“Did you know he and Paige talk about going to UNLV?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Las Vegas.”
“Yeah, probably not a great place for kids who grew up in a small town.”
“I’m not allowed to meddle,” I tell him.
“I am.” Nick laughs.
We sit in silence, only speaking when some kids try to park and start a bonfire. Nick takes a lot of pleasure in telling his players to go home.
“I’m going to find out who tagged the water tower,” he says. “And then I’m going to knock heads. Paige is more than Mack’s girlfriend to me, she’s family. I’m not letting this one go.”
I tap my beer to his. “Thanks, that means a lot.”
We finish his six-pack and climb down. As we walk to our respective trucks, I say, “Do you ever think back and wonder how things could’ve been different?”
Nick nods. “All the time, but then where would we be now?”
That’s what I don’t know, and I need to stop wondering. My life is the way it is because of the decisions I made.
TWENTY-ONE
Ever since I gave the green light to expand, the contractors Bex hired have wasted little time getting to work. It helps that it’s fall, almost winter, and jobs are scarce. Everyone wants to work, especially with the holidays approaching.
It’s wild to think how months ago, Bex came to me with an idea. One I shot down instantly. I didn’t think we’d last a week, and now the show has outgrown the little studio I started mostly to give Elle a place to work with her artists.
Now I sit at a board that cost more than I’m willing to admit. Faders that glow. Channels I’ll never touch or know what they do. So much of this is out of my realm of knowledge but needed for when 4225 West’s station goes live. Me, Harrison, and JD won’t be the only ones in here.
A screen to my left runs the livestream for when Paige isn’t working. The other DJs will be able to access our new social accounts with the push of a button. Paige says it’s needed and that we don’t want the spotlight to only be on me.
There’s a second screen for the callers. Bex screens them on her side of the production booth, same as she always has, and now whatever she pulls comes up in front of me too. A name. A town. A line about the trouble. So, I know who’s coming beforeI punch the line. This will help us communicate more easily and faster.
The sound is something else. Everyone comes through crystal clear, even when they have noise in the background. Bex knows her stuff and I’m thankful she chose me to be her test subject.
With everything shiny and brand new, I sit at my new console with anxiety building. Each time the screen lights up with a new caller, I wonder if it’s him. If it’s the voice of the man I think is my father. Since the last call, I’ve waited for him to show up, to surprise me in the grocery store, or to call again. I keep telling myself that when he does, I’m going to ask him flat out who he is and why he keeps calling.
Bex sits down at her desk and waves. We have a good relationship and she’s fitting in well with the community. Josie has invited her to our house for Thanksgiving and warned her that it’ll be full of people, loud, but we’ll have plenty of food and we always have a good time. She told us that she’s going back to New York to see her family, thanks to the healthy dose of sponsorships Ben has secured.
My coffee’s cold, which means my hands are cold. Renovated building or not, it’s still cold outside and the brick building can only do so much against the elements.
“Remind me to have the ducts cleaned,” I tell Paige as I get up and head toward the small kitchen. I push some buttons and wait for my mug to fill. When I get back to the studio, Paige is setting up the new camera we have. While it’ll be aimed at me or whoever sits in this chair, once we move, it follows us. It’s honestly sort of freaky. However, it saves Paige or any other assistant from having to stand there the entire time. Now, she can sit at a desk—one that she decided needed to be in the same room as me—and monitor comments and continue to post on social media while the live stream is running.
I sit down, put my cans on, and look at the glowing board. Bex is in my ear, “You good?”
I nod. “I’m ready.” I take a deep breath, catch my daughter smiling at me, and press the button.
“You’re on The Love Line.”
“Liam,” the female voice sighs my name heavily. “My husband won’t talk to me in anything but movie quotes. All day. I asked him a real question this morning and he answered me in a pirate voice.”
I laugh before I can stop it. “Does he do it when it’s time to be serious?”
“No. When it’s serious he drops it and talks straight.”
“Then he’s not dodging you. He’s playing, and he trusts you enough to be a fool in front of you. Fire one back at him tonight. Bad accent and all. See what it does to his face.”
