platform waiting for the 5:35 Northeast Corridor train to Penn Station, I heard someone calling “Hello?” from inside my purse. I fetched my phone and found it connected somehow to my mom, whose voice messages I’d been ignoring.
Foiled by technology and the gremlins living in my bag, I placed the phone to my ear. “Mom?”
“Oh, there you are, Eden. I’m making corned beef and gravy tonight. Why don’t you come by before you go out?”
I didn’t know how to cook, so my mom’s invitation was meant as charity. But since she was the reason I couldn’t cook, her promise of shit on a shingle wasn’t enough to lure me from my original plans.
“No, thanks, Mom. I’m on my way into the city to hear Micah play tonight.”
“Oh. Well, we’ll see you Sunday I hope. Would you come to church with us? We have a wonderful new minister and—”
“No, Mom. But I’ll come by the house later.”
“All right. Oh, don’t forget you’ve got a date with Dr. Whedon tomorrow night.”
I groaned. She was relentless. “Is it too late to cancel?”
“What’s the problem now, Eden?”
I pictured Dr. Rick Whedon, DDS, tonguing my bicuspid as we French kissed. But she wouldn’t understand why I’d refuse to date a dentist, so instead, I presented an iron-clad excuse. “Mom, if we got married, I’d be Eden Whedon.”
Her sigh came across loud and clear. “Eden, don’t be so unreasonable.”
“I keep telling you you’re wasting your time, Mom.”
“And you’re letting it slip by, waiting on a nonexistent man. You’re going to be twenty-nine soon.”
The train approached the station, so I put my finger in my ear and yelled into the phone. “In six months, Mom.”
“What was wrong with Jack Talbot?”
I thought for a second and then placed the last guy she’d tried to set me up with. “He had a mustache, Mom. And a tattoo. Also, he lives with his parents.”
“That’s only temporary,” she snapped.
“The mustache or the tattoo?” I thought back to the guy from the lab. “And you never know. Maybe I’ll meet Mr. Perfect soon.”
“Well, if you do, bring him over on Sunday.”
I chortled. The idea of bringing a guy over to my crazy house before I had a ring on my finger was ludicrous. “Sure, Mom. I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Tell Micah to come, too?”
My turn to sigh. Their pride in him was unflappable, and yet, I’d been the one to do everything they’d ever encouraged me to do, while he’d run off to pursue a pipe dream in music. So maybe they hadn’t encouraged me to work in the sex-drug industry, but at least I had a college degree and a stable income.
“Okay, Mom. I’ll mention it. The train’s here. I have to go.”
I climbed on the train and relaxed, so tired of everyone harassing me. At least I could count on Micah not to meddle in my love life.
Chapter Two
At seven thirty, I arrived at the back door of the club, trailing a cloud of profanity. “Fuck. My fucking phone died.”
Micah exchanged a glance with the club owner, Tobin. “See? Eden doesn’t count.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” After two hours fighting mass transit, I’d lost my patience. My attitude would need to be recalibrated to match Micah’s easygoing demeanor.
Micah ground out his cigarette with a twist of his shoe. “Tobin was laying a wager that only women would show up tonight, but I said you’d be here.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Micah’s small but avid female fan base faithfully came out whenever he put on an acoustic show. His hard-rock band, Theater of the Absurd, catered to a larger male following and performed to ever-increasing audiences. But he loved playing these smaller rooms, bantering with the crowd, hearing people sing along with familiar choruses.
Before Tobin could get in on the act, I blurted, “Can I charge my phone in the green room?”
I made a wide berth around Tobin’s plumage of cigarette smoke and followed Micah down the shabby narrow back hall. Dimly lit eight-by-eleven glossy posters plastered the walls, advertising upcoming bands and many other acts that had already passed through. Nobody curated the leftover fliers although hundreds of staples held torn triangles of paper from some distant past. A brand-new poster showing Micah’s anticipated club dates hung near the door to the ladies’ room. That would disappear during the night as some fan co-opted it for him to autograph, and Tobin would have to replace it. Again.
The green room was actually dark red and held furniture that looked