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“You must have been exhausted,” said Mart.

“Yeah, we were pretty tired.  We still are.”  Melody looked around her.

It was a tired group of people who sat in the airport lounge.  Jeff, Mel and Nick had not returned from La Cantina until nearly three in the morning.  Toby and Gus had left much earlier.  They had work to do early the next day getting everyone ready to be at the airport by noon.   And there would be lots of publicity material to be processed...the Internet would be jumping.

Blaine and Rashad left around one o’clock.  Nobody knew when Tofu had left or where he had gone, but he showed up at the hotel at eleven, as promised.

“We fell asleep in the car on the way back from the club.  Jeff said he was tempted to tell the limo driver just to keep circling the block.”

“Did you…uh…wake up at all when you got to the room?”

“Why Martha Jane Hanratty Connors, whatever are you suggesting?” retorted Mel, in mock horror. 

The two friends laughed. 

“No,” said Mel.  “We were too tired.  It went way beyond the lateness of the hour.  It was mind-numbing exhaustion. You know what I mean?” 

Martha Jane had walked the floor with a colicky baby many a night.  She knew exactly what Mel meant. 

Mel went on, “…the whole day, the excitement, the adrenaline…and then, after the show, being taken here and there and…poor Nick!  All I had to do was tag along and look like I wasn’t in love with him.  He had the hard part, trying to smile and be polite with these relentless reporters.”

“Did they ask about you?” Mart wanted to know.  “You know, did they ask about his date?”

“Yeah,” said Melody and she told Mart what Nick had said in the interview about her fitting into the dress.  “Gus got that one off a message board.  How these people find these things out is beyond me.”

”Probably some contest winner.  Be backstage at the Grammys.  That kind of thing.”

“Oh, probably,” said Mel, with a yawn.

“You got a show tonight?”

“Yeah, in Dallas.  And then it’s onto the bus and off to…I don’t even know where.”

“On the bus, huh?”  Mart said with a giggle.  “You still keeping to that rule of not doing it on the bus?”

“Yes,” said Mel, crisply.  “It’s just too close quarters, if you know what I mean.” 

Martha Jane knew what she meant.  She had kids.  Try making love with them in the next room.

Melody sighed.  “And then it’s going to be a few days because…”

“Ah, the old time-of-the-month,” said Mart.  “Is he still weird about it?”

Mel giggled. “We just don’t talk about it.”  The two women laughed again.

Every month, Mel would tell Nick that she thought she’d sleep in her own room for a couple of nights.  Every month, he would look worried and immediately start wondering if she was upset with him. 

Then realization would dawn and he would go, “Oh…OH…OHHH…okay…okay,” and his face would turn beet red.

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

The first night in his bed alone, Nick didn’t think about anything.  He was unconscious.  They had put on a good show in Dallas buoyed by the audience enthusiasm and the many signs congratulating him.  But the fatigue caught up with them.  They hit the buses immediately and were asleep before they reached the city limits.

For the next three nights, Nick didn’t do anything but think.  He cursed himself for being a coward.  He had promised himself that if he won a Grammy, he would tell the world he loved Mel.  Well, he hadn’t just won one, he’d won two.  He’d had two opportunities to say how he felt, and he’d ducked both of them.  He’d had a third opportunity in the press room, and he’d turned the question into a joke.  He had let himself be intimidated by Chris Rock and his comments, by the silly jokes and the nasty magazine articles.

So what are you going to do about it, he asked himself on the fourth night.  Mel will be coming back into your bed tomorrow night.  You’d better have this straight in your head by then.  You can’t be tossing and turning like this when she’s here.  She’ll have it out of you in a heartbeat.  And she won’t be pleased.

There were seven weeks left in the tour.  Nick didn’t have to do anything until then.  But when the tour ended, there wouldn’t be a reason to see her all the time.  So they would either have to go public or not see each other very much.  Nick thought back to the folder full of gossip that Toby had shown him. 
Shopping, huh? 

Well, he would start there.

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

The next day, Nick got on the phone to Rafe.  He told him that he would no longer attend any functions that were merely parties.  Life on the road was tough, and Nick wasn’t going to exhaust himself just to provide a picture for the media.  He would only do events that had something to do with children or the environment, especially the ocean.

Rafe listened on the other end of the line.  Okay, Nick.  Okay, Nick.  Okay, Nick.  Rafe agreed with all the points.  He didn’t see any problem with it.  With two Grammys to his credit, Nick didn’t have to go looking for photo ops.  They came looking for him.  And children and the environment?  You couldn’t get more politically correct than that, could you?  It looked like Nicky was finally determined to become Nick.

“Maybe you could do more of those hospital visits, you know…like the one you did in Florida with Mel.”

Nick smiled to himself.  “Yeah, that’s a good idea, Rafe.  We could do a song or two.  Unless Mel didn’t want to or something...”

“Mel will do what she’s told,” said Rafe.  “Don’t worry about it.”

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

“Toby, I want you to do something for me…you and Gus.”

“Sure, Nick, what do you need?”

Nick told him. 

Toby nodded thoughtfully.  “I like it,” he said.

So Toby and Gus changed their research about the cities they were visiting.  Now they looked for environmental issues.  They coached Nick on the answers and gave him printouts to read.  During every interview now, he answered the ‘how do you like our fair city?’ question with either a compliment about their environmental programs or a suggestion of disappointment that they weren’t doing more.  He had Toby research the high schools in the cities and give free tickets to the concerts to any Environmental Clubs he could find.  He mentioned that in the interviews too.

It made the local newspaper more than once.  It made the Internet on a daily basis.  And it made Cosmogirl magazine.

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

Nick and Mel spent an afternoon wherever possible in the children’s ward of a hospital.  They would visit the children and sign autographs.  Then they would sing a couple of songs together.  Mel played the guitar.  They took Nick’s once but decided it was better if he was free to walk around when he sang.

They didn’t announce these outings.  These were from the heart, not for publicity.  But nurses had cameras, and they knew how to use the Internet.  It made the local newspaper more than once.  And it made People magazine.

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

And they never once went shopping. 

Toby and Gus went shopping.  They went shopping for Nick a lot.  Gradually, they overhauled his wardrobe.  The overgrown teenager look was out – the torn capris and the baggy t-shirts hit the trash.  Now it was a more tailored look.  Nick had increased his workouts with Jeff and the tailored look suited him just fine.  Women were swooning all over the Internet.  And it made Style magazine.

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

“So what does he think of your plan?” asked Mart.

Nick was not the only one thinking about the end of the tour.  Mel had some thinking to do as well.  First, she had to get a job.  That wasn’t going to be a problem.  She could get lots of studio work.  But she had kind of caught the bug of performing live.  She could put out feelers about doing some tour work…with anyone but Jason Simons!  She didn’t think Nick would tolerate that.

Mel talked to Stevie Ray.  He said he’d keep his ears open, and that she knew she had a standing gig with him whenever.  He even suggested she think about a show of her own. 

“Give your head a shake,” she told him, laughing.  “I’m not a singer.”

“Yeah, well, Nick didn’t used to play the guitar, either, now did he?” was Stevie Ray’s response.  “You’ve got a good voice.  With a little coaching…”

“Hello!  Earth to Stevie Ray!” retorted Mel.  “I’m not looking for a new career here.  I just want some gigs.”

Stevie Ray came through for her.  Carly Hyndman was going into rehearsals for a short seven-week tour.  The rehearsals would start the week after Nick’s tour ended. There would be two weeks of rehearsal followed by a week at Pineapple Ranch where Carly would be showcasing material that she was going to take on the tour. She would be delighted to have Mel be part of both the week at the club and the tour.

“He thinks it okay.”  Mel told Mart.  “Actually, the ten-week thing works out because that’s how much time he’s going to spend on the movie.  So it…um…lets us…it gives us some time.”

”Tell me, Melody Jones, are you going on the road or on the run?”

“Har de har, Mart!  He’s got to be careful about this.  The movie thing is a whole new ball game.  He’s back to being Nicky, you see.  The knives will be out.  Sure he’s sold seventy gazillion records…yeah, he’s got a couple of Grammys…but can he act?”

“Can he?”

“Hard to say, but he’s a very determined man.”

“And what will your excuse be at the end of the ten weeks?”  Martha Jane was relentless.  “Where will you run then?”

Melody looked down at the cover of People Magazine.  The front cover showed Justin and Cameron sitting on a surfboard kissing.  Has Justin found true love? asked the headline.  And in smaller print.  Is their age difference a problem?

“We just need some time, Mart.  That’s all.”