Same Time Next Week (Ch 48)
Dwelling on the Shelby thing, where he couldn't stop thinking about her and wanted to call her but was afraid she'd push him away would only drive him crazy, so Jackson tried his best to put it out of his mind. His days were full of enough distractions to ensure he was too busy to be consumed with her.
The nights were the worst, laying there staring at the ceiling fan turning around and around, willing himself to reach out to her. See how she was doing. Say hi. Something. He never did, though. She made it clear, early on, that she wasn't in it for that.
So life droned on, busy but dull when it lacked a dimpled cheek or a sultry laugh from deep in the throat or the simple way she said, ‘hello'.
The new single from Rod Phillips Band, Can't Get Enough, had been released to radio and was on sale in stores. It was a proud moment for Jackson. Something he wrote and produced was on the shelves, but there wasn't much time to stop and stare at the cover art and grin madly to himself. Jackson and the whole clan—band, producer/music director and the front man himself were scheduled to make the media rounds, starting with a morning show interview and a full day of press.
The good news was that press was being done at a downtown hotel, and all outlets were coming to them. The bad news was that it was a posh venue to answer the same questions over and over, some of them having nothing to do with the new album and everything to do with his personal life.
How was this experience different from working with Boy Wonder?
Did he miss Kim?
Had he talked to Kim?
Was he dating now?
By noon, he was rolling his eyes internally and ready for a long break. Who wrote these questions, twelve year olds?
Lunch was served in a private banquet room. He listened to random conversations around him, joining in every once in a while, but kept to himself, mostly. Fingering his phone in his pocket, he thought maybe he would send Shelby a text. See how she was doing.
When he couldn't stand it anymore, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and, under the guise of checking important email, Jacksonsent her a short message.
muzicman: How u doing?