At least I won’t be alone with Andrew at his house.
“You think Chaser would be interested? When he gets back, I mean. For the men’s line.”
I can’t picture Chaser wanting to add “model” to his resume but who knows. “Maybe.”
“Cool. I want it to be sort of edgy and punk rock but also super classy.”
“That’s a lot of expectations.”
He half-shrugs. “I have faith in you, Mallory.” He starts the bike up. The deafening rumble shakes the ground, vibrating straight through me. “Sure I can’t interest you in a ride?” he shouts.
“I’m sure.” I shake my head for some no way emphasis.
He waits until I’m in my car before taking off, handling the big machine with the grace of a panther.
It’s late and I’m starving. I put Andrew’s visit out of my mind and head home.
Chapter Thirty
Mallory
The pain of missing Chaser wraps tighter and tighter around my ribs with each day he’s away. I’m so excited for his eleven o’clock call, I practically pounce on the phone as soon as it rings.
“How’s my girl?” he asks.
I swear hearing his voice makes my eyes water. “Missing you.”
“I miss you too.” He pauses and my heart skips. “I have good news though.”
“You finished the album and you’re coming home sooner than you thought?”
He lets out a soft huff of laughter. “No, little dove. We’re making progress though.”
“What else?”
“Mark worked out a deal for us to contribute a song to the Elimination Date soundtrack.”
“Seriously? That’s wonderful!” I stop and consider the irony. “I auditioned for a bit part in that.”
“What happened?”
I shrug even though he can’t see me. “I never got a callback.”
“Fuck them,” he growls. “Maybe I should’ve said no.”
Now I wish I hadn’t told him. “Don’t be crazy! This is huge for you guys! They probably heard I won’t flash my boobs and wouldn’t have hired me anyway.”
He chuckles.
“Wait, does this mean you’re going to be up there even longer?” Dammit that sounded more selfish than celebratory. Thankfully, Chaser doesn’t hold it against me.
“I don’t think so. We’ll work it into our normal schedule. Mark says we’ll be invited to the premiere. You’ll need a killer dress so they know what they missed.”
He tells me about the ideas they kicked around in the studio. I share how embarrassed I was when I flubbed my lines today.
Basically, we talk about everything that’s happened in our lives since we spoke yesterday.
Well, almost everything.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to spill all the details of Andrew’s visit, but for some reason, I don’t.
Whenever Chaser’s away, he encourages me to share every little mundane detail of my life. Why don’t I want to tell him about Andrew’s visit to the set?
Part of it is my excitement over the soundtrack. The next best thing to seeing myself on the silver screen would be hearing one of Chaser’s songs in a film.
My eyelids grow heavy and our pauses extend for longer periods of time. Chaser and I frequently fall asleep on the phone together. I’m dreading the day our phone bill shows up in the mail, yet we always have trouble saying goodbye.
“Time for bed, little dove,” he says.
“I wish you were here.”
“Me too. You’re coming to visit soon. I wish I could say I’ll show you around but honestly, I haven’t done much exploring myself.”
“Cutter really cracks the whip, huh?”
“Yup. It’s working, though. Except for the random chicks Jacob keeps finding and bringing back to the house, he’s on the straight and narrow.”
“Well, he needs at least one vice so don’t be too hard on him,” I tease.
We finally say good night.
I lay in our bed, staring at the ceiling for a long time after we hang up.
The nagging thought that I should’ve told him about Andrew’s visit won’t go away.
Then again, I never mentioned Andrew’s offer to model the T-shirts, either. I guess, I figured it was another one of Andrew’s big ideas that would never come to fruition.
Besides, after the tour, Chaser and I went home. Got engaged. Who cares about some stupid T-shirts when your boyfriend takes you on a romantic getaway to propose?
Maybe deep down I’m being selfish. I don’t want to tell Chaser. He’ll be pissed. And I don’t want to do anything that delays him finishing the album and coming home to me as soon as possible.
Even if he has to go right back out on the road.
I toss and turn for most of the night.
Chapter Thirty-One
Mallory
Pamela’s still cool to me the next morning. I can’t decide if I