Keep Coming Back to Love

by Christa Maurice

  “You did more than that.” He pointed to the stage. “You put together a look for the band that makes them very identifiable. You gave them a brand. I know they’re a bunch of high school kids and they look like pros. And not just that. I’ve heard people talking about them. Not only kids, adults.”

  “I didn’t do that.”

  “You designed the posters advertising their gigs. You got them hung up in a timely fashion at the right places. You’ve written up the press releases that get them talked about.” He poked her shoulder. “You have made the right connections to get them even more good press. Everybody knows where Touchstone is playing on any given weekend even if they don’t frequent these kinds of clubs.”

  Press releases. She’d forgotten about those. “You told me to write press releases. You had to teach me how.”

  “I suggested it, but that doesn’t mean you’d actually do it. You’ve got drive. Come work for me and we can point your drive in a useful direction instead of leaving it to sell shirts at the mall.”

  Candy chewed her lips. Once or twice, she’d asked Joe questions instead of just listening to what he told her about marketing. That’s how she figured out how to do most of what she’d done for the band. It seemed like the natural thing to do. If she was working for him, she’d see him more often to ask more questions. “Will you help me work on a bigger, better campaign for the band?”

  He shook his head, chuckling. “And you think I’m offering you this job because you’re cute. Of course we’ll work on a bigger campaign for the band. What do you say?”

  “Are you kidding? Yeah. When do I start?”

  “Why don’t we wait until school’s out? You have to give notice at your job.”

  Candy threw her arms around his neck. “This is awesome.”

  “See, now I’m getting the squealing and jumping up and down.”

  Candy pushed away from him. “Oh shut up.”

  “Is that any way to talk to your new boss?”

  “Was that any way to handle your new employee?”

  “I was not handling. I was hugging.”

  She shoved his shoulder. “Whatever. I gotta go tell my boyfriend the news.”

  “I think he’s busy.”

  “I know where to wait until he’s available.” Candy grabbed her Pepsi and headed for the side of the stage. Joe didn’t blow smoke. If he said working for him would be better money than at the store, it would be. Even the same money for less time would be fantastic. Office hours. She wouldn’t have to miss anymore of Tyler’s gigs, which meant she could keep all those other girls away from him. And if Joe was going to help her build a real campaign it would be good for the band. A real professional campaign would get them known outside her hundred-mile radius and make it a lot easier for Mr. Dale to get them a record contract.

  The last set wound down, or rather up, as planned and the lights went out. The crowd went nuts, screaming for more. Tyler grabbed her as he came off stage. “How were we?”

  “Awesome.” She wrapped her arms around him. He was sweaty and hot. “Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “Joe offered me a job in his office.”

  “Joe who?”

  “Joe Goldman. From the ad agency. He’s got a gig for you guys too.”

  Jason grabbed his arm. “Come on. Encore.”

  Tyler jerked away from Jason. “Fuck off, man. I’m busy.”

  “Yeah, busy playing a gig.” Jason grabbed for him again.

  This time Tyler took a swing at him, but Jason ducked.

  “You need to get your ass back on stage or you are so done,” Jason shouted.

  “Hey, cut it out.” Brian stepped between them. “Come on, Tyler. It’s three songs and then you can suck face with Candy all you want.”

  Tyler didn’t look at him. His gaze was firmly fixed on Candy’s. “Don’t take it.”

  “Are you nuts? It’s a real job. He’s going to help me build a real campaign for you guys. He can make you really famous.”

  “I don’t want you working for him.”

  “Real campaign?” Jason crowded Brian into them. “Like real advertising?”

  “Yes. Yes, he said it would be my special project.”

  “He just wants to fuck you.” Tyler clenched his fists.

  Candy folded her arms. “Well, he’s going about it all wrong. If I’m working for him, he can’t do anything inappropriate or I can sue, and he knows I’m underage anyway. You need to finish the show.”

  “Candy.” He reached for her again, but let his hands drop. “I love you.”

  Chapter 3

  All sound in the room stopped. All the people, the rest of the band, everyone, disappeared. “You love me?”

  “Yeah, baby, I love you and I’m asking you to do this for me.” This time when he reached for her, he made contact. She let him pull her close. “I love you and I don’t want you working for this old man who’s gonna mess with your head and steal you away from me.”

  He loved her. Nobody had ever said they loved her before, unless she counted her Mom. But she really wanted this job, and it would be good for them, too. She needed time to explain. The crowd was giving up on the encore. If they didn’t go out, word would get around and people might stop showing up. “You need to do your encore.”

  “Don’t you love me?”

  “Yes, I love you.” She brushed her fingers through his sweaty hair. He was so sweet. Nothing was too much to do for her. Every day she worked, he rode the bus out to the mall before rehearsal so he could have dinner with her during her break. The days she didn’t work, they were together before band practice. He brought little presents and serenaded her. One day he’d jumped on the edge of the fountain and sang Tonic’s “If You Could Only See” to her. “I do love you,” she whispered. He’d never hear it over the noise, but it didn’t matter. “Go do your encore.”

  He kissed her hard and ran out on stage.

  Candy weaved.

  “Everything okay?” Connie asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Come on, let’s go backstage.” Connie pulled her into the deserted dressing room. Another woman followed them. She looked enough like Jason and Connie that Candy was willing to bet she was yet another sister. “What’s going on?”

  “I got offered a dream job and Tyler doesn’t want me to take it.”

  “Why?” Connie settled her on the couch and the other sister sat on her opposite side, hemming her in.

  “He doesn’t like Joe. I think he’s jealous.”

  “You’re not going to let some guy run your life, are you?” the other sister asked.

  “Tessa!”

  “Well, she isn’t, is she?” the other sister, apparently Tessa, shot back.

  “I don’t know what to do.” Candy clenched her fists in her lap. To further his career and her own, she had to take the job, but if she took the job, he might break up with her. Then he’d be famous and she’d be without him. Tyler would have what he wanted. She’d have a great job, which six months ago would have thrilled her, but she wouldn’t have him. What did she want more? The job and for Tyler to become famous? Or to have Tyler and gamble that she and Mr. Dale could do a good enough job on their own?

  Tessa started to kneel on the floor, took a good look at it and dragged a folding chair over so she could sit in front of Candy. “How do you know this other guy?”

  “He shops at the store where I work, and I’ve done some alterations for him.”

  “Is he cute?” Connie put her arm around Candy’s shoulders.

  “Connie!” Tessa leaned over her knees. “Tell us a little about this guy and this job he’s offering you.”

  “He’s old enough to be my dad.”

  “So? Is he cute?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not interested in him. I love Tyler.” And he loves me. He said he did. Right in front of everybody.

  “Connie, it doesn’t matter i
f this guy is cute. He’s offering her a job. A good one.” Tessa glanced at Candy. “It is a good one, right?”

  “It’s a dream job.”

  “But do you trust him?” Tessa took her hands. Candy felt like the flag in tug-of-war.

  “Tyler or Joe?”

  “The guy with the job.”

  “Sure. He owns the Goldman Group.”

  “Joseph Goldman?” Tessa’s fingers clenched around Candy’s.

  “Who’s Joseph Goldman?”

  “Indiana’s most eligible bachelor. He’s worth a couple million dollars and he’s not old enough to be your dad. Your sugar daddy, maybe.”

  “He’s worth a couple million and he shops at the mall?” Connie sneered.

  “How do you think he got to be worth a couple million? He watches where his money goes. Besides, if I was running a PR firm, I’d hang out at the mall too. What better place to find out what people were talking about? What’s the job?”

  “It’s an internship in his office.”

  “The local one?”

  “What other one is there?” Joe was a millionaire? He didn’t act like one. Not that Candy had a lot to compare him to. He stopped at the store every other week or so. If he bought anything anywhere in the store, he carried it to her register so she could have the sale. The only jewelry he wore was a watch that didn’t look too special. Was there another Joe Goldman? Or another Goldman Group?

  “He’s got offices in New York and Los Angeles.”

  “But he’s been helping me with stuff for the band.”

  “Really?” Tessa and Connie exchanged a look. What was so fucking special about Joe helping her with the fliers? He made some layout and wording suggestions. So did the art teacher. Candy did the hard part by herself. “So you’d be able to pick his brain about more advertising for Jason’s band.”

  “Sure. He said they could be my special project.”

  Connie grabbed her hands. “You have to take this job.”

  “But what about Tyler? He said he loves me.”

  Connie’s expression melted toward a heartfelt aw, but Tessa spoke first. “You need to make him understand. This is going to be good for his music career. No, this is going to be great for his music career. You’ll have access to somebody with a lot of money and a lot of know-how to get them noticed. Convince him. And if that doesn’t work, fuck him.”

  “I’m not going to dump him to help him.”

  Tessa shook her head. “I didn’t mean dump him, I meant fuck him. Literally. Men can’t think with both heads at the same time. If you’ve got him thinking with the one between his legs, he won’t protest with the one on his shoulders.”

  Connie didn’t argue. This must be what it was like to have older sisters.

  The backstage door burst open and the guys tumbled in, still high from the great show. Tyler yanked Candy from between Tessa and Connie and swung her around, kissing her. He only let her go to change so he could help tear down the stage. Candy gathered their stage clothes from where they were dropped. If she threw one load in tonight before bed, she’d have time to get everything washed for tomorrow’s gig, depending on what time she got dropped off.

  In the usual after-show chaos, she didn’t have much time to do more than give Tyler a kiss before hitching a ride home with Tessa, Connie, and Jason so she should have been expecting the doorbell the next morning. Tyler stood outside, soaked from walking to her house from the bus stop in the frigid downpour that had started about dawn and showed no signs of letting up. “Hi, baby.”

  “You must be freezing.” She peeled his jacket from his shoulders, but he wrapped his arms around her before she got it off.

  “Not anymore.” He buried his face in her hair. “Your dad home?”

  “No.”

  “Good.” He slid his hands under her shirt. His fingers were icy and she flinched.

  “You really need to warm up first.”

  “I thought you’d warm me up.”

  She pulled away laughing. “I happen to have some of your clothes here for you to change into. Black jeans and a black shirt. You’re gonna look like Johnny Cash, but the colors are still in the dryer.” The basket of still-warm clothes sat next to the couch. She pulled out his things.

  “Not a bad thing to look like Johnny Cash.” He took the clothes and gave her a kiss before heading to the bathroom to change. “When’s your dad coming home?” he called out.

  “Don’t know. Dad’s note said he was going to catch up on some work in the office today. He might be home tomorrow.”

  “Don’t you work tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, convenient, huh?” After the argument last week, her father had been scrupulous about not being home when she was. Tyler had believed that the bruise on her shoulder came from a clothing rack.

  “Yeah.” Tyler walked out grinning.

  She didn’t point out that she was being sarcastic. Why bother? It was convenient.

  Tyler sat down next to her, but instead of easing her onto her back to neck, he took her hands in his. “I meant it yesterday when I said don’t want you to take this job.”

  Shit. She’d been hoping he’d forgotten so she could avoid this confrontation. Tessa’s advice about having sex with him floated to the surface of her mind. It wouldn’t be a hardship. They hadn’t so far, but mostly because they hadn’t had the opportunity. Here in the house alone all day, opportunity abounded. “Do we have to talk about this?”

  “I just—I don’t want you to.”

  “And what? Stay at the store for the rest of my life?”

  “No, you’re going to go to college and get a real job.”

  “I could have a real job now.”

  Tyler made a face. “He’s old.”

  “Who cares? I want his job not his body.”

  He closed his fingers around hers. “I love you.”

  She pulled her hands away. “You keep saying that like it should solve everything. Don’t you know what an opportunity this is for both of us?”

  “I know it’s an opportunity for me to lose you and it’s true, I do love you.”

  “Oh God.” Candy walked across the room. “If you really loved me you’d want me to take the job.”

  “Why?”

  “Because—” Candy spun. “Because it’s a really good opportunity for both of us.”

  “And you keep saying that like it solves everything.” Tyler stood up. The black made him look taller and leaner, older. More mature maybe.

  “It does. Do you know who Joe is?”

  “Some asshole who’s trying to poach my girlfriend.”

  “No, he’s a millionaire. Tessa said he owns a huge public relations firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles.”

  “Awesome. He’s richer than God and just as powerful. Are these supposed to be the selling points?”

  “Yes. Do you know what it means for your band? It means I’ll have access to the kind of people who do national campaigns. I’ll meet people who can really do things for you. I’ll know people who actually have money so you can get some good equipment and a truck to haul it around in instead of dividing everything between Jeff’s pickup and John’s van and hoping it doesn’t rain or if it does rain that it doesn’t get under the tarp on the truck.”

  “He’s getting a cap.” Tyler crammed his hands in his pockets and slouched.

  “You could get a real truck. And I’d be able to see you play every time you had a show. Joe said I’d be earning as much money as at the store, but I wouldn’t have to work weekends. How can you not see that this is a great thing?”

  “Maybe it is a great thing, but I want to be your great thing. I wanna be your hero.” Tyler blinked fast.

  “That is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said.”

  “I’m a joke now?”

  “No, you’re making shit up and clouding the issue.”

  “What makes you think any of it is going to be true?�
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  “I’ve been talking to Joe for months. Why would he lie?”

  “Because he wants to fuck you. Why wouldn’t he?”

  “If I’m working for him he can’t touch me. It’s against the law. And he knows I’m underage so it’s doubly against the law.”

  “Like that would stop him.”

  “If I’d known you were going to turn into such an irrational prick, I’d have skipped the job and told him I’d be his mistress.”

  Tyler stiffened. “Did he ask you to?”

  “No. What a stupid question.” Did he really think that about her? Some of those girls who came to the shows were pretty fast, but he should know she wasn’t. Especially not with anyone who wasn’t him.

  “Now I’m stupid?”

  “No, you’re just—” Candy shook her head. “I’m taking the job whether you like it or not.”

  “Fine. Have a nice fucking life.” Tyler stomped to the door and slammed out.

  His jacket was still where she’d hung it to dry on the back of a kitchen chair. A bunch of his clothes were stacked, neatly folded on the chair with more tumbling around the dryer right now. He was going to get all wet. Probably get a sore throat and not be able to sing tonight. Candy threw open the door. Tyler had made it to the end of the driveway, shoulders hunched against the cold. “Tyler, come back.”

  He ignored her and turned to follow the sidewalk to the bus stop.

  “Tyler!” He kept walking away. Just because he was afraid she would leave him for Joe. Of all the stupid things. Tears choked her. He was the first boy to tell her he loved her. The first one she believed really might. “Tyler, please come back!”

  He was past the Ferguson’s driveway now.

  Candy ran into the rain. “Tyler!” she wailed. Mud squelched into her socks as she ran across the yards. “Tyler, please.” She grabbed his arm and he finally turned. “Please come back.”