“That one’s gonna be trouble,” DeWayne leaned over and cautioned Rob.

Rob glanced at him. “You really think so?” He swiveled his head to look at Kate who was sitting at the other end of the bar. She winked at him and he looked away.

They were in sitting at the bar in Tucson, waiting for a table in a restaurant they both enjoyed. DeWayne was nursing a beer. Rob had already downed two Jack and Cokes.

He was ordering his third when DeWayne said, “Are you kidding me? The way she came onto you, man, I wouldn’t fuck her with someone else’s dick.”

In a fit of laughter, Rob spit the last of his drink on the bar. The dark liquid ran out of his nose. He grabbed some of the cocktail napkins off the bar and wiped his chin before it spilled onto his shirt. “What did you just say?”

“I said…”

“No, I heard you,” he choked, wiping at the tears running from his eyes. “Please don’t repeat it!”

“You like that one, huh?”

“I’ve never heard it put quite like that before.”

“Oh, I got a million of ‘em.”

“I’ll bet you do!”

“So, anyway, about this singer you got…”

“Kate,” Rob interrupted.

“Yeah, whatever.” DeWayne wiped her name away with a wave of his hand. “I got a bad feeling about her.”

The bartender set a fresh drink in front of Rob, and he picked it up and gulped half of it down. “Are you psychic?”

DeWayne laughed. “You know I’m not. But I do have kind of a sixth sense when it comes to people. And this girl makes me feel sick in my soul.”

“Not to worry, my big friend,” Rob answered. “After an invite like that, I’ve been steering clear of her. I don’t do slut anymore. Not since Lucy.”

“Speaking of Lucy, have you heard anything from her?” DeWayne signaled the bartender for another beer. “You don’t talk much about her anymore.”

Rob shrugged. “What’s there to say? I guess she blew me off. And took my kid with her.” He shook his head. “I don’t get it. She came to the hospital. She promised to be right back with my clothes. She promised to get me out. Then nothing. She just disappears.”

“Have you considered the possibility that she couldn’t get back to you?”

Rob bobbed his head as he turned to look at his friend. “It’s crossed my mind. But how would I find out? It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Not really.” DeWayne took a sip of his beer then set the mug down. “You just have to know how and where to look.”

“And you know the how and where, I suppose?”

DeWayne eyed Rob without speaking. It took him a minute, but suddenly Rob’s eyes lit up.

“There it is,” DeWayne said.

“Hospitals! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Cause you’re a musician.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Don’t take offense.” DeWayne held up his hands. “It only means you think like a musician. Whereas, I worked in a hospital. I still think like that.”

He drew in a long breath. “Okay. I get it. So, how do we start? And where?”

“First things first.” DeWayne picked up his mug of beer and downed the rest of it. “You’re on tour, so we shouldn’t even start looking until we get back to LA.”

“Why should we wait? There’s no time like the present, and I need to…”

“Rob,” DeWayne silenced him. “I said, you’re on tour. It’s your first tour. The only thing you should be concentrating on is that.”

“But…”

“No buts.”

“But why?”

DeWayne heaved a sigh. “Think about it. If we go looking, that’s going to take the front and center of your mind. That’s all you’ll be able to think about. Do you want to be onstage, thinking of Lucy, and forget the words to songs?”

Rob shook his head.

“And, if we do find out what happened to her, and its bad news, do you really want to know this while you’re on tour, when there’s nothing you can do about it?”

“I guess not.”

“You guess not. No, you don’t. Because then you would want to fly back to LA. That would ruin your career when it’s just getting off the ground. So, just sit tight, my man. Let the chips fall and we’ll just keep moving forward. Okay?”

“Okay, D,” Rob sighed. “You’re right.”

“Of course, I’m right,” D laughed. “Let’s have one more before our table is ready.”

“Sounds like…” Rob stopped in mid-sentence when he happened to glance at where Kate was sitting. “Would you look at that,” he whispered.

Larry Brown was standing next to Kate, an arm on her shoulder. She was looking up at him, her eyes sparkling. Brown had just said something, and Kate was nodding. Her eyes fell on Rob and her eyebrows rose. She winked at him again as she rose from the barstool, took Larry’s arm, and proceeded into the dining room.

Rob elbowed DeWayne as he jerked his head toward the couple.

“See,” DeWayne laughed. “Like I said, I wouldn’t fuck her with someone else’s dick.”

Heads turned in their direction as a peal of laughter rose from both of them.

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