Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Eddie

Mickki is riding our arses to make sure our last show is flawless; he wants Black Diamond to go out with a bang. Today he has scheduled a wardrobe rehearsal. I mean, seriously, is that even a thing? It's easy for me to pull off ripped jeans, a T-shirt that has some eighties band on the front, and my lucky leather jacket. Since I left said jacket at home, the band and I have flown home for the day, plus Mickki and I have a meeting today about our record company.

I leave Mickki to his wardrobe freak-out and head upstairs to find the only piece of clothing I care about. I didn't take it with me on this tour, as I didn't want its luck to run out. How crazy is that?

"Delilah!" I shout. "Where's my lucky jacket?" I stand in my walk-in closet and scan the hangers.

"Have you looked in Callie's room? The last time I saw you wearing it, you were there," she says.

Just the mention of Callie hits me straight in the heart. I miss her so much it hurts. Go figure, I never believed that you could physically hurt from a broken heart. Now I know you can, and it sucks.

"Thanks," is all I can force out.

Delilah places her hand on my shoulder, offering me some comfort before she walks away. She has lectured me so many times about contacting Callie, but I won't—it has to be her coming to me. I promised myself letting her go was what she needed, and for once in my life, I refuse to be selfish.

I make my way to Callie's part of my house. When I walk into her living room, everything is the way we left it, minus the smashed vodka bottle. Her magazines are still on the coffee table, and dead flowers are in a vase. Her stupid floppy hat is sitting on top of her bookshelf, and hanging on the back of a chair is my jacket.

I hear Mickki bellowing from the pool house, telling me to get my arse back to the main living room. I pull my jacket on and follow the sound of his whiney voice.

"We're only here for twenty-four hours, and you're just dicking around," Mickki admonishes as soon as he sees me. "Jon is only available for an hour before he jets back to Paris."

"I'm quite capable of picking out my own pair of jeans. Half of my wardrobe is full of them, just pick a colour."

"No, Eddie, this needs to be perfect. I must have the right people in my circle now that I'm going off on my own, and I won't have your stupidity to hide behind anymore," he says, looking awfully red in the face.

"Who fucking pissed in your cornflakes today? Fine. Jon, come measure my crotch and be careful—that's not a third leg in my pants," I say, and Jon tries to hide his smile.

"Hmph," is all Mickki mutters and leaves the room.

I stand on a stupid box set up in the middle of the room and Jon gets out his measuring tape and starts chatting away. I'm not in the mood for conversation, so I throw in a few noises and that seems to appease him enough, and he keeps talking.

Just as I'm starting to fidget, he asks me to step down and remove my jacket for the final measurements. As I slide it off, a small plastic USB falls from the pocket. Jon reaches down and hands it to me. It takes a minute of staring at it after I take it from his hand, but I finally remember Callie's son Beau gave me this when he was in hospital. Shit, I'd totally forgotten about it.

I slip it into my jeans pocket and try to ignore the fact that now I can't stop thinking about it being in there. Should I watch it and make sure it's something she can handle hearing, or just post it to her sister's house? But what if it gets lost, or worse, she gets it and relapses? The minute I think that, it's decided. I'm watching the USB.

"Hi, Eddie. Yes, I know it's you watching this. I figured you wouldn't be able to help yourself. You would've told yourself that you wanted to see what was on here, just in case Mum wasn't ready to hear what I have to say. Good, keep watching, because the first part of this video is for you. I know my mum, and after I died, she would've done something reckless. It's what she does. She's never relapsed since Amelia died, but I know my death would have hit her hard. So that's why I know you've broken up. What I can't work out, though, is if it was her who broke it off because she didn't want to drag you down with her, or if it was you because you didn't want to drag her down with your addictions. Either way, you're both as stubborn as each other. Aunty Sasha told me a lot about you.

"Now, I need you to do something for me. I want you to win her back, and before you come up with a million excuses why you can't, just do it because you know Mum's worth it. She's special and needs you more than you'll ever know, and that's why I think you should marry her now. Before you have a heart attack, answer me these few questions and if, after that, you don't want to marry her, I'll drop it, okay? Do you love her?" he says and stares at the screen. "Do you love her? Say it out loud."

"Yes," I say stupidly to the screen while nodding my head.

"Close your eyes. Now image it's ten years from now and you come home from work and open the door. Who do you see? Who's the first person you see in your mind?"

Goddamn, the kid is good, I'll give him that.

"Now, picture my mum dying. How does that make you feel?"

That sharp pain in my heart resurfaces, and I choke up.

"Now, if you love her, and picture her in your future, and can't imagine a world without her, what are you waiting for? Life is short and we can't waste any of it. So, with that out of the way, I have an idea on how to get her back. Listen carefully ? —"

I pause the video, run to my desk, and rummage through the drawer for a pen and paper. Back at the TV, where I have plugged in the USB, I start the video and listen to his instructions as I make notes.

In a nutshell, Callie gets the daily notifications from the ACE TV app on her phone, so she'll see the headline, but simply confessing my undying love won't be enough for her—we'll need something else. Beau says said I should use his name without asking her for a benefit concert or a gift to him, and the reporter will need to use that too.

So that is Part A of the plan, and Part B is softening her up. He's left a USB with his dad, along with instructions to wait for my call before taking it to Callie. Pretty straightforward.

Sasha is in on Part C because he said he's run through his head who she'd call for help to get to me, and he's certain if I'm touring she'll turn up to a concert, otherwise we could skip part C. Beau says Part D is up to me, since his plans will get her there. He also lectures me about not being a pussy, and I'm no pussy.

I'm left shocked and staring at the screen when he says to not watch any further because the rest is for his mum. She should watch it after I propose, as he claims she'll need to see it. Although I want to know what he has to say to her, I respect his wishes and shut it off.

I bloody love this kid; he's a pure genius. I wish I could have gotten to know him better. Could I really do this? I love Callie, but marriage has never been in the cards for me. It's something I've never even considered, not for a second. Never mind that anyone would even want to marry me. I'm way too damaged and high maintenance.

As I call Mickki to my room, the look of annoyance on his face doesn't go unnoticed, but I tell myself to ask him about it later. I show him the video and it seems to shift his mood. Again, I hit pause when Beau is done and as I stare at him and wait, I see a smile creep over his face.

"So, what do ya think?" I ask him.

"Smart kid, he even had me wanting to marry her for a hot minute," he says, and I whip my head around to glare at him. "Whoa there, killer, I don't plan on stealing your girl, but the kid has a point."

"Right? I thought it was crazy, yet it's brilliant. If you mentioned marriage to me six months ago, I would have freaked out, gone on a binge, and screwed her sister. Now, the thought of marriage and settling down sounds damn inviting. I'm not a pussy, though."

"Far from it, bro. And this is borderline crazy, but I think we can pull it off," says Mickki, grinning widely now. "You call the chick from ACE TV and then get on to Delilah—she has crazy good taste in jewellery."

"I know. She buys herself jewellery every year for Christmas on me. Can you call Sasha, fill her in, and see if she'll get in contact with Callie's ex-husband?"

"Already on it," he says, pulling his phone from his pocket and leaving the room.

Not even an hour later, the plan is in place. Sasha called me once she got off the phone to Mickki to warn me that this could all backfire on me, but it would piss her off enough to come. She'd confront me there and also wouldn't miss it since it was being held in Beau's honour. Mickki sent over the plane tickets and backstage passes for Sasha to pass off to Callie, and she said she would get it done. Lacey also agreed to set up a post tomorrow morning. Let's just hope all goes according to plan.