"You don't have the pipes." She winks at me. "Joel, will you hate me if I offer your wife a job?"
"Depends on the job," I say.
Bella's eyes flair with something I can't quite place.
"I could use someone like you. I've needed a good assistant for ages. And you have a knack for it. And I can trust you not to sleep with the talent, present company excluded," Alessandra says.
Bella shakes her head. "That's very generous, but—"
"Think about it." Alessandra leans in to hug Bella goodbye. Then she does the same to me. "Merry Christmas. I'll see you two at the New Year's show."
I wait until she's out the door to slide my arms around Bella.
"You must be tired after all that." She rests her head against my chest. "I was tired just watching you."
"Yeah?"
She nods. "You guys work well together."
"We spent half the time fighting."
"Because you're all passionate and headstrong."
"We do have to compromise."
"You got there, didn't you?"
More or less. I undo her bun and run my fingers through her hair.
She leans into my touch.
She purrs.
Usually, after we record, I go out and get wasted.
But right now, I don't want that kind of shit.
I want Bella.
I want to talk to her.
To hold her.
Yeah, I want to fuck her, but I want to just be with her more than I want to be inside her.
Her voice is a whisper. It's barely there, like she's already drifting off someplace. "I'm not very rock n' roll."
"That's what we need. Someone with her shit together. Someone who insists on wearing sunscreen and baseball caps hiking."
"That's common sense."
I laugh. "You don't know musicians."
"Maybe."
"You should give it a shot."
Her posture stiffens. She shrugs off my arms.