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All the Sunsets
The house was quiet in the warm silence of the sunset when Jim came out of the shower, still savoring such a gratifying homecoming. He felt as good as new after a good meal, quality sex and a nice nap. Silvia had gotten up while he was in the bathroom and he didn’t hear her around. He headed downstairs, guessing where he’d find her.
It felt good, being back where he could enjoy the drops still dripping from his hair, down his chest and his back, without fearing to catch a virulent flu.
There she was, of course, at the deck, the place that had caught her attention the moment she’d set foot on his house. Not because of the swimming pool or the comfy loungers or the small bar counter under the hay roof, but because of the view.
She was wearing a black top and a light sarong, bare feet on the floorboards, arms resting on the railing, face to the sun setting on the sea, a cigarette between her fingers, her loose hair floating softly in the ocean bre
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No Return The Face of the Sun
Jim’s phone rang at nine, thirty minutes before the alarm he’d set. Silvia slept against his back, and he was trying to turn around without waking her up when her hand showed up under his arm with his phone.“Thanks,” he muttered, and picked up already grumbling, “Fuck off, Deb. I know I gotta pick you up at eleven.”“Just checking. Steve’s gonna be ready to take off at noon and—”“Bye.”“Photoshoot today?” mumbled Silvia when he disconnected and threw the phone on the nightstand.Jim pulled from her hand to round his waist again. “Yeah. And it’s gonna take all day, if I know Steve. Wanna come?”“I’d love to.”“I think I might need a little insisting to take you along.” He pushed her hand down, and jerked when it slid around his hips to grab his butt.Silvia giggled against his back. “Sorry.
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Deborah got an email when they were already driving into the city.“Club opening tonight,” she said, reading it. “Feel like going?”“Yeah, why not,” Sean replied. “Let’s go, dude.”They got no answer from the backseat. Deborah looked back and saw Jim sleeping with his head on Silvia’s lap. She was asleep too, her arms around him.Sean threw a punch to his brother’s legs. “Dude!”“Fuck you,” Jim grunted, eyes still closed.“Club opening. Tonight. We’re going.”“Yeah, yeah.”Back to Jim’s house, Silvia turned pale when she learned that he wanted to take her with him that night, which meant that he would show up in public with her. She fought the temptation of pleading exhausted, reminding herself once more why she was there—to be his everyday woman in his everyday life. If he wanted her by his side f
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The nightclub sidewalk was lit up like broad day, crowded with people, paparazzi and bouncers. People waited in a long line that stretched around the corner from the nightclub gates. The club had a parking lot on one side, but nobody drove in there to access the place unnoticed, so a bunch of valets waited by the curb, to get the cars of the celebs that didn’t have a driver.Jim slowed down right behind a silver Mercedes in the line to the gates. Silvia noticed the bouncers weren’t letting regular people in. At that moment, only those that ranked VIP were allowed into the club, for the crowd and the paparazzi to see.“Wait for me to get your door,” Jim said. “And then it’s only five steps from the car to the access.”“Okay,” she murmured, her eyes on the people screaming and taking pictures of a rapper walking into the club, the blinding spotlights, the flashes firing nonstop.Finding herself in that s
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Afraid the housekeeper would bag her up and put her in the bin, Silvia fled to the deck, determined to stay out of the woman’s way. It was her fifth day in LA, and the first time she’d insisted in staying home while Jim “went to work”, like he called it.About to release the fourth cut of their last album, Deborah wouldn’t give him a break, and Silvia knew he wanted her by his side as much as possible. So she’d gone with him to two late-night talk shows, a radio interview that had included a short live acoustic set, three interviews with paper and online magazines. They dined out every evening, usually with Sean and Jo, and Tom and Liam hopped in now and then. Later they would go for a drink to some bar or some club, but they never stayed as late as the first night, for the club opening.It was exhausting sometimes, and Jim was surprised she didn’t even blink every time Deborah added something to his schedule. So he didn’
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Jim played good boy the whole week, letting Deborah drag him around anyway she liked, and gave her the red light on Saturday, after the signing with the Squad.“I’m taking Sunday off, to start working on the new songs with the boys on Monday.”Deborah didn’t argue, knowing she could consider herself lucky she’d been able to clear so many pending issues over the last five days. So she only reminded him about the online Q&A they had scheduled for Wednesday, and the fundraising dinner on Thursday evening.“Yeah, yeah,” Jim grunted, starting his truck.On Sunday, he and Silvia spent the whole day at his place, phones off. And she would always remember it like both an amazing and a spontaneous, natural moment between them, that helped her keep in mind how much room she found in him to be herself.“I think it’s the first time ever we’re together without a clock ticktocking over our heads,&rd
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Sean drove to Santa Monica in the warm noon, feeling more than ready to play until dinner time nonstop. However, he couldn’t help wondering if Jim would be able to focus on their music, knowing Silvia downstairs and waiting for him. Not the musing he would’ve chosen, but it was better than wondering how many corny love songs Jim had made over those three weeks of marital bliss.He saw Tom’s car on the driveway and found the bassist had made himself at home at the porch, smoking a joint while he read something on his phone.“He’s home,” said Tom, seeing Sean’s stormy scowl as he got out of his car. “Guess he’s already upstairs, ‘cause I heard him play.”That would explain why Jim hadn’t heard the doorbell. Sean produced his spare keys and opened the front door. They’d hardly walked in when they heard Jim’s guitar pouring down the stairwell, as if he hadn’t closed the door to
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Liam and Walt joined the rehearsal on Tuesday, and the whole band spent six hours straight locked up in the attic studio. By the time they put their instruments down, Silvia had texted Jo to join them there and they had already ordered food for all of them. The musicians were tired, so they left shortly after they finished dinner.Jim was glad to see Silvia shake her head when he tried to help her in the kitchen. He would’ve liked to lay back on one of the loungers at the deck, or the living-room couch, or his bed, but he stayed sitting at the isle to keep her company, dropping by Twitterland while she put some order around.“I dated my flight today,” Silvia said out of the blue, in a carefully casual tone.“Already? What’s the rush?” he asked, chuckling at a tweet from a Polish fan.“I’m leaving on Friday, Jay.”He looked up, taken aback, to find her filling a trash bag with empty cans.
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Deborah hated it every time Silvia picked up Jim’s phone, leaving her no choice but to accept her words excusing him. But on Wednesday, she was glad to hear her pick up. Deborah confirmed Jim remembered the live stream scheduled for that afternoon, and smiled to herself when Silvia used the plural about being in her office in a couple of hours.She disconnected and called Ron over. Her assistant didn’t hide his disbelief as he wrote down on his phone the list of errands she needed him to run in the next ninety minutes. She didn’t give any explanation, but she was determined to turn around the unwavering negative buzz about Jim’s new chick, and the fundraising dinner the next night was an excellent chance to do it.To keep the Q&A from going on forever, only Jim, Liam and Tom would take part of it. Sam had everything set at the conference room by Deborah’s office, so the musicians would go straight there.As soon as she had the three of them sitting for makeu
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