The crowd was enthusiastic. They had never had quite a crowd, not even in their loudest bar performance at Crooked Q’s two months ago. People seemed to be taken in by the semi-rock, afrofusion, pop, whatever that The Adventurers, Simone’s band had come up with.
Simone was the lead guitarist as well as a back-up singer; she was pushing Zara more and more into the lead vocals position. There was no doubt at all, who owned the band tho. Karma was a tenor that just couldn’t be ignored. His bad boy good looks also helped to draw in the girl fans. Romez and Mash alternated on the drums and the saxophone.
Zara had not felt this elated in a long time. Finally the band was coming up out of the dungeons if invisibility. Last month, they had actually paid her. Simone had talked to her last night about working with the band as her job. It was going to be quite a risk. She would have to quit her job at the Truck Company. But she could always continue with her studies.
Zara waved with the rest of the band against the burst of lights as the show came to an end. When they got backstage, Simone was still beaming as her husband hugged her and kissed her. Zara looked away. Seeing other people happy still hurt her. It had been six months since she realised that it was absolutely over between her and Jose. A week ago, her mother had told her that Jose’s wife had had twins, a boy and a girl.
Still, a lot could be said of the fact that thinking of Jose did not send her into a drinking spree anymore. Simone and the guys had taken to trying to hook her up with guys. Recently Simone had succeeded in getting Zara to go out with one of her Harley riding friends.
He was ok, Zara thought. But she was more interested in Sebastian.
Zara smiled, now, when he walked into the back room, and greeted everyone with a nod. The band members respected him, the calm cool guy who had been brought in by Simone two months ago to help manage the band.
He stopped and handed Simone a document, then walked over to where Zara sat in a recliner with a fresh vodka on lime that mash had mixed for her. He nodded, before he sat down, and Zara had to repress an urge to giggle. The man hardly ever said a word. His greetings were nods. His smiles hardly a lift of a corner of his lips. But he was brilliant business man. Rumour had it that he had made his first million at 20 years of age. But then the man would do anything to keep information about his self away from media and speculation.
Someone had wondered if he was a mafia don, at which Simone had guffawed in that loud special way only she could. Then she had revealed that Sebastian had been a priest once…
