew the admin, Jaclyn, aka State of the Absurd. She didn’t keep her fans to the same level of decorum as I did. Her main rule wasDon’t get me sued.Otherwise, the board was a complete free-for-all.
She chortled. “But it fits Micah somehow.”
Exactly how I was supposed to respond to Eden’s comment on this topic eluded me, and I absently reached over and touched a heavy book sitting beside her laptop. My eyes focused on the title. “Molecular and cell biology?”
Her face lit up. “It’s for a class I’m taking.”
“You’re in school?” Why was this new information?
“Yeah. I got my degree in biology. I actually used to work in the field, but I had the wrong job, and I wanted to give music a shot, so I just dropped out. But lately, I miss it.” She sat up a little taller. “And then I met Jo and wished I could find a way to help her, and it all came together. So, I’ve gone back to grad school.” She said the last like an announcement, like she was still coming to terms with the decision.
“I didn’t know you—”Shit.
Her head tilted. “Didn’t know what?”
I thought fast to cover the near confession that I’d have any reason to be aware of her scholarly pursuits. “That you could juggle school with a newborn.”
That was plausible.
“Well, it’s easier than touring with kids. And just between you and me—” she leaned closer “—my music career ain’t going so hot. Right now, I’m taking a few classes at night. Plus I have Adam here, so—”
“Night classes?” Her solution to her complicated life struck me as so genius yet practical that the revelation about her music career hit me like a secondary shock wave. I wondered if it was too late to back up and give her some sympathy. And pry. Was she quitting music altogether? I didn’t want to watch her detractors gloat over that possibility. But she’d sworn me to secrecy, not that I’d go on the boards and gossip about her. Especially not now. Not after she’d morphed into a flesh-and-blood person.
She must have taken my remark as skepticism or judgment. She laughed. “Yeah, I know. Sounds sketchy, but it’s a Master’s program at Long Island University. The Brooklyn campus is within walking distance from here.”
“No, it’s not that.” She’d planted a seed. “It’s just that I’d love to get a degree in computer sciences. I never thought about taking night classes.”
“Give me your email address, and I can shoot you a link to my school. Maybe they have a program for you there.”
Wheels in my head started turning. I knew I could do what Dave and Ajit did. A degree would help me prove it.
Adam tapped on the glass, and Eden stood. “Food’s ready at last.”
I would have given anything to be able to set up a live feed of the next hour for everyone else to be a part of. For the rest of my life, I’d be able to re-experience the time I hung out in Brooklyn on a warm night as the sky turned periwinkle and Adam Copeland asked me if I was done with the ketchup.
As much as I wanted to remain present, I shrank back, intending to observe the scene from a safe distance, quietly.
But Andrew, sitting to my right, had other plans.
“Layla, right?” He passed me a casserole dish of baked beans.
I scooped some onto my plate, nodding. “And you’re Andrew.”
“I am.” He batted his eyes, and that feeling I knew him redoubled. “You work with Jo?”
“I just started yesterday.” My gaze lingered. I was dying to figure out where I might have seen him. “And what do you do?”
He gave me a saucy little shrug. “I’m a singer.”
I tried to picture him in a club, at a microphone, holding a guitar, on an album cover, under a spotlight. Nope. I’d never seen him. He must have shared a resemblance to someone else.
“And Zion?”
Zion didn’t break concentration with the hamburger he was meticulously assembling. “Photographer and editor at theDaily Feed.”
“Oh, how interesting. I’ve read that paper before.”
