I’d only met Ru a few times. When he was twelve and I was eight, my mom had played his mother on a Disney movie called Kid Detective. When the cameras stopped, he remained by her side, holding her hand as if she was really his mom. My being a kid too, I took that as a challenge and tore my mom’s hand from his. Mom made sure I apologized and took us both off to swim at the hotel and eat lunch. Later, she explained that his mother never came around much, too busy spending money, so my mom had tried to be there for him.
The other time I saw Ru was shorter. Several years later, Ru showed up at one of my listening parties with a girl on each arm, talking about how he was going to change the music industry. He offered to manage me. I’d already had Midnight, and we ended it at that.
Now he’s managing Simone. That should be fine as long as he stays out of our way.
Hours passed as I tried to keep myself busy. The staff had been running around the whole house, cleaning and folding, vacuuming, and dusting. Servants giggled downstairs. My butler had a cheer in his voice. It seemed everybody was excited to finally have some action around the house. All I’d done this past year was stroll around the property like a ghost, mumbling out what I needed, playing with my trains, and mostly sticking to myself.
She’s coming tonight. Fuck.
I must’ve spent most of the afternoon organizing my studio, making sure it was tidy and impressive. I could count on my hand how many times I’d cleaned anything in my life. But there I was all afternoon, wiping the area down. I even vacuumed, after getting lots of instruction from one of my maids. She must’ve giggled the whole time as she watched me struggle with how to turn the damn vacuum on.
Will she like my studio?
Never had I worried about something so trivial, but Simone had trapped my mind somehow. I dragged out my classic albums and casually placed them around the lounge area near the studio. Later, I realized it was looking like I was trying to impress her too hard and put them away to only bring them back out that night.
The sun set, and I checked my email again, never seeing any flight itinerary from her. I called her phone, but it went straight to voicemail. By ten in the evening, I called Midnight, got Ru’s number, and called her manager.
“Hello?” Ru said over the line.
“Hey, this is Gio.”
“Hey, Gio, what’s up, man?” Ru asked. “Looks like we’re going to be working together for a while.”
“Yeah. So...when is she coming?”
“My understanding is that she was going to try and come tonight, but I haven’t heard from her.”
“Me either. I’ve been calling her phone.”
“That’s no surprise. She probably left her charger. She does that a lot. Is it going straight to voicemail?”
“Yeah.” Anger rose in me, but I worked on keeping it down. “So, you don’t know where she’s at?”
“No, but I just did a U-turn to stop by her apartment. It should take me twenty minutes.”
“You don’t know if she’s on the plane? Shouldn’t you be handling her travel plans?”
“She wanted to do it all herself. She got too excited.”
“So then how is she coming?” I asked.
“I assume by plane, Gio.”
Anger blazed on my tongue. “Coach seats?”
“Relax. I’m sure your retainer allowed her to upgrade the trip. And trust me, Simone is more than capable of booking a flight. I’m more annoyed by your invitation. No disrespect, but you could’ve waited until after Christmas to invite her up.”
“I thought she would come up later.”
“No, she’s too excited about the album.”
“Look. I’m just worried. I want to make sure she’s safe. I’m two hours from any major airport.”
“Fine, but I have it from here.”
“Good,” I said. “Let me know when you hear from her. It’s already ten.”
“Yeah. I’m getting worried. You let me know if she arrives.”
“I will.” I hung up and paced back and forth in my bedroom.
She’s probably on the plane, writing music as Ru and I go crazy.
I moved my curtain, slid the door open, and walked out into my balcony. Outside, snow drifted through the air, soft and covering the green grass like sugary icing on a cake.
I should’ve had a car pick her up from the airport. I figured Ru took care of everything. If he didn’t, then how is she getting here?
The very idea that she’d made her own plans was completely foreign to me. I couldn’t think of a time when I’d ever purchased my own plane ticket or made hotel reservations. When I was a kid, my nanny did it. When I was an adult, my manager did it. And now, my butler took care of all those needs.