I nodded. “They’re trying. She was so weak, though. God, Nick, she seemed to be barely hanging on. You should have heard her. She could barely breathe and her little body was just limp.”
We stood there silently for a long time. Neither of us was willing to let the other go. I didn’t know what would have happened to me if Nick hadn’t been there to hold me together. I would have completely fallen apart. I would not have been able to survive the interminable waiting and minutes that stretched on like hours.
The waiting room became too bright so I closed my eyes, knowing I was safe in Nick’s arms… knowing he would keep me in one piece.
After a long time of silence, I pulled back from Nick. I wanted his comfort still, but my arms had started to fall asleep and my legs were tired. My hands trailed down his chest and he caught them by the wrists over his heart. His blue eyes pierced mine, searching for something or maybe just making sure I was okay to stand on my own.
He leaned forward and I inhaled him again, breathing in his skin. He pressed a delicate kiss to the corner of my eye and then as if he couldn’t help himself, to the corner of my lips.
When he released me, I felt like I’d cut off my arm. I wanted to throw myself on top of him. I wanted to weep in his arms, make him promise to never let go of me again.
Annie, my rational mind whispered. You’re just worried about Annie.
The dog had me too emotional. I felt like I was losing every single thing I had ever loved or cared about. I felt like it was my fault she was here and that Nick and I were in the place we were. I felt like I poisoned anything I touched, destroyed it with a look, killed it just by caring for it.
I argued with my emotions. They were overly sensitive because of the crisis. These things were not true. They couldn’t be.
I pulled back completely and slunk back into one of the waiting room chairs. The hard plastic dug into my spine and the backs of my thighs. I shifted, frustrated with the discomfort. “Did you come from work?”
Nick took the seat next to me and turned his whole body to face me. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry I made you leave.”
“You didn’t,” he said immediately. “I wanted to come.”
“Can you leave whenever you want? Or, uh, um, tell me about your new job.”
His stare unsettled me, it was too intense, too absorbed in me. When his tongue dragged over his lower lip in concentration, I had to remind myself to swallow.
“I have set office hours, but if I need to leave, like today, I can. My boss is pretty cool with stuff like this.”
“And the scouting stuff? Is that part of your office hours?”
His smile was brief, but for a second it was there. “Yes, in a way. They’re considered mandatory, but nobody at the studio would turn them down. The shows I check out are in addition to what we do during the day, though.”
“That sounds busy. Does it ever get exhausting? Do you get tired of music?”
He leaned forward. “Come on, you know me better than that.”
I felt my lips tip up in a small smile. “Yeah, but how many shows do you have to go to a week? They can’t all be ready to sign.”
This time he chuckled and the waiting room suddenly seemed yellowed and dingy compared to his blinding brightness. “They’re not. So far I’ve only brought one band into the studio that I’ve thought could have some potential. And I’ve seen a lot of bands over the last few months. But we try not to do more than two shows a week. There’s a handful of scouts so we try to spread it around some. We have bands that we track down ourselves, but then there are some that request for us to come out and some that are brought to us through recommendation. Those we can pick and choose from.”
“Very cool.”
His eyes narrowed and his smile disappeared. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“I am! Really. I’m just tired from…” I gestured at the waiting room. “Seriously, Nick, I’m so happy for you. This sounds like the coolest job for you.”