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There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. José knew Andrej was rolling his eyes. “I've been saying all along that things between them are bound to fail. But no, they didn’t want to listen to me.”

“They’ve made their choice, and they love each other.”

“But what I saw today at the Gaucho looked more like estrangement to me.”

José had to admit that Andrej had a point.

“Bro!” Iggy impatiently chimed in. “If this takes much longer, let me drive.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” José said, switching the phone to his other ear. “I think we should support them as much as possible for now.” There was a suspicious silence on the other end of the line. “What do you think?”

Andrej beat around the bush, which was unlike him. “Listen, dude. Supporting is more your thing, and we both know that. I’m too pragmatic for that.”

“Then be pragmatic. The interview is tomorrow.”

“Yeah, why aren’t you there, anyway?”

“Bro!” Iggy whined. “I’m melting here!”

José gestured to his brother to be quiet. “It’s a radio interview. Looks like three people are one too many.”

“Huh?”

“Please, do me the favor and keep an eye on Tris. Okay? Clint can be really sneaky.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Andrej asked. “He even found out what I wanted to write my master’s thesis about. I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knows every detail of the past three weeks. We need to find out who his sources are.”

The car door slammed all of a sudden, and Iggy marched into the liquor store.

“Okay, then …” José wiped the sweat trickling down his temple and longed for a shower. “I’ll be at the Gaucho tomorrow. Maybe you guys can come by after the interview.”

“Yeah, we will. You make sure our guitarist gets back on his feet.”

“Hmm … Alright then. See you.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Not entirely convinced this would be easy, José hung up. He’d known Leaf since he was eight and had even met his mother. But he also knew him well enough to know that hope wasn’t lost yet.

Over the years, he had dealt with two relapses with Leaf, supporting him to get back on his feet each time. It had never been easy, a constant struggle that José mostly won with the help of music, because it meant everything to Leaf.

José had learned that every addict had a drug of choice. Among all the substances Leaf consumed, playing the guitar still ranked high on his list. As long as that remained the case, their chances were good.

Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different this time. It wasn’t just Leaf and the drugs. Something else made José feel like everything was hanging by a thread.

The way Leaf and Tristan had interacted had been stiff and marked by uncertainty—which was unlike them at all. They were a well-oiled team, communicated without words, and could hardly keep their hands off each other. Yes, somehow they seemed estranged, and José was sure it wasn’t Tristan’s fault. He would have stayed in the clinic if he didn’t want to go back to his old life. He was stubborn like that. As difficult as it might have been for Tristan, his return alone showed that the band was important to him.

What scared him was Leaf, who seemed to be carrying something around that was bothering him more than it should. Unfortunately, he also knew his friend well in this regard and knew that he solved such things in his own way. As long as Leaf didn’t disappear or vanish from the scene, their chances of surviving these turbulences were good. Otherwise, they would have no choice but to mobilize Iggy.

“Here!” his brother said, who had just returned to the car and handed him a cold bottle of water.

“Thanks.”

“Everything sorted? Can we go now?”

After José greedily drank half the bottle, he started driving.

“Ig? You know all our songs, right?”