The Happy Ever After Playlist - Abby Jimenez Page 0,33

biting, and I had to audition a drummer for the tour. The one I’d used on my album wasn’t able to travel. Then I’d have to do rehearsals right up until hitting the road.

The next few weeks were going to be exhausting. Today was such a waste. I had nothing scheduled and I could have been with Sloan the whole day.

It had taken me twenty-nine years to meet someone I was this into, and when I finally did, it could not have come at a worse time. In three weeks I’d be gone for four months.

I’d meant what I said, that she should come see me on the road. But I knew even now that it wouldn’t be enough. Yesterday hadn’t been enough. I was already used to talking to her and texting her constantly and neither held a candle to seeing her now that I’d met her. Going cold turkey today felt like withdrawals.

I played with Tucker for an hour, sitting on a reclining chair by the hot tub, tossing a tennis ball into the pool. He seemed depressed, and I actually debated taking him to Starbucks for one of those puppuccino things to cheer him up. I think he missed Sloan, a sentiment I was quickly beginning to share.

I shot a text off to her with a picture of Tucker looking sad, his head on his paws. She didn’t reply for over an hour.

Sloan: Awww. I miss him. Give him a kiss for me.

I typed, smiling.

Jason: He says for ME to give YOU a kiss from HIM. So what are you doing today?

Sloan: Just running errands.

It didn’t feel like errands. She was too distracted today, almost evasive.

For a brief moment, I wondered if she was dating someone else.

Instant jealousy.

We’d never discussed whether or not she was dating. She’d been so opposed to dating me I’d just assumed she wasn’t on the market. But what if I was wrong?

Jason: What kind of errands?

She left me on read.

I used the gym in the pool house, trying to distract myself from my wandering thoughts about Sloan dating other people. Now I was shamelessly grateful she found my stage persona so impressive. I needed all the advantages I could get.

A few hours later I was sitting on a lawn chair in front of my trailer trying out a new capo on my guitar when Ernie made his way across the yard.

“How’s my favorite squatter?” He tossed me a beer and plopped in the chair next to me.

Tucker was so depressed he didn’t even raise his head to greet him.

Ernie loosened his tie. “Spent my morning with the bloodsucking lawyers. She wants her alimony adjusted.”

I opened the beer with a pith. “Which wife is this?”

“Four.” He grinned. “But I brought wife number five with me just to piss her off.”

I chuckled.

He pulled his shoes and socks off and put his feet in the grass. “Excited about the tour?”

The funny thing was, I had been excited about it. But now?

“Hey, what do you think about taking girlfriends on tour?” I asked.

“Girlfriend? When did you get a damn girlfriend?” He took a drink of his beer.

“I didn’t. It’s just someone I like. I like her a lot, actually.”

“I thought you wanted to be famous,” he said. “Now you wanna have a girlfriend instead?”

I laughed. “What, I can’t do both?”

He leaned back in his chair. “Nope. Not if you wanna do either thing well. This is not the time to be anchoring yourself with a girlfriend, my friend.”

I shrugged and took a sip of beer. “I’ve headlined tours before.”

“Not like this you haven’t. You’re touring with a label now. Your entire life is about to change, and in ways you can’t even fucking imagine. Girlfriends are jealous and distracting, and they suck the energy from your soul. Trust me on this. You won’t even have time for you.”

He swatted at a bee buzzing around him. “Who is she anyway? Monique or Monica or whoever the fuck? Oh God, tell me it’s not Lola. Man, you really screwed the pooch on that one—no pun intended. I mean, I get it, she’s fucking hot, but damn is she nuts.” He took a swallow of beer and looked over at me. “She still calling?”

I laughed a little. “Yup.”

“She’s never gonna give it up. You’re gonna get a severed nipple in the mail, wake up chained to a bed in her basement.”

I snorted. “Not funny.”

He tipped his beer at me. “You hear she put a golf club through Kanye’s windshield