Chapter Twenty #2
“You probably haven’t seen it from him yet, but Evan can have a very nasty temper.
Not that it was uncalled for that day. I learned later the man was upset by the slow meeting since at that time, Ethan’s larynx had already been fully removed and he had to write down all the questions he wanted to ask.
The rep asked if Ethan would mind sitting out of the meeting and that was all the provocation Evan needed to throw the man out.
Ethan scolded him lightly for it, but even I could tell he wasn’t upset.
It took sitting in a room with Ethan for about five seconds to realize there wasn’t much Evan could do to raise anger in him, if it was even possible for him to get angry.
He was the most peaceful, gentle man I had ever met, and he absolutely adored his son. ”
Jesse absorbed every detail of what Greg told him.
Evan spoke of his father quite a bit in the past couple weeks, but it was always sharing good memories.
This was all new to him, and to hear someone else’s opinion of Evan’s father captured his full attention, but with it came a pang that he would never get to meet this man who sounded so kind and who had been so dear to Evan.
“When Evan began recording, Ethan was steadily declining,” Greg continued. “Evan actually started out his career in debt to the label. Did he tell you that?”
Jesse shook his head.
“He blew through his advance money to pay off medical bills and take his father to various specialists. And he spent a small fortune when he bought a restored original ’67 Mustang Shelby GT500 for Ethan, because Ethan had always dreamed of owning one.
” Greg turned his head. “But by then, Ethan was too weak to drive it, so Evan would lift him in and out of it, and take him for rides, until the time came when Ethan didn’t have the strength for even that anymore. ”
Jesse glanced away from Greg to give him a moment to regain his composure.
From their very first night together when Evan told him the Mustang had been his father’s, he knew the car was special.
Even though Evan didn’t care if he drove his cars and had never told him he couldn’t drive the Mustang, something inside him had known it was off limits.
“He still has it,” Jesse said quietly. “The Mustang.”
Greg looked at him, a smile relaxing his pained expression.
“I wondered what had happened to it. I was afraid he got rid of it like he did all his others when he left.” He nodded to himself, and cleared his throat to proceed.
“There were times when I thought the album would never get finished. Not that I was upset with Evan. I understood that he needed to care for his father. He was the one who took Ethan to all his doctor appointments. He prepared all of his meals for him, helped him bathe, took care of his medications. He did it all.”
“He told me his mom didn’t handle things well when his father became sick, but I didn’t realize he did so much for him.”
“Well, Evan pushed her away a lot because of that, but I also think he felt she wasn’t capable of caring for Ethan as well as he could, and that was probably true. To this day, I still believe Evan holds some resentment against her.
“At Ethan’s the funeral, I expected to see Evan break into hysterics, but he cried so silently you wouldn’t even be able to tell unless you looked at his eyes.
I didn’t see him again for a week, then at twelve o’clock at night there was a knock on my door, and when I opened it, there he was.
But there was a strangeness about him, a coldness that hadn’t been there before, and he said, ‘My album’s been out for two months.
It’s time to get this tour rolling. Make the arrangements tomorrow.
I want to be on the road before the month ends,’ and he turned to walk away.
I called to him to come inside, but he refused, and disappeared into the night.
From that moment, he was never quite the same person as when his father had been beside him. ”
Both Jesse and Greg sat silent. The ghosts of Greg’s spoken memories hovered in the air above them. A physical ache tightened Jesse’s chest over Evan’s emotional pain. After a long pause, Jesse stood up and walked over to Greg.
“I know Ev would’ve told me eventually about everything, but it’s nice to hear someone else talk about his father. He sounds like he was a wonderful person.”
“He was. I tried my best to be a father figure to Evan after Ethan passed, but I know I failed. It doesn’t change the fact that I love him like a son of my own.” Greg looked at Jesse intently. “So, you take good care of him.”
Jesse turned for the door. “I will. I already promised that to him.”
? ? ?
Jesse walked through the house, his thoughts weighing down his mood from everything Greg had told him.
To hear how dedicated Evan had been to his father, to picture him so diligently caring for the man he admired and trying to battle an unconquerable foe in the illness, made such sorrow for Evan well up inside him that he could hardly breathe.
Then to think after years of hiding Evan had finally found the courage to make his music public again, and he could be the one to destroy his comeback, made determination mix with the sadness.
He wouldn’t allow that to happen. No matter what it took, no matter what he had to do, he wouldn’t drag Evan down, and he would make sure Evan’s comeback was successful, if not just for Evan, then for Evan’s father, whose dream had been to see his son share his beautiful gift with the world.
Jesse stopped at the French doors in the music room and looked outside.
The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky to burning oranges and reds, misty blues and violets.
Evan walked onto the diving board at the far end of the pool.
He bounced once, and for an instant, his sleek body became silhouetted against the golden sky.
He arched in the air and descended into the water with hardly a splash.
He surfaced, shaking his drenched hair from his eyes, the gold and copper highlights bright against the saturated darker tones.