My Human Resource Management class final was easier than I’d expected and I buzzed through it quickly. This left me a few hours to kill before dinner at Sana and Donny’s, so I did something I hadn’t done in years- I lay out on the sun deck to just catch some rays and veg out.

I’d just turned over for the third time when my phone rang. Hoping it was Emmy, I grabbed it and answered without checking to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Stephanie.

“Hey, babe!” she said when I answered the phone.

“Steph?” I asked, surprised.

“Yup! It’s me!” she replied.

“Um- how are you doing?” I asked, my mind a bit blank.

“I’m doing pretty well. How are you doing?” she said, obviously enjoying me being on the back foot.

“O.K., I guess,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Can’t a girl call just to talk?”

“Sure she can, but she doesn’t do that very often at all,” I said.

“Ooh, ouch!” Stephanie said, laughing. “Yeah, O.K., I do have a reason for calling. I just found out that the Sons’ show tonight is going to be live streamed, so you can watch it from the comfort of your couch, while wearing your PJs. Cool, huh?”

“Now, Stephanie, you know I don’t wear pajamas,” I teased.

“Oh, yeah… hey, what are you wearing right now?” she asked in a husky voice.

“Nothing but cocoa butter. I’m tanning on the roof deck,” I said, matching her sexy voice.

“No, seriously, what are you wearing right now?” she demanded.

“I’m serious. I’m lying out catching some afternoon rays. Why?”

“Damn. You totally derailed my train of thought,” Stephanie said. “What were we talking about?”

“Cocoa butter,” I replied, smirking even though I knew she couldn’t see it.

“Hang up right now. I’m gonna FaceTime call you right back so we can go to video.”

“Nuh uh,” I said. “First, you stay at my house, second, you snuggle up with my wife, and now you want me to cam girl it up for you? You’ve become quite demanding, Steph, I gotta say.”

“I demand you cam girl it up for me right now!” Stephanie said, laughing. “And, by the way, nice house, snuggly wife.”

“It is a nice house, isn’t it? And she does snuggle very nicely,” I agreed.

“The boys really freaking love the house, too. But they didn’t get to snuggle with Emmy.”

“Their loss,” I said.

“Seriously,” Stephanie agreed.

“But hey, I was serious about the live stream. Emmy’s going to play the entire set with the boys, not just a couple of songs for the encore. It turns out she had learned all their songs from listening to their records, so they had a practice session this morning and it all worked perfectly.”

“Wow- that’s awesome, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I mean, she picks up songs just from listening to them once.”

“Well, the boys are totally, I mean totally, stoked about it. You know they have three nights at the Ballroom, and she’s going to play all three.”

“Has it been announced that she’s going to guest?”

“Nope. Nobody has said a word. The promoter doesn’t know, none of the boys have let it leak on social, nothing. It’s gonna be a surprise,” Stephanie said.

“Well, that oughta sell some tickets when news gets out,” I said, imagining the crowd going crazy when Emmy steps onstage.

“No, actually, it won’t,” Stephanie said, and I could hear her gloating. “The shows are already sold out.”

“Have they been doing that a lot?” I asked.

“Yeah, almost every stop on this tour,” Stephanie said, and she was definitely gloating. “One thing has become obvious and that’s that the Sons are going to book bigger places next time out.”

“You did all the booking, right? I mean, that’s all you?”

“Well, no, not really. I mean, yes, I handle everything for the band, but at the other end, when word gets out that the Sons are planning a tour I get a lot of calls and emails from local promoters wanting the Sons to play in their venues, you know?”

“So they reach out to you?” I asked, really curious.

“A lot of the time, yeah. Then, if I don’t know them or the venue, I have to do research to see if it’s appropriate, if the promoter has a good rep, all that. I swear, I work harder at this than the boys do.”

“It sounds like it,” I said.

“Yeah, and I’m getting pretty tired of this touring shit, too,” Stephanie grumbled. “This is our third national tour, and we’re heading to Europe after this East Coast swing. Don’t get me wrong, Europe will be cool, but how wrong is it to want to sleep in my own bed?”

“Make sure you take some time to sightsee while you’re over there,” I said.

“Yeah, I intentionally left gaps in the schedule so we could be tourists, not just tour its,” Stephanie replied.

“How long will you be there?”

“Seventeen shows, twenty nine days in Europe. The shows aren’t evenly spaced out, though, so we have a few clumps of days off.”

“That’s cool,” I said. “You haven’t been to Europe before, have you?”

“No, and neither have any of the boys, either. We’re all Europe virgins.”

“Hot tip- get some local to drive,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, no shit, huh? Especially in the U.K.”

“Hey, when does the show start tonight?” I asked.

"The opening act goes on at eight, they leave the stage at a quarter till nine, and the boys take the stage at nine. Eastern time, of course,” Stephanie added.

“Well, sure. So I need to be in front of a big-screen TV with everything set up by six California time.”

“Exactamundo,” agreed Stephanie.

“I’ll do that,” I said. “Text me the details on how it’s going to be streamed.”

“No prob,” Stephanie said. “Oh, and you know what?”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I’m gonna totally groupie on Emmy and go home with her and you know what? I’m gonna sleep with her, too!”

Laughing, I said “Facetime call me when you do.”

“No way. You won’t cam girl for me, I’m not gonna stream for you, either!” Stephanie said in a mock huff.

As soon as we got off the phone, I texted Mia. “Hey, Mia, this is important,” I sent. When she responded with a question mark, I said “Wherever Emmy goes tonight, you go, too. Stick to her like glue. She goes backstage, so do you. She goes out into the crowd, you’re right next to her. The band goes out and parties, you go out, too, but stay sharp.”

“Got it,” she texted back. “Dad already gave me my marching orders on this one.”

“Glad to hear it. Let me know if you have any problems at all.”

“Will do.”

Next, I texted to make sure it was O.K. before showing up early at Sana and Donny’s place, letting them know that I wanted to watch the concert at their house. Both were excited by the idea, so I made sure they had all the necessary tech bits to make it work. I guess I’d never really paid any attention, but it turned out they had a bigger, newer TV with a better sound system than we did. Setting up to watch the streaming video was a snap for Donny, to my relief. I’m not some sort of luddite or anything but Emmy and I just don’t really watch much TV at all, so I really hadn’t paid any attention to any of that stuff.

Donny and Sana though, were big fans of staying in, especially once Aaron came into their lives. Sure, Jassie was eager to babysit any time they wanted a night out, but most of the time they were content to have dinner home, then watch something on the tube. Well, LCD, I guess it is nowadays.

Sana nursed Aaron, then put him to bed for a late nap.

“We’re getting him used to sleeping in his own room, but the transition is tough,” Sana said when she came back to the living room.

“Does he cry when he’s by himself?” I asked.

“What? No, he’s fine with it. It’s Sana who’s having a hard time,” Donny said with a laugh.

“Sometimes I wake up and can’t hear him breathing and I freak out until I remember he’s not in our room anymore,” admitted Sana, settling into her seat next to Donny. I noticed he reached out and took her hand and just held it without even thinking about it- like it had become so automatic that it just happened by itself.

It was almost six, so when the emcee came onstage to introduce the band Donny un-muted the sound.

“Let’s give a big welcome to the Prodigal Sons!” he said, and the band filed on stage, Brent in the lead. Emmy was last in line, and when the crowd recognized who it was, the cheering and clapping almost doubled in volume.

Brent stepped up to the microphone, waving to the audience. “Thanks, thank you,” he said. When the crowd quieted down, Brent said, “Thank you all for coming out tonight. We are the Prodigal Sons plus one tonight. We have a special guest playing with us tonight, an old friend of ours. Please, welcome Emmy De Lascaux, our very own Prodigal Daughter!”

Emmy waved at the crowd, but didn’t step up to the mic.

“Some of you may know this bit of history, but Emmy’s very first time on stage, playing for an audience, was with us, what, five years ago? Has it really been that long? Seems like just yesterday!” Brent said, looking back at Emmy. “Come on up to the mic, Em, say hello.”

When Emmy shook her head, Brent chuckled and said “Well, that’s Emmy for you. Shy as always.” After the laughter died down, he went on. “So here’s the deal. Emmy didn’t want to upstage the rest of us here tonight, so she’s mostly gonna play rhythm guitar, and take lead on only a few songs. She’s gonna sing a couple, too, don’t worry, but this is still a Prodigal Sons show, so we aren’t going to change our play list up at all. Like I said, tonight, and the next two nights are The Prodigal Sons plus the Prodigal Daughter. I hope you all enjoy it as much as a regular Sons show!”

As the laughter started to die back down, Brent nodded to Justin to lead off their song “Night Time” with its heavy bass line.

“R U watching?” Stephanie texted.

“Of course,” I texted back.

“Than what song R they playing?”

“Night Time,” I texted, chuckling at the fact she would really check to make sure.

Stephanie and I kept texting back and forth through the entire set, mostly about the songs, how touring has been, stuff like that. At one point Donny asked who I was chatting with, and when I told him it was Stephanie, he looked shocked.

“Your ex? The cheerleader?” he asked.

“That’s the one,” I agreed.

“Does Emmy know you two are still in contact?”

“Want to hear something hilarious?” I asked.

“What’s that?”

“The two of them slept together last night, and will again tonight and tomorrow,” I said.

“O.K., this is gonna take some explanation,” Donny said.

“The short version is that Steph is managing this band, The Prodigal Sons. We all went to high school together, right? Well, these guys were doing a crappy job of promoting themselves and were playing parties for beer money when Stephanie agreed to become their manager. She got them paying gigs, a record contract, set up their tours, had merch made up, the whole thing,” I explained.

“Wow,” said Donny. “This is the girl I talked to on the phone back in freshman year, right?”

“Yeah.”

“She- and I don’t mean this in any sort of mean way- didn’t seem very serious, but what you’re talking about must be a lot of work.”

“Yeah, she really stepped up. She did all this while maintaining a solid B plus grade average at San Diego State and just got her degree in Marketing last month.”

“So anyway- back to the sleeping together thing,” Donny said, his eyes wide.

“So the Sons are on tour, and are playing three nights in New York, right? Well, Emmy invited the whole band to stay at our place instead of getting hotel rooms.”

“O.K…” Donny said, impatient for the good bits.

“As it turns out, there are two roadies, too, so there weren't enough spare bedrooms for everybody. So Stephanie, since she’s the only girl in the group, is staying in the master bedroom with Emmy.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?” Sana asked.

“Not at all. I trust both of them, for one, and they’re just friends, anyhow. Heck, despite the teasing I’ve been getting, Stephanie probably slept on the couch or something like that.”

Just then I got a text from Stephanie. “PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEXT SONG!” it said, all in caps in the equivalent of a shout.

“Why?” I texted back.

“Just do it” was Stephanie’s response.

The song Stephanie wanted me to watch was one that had been getting a lot of attention for various reasons, from the title ‘Bitch hit me back’ to the theme of domestic abuse. If you didn’t pay any attention to the lyrics it was still a pretty good rock tune, somewhat reminiscent of classic Aerosmith. When the song hit its famous guitar solo, Brent stepped back from the microphone and Emmy took the spotlight.

A new guitar I hadn’t seen before slung low on her hip, she tapped something on her effects pedal board and her guitar sang out in a long, slightly fuzzy note that lasted for quite a while, and as she dragged it out she sang the exact same note. Her vocals must have been running through the same effects, because it had the same hint of distortion as the guitar. She sang along perfectly with every note of the solo she played, giving an eerie echo effect as the wordless vocals matched the guitar riffs perfectly.

“I’ve never seen anybody do that before,” breathed Donny as the extended solo came to a close and the audience went insane with applause. “I’ve never seen anything like that, ever,” he added.

“No, that was new to me, too,” I agreed.

“What did U think?” Stephanie texted when the song finished.

“Amazing,” I replied.

“SRSLY” she agreed.

“The rest of the show was good, but that solo was clearly the high point so far.” I texted.

“Fo sho” Stephanie texted back. “But wait for the last song of the encore”.

The band finished their main set, then did the obligatory five minute wait to return to the stage. I’d gotten so used to The Downfall’s shows, and they never, ever did any sort of encore, and I’d forgotten how irritating that whole encore thing really was. Everybody knows the band isn’t done, but it’s some sort of ritual that the band and the audience have to go through for some reason.

Anyway, they came back on stage and played a couple more songs, then Emmy took the lead for the final song of the night. It sounded familiar, but I didn’t recognize it until Emmy started singing a rendition of the Guns N' Roses version of ‘Knocking on heaven’s door’. It definitely was inspired by Axl and Slash’s treatment of the song, with Brent playing the long, chainsaw guitar chords and Emmy the piercing, clear guitar lead. The two sang the song as a duet, with Emmy singing the main part and Brent the response.

It was a giant, grandiose rock song and the two did it justice.

Donny glanced over at me after the song finished and caught me crying. “Are you O.K.?” he asked, concerned.

“Don, you know she’s moon kissed,” I said, wiping my tears away.

“Oh, fuck,” Donny breathed. “She knows she only has a few more years, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, she does,” I said, my voice thick. “She does.”

“Have you guys looked into treatment? I mean, maybe there is some sort of gene therapy-”

“Emmy refuses to consider it,” I said, interrupting.

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know,” I said, my voice betraying the frustration I’d felt on the subject. “She won’t tell me. She just says that it isn’t a thing that needs to be cured.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Donny said.

“I guess it does to her,” I said, more than just a touch bitter.

“Um, Leah,” Sana said, timidly.

“Yeah?”

“Never mind. It’s not my place to say anything,” Sana said, realizing she was overstepping. “It’s for you and Emmy to talk about.”

“What is it?” I asked, wondering what she’d been about to say.

“Sorry. Just forget I said anything at all.”

My mood killed, I made my goodbyes and left to go back to my empty house. On the way home I stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle of tequila and a six pack of Squirt sodas to make myself some palomas. I felt like getting a bit drunk, and I’d enjoyed the drinks Michael had made the night before, and the ingredients were basic.

Back at home, I mixed up my drink, then went out up to the rooftop deck to wallow in my misery.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I saw that it was a text from Emmy. I’d missed a few from Stephanie, too, I noticed.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Emmy asked.

“Up until the last song” I replied.

“You didn’t like it?” came the immediate response.

“Emmy, you played that song” I started to type, then backtracked and erased what I was starting out to say.

“Em, it fucking crushed me.” I finally got out.

The little ‘typing’ dots appeared, then disappeared, then reappeared after a moment. Eventually, Emmy sent, “I am so very sorry. I did not mean to upset you.”

“How could it not?” I replied quickly. Then, “I want you forever, Em. Not just the next few years”.

“I want you forever, too, Leah” she sent back, then the phone rang. I answered Emmy’s call, but we couldn’t really talk- it was just too loud where she was. “I’ll call you as soon as I can” was really the only communication that happened.

I read the texts from Stephanie, asking me how I enjoyed the encore.

“Ask Emmy about why she played that song” was all I replied, then put the phone down and stared up at the night sky.