A Road to Let Go (Fallen Tuesday #4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

saying or doing, potentially destroying the band ’ s good image.
    When he came within feet of the
pregnant woman, she smiled at him.
    Jake looked at her belly and simply
shook his head.
    No. Hell no.
    He couldn ’ t do this. He couldn ’ t
be a father. He couldn ’ t be
a father to Chloe ’ s baby.
    He couldn ’ t be attached to Chloe forever.
    The moment Jake reached the side of
the stage, he started to run.
    He made his way along the makeshift
stage and heard Frank calling his name.
    The record company had paid for a
SUV limo to bring the band to the radio station. That ’ s where Jake went. He opened the back door, climbed
inside, and looked around.
    “ Can
I help you? ” the driver
asked.
    “ I
need a fucking drink, ” Jake
yelled.
    The driver pointed. Jake saw a
small fridge and opened it. There was beer and water. Before he could speak
again, he spotted the hard stuff. A few small bottles of whiskey.
    Jake grabbed one, twisted the cap
off, and drank.
    He then looked at the driver and
said, “ Get out. ”
    “ Of
course. ”
    The driver left and Jake sat alone
in the backseat.
    He sipped the whiskey, breathing
heavily. Sweat poured out of his body still. The smell of himself, that raw
smell of rock n ’ roll. Jake
wiped his face with a towel waited for tears.
    No tears came though.
    Then he realized what had just
happened.
    He had left the band in the middle
of an encore. He had ditched the fans. And in so many ways, he had left himself.
    Jake pulled the towel from his face
and reached for the whiskey. He blinked and wanted to cry. He wanted to go back
and undo it all.
     
    *
     
    Mel sat in her car for a few
minutes. She could have started the car and drove away from work, like she
normally would have done. But she had nowhere to go. Her apartment was a small,
crammed one bedroom loft. Hell, there were rooms in the hotel that were bigger
than her apartment.
    The loft apartment never really
became a home for Mel because she had herself convinced that finding her
biological father would take no more than a few weeks, maybe a month.
    That was six months ago.
    The days and weeks seemed to
collide because Mel did nothing but work to pay for Jon ’ s fees and for the basic living expenses, gas in
the car, and some food in her stomach.
    She thought about Jon and what he
had said.
    If her biological father wasn ’ t here - someone in or near
Syracuse - then where the hell was he? What was she supposed to do? The picture
Mel had found was twenty years old. The handwriting on the back could have
meant nothing. Or it could mean everything.
    Her mother always told her to dream
big but live small. To be comfortable with what she had but always look to
horizon for the beauty. And to never give up, give in, and always explore her
imagination. Her mother struggled to survive as a painter for all of Mel ’ s life. They never went hungry,
but they never had much leftover. Mel never lived in a house. She never had a
backyard, a family dog, or a white picket fence. Instead, she lived in
different apartments that were filled with paintings. She met some really cool
people in her life and when her mother became ill, life flipped upside down and
has never been the same.
    The little bit of money her mother left
behind was used to pay to have her mother ’ s
unsold paintings stored properly. The rest was used to pay for her remaining debt,
medical bills, and funeral costs. Her mother had no life insurance and no
retirement. Her belief was that 'the body worked until death and that ’ s when the soul took over.' Mel
had no idea what the hell that meant and she would never get an answer now.
    The music in the distance started
to get to Mel. She caught herself tapping the steering wheel. Going home would
only force Mel to sit around and think. She didn ’ t
feel like thinking.
    Mel opened the car door and climbed
up on the roof of her car. It was a beautiful day. The sun high, clear skies,
and in the background, a free Fallen