Free Softer Than Steel (A Love & Steel Novel) by Jessica Topper

and looking at them straight on. “Who am I to deny your happiness? Tell me when and I’ll be there.”
    “As my best man?” Adrian pressed.
    “Of course. I always have your back.”
    “We’ve got it pretty much planned; small and simple. Ceremony in the park near the Cloisters, reception at New Leaf Café right on the grounds.”
    “Tell me when,” Rick repeated.
    “Halloween.”
    Rick was gripping the bottle once again, so tight he feared it would pop to shards in his hand. “Do you not look at the itineraries I send you? Halloween, mate. We’ve got second hold on Madison Square Garden, and I just had our agent challenge the date. For fuck’s sake!”
    Kat turned to Adrian. “In English, please.”
    “Another band is thinking about playing the Garden for Halloween and put in for it first. If we come along and challenge them, they have twenty-four hours to decide if they really want it.” Adrian frowned. “Otherwise, it’s ours.”
    Rick was already up and pacing, dialing the band’s booking agent on his mobile. “Ach, West Coast. Oliver’s not going to answer.”
    “Look, Rick. Even if it wasn’t the wedding date . . . I haven’t once trick-or-treated with Abbey, not once in these four years. I just missed her fourth grade play. I don’t want to watch her grow up through a video lens.”
    “Madison Square Garden,” Rick repeated, those three words the only bargaining chip he had at the moment.
    “Enough,” Kat broke in. “You have two days off, then two shows left on this tour.”
    Adrian’s goatee jutted stubbornly as he set his jaw and managed through gritted teeth, “I’ll show you your room.”
    They both clomped up the steep attic stairs in silence. The scene was set most ironically for their comically tragic little play, Rick observed: Two men in their midlife, arguing under a scrapbook ceiling lined with tattered pictures of their much-younger selves.
    “I’m on your side, Dig. Just trying to stay one step ahead. You remember the last time the music industry machine left us behind.”
    “I don’t care. I
will
take a sledgehammer to that machine.”
    Rick listened to the heavy tread of his bandmate’s motorcycle boots on the stairs, followed by Kat’s murmur, “You okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And Rick?”
    “Rick needs to get laid,” came Adrian’s gruff reply, and the angry roar of the shower could be heard moments later.

Rick
    I Never Promised You the Garden
    “Hey, let me show you the lake.”
    Rick rose slowly to Kat’s request. He and Adrian were out by the grill, having another beer as Adrian painstakingly built a pyre out of twigs and stick matches inside a huge pyramid of charcoal briquettes and Abbey serenaded them with the little pink ukulele Rick had sent from Hawaii for her birthday last year.
    “Want to join us?” mother asked daughter.
    “Nope.” Abbey handed Adrian her instrument. “Your turn.”
    Rick looked to his best friend for backup. Surely Adrian wasn’t going to allow him to be subjected to some sort of heart-to-heart alone with Kat?
    “Sorry, mate. It doesn’t matter how metal you are. If an eight-year-old hands you a pink ukulele, you sure as hell better play it.” Adrian smiled and began to strum as Abbey made hula motions with her hands to wave Rick and her mother out of the yard.
    Bugger.
    Kat led the way toward the road. Neighbors were just ending their day’s commute, coming home from work in town or from the city. A car rolled past, giving a beep before crunching into the gravel driveway a few doors down. As Kat lifted a hand in greeting, Rick wondered what most people would think about their odd little commute this morning. Nine to five had no meaning in the music world.
    “So,” he grunted, “you’ve enough food for an army.” Small talk. “Who’s coming?”
    “Oh, Marissa and her family.”
    “The chesty one?”
    Kat laughed. “She’ll love that! And you, for noticing. Yep, that’s her.”
    “How about the ginger?