“So am I! I’m not trying to,” I laughed.
“Nalia, you know I worry about you,” he sighed.
“I know. And I’m using my head. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still going to worry. It’s what I do. You’ll always be my baby sister.”
I smiled. “I know. And you’ll always be my big, overprotective older brother. I really appreciate it, you know I do, but you have got to realize I'm all grown up now and can take care of myself. I really can, I promise!”
We talked for a few more minutes, and he promised he’d be keeping tabs on me and making sure I was okay, even though I told him it wasn’t necessary. I hung up the call with Jackson and headed back inside to see the guys finishing up their press conference. Owen was just coming around the corner, looking for me.
“Sorry, had to take a phone call. How did it go?”
“Great! You ready to go get some lunch?” He smiled and put an arm around me.
“Yeah. I have us at an Italian restaurant downtown that is closed except for you guys so you don’t have to worry about a crowd,” I explained.
His smile widened. “You really do think of everything, don’t you?”
“It’s my job.”
“Come on, let’s head out.”
We made our way outside to the waiting limo and piled in with the others, heading to the restaurant. I went through a few emails about interviews and other tour publicity on the way. When we arrived, I followed them in, still answering emails that needed my attention.
It was hard to focus on anything else when there were so many details to take care of, and at this early stage of the tour, I still hadn't quite fallen into a rhythm yet. I was still finding my way and doing a pretty decent job of it so far.
What concerned me was the feeling that something was going to go wrong at some point. That was just the law of nature. Nothing could run this smoothly without any bumps in the road.
“I’m totally starving!” Talon announced as they took their seats in the middle of the empty restaurant. “I could eat a horse right now. And I'm not even joking, dudes. If there's horse on this menu, I'm ordering it!” The others grumbled in agreement, and Owen took a seat at the head of the table. I put my phone away to make sure the staff at the restaurant got everybody's drink and food orders and didn't leave anybody out.
“Nalia.”
“Yes?” I spun around to face Owen.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his forehead wrinkled together in concern.
“Just making sure you guys are being taken care of. That's my job, remember?” I smiled nervously, suddenly worried I’d done something wrong.
“Look, everything is perfect. We're here, we're relaxed, everything has been taken care of, we're all on schedule. There's nothing to worry about right now, nothing at all. Stop stressing out and come sit down and eat with us,” he insisted, pulling out a chair.
“But the-”
“But nothing. Nalia, you’re doing an amazing job. Seriously, everything is more organized and on schedule than on any other tour we've ever done. We've never been this tight and prepared. Sit down. Emails and calls can wait till after you have some lunch.”
I hesitated, and that’s when Talon led the guys in chanting my name until I finally sat down, my face crimson from embarrassment. All of them cheered as I took a seat. Talon then leaned over and put an arm around me.
“That’s our girl!” Talon started. “Come on, I know you've set yourself up in this 'mom' role and you're concerned with making sure everything happens exactly where and when it's supposed to happen — and believe me, we seriously do appreciate it — but, Nalia, you need to enjoy yourself, too. You’ve been working hard at this, and you deserve to at least sit down and enjoy a meal. You're human, just like us, not a robot or some shit – and we totally don't expect you to be a machine all the time. So, relax for a while, forget about all that stuff, and let's just have a nice meal,” he said.
I smiled and Owen laughed, passing me a menu. I’d never felt so at home in a job than that moment. If it wasn’t where I belonged, then I didn’t know where that would be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Owen
I hadn’t felt so great in a long time. I'd forgotten how much I used to love touring, and with Nalia keeping everything on schedule, it was even better than I remembered. And now, with things running more smoothly than they ever had before and with almost no administrative details to worry about because Nalia was doing such a bang up job covering all of that stuff, I could focus purely on the music. I was already in the mindset that this might turn out to be the best tour we'd ever played.
I looked out over the empty hall smiling, just imagining the stadium outside filled up with the crowd we expected. This was going to be a big one, and I was determined to give every single fan who had bought a ticket a show that they'd remember for the rest of their lives.