Part 25 (1/2)

Martin said, ”I'll talk to Erin later.”

The Timberlanes went home, the technicians went home, and at 11:47 p.m., the Cheatin' Hearts completed Buns of Steel. They crowded around Sarah, who was still curled in a ball on the control room chairs. They sang ”Strip Poker Blues” a cappella as they presented her with the master copy of the alb.u.m. She called the head honcho at Manhattan Music and yelled to him over the jubilant singing that the first part of her mission was accomplished.

13.

FINALLY a chance to e-mail you. Can't wait to see you this afternoon! We are all well rested for your visit! HAHAHAHA gotta go baby crying again

Wendy Mann Senior Consultant Stargazer Public Relations ”How'd your meeting go?” Quentin asked as he opened the taxi door for Sarah and stepped back to let her in the car.

She gave the driver the address of Wendy's loft in Tribeca and waited for Quentin to slide in beside her. As the taxi moved into traffic down Sixth Avenue, she said happily, ”Manhattan Music was very impressed that I turned in your alb.u.m at all. They were ecstatic that it's so good. What have you been doing to those poor people?”

”Nothing they didn't deserve,” Quentin said.

She relaxed against the seat, watching midtown Manhattan flash by. ”I just wish I had longer in the city. I didn't expect my meeting to run over. Now I'll hardly have time to exclaim over the baby and stop in at my apartment before our flight.”

”Oh, by the way,” Quentin said offhandedly, ”I called Stargazer and talked to the lady who handles your travel reservations. I postponed our flight until noon tomorrow.”

”Really,” Sarah said, hoping she looked irritated rather than delighted. She scrolled down her contacts to the travel desk and held the phone to her ear. ”Voice mail,” she informed Quentin. ”This chick is just digging herself a deeper hole.” After the beep, she said, ”It's Sarah. Just calling to remind you that you don't work for Quentin c.o.x. You work for Stargazer. For now.”

As she clicked the phone off, Quentin said, ”That was harsh. She was a nice lady.”

Sarah felt a flash of guilt, but she brushed it off. ”That nice lady was totally taken in by your act. She probably gazed moonily into s.p.a.ce while you serenaded her with 'Naked Mama.' And I'm afraid you're about to find out what harsh is. You're supposed to be back in Birmingham tomorrow for a run-through of the concert. Erin will call you.”

”I'll make it in time,” he said. ”The run-through isn't until tomorrow night. But you're right. She'll still call me. I left a message with Martin about what I was doing and then turned my phone off. Turn yours off.”

”I can't do that,” Sarah said. ”There might be a PR catastrophe while I'm gone.”

”They'll leave a voice mail, I promise.”

”And that's another thing,” Sarah protested. ”I don't want to talk to an angry Erin on the phone, but I don't want to listen to a bunch of voice mails from an angry Erin, either.”

”She won't leave you a bunch of messages. She'll leave me a bunch of messages. She'll leave you one.”

”I'll bet it's a doozy.”

”It'll be worth it,” he said.

She glanced over at him. His brown curls danced behind his ears in the blast from the air conditioner vent. He bent his head to the bottom of the taxi window and squinted up at the tops of the pa.s.sing skysc.r.a.pers, as Alabamians who had never lived in New York were wont to do, she remembered from her freshman year at college. He wore his poker face. It was impossible to tell whether he intended innuendo when he told her it would be worth it.

She wanted innuendo, and she didn't. She wanted him, but she couldn't entertain the possibility of stealing him from Erin. If the group broke up, even with the alb.u.m completed, she might lose her job. Nine Lives would tell Manhattan Music what she'd done to him, Manhattan Music would tell Stargazer, and she'd never work in PR again. Quentin eventually would break up with her because she was an unemployed loser. And then she'd be one of these guys wandering in the busy street, spraying and wiping winds.h.i.+elds and demanding five dollars.

Quentin lowered his window and stuck his head into the wind like a happy dog. Apparently Sarah didn't have to make a decision about s.e.x, because there was no innuendo. He said innocently, ”You get to spend some quality time with your friend. And when you're done, I can drop you off at your apartment and visit the foundation. We've been on tour so long, I haven't been by in a year. Since Thailand, I'd like to make sure they're on top of this allergy thing.”

Sarah nodded. ”So it's a real foundation.”

”Of course it's a real foundation. Did you think it was a fake foundation?”

”Word around Manhattan Music is that it's a red herring to draw attention away from your cocaine addiction.”

”That does sound like something we'd do.” He laughed. ”But that would be one expensive fish. No, the foundation is real. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I went through when I was a kid.”

”What gives you the kind of allergic reaction I had to bees?”

”Most nuts,” he said. ”I'm allergic to a lot of foods, but nuts are the one that's hardest to avoid.”

”Yeah, I imagine it's hard to avoid nuts,” Sarah commented provocatively, ”you being a man and all.”

Quentin sighed the longest sigh. ”Are you making a nut joke? Don't even start with me. I've had allergies since I was born. I had allergies in middle school. I've heard all the nut jokes. I made up all the nut jokes so I could tell them before someone else told them.”

”Is that why you never eat out? Because of your food allergies?”

”I never eat out because I'm a great cook.”

”And so humble,” she teased him.

”Have you tried my aloo gobi?”

She smiled. ”Do you mean that in the carnal sense?”

”No, it's vegetarian.” He laughed. ”Seriously, you're right. I never eat out because cooking meals myself is the only way I can be sure they won't kill me.” He inhaled the city deeply through his nose. ”And then there's the asthma. I have to exercise carefully.”

”Thus you flaked out on me in the lake.”

”I didn't flake out, see,” he protested. ”I knew I would flake out. When I was a kid, I didn't know my limits. Or I didn't want to know them. I went out for high school football with Owen one year. That was interesting.”

He waved to a group of j.a.panese tourists on the sidewalk, and several of them waved back. Sarah turned around and watched through the back window as they gestured excitedly to each other, realizing who Quentin was, and started chasing the car. She was about to give the driver a twenty to lose them when a hole opened in traffic and he sped ahead.

”Other things trigger my asthma, too,” Quentin went on. ”Cigarette smoke is the main one. And once you're triggered, getting upset can make asthma worse, but that's only happened to me twice, thank G.o.d. The second time was yesterday, when you threatened to s.h.i.+v me.”

”Again, I'm sorry about that.”

”It's okay. It actually wasn't as bad as the first time. I was mortified.”

”You, mortified?”

”It does happen.”

”Let me guess,” she said. ”Was it when Vonnie Conner turned you down?”

”If I'd had an asthma attack because Vonnie Conner turned me down, I would never have shown my face at high school again,” he said. ”No, it was at my granddad's funeral.”

”Oh.” She covered her lips with two fingers and said through them, ”I'm so sorry.”

”Don't be sorry. The whole spectacle is pretty funny in retrospect.”