door, where I found an entranceway that was closed off to the stairwell. There was an intercom system on the wall, so I found the button for LBH and buzzed.
“Hello,” a woman answered.
“Hi, this is Cary’s assistant, Tay—” The buzzer sound cut me off as I was promptly buzzed in. I opened the heavy door and wrestled the gift basket through, then slogged up the stairs. I really might’ve considered getting a smaller gift basket, in retrospect, but this was the best one. I reached yet another door at the top of the stairs, and thankfully someone opened it from the inside for me.
“Hey. Taylor, right?” the woman said, trying to get out of the way of the basket. I could barely see her as I carried it through the door.
“Yes. Thank you. This is heavy…”
“Over there.” She pointed me at a desk that I could kind of see.
I lowered the basket slowly. “Am I about to crush anything?”
“Nope. You’re good.”
I set the gift basket down on the corner of the desk with relief and smiled at her. “Merritt?”
“That’s me.” Cary’s studio manager had long, dark hair with blunt bangs and wore a System of a Down T-shirt with a tattoo peeking out, and you know when you just liked someone instantly? This girl. I’d spoken to her on the phone half a dozen times already.
“So nice to meet you,” I said.
We shook hands and she said, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“What?” I laughed a little.
“I mean, you’ve been doing a great job with Cary already. I can tell.” She breezed behind her desk and picked up her phone, hit a button, and said to whoever was on the other end, “Taylor’s here. Make sure everyone’s wearing pants. And then come help with a package, please.” She hung up and smiled at me as if to say, Some people’s children.
“Do they usually record music with their pants off?” I inquired.
“It’s very pants-optional back there. I’m just saying I’ve already caught both Ashley and Xander with their pants down, and not in a good way. Xander has a habit of leaving the bathroom door open, like he forgets women exist in the workplace or something. And Ashley just seems to prefer life without pants.”
Yeah, I was aware of that particular character trait in my best friend’s husband. “At least he has a nice butt,” I offered.
She rolled her eyes, like Not interested. “Can I just say I love having someone at Cary’s side who actually responds to my emails in a timely fashion? And who knows how to use a copier.”
“Cary doesn’t know how to make copies?”
“I just mean whenever he needs to scan me a signed document or something, it always comes through crooked or with something cut off and I have to fix it. It’s not his fault. He has more important things to worry about. Which is why he needs an assistant.”
“I agree. And thank you.”
Her eyebrow spiked up. “Are you planning on sticking around? Excuse my bluntness.”
“I am. Hopefully.”
“Well, I hope you do.”
“Thank you. And before I forget, I have these papers for you, from Cary.”
She took the paperwork I handed her, transported safely in a folder I’d tucked under my arm, and sifted through. “Thanks. See what I mean?”
“I just wanted to introduce myself and meet everyone, and maybe pop in to say hi to the band? Assuming they have their pants on. I think my girlfriend Danica is here.”
“She might be. I haven’t seen her, but they use the back door a lot.”
“Have they eaten lunch yet?”
“I have no idea.”
“Oh, okay. I just thought maybe you ordered in for them or something.”
“Oh, hell no,” Merritt said. “I’m here part time, I have two other jobs and my own kid. Frankly, it’s not my job to babysit rock stars, and that includes feeding and diapering them.”
I laughed at her frankness.
“Sorry.” She looked at me like she wondered if I was gonna badmouth her to Cary. “That was maybe a little crass.”
“I adore frank and crass.”
“As far as I know,” she said, “they’ve basically been redecorating the studio, smoking weed and drinking. Who ever said rock ’n’ roll is dead?”
“Not me.”
We both looked over as some guy wearing a baseball cap poked his head through a door. The reception area was basically a gray little room with Merritt’s desk and not much else. Not nearly as glam as I’d expected.
Merritt pointed him at the gift basket, and the dude loped into the room. “This is Isaac,” she