Page 54 of Indescribable Love

“Thank you,” she said.

Once every topic from everyone had been covered, it was time to head over to the venue to do the walk-through. His band was over there already doing a sound check. The concert was tomorrow night, but they always liked to have ample time to work out any kinks.

Juliette was always with him—albeit several steps behind him—and he found she spent a lot of time either talking on her phone or typing on it. He was curious as hell about what exactly she was doing, but he had enough of his own stuff to focus on.

At the arena, he joined the band on stage and instantly the mic was in his hand, and the music started.

That’s when the world literally faded away.

This particular combination of musicians was his favorite of his career so far. They just gelled pretty much from the very first time they played together. Their routine was to always start a rehearsal with something light and fun, something that they wouldn’t play during a concert. Most of the time, they didn’t let Simon know ahead of time what they were going to play, so it was a game, a challenge, that he looked forward to. They had yet to stump him, but he was certain it was only a matter of time before they chose a song that was completely foreign to him.

Today, however, was not that day.

It took all of five seconds for him to recognize the opening of Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69.” Grinning, he faced the guys and belted out, “I got my first real six string…bought it at the five and dime…” It was an old song, but he remembered singing it when he was little and always loving it. After that, they transitioned into The Beatles classic, “Twist & Shout.” Obviously, he was way too young to really know a lot of music from The Beatles, but he remembered it from watching the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with his mother. She loved that movie and sometimes on a rainy Saturday afternoon when he was a kid, she’d find it on TV and they’d watch it together.

Not all of his childhood was bad.

Just anything that had to do with his father.

Pushing that negative thought aside before it could take hold, they finished the song and began talking about how things were sounding and working with the techs to get everything performance ready. They jammed through a half dozen random songs before going into their set. Typically, they only ran through the first six songs to get a feel for the venue and make sure the sound and lighting was correct, but because they were coming off of a month-long hiatus, Simon really wanted to run through the entire playlist.

So they did.

At some point, the film crew had set up and were doing their thing and, ultimately, he didn’t even notice them. By the time they finished playing—including the time between songs when Simon tweaked light placement and corrected issues with the sound—almost three hours had gone by. The band had gotten there before him, so they had essentially been setting up and playing for almost five hours. It was definitely time to call it a day.

“I think we’re set!” he told them, placing his mic back in the stand. “Go and get something to eat and lots of rest because the next three nights are going to be wild, I’m sure!” Walking around, he shook everyone’s hand and chatted with them before finally walking off the stage.

That took another hour.

His head of security silently walked beside him. Gage Wyatt was the biggest guy he’d ever seen. When Mick hired him, Simon had laughed because it didn’t seem possible that he’d ever need a security guard who was built like a Mack truck. He’d learned early on that fans weren’t always gentle and some were downright aggressive. More than once, Gage had been the only thing standing between him and a thousand crazed fans. Now, it was a comfort to have him around, and he considered Gage more of a friend than an employee.

“So? How’d we sound?” he asked with a grin.

“Good as always,” Gage replied stiffly. Simon might consider him a friend, but Gage wasn’t the warm, fuzzy type and sometimes seemed incredibly uncomfortable with casual conversation.

“How do you think it’s going to go with the film crew?”

“A necessary evil, I suppose.”

Well…that was a little telling…

“With any luck, they’ll get some great footage and be out of our hair sooner rather than later,” Simon told him.

Backstage, the camera crew was packing up as well. Nick came over with a smile. “We got some great footage today, Simon,” he said as he shook his hand. “It was nice to get a glimpse of how the concert will go so I know where to set up the cameras and what to expect.”

“Excellent! Glad it worked out,” he said. They were heading toward where his dressing room was, and he figured he’d find Nikki and Juliette waiting for him there.

“Any chance we can have time tomorrow for some interviews?”

The answer was out before he could even think it through. “The first day a tour starts back up is a big thing and I have a lot to go through because I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I don’t mind you filming stuff as long as you don’t interfere with anything. But the interview will have to wait a day or two.”

“No problem, Simon,” Nick assured him and at the door of the dressing room, he wished him a good night. “See you tomorrow!”

Relief washed over him as he opened the door and found…no one. It was empty. Stepping inside, he looked around.

“Nikki’s talking to the event manager here at the stadium,” Gage told him. “I told her you’d text her when you were ready to leave.”

“And Juliette?”