few chores and left. He wanted to get there before Heather to avoid anything weird in the parking lot.
Heather arrived to his office twenty minutes late. She was wearing a light blue halter-top and white shorts. Her red hair was wet and pulled back. She was not happy that she had to come in. Last night’s shift was a pain in the ass. Surely, Jonny could do better by her.
“I got here as fast as I could. I went back to sleep after we got off the phone and kinda overslept.” She breathed heavily and leaned against the wall. “Overnights are rough. I’m still really tired.”
“Yes, they are. It’s the only way to get started in the business though.” He motioned for her to sit. “Where’s your tape?’
“Here.” She handed it to him. “So let me ask you something.”
He turned in his chair to put her tape in his cassette player. “Okay.”
“Are you still sleeping with your wife?”
Jonny spun around. “What kind of question is that?”
“A question I think I have a right to ask since I’m sleeping with you.”
“No, you don’t. My relationship with my wife is my business.”
“Really, is that what Jill would say?”
“How do you know her name?” he said, his blood running cold.
“I know lots of things. Things like overnights suck. Why can’t I work in the daylight?”
“Heather our fling has nothing to do with me putting you on the air.”
“Fling?” she raised her voice. “You mean relationship.”
“No, I mean fling.”
Heather looked at him with hurt and rage in her eyes. Jonny suddenly realized Heather was not so stable, he needed to tread carefully. He changed his approach. Quickly.
“Heather, come here.”
She walked around to his side of the desk and sat on top of it. Jonny put his hand on her bare, tan thigh. She smiled.
“Look you caught me off guard. Of course it’s a relationship. I just don’t want my wife to know about us.”
“Yet, you mean.”
“Yeah, yet,” he agreed, happy to have found the calming words to her heart.
“Good, because I don’t like sharing you.” Heather got down from the desk and straddled Jonny.
“Hey, babe, be careful. There are some people here working. We still have to keep our relationship under wraps.”
“I’d like to put you under wraps.” She leaned into him, pushing her young, firm breasts against his chest and ran her fingers through his hair. She kissed his forehead, nose and chin, finally ending up on his mouth for a hot, wet kiss.
Jonny groaned and let his hands wander up her body, beneath her shirt, discovering she wasn’t wearing a bra.
She moaned with pleasure. “You like that, do you?” he said, pulling her top over her head.
“Oh yes,” she whispered, her hands working quickly to unbutton his pants.
He pushed her slowly onto the desk and gave into temptation.
Nick Coleman stood outside Jonny’s office catching every moment through a thin crack in the door.
He came to the station to catch up on work...instead he got an eyeful.
“My, my,” he said to himself, walking away with a Cheshire grin. “My, my.”
Chapter 20
The Cody Blue Experience returned to Gainesville to record their first album. Eric forced them to practice tirelessly to tighten their sound, only having them play gigs in the surrounding area so they could focus on the songs they wanted on the album.
“On the road, you have the crowd and bar acoustics. The studio’s not so forgiving. Plus they charge me by the hour so we don’t have time to rework anything. You have to devote yourselves to sounding nothing short of perfect.”
It was a lot of work practicing day in, day out. The boys were tired. When Eric heard them a few months later, he finally was happy.
“Now you sound polished. Now we can go make an album.”
The studio was no reprieve. The band was on a tight budget. Every hour in the studio was money spent, so Eric pushed them to finish the CD as quickly as possible. He wanted it done in four days. That meant more endless nights and lots of coffee.
Since losing Laura, Cody threw himself even more into the band, writing new songs inspired by his own mistake and heartbreak.
The band was earning some money, not a lot, but enough for Cody to send some to his mother, after he covered his expenses, so she could have some extra cash. She was grateful. It helped ease her burden of disappointment over his decision to leave school. It also helped to allay his guilt.
Cody hadn’t seen his mom