Rock Radio - By Lisa Wainland Page 0,29

to go to work. The Miami Motors campaign she was working on was taking up a lot of her time. The owners wanted to coordinate the print ad with the radio ad, so today she was meeting with sales guy, Nick Coleman. Jonny felt sorry for her.

He decided to sleep in a bit today, maybe then he could avoid Heather. Seeing her complicated things. So Jonny set his alarm for noon, rolled back over and went to sleep.

Chapter 16

The Cody Blue Experience was gaining a fan base. Eric had them start with a North Florida tour, then sent them into South Georgia. He wanted them polished before taking them to the club scene in the bigger markets: Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. The result was loyal fans who attended shows in their cities and even followed the band to other tour stops. Laura’s following him though had waned. In her last year of school, Laura was just buckling down in her major, physical therapy. The pressure on her to get good grades was enormous. The college’s physical therapy program was hard to get into, if her GPA fell, her chance for admittance went out the window. Cody was traveling basically every weekend. She couldn’t go with him anymore, and when he was in town he had to practice. He invited her to come hang out, but she had to study and couldn’t concentrate while the band played. Her relationship with Cody grew tense.

“Laura,” he begged, “can’t you come see us this weekend in Jacksonville? It’s perfect, your family’s there so you can see them, too.”

“It sounds great in theory, Cody, but you don’t account for the travel time. It’s an hour and half each way. That’s three hours right there. I’ll never get anything done.”

“So?” Cody said annoyed. “I don’t get it. We barely see each other anymore. I don’t have much time for calls, and now, here’s the best opportunity for us to see each other and you won’t take it.”

“Maybe it’s a sign Cody. The relationship is not going to work.”

This line shocked him.

“What do you mean Laura? I just wanna see you. Why is that a reason to break up?”

“Because,” Laura tried to hold back tears. She had realized what was happening between them and it hurt terribly. She loved Cody with all her heart. “Because the truth is...the band is first in your life, not me.”

“That’s not true,” he countered, barely able to breathe.

“Yes, it is. You’re always traveling, you’re never in one place for more than a night, the hours are crazy...I understand that’s the way it has to be if you’re gonna succeed, but that means that we barely see each other, barely talk to each other...”

“Laura...”

“Let me finish.” She inhaled deeply. “What’s going to happen when you achieve more success? You’re going to be on the road even farther away from me.”

“Well, who knows what’ll happen, Laura? It could all disappear tomorrow. Big time success...maybe it’s just pie in the sky.” Cody’s mind raced for words as he tried to grasp what she was saying.

“Cody, part of me wished it would disappear, ‘cause I do love you so much.” She started crying, “But I know that’s not fair of me. I really do want you to be happy, to live your dream...”

“Do you want me to leave the band for you?” Cody held his breath, afraid to hear her answer, especially since he knew he never would walk away from the band.

“If you did you’d resent me forever wondering, what if? I love you too much to do that to you...to us.” She breathed deeply, “But I can’t live like this...without you all the time. I want a real boyfriend. I want a man I can marry and make roots with. What kind of life would we have?”

Marry. Make roots. A real family. It was all Cody ever wanted. But the music. His music. It had taken a powerful hold on him, too.

“Can’t you give it more time, Laura? For us? I can try to give you what you want.”

“How...? I’ve tried to think of a solution, but it all comes back to the same place. I just don’t want to get in any deeper.”

“Any deeper? It seems too late for that now.”

She paused. “Face it, this isn’t fair to me or to you. Maybe we should take a break.”

“Is there someone else?” Cody demanded. “Who is he?”

“Cody, there’s no one else.” She wasn’t lying.

“I don’t believe you. What logical reason do you