by Hope Lyda
Levi interrupted the conversation. “What would she do with this film? Think through this, guys. It’s a make-or-break moment in your careers. You don’t want to do anything without a plan.”
Trevor looked out the window to the street below. “There are more people. Ray, we’re going to have to head over to Easy Street soon. We have to act like nothing different has happened. We’ll just say we came here to visit Levi and keep it at that.”
“The last thing we should do is keep your reunion a secret. That’s exactly what FreeTime records wanted. The more fans who know, the more difficult it will be for the label to write you guys off as former icons and usher in their group du jour. Could you record an album in the next week?”
Trevor started laughing, as did Levi, who was now escorting Newton from the bathroom to the front room.
“All right, I get it. Stupid suggestion. But what if you guys record a new song, and we get it out there? The demand will be too great for them to ignore. They’ll start seeing dollar signs.”
“Jude’s been sharing some of his new stuff. We could easily choose one and get it recorded,” Ray offered up to the process.
“Do you have to have a studio?” I asked.
“We can use the church sanctuary. It has great acoustics.”
“What about instruments?”
They laughed again.
“What?”
“Levi has a two-bedroom apartment and sleeps on the couch so that he has room to house his collection. Instruments will not be the problem,” Trevor said. He looked over Newton’s head at a clock in the shape of a guitar and stood up quickly. “Ray, we gotta go. Believe it or not, Jude, we trust you with how this will play out. Heck, I figured the EMP event would be the start of early retirement, not the beginning of a reunion tour.”
“Pan can film us recording the song. We’ll make our music video on the spot and Pan can debut you at the event as part of her project. She’ll have to forgive me with that offer. Right, Libby?”
I nodded. “You may have just found a way around the scorn.”
Jude became emotional as he looked at his two friends. “You guys, I can’t believe you have forgiven me. I was so self-absorbed.”
Ray gripped him by the shoulder. “Man, we all were. Like I said, not one of us was healthy. Jude, the fact that you were the most narcissistic ass of all and a confused mess of a man is probably what saved the rest of us. And you know I say that with great affection,” he said, laughing to avoid the deeper sentiment.
Levi placed a short stepladder under the hole in the ceiling and motioned for the guys to follow him back through the attic. He was the last to pull himself up. When he looked back down into the apartment, he said, “I’ll be back as soon as they get out of the church safely. Maybe we could start setting up the sanctuary and be ready to go by seven thirty.”
“Wait. We can’t drag the equipment through your bat cave. How can we possibly set up?” Jude asked. “There are too many people outside, even though most of them will probably head over to Easy Street once they see there’s no action here.”
The reality set in. We’d be trapped here until someone famous came out of the Regal Queen. “Ray and Trevor have to come back,” I stated. “They have to go through the front door. That was the whole excuse to have your bouncers posted out front.” I walked over to Newton and wagged my finger at him. “This is your fault. You had to interfere. You had to be a fan of tabloids and want to be a part of the show!”
Levi rolled his eyes. “You’re right. Guys,” he called into the abyss, “you two get to leave the normal way.”
Jude helped Ray and Trevor and then Levi back down. “This doesn’t resolve the equipment dilemma,” he said. “I still can’t just walk out that door, especially not carrying a guitar case and a drum set.”
“We need a decoy,” Levi suggested.
We all looked at Newton. His eyes were fixed on his own feet until he felt the weight of the stares and looked up. Once we got a second glance at his features and sad posture, we knew this was a dead end. “Naww,” Jude said.
“I’ve got it!” I said, filled with the excitement of possible resolution. “Newton, you’ll make another call to John Meier and tell him that the guy you think is Jude has left the building and headed to Clem’s.”
“The bar? How will that help? There won’t be anyone there,” Levi asked.
“Oh, he’ll see someone. And as far as he’ll be concerned, the mystery will be solved, at least temporarily.”
“And ours will just begin?” Jude asked, completely lost.
“Who will he see?” Levi asked as he and Jude’s bandmates headed for the door.
“Trust me,” I said with a grin. I reached for my phone and pulled up my contacts. His was the first name on my alpha listing. Good thing I hadn’t deleted my ex.
The door shut and Newton, Jude, and I remained. Jude politely started to talk with the snitch about the history of the apartment building while I waited with the phone to my ear.
After several rings, a breathless Angus answered the phone. “Yo!”
Boy, had I ever made the right decision. I placed him on speaker phone and spoke into the mic. “Angus, are you alone? What are you doing?”
“Those are two questions former girlfriends are not allowed to ask anymore.” Angus said, laughing. “But yes, I am alone. I was just polishing my boots.”
“Who do you often get mistaken for?”
His voice reverberated through the end of my cell phone. “Most often? Jude Shea. Why?” he said nonchalantly and quite pleased.
Jude turned from chatting with Newton and raised his eyebrows.
“Who happens to be in town right now,” Angus continued, surprising us all.
“How’d you…why do you think that?”
“I’m in the know. In fact, there were ridiculous rumors about him being at your apartment building, but I told everyone I would know if that were the case.”
“So where is he?”
“That I don’t know. He’s underground. Someone is hiding him. The guy’s stayed out of the public eye this long—he won’t reappear until he wants to. But I can tell you this, as soon as he does, I’ll be one of the first to know.”
“I believe you. In fact, I’m calling about Jude.”
“Oh, yeah? You gonna tell me that you spotted him too? What? Was he with that creep who plays checkers with his donuts at the front desk?” Angus asked sarcastically.
Newton opened his mouth to protest, but I shook my head firmly.
I laughed too. “No. That would never happen. He doesn’t play checkers, but he’s right here with me.”
“What is this…’national pick on your ex’ day?”
Jude spoke up. “Angus, it’s Jude Shea.”
“Mick Jaggar’s on the other line, can you hold?” Angus said, laughing.
“It is Jude, Angus. And we need you to get over here to Clem’s bar in the next thirty minutes as a decoy. John Meier and maybe some others will be there looking for Jude. They’ll see you and then realize that the creep who plays checkers with donuts never saw Jude at all. He saw you.”
“Ariel told me you were being very odd lately.”
“Ariel?”
“Oops. Cat’s out of the bag.”
“You’re seeing Ariel?”
“Don’t get off the subject here. What are you up to? Just tell me.”
“How can I get you to believe Jude is right here?”
“Stickin’ with that story, are you? Okay…let’s see. I would need your Jude to play the intro to ‘Waco, Texas.’”
“‘Waco, Texas’?” I asked, clueless.
Jude was already on his way to retrieve a guitar from Levi’s bedroom.
“It’s from their first album,” Newton clarified.
“Who was that?” Angus asked.
“Long story.”
“So we can get off the phone now? I need to finish these boots and get over to Easy Street.”
�
��Good luck. It’s packed. Ray and Trevor just headed over there.”
“They did, did they? So you hang with Ray and Trevor too, do ya?” Angus said with more frustration than good humor.
From behind me, the first sounds of a somewhat familiar song were being played. “Oh, I do remember this song. It’s called ‘Waco, Texas’? That’s sick.”
Jude played with flair while I held up the phone. Then I heard Angus’ voice holler through the small speaker.
“What?” I asked, pulling the phone closer to me than to the guitar.
“Libby, how stupid do you think I am. I’m a bit surprised you have a copy of that album, but I did teach you a few things about good music while we dated, so it’s possible you went out and bought it.”
Oh, great.
Newton spoke up. “It’s acoustic. It couldn’t be the album. Sing, Jude.”
“Good point, Newton. Angus, did you hear that? This is acoustic. Hit it, Jude.”
So he began, with a voice that was rough, mellow, and very soulful. It made me weak in the knees. He was beautiful, and he was an artist. How had I missed the full reality that I, Libby Hawthorne, had been housing and hiding this amazing musician?
I let Jude play for several moments before I raised the phone back to my ear and switched off the speaker. “Well?” I asked.
“I don’t understand any of this or what you’ve gotten yourself in to, but I’ll go to Clem’s. What do I tell John? We’ve met before. I can’t pretend to be Jude.”
“I want you to be yourself. He just has to believe that someone saw you and thought you were Jude. We have to dismiss the rumor that Jude is here until we’re ready for people to know. When John leaves the bar, call me and then wait another fifteen minutes before heading over to the Queen Anne Community Church. I’ll meet you there.”
“Levi’s church?”
“How’d you know that?”
“Libby, every musician with any sense of Seattle’s legacy knows Levi.”
“Oh, right. Of course,” I paused and then said in a serious tone, “You’re in this thing officially, Angus. Don’t tell anyone. I’m trusting you.”
“So am I, dude. Thanks for doing this,” Jude called out with a deeper than usual voice.
“I figure I owe you, Libby.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think you realized what I was going through when we first met. And that’s because I never explained to you how down I was. When we met at Elliott Bay that day, I was lower than low. And you had this great spark, a real wonder about you. I knew we wouldn’t last because you are this perfect, sweet, good person and I’m…I’m not. I just wanted to be with you for as long as I could. The months we dated helped me get back on track. You really influenced me. I figured you’d always see me as a wannabe with no future, so I never came clean with how I was feeling. But I loved you for what you brought me through.” Angus stopped talking and I remained on the line, stunned and a little choked up.
I coughed the tickle out of my throat. “That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me, Angus. For what it’s worth, I never gave you credit for your discipline to music or for your talent. And you’re a good person. I’ve messed up a lot lately. I don’t have any claims on goodness, and I’m far from perfect, but I am trying to figure life out.”
Jude nodded and pointed to himself. “And so is Jude,” I added. “That’s why his return to the limelight is so important. He’s really changed, and he wants things to be better this time.”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you about Ariel. It’s a recent thing. I guess I didn’t want you to tell her to stay away from me.”
“I can see you two together.”
“You’re not with…?” Angus said as the startling thought occurred to him.
“No!” I laughed. “I’m so not with Jude. I’m not with anyone,” I said bravely, but my sadness was evident.
“Who was that guy at that art show? That looked serious.”
“Like I said, I’ve messed up a lot lately.”
I hung up, reviewed my contact list, and pulled up Pan’s name. “Here. Don’t tell her anything except to be at my place at seven fifteen. And ask her to bring her camera. And your next call had better be to the florist and the pet shop.”
“Roses for forgiveness? And…a dog collar?”
“Doggie treats for her clan. And hurry up…Newton has an important call to make.”
Forty-One
“Something smells really good,” Levi said, sniffing the air when he returned from escorting Ray and Trevor out of the building and over to Easy Street records.
“I forgot. I brought fish-and-chips for Jude and me. Let me heat that up and we can all eat. The portions are huge, anyway.” I grabbed the greasy sack and walked over to the microwave. “How are Ray and Trevor?”
“After seeing that crowd, I think that recording a single is the way to go. The fans will insist on a new album. FreeTime would be crazy to drop them and prevent them from releasing anything new. I’m just not sure how we’ll transport the equipment without being noticed.”
Jude said, “Maybe we should go to an actual studio.”
“I trust guys at the studios, but we could still be spotted,” Levi said.
“There’s another way,” said Newton.
We all turned to the captured man.
“Another way to what?” Jude asked.
“To the church from the apartment building…to take the equipment.”
Levi sat down and leaned with his elbows resting on his knees and his full attention on Newton. “How?”
Newton’s skinny shoulders reached toward his big, red ear lobes.
“Don’t get coy with us, Newton,” I said. I came out of the kitchen with the scariest utensil I could find, a meat thermometer. “Do you want dinner or not?”
He swallowed and nodded.
“Then tell us. And don’t pretend for one moment that this day is not the most exciting day of your life. You should be kissing our feet.”
“You’re right,” he said with more confidence. “This is the most exciting day of my life.” He actually smiled, and I noticed he had bright blue eyes. He was always looking down or to the side. “In the basement there is a sealed door that leads to the church’s basement. We can use the elevator to carry the equipment.”
Levi was shaking his head. “No. I’ve lived here forever. There is no basement button on the elevator. I’d have noticed it.”
“There’s an old freight elevator at the back of the building. Originally it was built because the owner had a wheelchair and needed a bigger elevator. Later they used it to bring in food supplies when this was a hotel with a small restaurant in the lobby. You wouldn’t know it now, because my dad is too cheap to restore this building, but this was a wonderful place. The architect was very well known later in his career.”
“He’s the same one who designed the Vista View,” I added.
“Yes! How’d you know?” Newton looked at me with the same surprised look I was giving him. All this time I had written him off as a complete bubble head.
“Blaine…a friend of mine mentioned that his building was by the same guy. He just told me that yesterday. Small world.”
“Oh, that guy. I told him about the architect. That’s how he knows.”
“When would you have talked to him?”
“He used to come in and stand by the lobby door, trying to get the nerve to ring for you. I finally asked him to stop loitering and he told me he was watching out for you, so we started talking about the building, blah, blah, blah.”
“I can’t believe he used to watch for me. Why didn’t you tell him to buzz me? Or just send him up? All you have to do is look at the guy to know he’s…” I stopped myself.
“He’s what?” Jude asked. He raised his eyebrows a couple times, teasing me.
“He’s amazing,” I admitted.
“Well, at first I told him you were shy and it might scare you that he was being so forward. The
n once he came in to the picture,” Newton pointed a bony finger at Jude, “I told Blaine that you were living with a guy. Nobody ever believed the cousin story.”
“So your dad knows a lot about the history of this place?” Jude asked.
“He doesn’t know anything except it was a cheap piece of property when he bought it right before the real estate market started its climb. It’s just an investment to him. I tried to tell him that it was a landmark, but he doesn’t listen to me. I studied architecture in college for a couple years. The only reason I took this pathetic job was to be close to a respectable person’s work.”
“Newton, you get the biggest portion of fish-and-chips.” I got up and prepared some plates of food while the guys discussed the building and planned how to get the equipment set up in the next hour.
After I had served dinner, I gave myself some space by sitting over by the window facing the street. There were no longer any fans or hopeful reporters camped out on the sidewalk. I opened up the window a crack to let some of the evening breeze in. A French fry rested on my tongue. The salt dissolved and the malt vinegar made my mouth tingle. I daydreamed about Blaine coming by to see me. When Jude and I had run in to him out front a few days ago, Blaine had probably just been here. No wonder he seemed so flustered to see me with a guy. I realized how badly I wanted to believe Marsha and Rachel about Blaine’s feelings, but why didn’t the one person who mattered say anything? He was willing to be a stalker but not willing to tell me that he liked me?
Just then a nice-looking car pulled up, and a pair of legs followed by blond hair and a long leather coat emerged. Cecilia! I had totally forgotten that she was coming. My phone rang. Cecilia’s name appeared on the small screen, and I could see her placing her earpiece in as she looked around. I shifted back from the window and yelled to Jude, “Get to my apartment now. Cecilia’s here. Newton…can we trust you?”
“Yes,” he said in a believable tone.
“Then get downstairs and greet her. I’m going to answer this, but you need to stall her for a few minutes before sending her up. Levi, you’d better stay out of sight. I’ll let you know as soon as we can load the equipment.”
