Chapter 7: Can’t Help Falling in Love...

Things went more or less the way that Charlie had predicted.

Once the album was released, it became a best seller. After all, even before they cut the album, Precious Jewels had two million followers on social media, so venues filled up quickly. They were now the headliners and other, less well-known bands opened for them.

Charlie had arranged the music that they were playing on tour a little differently than the full orchestra that had been used in the studio. He cut down the number of instruments to a minimum (after all, the band was paying for them.) They had three players who were on the bus with them all the time — another keyboardist who had a sophisticated synthesizer that could have multiple pre-sets for the live concerts, a brass guy, who primarily played the trumpet, but could also double on flugelhorn and baritone horn, and a woodwind play who played sax, flute, or clarinet as needed. They were all extremely good players, very professional. Charlie had picked them out himself.

Then, they would hire string players for each venue, as few as a half-a-dozen, to twenty, depending on the venue. They would also hire a local conductor to keep everyone on the same beat. They would practice once in the morning prior to the show, once in the afternoon, and then have the performance that night. They would usually play two to three nights at a particular venue, before heading on to the next town.

When he could, like at the Hollywood Bowl, or when they played at ‘The Lakes,” or one of the major casinos in Vegas, Charlie would make it up for the show. He and Sid would try to make time for each other, but it was tight and time was limited. They would have breakfast or lunch, and sometimes they could spend some time together after the show. But that didn’t always work out, because Sid and the band was expected to spend time socializing and doing photo ops with the VIPs and local bigwigs at parties after the shows.

Charlie and Sid spent time on the phone, or video chatting with each other, but that was hardy satisfying. And since the band traveled from city to city at night, they were on the bus, where there wasn’t much privacy.

Otherwise, Charlie tried to catch their shows when he could on pay-per-view, or even had Herb send digital recordings over the ‘net. He even became a ‘follower’ on social media, just to see the short clips that were posted.

But even as he watched, he was regretting that they hadn’t made love, or even if it didn’t work out, at least tried to commit to each other. And that was completely his own fault. Sid was willing, but he was too stubborn.

Damn, he was realizing, he had fallen in love with that woman, and he missed her more each day. He sat there in his office looking at the photos that had been taken of Sid and him at Maddi’s party. She was so beautiful. But her beauty was deeply embedded in her soul, not just the superficial layer on the surface.

Plus, even though he had told Sid she needed to ‘get a thick skin’, he was getting upset every time he saw the sax player and Sid having one of those interactions on stage, where they would get close to each other and look into each other’s eyes, and act as if they were emotionally close. He had almost called the sax player to tell him to back off with Sid, when he realized that once the song was over, they each returned to their place on the stage, and there were no other signs of anything special between them.

Even worse were some of the photos and video of Sid and other men at the after the show parties. Hugs, kisses, her eyes looking bright and happy. He was steaming, even though he thought he knew better. It’s just the way the entertainment industry is.

It was depressing. It was so depressing that his work was suffering. In fact, he was feeling so depressed about it, that he had stopped taking any new work. He just couldn’t get his heart into it.

It got to the point, that Herb showed up, without any announcement, at Charlie’s one day.