Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
September 2024
I t was two weeks since the book launch of The Athens Affair, and James was back in Manhattan. He kept a low profile, working on album reviews and pitching future articles from the comfort and privacy of his own home. No fewer than fifteen journals, podcasters, and broadcasting stations had reached out to him, asking for interviews from “the J in The Athens Affair ,” but he’d ignored all of them. Even Good Morning, America! had reached out, but they’d backed away after Stella had told them she wouldn’t appear for an interview.
James had the sense that Stella was just as freaked out as he was.
He cursed himself for going to the book launch in the first place. Book sales were skyrocketing, and The Athens Affair was all anyone could talk about. Even Nancy had read it and called him to say, “I knew you were up to no good in Athens!” She laughed. Everything was funny to Nancy. She had no hard feelings whatsoever. Maybe it was because she had more money than God.
James was slightly surprised he hadn’t heard from Stella. Maybe she’d decided to put the entire thing to bed. Maybe she was still angry with him.
James cleaned his kitchen that afternoon and snuck out in a beanie and sunglasses to buy groceries for the night ahead. Taylor arrived a few minutes before seven. She hugged him and put a bottle of red on the kitchen counter. He was relieved she hadn’t brought Aiden.
“Finally!” Taylor said, removing a scarf from her neck. “I’ve been waiting for this meeting forever.”
James had promised he’d tell Taylor more about Stella's situation in person, but Taylor had had a surprise gig pop up last week and hadn’t been able to get back to the city. In just a few days, she was headed out on another tour, which meant they had a brief window of time. James’s heart already felt bruised. He was going to miss her.
“Tell me about you first,” James ordered as he popped the cork from the bottle of wine. “How were the gigs?”
Taylor waved her hand. “Who cares? They’re all the same. I want to talk about Stella.”
James rolled his eyes and poured them two glasses. He wanted to teach Taylor about good wine, which was information he’d acquired long after his twenties, long after he’d been J.
Taylor sipped her wine and watched James chop garlic and onions. He’d said he’d cook, and he was grateful she didn’t ask to help. She often got distracted; once, she’d sliced the tip of her finger off.
“Okay. I’m going to start talking about The Athens Affair. You can join in when you feel like it,” Taylor said, whipping her hair behind her shoulders.
“Fine.” James tried to laugh.
“I thought it was a gorgeous portrayal of impossible love,” Taylor began. “Although I thought your character came off like a real a-hole. If you don’t mind me saying.”
James chuckled, even as his heart sank. Does the entire world think I’m an a-hole?
“I guess I know what you mean,” James said after a pause.
“But, like, you were obviously going through so much at the time. You couldn’t let Stella in,” Taylor went on. “Stella knew that, too. Maybe you were doomed from the start.”
James slid onions into a skillet with oil and stirred them with a spatula. He remembered cooking over a stove in the sailboat with Stella a million years ago. He remembered they’d eaten everything that wasn’t nailed down.
“What was it like to see her again?” Taylor asked.
James shifted his weight.
“Was it like no time had passed?” Taylor demanded.
“Not exactly,” James said. “We’ve both gotten a whole lot older. But it made me really nostalgic to think about that time of my life. I could feel myself performing happily wherever we went. In every taverna. On every street. Busking to make enough money for the night.” James pressed his lips together. “It was all really romantic. But you’re right. I think I was usually too heartbroken to understand how magical it all was.”
Taylor took a sip of wine. “She’s still so beautiful. Stella, I mean.”
“She really is,” James agreed. “That won’t ever fade. If I saw her in another twenty years, I’d say the same.”
Taylor scrunched up her face. She was dying from the romance of it.
“Tell me,” Taylor begged. “Was that sailboat the same one you still have? The one I sailed in the Keys?”
James laughed. “Some of it. I’ve fixed it up a lot over the years. But it’s still got the bare bones of the original.”
“Wow,” Taylor said. “It has so much history.”
“I had to sail it across the Atlantic,” James said, “which was a terrifying feat. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it.”
“When was that?”
“You must have been eight or nine,” James said. “Your mother sent you to a music camp of some kind, and I took a month off work to go get the boat from a warehouse in London, fix it up again, and bring it over here.” He paused as memories returned. “Your mother was really angry with me that year.”
“It wasn’t that long after the divorce,” Taylor reminded him.
James thought back to a phone call he’d had with Nancy. He’d been in London, getting the boat, and she’d been in New York, hating him. “You were never in love with me,” she said. “I never should have married you. I was a fool.” The words had cut James open.
He wouldn’t tell Taylor about that.
“But she’s crazy happy now,” Taylor went on of her mother. “She always wanted the life she has now. She doesn’t get Bad Habit at all, and sometimes I think she looks at Aiden with hatred in her eyes.”
“She likes Aiden.”
Taylor raised her eyebrows. “You’ve talked about it!”
“We talk about you,” James said. “You’re our only kid.”
Taylor laughed and blushed.
“Your mother is proud of you,” James stated. “Maybe Bad Habit isn’t her favorite band in the world, but you’re her favorite person. She’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Taylor said. Her eyes welled with tears.
After a pause, Taylor said, “It’s weird to learn about your parents’ secret pasts.”
“We were all young once, too,” James said.
“Do you think you want to see Stella again?” Taylor asked.
James thought of the business card. His heart was heavy. “Maybe. Maybe not. The tabloid debacle is annoying. I don’t want my private life on display like that.”
Taylor nodded and pressed her lips together. “I won’t tell my followers anything.”
“Thanks,” James said.
“But I do think you should see her,” Taylor said. “She wrote an entire book about you, for goodness’ sake. She never really got over you. Maybe you never really got over her, either.”
James raised his shoulder. “It was a long time ago.”
“Life is all about second chances,” Taylor reminded him. “At least sit with her. Ask her how she is.” She paused. “Maybe you could at least apologize.”
James looked at his daughter and found a mischievous smile. It was clear she was teasing him.
“You’re lucky. You met a nice guy like Aiden early on,” James said.
“I know. We’re the least dramatic couple in the world. It’s why I have to get involved in your drama.”
James waved his hand. “Okay, Drama Queen. Can you please set the table? Dinner in ten.”
Taylor hurried to the cabinets to fetch plates and cutlery for the pasta. James’s heart felt lighter than it had in weeks.
He thought, For years, I’ve had a daughter, and now, she’s become my dearest friend.
But that night, after Taylor left to meet Aiden and the rest of Bad Habit, James checked his phone. A number he didn’t recognize had called and left a voicemail. His hands shook as he listened to it.
“Hi, James. It’s Stella Sutton. I wanted to let you know, um. I’m sorry about all the chaos with the tabloids. I never meant for anything like that to happen.” She paused for a long time. There was such tenderness in her voice. James could picture her aboard the sailboat in the Grecian sunlight.
“I wanted to let you know I’ll be in Manhattan. I’m driving up tomorrow to start the first leg of my book tour. I’ll be around for three days. Let me know if you’d like to meet up. But no worries if not.” She took a breath. “Okay. Good night, James.”
James pressed the phone against his chest and blinked back tears.
His past had caught up to him. The sorrow of it all sat with him there in the kitchen.