“I remember you saying that. And wipe that jealous look off your face before Leonard sees it.
Linda looked around the club to see where Leonard and Tyhedra were sitting, and saw Peggy coming to the stage. “And what is that bitch doing here?”
“You invited her, remember?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think she’d actually come. I heard about you and her getting drunk after they made asshole account manager.”
“And nothing happened,” I said, and was glad that I didn’t fuck her, I thought as Peggy got to the stage.
Linda turned and faced her with a brand new attitude. “Hi, Peggy,” she said, and gave her a little hug. “I see you made it.”
“Glad you could make it, Peggy,” I said.
“Like you said, I wouldn’t miss it.”
Just then, Butch tapped me on the shoulder with his drumsticks. “Tee, we need you for a minute; so if you ladies will excuse us.”
“Sure,” Peggy said and turned away.
“Good luck,” Linda said, and pushed her lips out like she was kissing me.
“Thanks,” I said to Butch.
“You looked like you needed saving,” Butch said. “You gonna learn not to invite all your women to the same set. You got to spread them out. Last thing you want is them causing a scene.”
The house began to fill up with the club regulars and people that had come to wish us well. After the MC made a few announcements,, he introduced us. “Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Hard Bop!”
The crowd gave us a polite round of applause and we got right into our set. We opened with Horace Silver’s, Song for My Father. The song featured Dexter on sax, but didn’t have trumpet solo, and I could see the disappointed looks on the faces of my little cheering section. That all changed when I stepped to the front and counted off, and we jumped into Dear Old Stockholm.
It’s a Swedish folk song. The original Swedish title, roughly translated as Oh Värmland Thou Art Beautiful. Miles Davis and John Coltrane did the best-known jazz version. I got loose on that one. Next we did the Dizzy Gillespie classic, A Night in Tunisia and closed the show with my feature of Lee Morgan’s, Totem Pole. We brought the house down and we took our bows to a standing ovation. We left the crowd hollering for more and we retreated to the dressing room. After a fair amount of patting ourselves on the back, I came back out into the club.
I approached the table where my group was sitting. Tyhedra immediately sprang to her feet and came toward me. Once again, she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek. “You were amazing. I didn’t realize you had come so far since the last time I heard you,” she commented, as Linda and Leonard joined us.
“That was incredible, man,” Leonard said and shook my hand. “You really tore that last song up.”
“Thank you.”
“You really were good, Tavarus,” Linda said, and continued to give Tyhedra the evil eye. “We’re gonna go now.”
“You’re not going to stay for the second set?”
“No, Leonard has a plane to catch first thing in the morning, so we’re gonna go. But congratulations. I hope you and your band do well,” Linda said, and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then she whispered in my ear. “Just friends, huh? We’ll talk about this on Monday.”
“You guys get home safe,” I said and separated myself from Linda.
“It was nice meeting you two,” Tyhedra cooed.
“It was nice meeting you, too,” Leonard said, and gave Tyhedra a hug. Linda walked off without saying another word.
Peggy stepped up. “I’m gonna go, too, Tavarus. But you guys are really good.” She gave me hug and whispered, “It made me want you even more.”
“Thanks for coming out, Peggy. I really appreciate it,” I said and separated myself from her.
“So I guess I’ll see you on Monday.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Tyhedra cooed.
“It was nice meeting you, too,” Peggy said, and Tyhedra gave her a hug.