Chapter 5
The next week was back to the usual grind for both Jody and the Hanson clan. Jody was working her hardest to keep her grades up and her rent paid. So far she was doing a good job of both, but she was starting to struggle since she needed to take an entire week off the week before the show so they could run all sorts of technical rehearsals.
Before long, it was time for another performance. Everything went well and it was becoming apparent that Jody was made for this type of work.
Zac, too, was back to writing and recording with his brothers. Issac was surprisingly sober during most recording sessions as he usually was when they needed to get work done. Issac was even seeing a new girl, and she seemed to be straightening him out. It was a welcomed change.
“You going home?” Taylor asked as he put an acoustic guitar away.
“Probably. Why?” Zac answered.
“I’m gonna go for coffee or something.”
Zac sighed. Taylor was not very good at masking his intentions. “Sure, sounds good.”
To noone’s surprise, they ended up at a Starbucks not too far from where Jody used to work.
“You alright?” Zac asked as he sipped his frapachino.
Taylor nodded as he took a sip of his raspberry chi tea. “Yeah, I think so.”
“OK,” Zac said skeptically.
There was a pause as Taylor became lost in thought.
“What’d you do the other night?” Zac asked.
“What?” Taylor responded, obviously dazed.
“When we had the night off the other day. What’d you end up doing?”
“Oh, uh,” Taylor sputtered. “I went for a walk for a couple of hours.”
There was another lull in the conversation.
“Why? What’d you do?”
“Oh,” Zac said, slightly startled by the question and how he was going to answer. “I took Kate to see a play.”
“Really?” Taylor had a sudden flashback of Jody telling him about seeing Wicked on Broadway. He pushed his raspberry chi aside- suddenly it didn’t taste so sweet.
“Yeah, it was really good.”
“What was it?”
“Urinetown: The Musical.”
“Where’d you see something like that?” Taylor asked with a smirk. “It sounds kinda weird.”
“It was a little unconventional,” Zac replied, carefully avoiding the first part of the question, “but it was good.”
“I’ll have to keep that in mind,” Taylor muttered as he continually fiddled with his straw.
Zac observed his brother. Taylor’s body language hinted that he was weighed down by his thoughts. That wasn’t surprising in the least after the past few nights.
Zac recalled the call from Natalie to Kate and how Kate had desperately tried to calm her friend down. Natalie had been a mess of tears and frustration over Taylor and how she felt like it was her fault that her marriage was falling apart and that she was an awful wife. Zac heard Kate reassure Natalie on various occasions that Taylor’s behavior was not her fault.
“You wanna talk about it?” Zac asked quietly as he followed Taylor’s empty gaze out the window.
“Talk about what?”
Zac shrugged. “Anything, really. You’ve been aloof lately, so I figured something was going on.”
“Natalie called again?”
Zac reluctantly nodded.
Taylor swore. “How bad was it?”
“Pretty bad.”
Taylor swore again.
“I have to go.”
Taylor rose from his seat, leaving his raspberry chi on the table. Zac watched him go and threw away Taylor’s leftover raspberry chi on his way out a few minutes later.
However, Taylor mind hadn’t finished the conversation. He was mentally beating himself up for being so torn. The topic at hand shouldn’t have even been an issue. Taylor chose Natalie over Jody and it was too late for him to change his mind.
Chapter 6
Index
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