“Got him!” Chase said, walking back in from the kitchen. He lifted his phone. Hank was there in his hospital bed, but Sky was relieved to see that despite his recent health scare, he looked good. Full head of snow-white hair, handsome face betraying his years and a smile that was still great. She imagined after many years had passed Chase by, he might look much the same.
“Hey!” Hank greeted the others. “Get out there tonight and knock ’em—”
He broke off. Of course he’d been about to say knock ’em dead.
But no one in Skyhawk was going to use that expression.
“Knock ’em off their feet! Rock the house down. I can’t be there,” Hank said, “but in my mind, your substitute may be the better choice.”
“Never, Gramps,” Chase told him. “But I’ll do my best.”
“Sky, you look stunning! Then again, always,” Hank told her.
“Thanks, Hank. And you feel better soon. You are still one handsome devil!” she assured him.
“I wish I was there for the food.”
“Soon enough, Gramps,” Chase said sternly. “You’re going to follow the doctors’—”
“Orders, yes, Chase, I promise. Because if Skyhawk is hitting the tour circuit along with a lot of our fellows from the seventies and eighties, I’m going to be well and hitting it with everyone again. Nathan, Justin, Charlie—great that you’re on it. Where’s whatshisname?” Hank asked suddenly.
“Gramps, who is whatshisname?” Chase asked.
“You are talking about Malcolm—Kenneth Malcolm?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah. He’s still working the place, right?” Hank asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Mark said. “Sorry, I thought I’d mentioned that when I visited to tell you we’d been to the place.”
“His name was on the paperwork when we made the plans,” Hank said. “Months ago. Didn’t know, though, with the way things go these days—”
“Oh, yeah, he’s still there. And guess what? He’s been really decent,” Charlie told him. “I think he had tickets and the thing is sold out and he’s raking it in on resale.”
“Whatever, as long as it all goes well. Sky, I swear, I dreamed about being on a cloud with your dad watching, and he was beaming,” Hank said.
“Thanks, Hank,” Sky told him.
“And get the video chick or whoever is on doing the Jumbotrons to make sure she’s got me on the wire while it’s going on!” Hank said.
“Will do, Gramps,” Chase promised.
“Go eat!” Hank commanded. “Oh, wait. I can see Mark and Joe chewing. But the rest of you—have lunch! I can almost smell it from here. They have me on a cruel diet—yeah, yeah, yeah, I promise I’m going to stick to it! But go—quit torturing me, showing it all to me.”
“Bye, Hank, just get well,” Charlie said, and his words were echoed around the room.
Chase ended the video call.
“We never answered him,” Joe said. “Did you guys invite Kenneth Malcolm?”
Chase made a face. “I didn’t think of him.”
“Neither did I,” Sky admitted.
“He’s a jerk anyway,” Justin said with a shrug. “He’s being nice because he’s making money. Doesn’t matter—I’m still glad to be away from him for this. Tonight, during tech, he’ll be all over us, I promise you. So... Gumbo! I love it!”
Food and good humor went all around, different band members and stage techs sitting next to each other, switching around for dessert—bread pudding and pecan pie—and exchanging seats again.
Then Justin glanced at his watch. “Let’s get over there. We’ve a host of other people working under us on this. The MC, the light crew, the computer geek...and because of Mr. Kenneth Malcolm, I’d love to see it all go right.”
“We’re out of here!” Nathan agreed. “Charlie, come on. We’re aiming for perfect!”
“Nothing is ever perfect,” Joe warned.
“But we gotta aim high, right?” Mark asked, studying Sky. “Aim high, like our founder, but now we’ve got his daughter, and...”
Chase slipped his arms around Sky, pulling her back against him as he spoke over her shoulders. “Jake’s beautiful Sky, as perfect as we can get, right?”
“No, no, no, no, no—not putting it all on me!” Sky said lightly. “Anyway, thank you, guys, all of you. This was great.”
“No, thank you and Chase, our legacy, eh?” Chris offered.
“Aw, chopped liver over here?” Brandon asked, causing them all to laugh.
“Prime sirloin,” Mark assured him. “And Chris is bringing you in a lot for this one, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Hey, when time starts going by, well... It’s nice to see you’ve passed on something of value—and whether you kids decide to keep at it or not, you made us feel good, so...prime sirloin!”
“Personally, I was thinking of filet,” Sky said, smiling at Brandon. He grinned in return.
