What Now? Read Online Free PDF Page A

him.
    “Maybe
we should get to the reason I’m here,” she prevaricated.                                        
    “As
soon as I finish my breakfast. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
    Of
course there were extra cups on the tray. After all it was Nick Badley’s room.
     

     
    Nick
demolished the pancakes and fruit in short time. Shari was amazed to see him
put away such a large amount of food, considering he had no extra weight on
him. She decided that he either had a very high metabolism or he worked out,
although she didn’t know when he would have time for that. Then again, some of
these suites no doubt had their own gyms.
    He got up and dropped his
napkin on the tray, leaving everything all over the table. She compared that to
how she had packed her dishes up after eating her breakfast and put the tray
outside the door for room service to pick up.
    Heading
back to the booth, he sat down with a satisfied sigh. “I feel human again. OK,
I’m all yours.”
    Turning
on her voice recorder she asked him: “How did you get into music?”
    “You’ll
have to blame my mother for that. She was a music teacher, so there was always
music in the house. She taught me the piano and I taught myself the guitar. She
bought me my first acoustic guitar when I was fifteen and I was hooked. High
school band, small clubs, big clubs, big break.” He made it sound easy, but the
journey had been like trying to launch a rocket. The effort and energy that
went into getting the initial lift off made the rest of the flight seem almost
effortless in comparison.
    “Tell
me about your family.”
    “I
don’t talk about my family. They are far removed from this life and I prefer to
keep it that way.”
    “I
can understand that and I’m not looking to drag your family into the eyes of
the public. I want to know about them to help me uncover the truth about who
you are.”
    “If
you can do that I’d nominate you for a Pulitzer, because I don’t even know the
truth of who I am,” he laughed mirthlessly. “But, so you know, I didn’t just
emerge from the underworld…” He paused dramatically and she smiled reluctantly,
remembering the image of him coming up from below the stage.
    “I
don’t expect to see this anywhere in your documentary,” he warned.  She nodded.
“My parents live in Sonora, a small town in California. It’s between Fresno,
Sacramento and San Jose. They are regular, middle class folks and church goers,
so please don’t include what you think happened last night in your story. It
would devastate my mother who is one of the few people who still believes I’m a
good boy.” 
    She smiled
derisively at that.
    “I
get my passion for music from her. My dad has a classic car repair shop, which
is probably where I get my love for cars. He still likes to tinker around and
restore classics. I have two sisters who live on the West Coast as well. They’re
married to decent guys and have a bunch of kids between them. I’m the anomaly
in the family.”
    “Are
you close?”
    “Yes,
we’re actually pretty close, considering, and I try to make it home for
Thanksgiving if I’m not on the road and definitely for the Holidays.”
    “So
you’re going home next month?”
    “Yeah.
I need the break. And the sanity fix,” he joked.
    Shari
was just about to pounce on that comment when Nick’s phone rang, interrupting
them.
    “Hi,
Lily,” he answered. “Coming.” He disconnected the call and headed for the front
door. “Apparently Lily will be joining us.”
    “How’s
it going?” Shari heard Lily ask as she walked past the living room.
    “Not
bad, considering. I was just telling Shari a bit about my family and you know I
don’t do that, so she’s good.”
    “Hi,
Shari! Are you realizing that Nick is not as bad as he’s made out to be?” 
    Shari
diplomatically held her peace and smiled at Lily.
    “Actually,
I can’t say that yet,” she said truthfully. “But he was