out of my thoughts halfway to the kitchen area. “Oh?” It was hard to care about the concert, honestly. I needed more ice cream, stat.
“Poor Jayd. I do feel for him.”
“Uh-huh.” I stood in front of the freezer and shoveled ice cream in my mouth with a giant spoon.
“He went off grid, and now everyone’s saying he’s in rehab when the boy’s never done hard drugs.” She paused. “Or not very hard drugs.” She paused again. “At least, not back when I knew him.”
I shook my head, pretty sure Jayd hadn’t been a regular on the Key for fifteen years or something. “Uh-huh.”
“And he says he doesn’t care, but of course he does. I honestly think he’s as homesick for the Key as you, sweetie, though he’d never admit it.”
“Uh h— Wait.” I plunked my ice cream carton on the counter and licked some off my finger. “Did you say Jayd says he doesn’t care?” Unless something had changed in the last hour, Jayd hadn’t spoken to the media, so this was news to me. Pretty sure it would be news to his management team, too.
“That’s what I said,” Jonquil agreed. “But of course he actually does care, he just doesn’t want us to worry about him. Still, I think it was wise that Big Rafe is sending Gage to fetch him back here, whether he performs or not. He needs to be surrounded by people who care about him.”
My heart pounded double-time. “Back up, back up. Big Rafe has talked to Jayd Rollins? Gage is with Jayd Rollins?”
“They’re family friends, Trey. You know that.” She hesitated. “Don’t you?”
“No, yes, I knew they were friends. I knew about Rafe and Aimee.”
“Right,” Jonquil said, sounding relieved.
“But I didn’t know they knew where Jayd was now.” I licked my lips, and the taste of peanut butter was kinda sickening. I wanted to ask where the hell Jayd was and if maybe Jonquil had a phone number so I could call him, but instead what popped out of my mouth was, “God, how does Young Rafe feel about him coming back to the Key? It must be hard.”
Because apparently I was a person who thought of others first now? Bizarre.
“Maybe so, but Young Rafe was the one who suggested that Gage should go and fetch him… after Beale gave him a stiff talking-to, of course, as you know.”
A giant ball of something like pride filled the empty spots in my chest. I hadn’t known that, but fuck I wished I had. I wished I’d been there when Beale gave Rafe a talking-to.
“…but I’m not sure anyone can convince Jayd to do the concert, which is why we need the flyers sooner than later.”
I frowned and tried to focus. “You’re still going to do the fundraiser, then, for sure?”
“Heck, yes. We still need a bridge! And if you care about something, you don’t give up, you fight harder. Isn’t that what you and Beale did all these years?”
I opened my mouth and shut it again. Once again, the answer was no. Once again, I wished it wasn’t.
“That’s… a great way to put it,” I said, feeling absurdly choky about the whole thing. Apparently Jonquil read chocolate wrappers, too.
“Oh, I can’t take credit. It was something I read in Aunt Hagatha this morning. ’Course, she was talking about cats, but that’s the thing with Hagatha, I find. You gotta know how to interpret her. Not so different from Beale with his horoscopes, in a way. All depends on how you think the Universe is tryna talk to you, and what you’re finally ready to hear, don’t you think?” Jonquil chuckled lightly. “Some of us need to hear things a dozen times before it penetrates. So, we’ll fight hard, even though it seems hopeless.”
I blinked, my mouth hanging open.
“Anywho, about this flyer…”
“Email me the rendering,” I said quickly. “In fact, email me everything you have. I’m going to send it to a graphic designer I know, and then I’ll talk to a lawyer, just like I promised. But right now… I have something I have to do.” Immediately. Before I overthought it and stopped myself.
“Oh! Alright, then, honey. But first, send me your address. I’ve got a care package for you. Just a few baked goods from Lety and a little something the Mahjong folks painted for you. Don’t worry—nothing too risqué. We held Lorenna back.”
I gave her my address—hell, I’d have given her anything she wanted—then I booted up my laptop.
I couldn’t do anything about