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The Next Song
A ringtone Deborah hadn’t heard for a while woke her up at dawn on Saturday.
“About time,” she grunted, picking up.
Her move woke up Sam, that saw her sit up in bed.
“Lend me your phone,” she whispered. “I need to write something down.”
He did. Deborah didn’t ask a single question. She just wrote down what Jim was dictating from Patagonia and disconnected with a little smile. Sam understood their plans to spend a few days in Los Cabos had just been cancelled.
“Some miracle request?” he asked.
“Nah, just a few calls. But I’m gonna set the Department of State on fire if that’s what it takes to have that asshole kicking my ass again.”
At the other hemisphere, Jim left Silvia’s passport on the bookshelf and went back to her room. Good thing the black beast had apparently decided to remove him from the risky guest category, and was sleeping with Tobias, instead of lying across Silvia’s doorway as it’d been the first nights Jim had
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No Return Downfall
It felt just so awful, the way the clock jumped back instead of moving forward as they crossed time zones to the west. And with every repeated hour of that endless night, Silvia felt she was losing all she knew and loved, to walk utterly alone into whatever the next days might have in store for her. She expected to feel that way, just like the irrational fear clutching and twisting her guts. She would’ve liked to be able to do something about her instinctive withdrawing into herself to muster her courage and breathe deep before such a leap.To make it worse, she felt oddly confined in that luxury seat that had her walled up like a baby pen. She could connect with the whole damned world, yet she couldn’t look straight at Jim on the next seat without bringing her feet down from the box under the TV shelf, sitting up and leaning in, past the ugly thing all around her head with more plugs and stuff, and the little counter between the seats.The moment she moved
No Return To-Do List
Deborah was waiting for them at LAX, to make sure with her own eyes the Robinsons were back, and mostly to assess Jim’s mood. She spotted the two couples coming out from the Customs Office and a glance was enough for her to know they were back in business. She allowed herself a heartfelt sigh. No more Jim pissed off every time she told him about a public event she couldn’t cancel. No more pressure from the label to make them play live again now that Sean had been cleared by his doctors. No more demos with nothing but gloomy songs about broken hearts. No more bizarre drunk stunts at parties. Well, at least for the next ten days, which gave Debora ten days to come up with some master plan, in order to extend the good season until further notice.Her merry welcome made the brothers trade a suspicious look, but they didn’t make any question while they followed her to the parking lot and her SUV.Deborah was surprised to see Jim didn’t get in the pas
No Return 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
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.
No Return It's Us
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
No Return Charity
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
No Return Another Day in Paradise
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’
No Return What About You
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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