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“So do you think it was all a set-up?” asked Martha Jane.

“I really don’t know, Mart.  I don’t see how he could have.  I think he must have just been playing the odds.”

“Maybe, but from everything you’ve told me, Rafe doesn’t sound like a guy who plays the odds.”

”I know,” said Melody, “but it couldn’t have been a set-up.  Jase Simons is not for sale.”

“What about Mark Logan?  Is he for sale?”

Melody thought about that.  It had been Mark, after all, who had suggested Mel come up on stage.  She remembered Rafe racing her through dinner, looking at his watch.  “You might be right, Mart.  I’ll have to give it some thought.”

“What are you going to do about it, if you decide he did?”  Martha Jane knew that Melody didn’t always choose the quiet, tactful path.

“I’m going to file it away for another time and hope it all blows over.”

“Is Nick still mad?”

“That’s hard to say.  He was friendly enough with everyone yesterday.  Greeting people as they arrived.  High fives and stuff.  And then we all went out to dinner last night.  I met Tamara.”

“Yeah, what’s she like?”

“Tall.  I mean, a freakin’ skyscraper.  And she was wearing these heels, high heels.  She was as tall as Nick.”  Melody paused.  “They make a great looking couple.”

“Are they a couple?” asked Martha Jane, making a note of the wistful tone in her friend’s voice.  “They’re always saying they’re just friends.”

“I don’t know,” said Melody.  “They’re sleeping together, I know that.”  Tamara had not left them in any doubt about that.

“Oh, I see, so sleeping with someone makes it a relationship now, does it?  My, my!  How times have changed!”

“Oh, har-de-har, Mart.  Just because I haven’t found Mr. Right doesn’t mean I can’t have a little recreation now and then.”

“Speaking of Jase Simons…”

Melody wasn’t sure if Mart was speaking of Jase as ‘Mr. Right’ or ‘recreation’.  “He was good.  It was nice to see him…and to play with him…guitar!!” she said to Martha Jane’s snort.

Martha Jane changed the subject.  She was very good at dropping little seeds into her friend’s head.  But she was smart enough to let them germinate for awhile and not overwater them by belaboring the point.

“So how did the other guys react to the events?

“Well…”

Melody described the dinner the night before.  Rafe had been smart enough to pass on it.  It was just the band, Toby and Gus, Scott Thornton and Darryl Wells, the token stage crew for the flit through New York.  Nick insisted they all go out to dinner.  He told Toby to pick someplace expensive.  It was on Rafe’s tab, after all.  He made a big deal of it at dinner.  Darryl thanked him for including him in the party, and Nick went on at length about how no one would be left out, there’d be no surprises, everyone gets to know everything.  He finally stopped when Tamara put her hand over his.

Everyone looked at each other.  What the hell was that all about?

“Did I miss something?” asked Chris Sandoval.

Toby wondered the same thing.  The only response he could get out of Nick today, when he asked him how last night had been was, “Fine.  Did you know Mel was in town?”  Toby had said that he didn’t, and Nick hadn’t said another word.

Nick let out a sharp yelp of laughter.  “Did you miss something!?  Well, you surely did.  Tell them what they missed, Mel!”  He pointed his fork down to the other end of the table at her.  All the heads swiveled in her direction.

So Melody told them about his performance of the night before at Ziggy’s, how Nick had brought the house down, how great he’d been, the nice things people had said.

The heads swiveled back to Nick.  Okay.  That sounded good.  Why did he sound so pissed?

“No, I meant tell them about the night before, when you and Rafe went to the party together.”

The heads swung back in Melody’s direction.  It was like watching a tennis match.

So Melody described the party and explained that Rafe had asked her to go and talk Nick up to her friends.

Back to Nick.  So?  They couldn’t understand why Nick was so bent out of shape.  It all sounded reasonable to them. 

Nick was getting very frustrated.  It did sound reasonable the way Mel explained it, but Nick knew that it wasn’t.  And last night, she had seemed angry at Rafe too, but now she was making it sound like he’d done things righteously.

“Tell them about the dress,” he said. 

Heads moved back to Mel.  Yes, a tennis match with a live grenade.

Melody explained that she hadn’t known about the party and didn’t have anything suitable to wear.  “I’d already sent my tiaras on ahead to Europe.” 

Nick scowled at the ensuing laughter, and Melody decided not to make any more jokes but to just get through it.  So she said that Rafe had had an outfit sent over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That’s when Tamara’s ears perked up,” said Melody to Mart.  “She wanted details.  And the more stuff I mentioned, the madder Nick got.”

Mart laughed.  “Because, of course, he figured it was just a dress.”

“Of course,” sighed Melody.  “What guy wouldn’t?...besides Rafe, that is.  You should have seen Nick’s face, Mart.  Tamara peppered me with questions.  People’s heads couldn’t turn fast enough.”  Melody laughed at the memory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Who by?”

“Donna Karan.”

“Color?”

“Black.”

“Sleeves?”

“No.”

“Cleavage?”

“Yes.”

“Shoes?”

“Prada.”

“Stockings or bare legs?”

“Stockings.”

“Black or sheer?”

“Sheer.”

Melody prayed she wouldn’t ask about the underwear.  Fortunately, Tamara switched to accessories. 

“He bought you a necklace?”  Nick was outraged.  The others couldn’t understand why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tamara misinterpreted it completely.  She put a hand on his arm and said, ‘but of course, Dear, you must always accessorize’.  It was hilarious!  Everyone cracked up.  It relieved some of the tension.  I don’t know if she did it on purpose or not, but I’m glad she did.”

Martha Jane was laughing hard.  “What did Nick say to that?” she choked out.

“He said another one of those weird things that didn’t make any sense.”  Melody had told Mart the odd comments that Nick kept making, and they had puzzled over them together.  “First, he said, ‘Who knew Rafe had to buy a date?’  People were shocked, like he was accusing me of being a whore.  I don’t think he meant it that way, because he got red in the face and backtracked.  ‘I didn’t mean like that,’ he said, and then – here comes the weird part – he said, ‘Mel wouldn’t be interested in anything like that’.  Now what’s that supposed to mean?”

Martha Jane gave it some thought.  “Maybe he meant that you wouldn’t be interested in Rafe.”

“Then why didn’t he say that?  Mel wouldn’t be interested in Rafe.  Why did he say it like that?  He meant sex.  It was obvious he meant sex.  Mel wouldn’t be interested in sex.  Why would he say I wouldn’t be interested in sex?”

“I don’t know,” said Martha Jane.  “What did the others think?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Melody.  “There was an awkward pause, and Tofu jumped in, God bless him, and asked Nick about his performance the night before and we got talking about music again, so it was okay.”

“So is he over being mad?”

“I guess, at least at me.  He’s still mad at Rafe.  Fortunately, we’re putting an ocean between them on Tuesday.”