I shake my head. “With all that’s going on, we haven’t even talked about it. It will happen when it happens.”
“Just don’t elope in Vegas, I’d have to disown you.” He chuckles.
“Ah, well. Good thing I don’t need your blood money. I can pay for my own wedding. So could Alex, you know.” I point and jab at the phone.
Mom comes up behind him. “My only son, if you elope I’ll kill you after he disowns you. I’ve been waiting for you kids to get married. To have a proper wedding. Don’t take away the one thing I’ve been looking forward to.”
“My only mom. If that’s the one thing you’ve been looking forward to, I’m feeling extraordinarily sorry for you right now.” She makes a pouty face. “Stop, I promise we won’t elope in Vegas.”
“Okay then.”
They fill me in on the trip and what’s going on with Jaylynn and we wrap it up.
While I was on the phone, I see that Alex sent me and the rest of the guys a picture of all the girls throwing rock horns, including Lena and Mia. Various texts from the guys and Ronni follow. It gets me thinking. On a whim, I dial Zane’s number.
“My dude?” He picks up on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”
I accept his FaceTime request. “Uh, nothing?”
“During our downtime, you neverjustcall,” Zane admonishes.
I think about it for a minute. Realize it’s true and shouldn’t be. “Well, I’ll jump in then. I’m wondering how you’re feeling about the band. Connor’s got his hands full and doesn’t even live in Seattle anymore. Something’s going on with Ty again. You and I seem to have our shit locked down. I guess I was wondering if you have a backup plan. I love being out here on the ranch, but at some point, I’d like to have even a short tour to look forward to.”
“Oh, I feel ya.” He looks off into the distance. “The Mission is cool and all, but it’s not my dream. Gus is taking all of Fee’s time in the months leading to this opening. I rarely see her. I’m basically a house husband. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I’m getting antsy. We’re almost five months into year two of our hiatus.”
“From a marketing perspective, I’m trying to be realistic. I think we have a window, but if we let it go much further we might not get back to where we were.” I blow out a huge breath. One I’ve been holding for months. We’ve been so consumed with Alex’s health, I haven’t allowed myself to think about what I want. Which is my band.
“We should have a meeting. Maybe even fly to Connor if we have to.”
“Yeah, and that brings up something else. We need to decide on management. Katherine’s upset that we blew off her schedule, but I think she’ll always push us in the direction that isn’t who we are as a band anymore.”
Zane nods. “Yeah, I agree. I’m not happy with how they exploited Ty all those years. I’m mad at myself for everything that happened with Andrew and Sienna. Part of me wonders if Ty’s reluctance to commit to anything is because he doesn’t want to relive all that shit.”
“I never thought about it from that point of view.” Zane is like Ty’s brother, so I value his opinion. Even if he’ll always protect Ty. I care deeply about our singer, but so much of what went down took a personal toll on me too. It’s not all Ty’s fault though. I’ve been thinking if I can take some personal responsibility, maybe I can get rid of the resentment that’s built up during our hiatus.
Huh. Resentment.
Zane leans back in his chair and holds the phone up at an angle. “Ty’s seeing Lisa regularly again. In my opinion, that’s why he’s a little fucked up. Dredging up the past and shit.”
“I’ve got to ask, is he drinking? Or is it coke again?” I can’t help but furrow my brow. If he started down the substance abuse path again, I think that would be it for me.
“No, I don’t think so. He said he’s trying to get closure from his mother’s death. He’s never lived a very traditional life; I’m guessing he’s also just trying to settle into the prospect of being a father when the only father figure he ever had was Carter.” For a man with the knob turned to eleven all the fucking time, I’m always astounded by how insightful Zane is. “It’s tough because we really aren’t LTZ without any one of us. I wouldn’t be into carrying on the band if one of us left.”
“Me either.”
“The thing is, even though we’ve written a couple new songs for LTZ, Ty still gets his music fix from producing artists. He and Connor just finished mastering Fireball’s album. He’s also working with some acts from his foundation. Connor has some extra stuff going on too. Did you know he had a role in Ronni’s Netflix show?”
My jaw drops open. I shut it right away before anyone notices. Zane’s revelation astounds me. I can’t believe Connor never said anything. “So, Connor’s going to be anactornow?”
“Nah, nothing like that.” Zane waves me off. “He’s a background character. Ronni did it as a way to keep the twins on set. The network even sprung for daycare. Connor’s role in taking down Kircher made him a hot commodity.”
“Wow. I was so caught up in Zoey’s accident and the aftermath with Sienna, I keep forgetting about that. Ronni is such a fucking badass.”
Zane raises an eyebrow. “When you think about it, LTZ has been through the ringer on all fronts.”
It occurs to me that the three other guys have been in constant communication about their lives while I’ve basically blown them off this entire year. They’re my brothers. My best friends. I can do better. Iwilldo better. “We have been through the shit, that’s for sure. So, um, apparently you and I are the loyalists, but how would you feel about jamming with some musician friends, just for fun?”
“What do you think?” He winks at me.