Hand In Glove

Chapter 17

New York, New York!

During the next few days, things settled into a routine. It was pretty quiet around the house. Ashton usually came down for breakfast at eight o'clock and then would disappear into his room. Chloe took advantage of her free time to familiarize herself with the house. She spent her time vacuuming, dusting and even cleaning the upstairs bathroom, collecting his laundry from the hamper and a few articles he chose to toss into the corner.

Laundry proved somewhat challenging, especially with some of his more radical stage clothes, which were barely held together by shredded thread and safety pins. She didn't think she could possibly shrink his pants anymore, so she just hoped for the best, and thankfully things didn't turn out too badly. Some of the more intricate items, she washed by hand and hung them to dry.

He preferred eating lunch upstairs, so she would drop it off and collect it an hour later. He seemed happy enough with whatever she gave him. He spent most of his afternoons working away on something. He explained that sometimes he would have to work for days just getting a song out of his head. He usually spent at least one or two hours daily working out. He would come down for dinner at six o'clock exhausted and didn't seem to want to talk a lot.

Some days when he was particularly frustrated, he would barely say a word. After dinner, he would usually sit in the front room flipping through magazines and listening to the radio. Chloe would join him there after cleaning up. Sometimes they would talk, sometimes they said nothing. She'd grab a sketchbook and doodle away. Since he sat so still, he made for a great model.

***

"I need to go to New York for a couple of days next week," Ashton said, looking at her from his armchair.

Chloe looked up from her drawing. "Oh? For a show?" she asked, surprised.

"No, a meeting with a client interested in another one of my songs. It shouldn't take long. Just enough time to go over some details. Unfortunately, I'll be stuck there, at least, a couple of days," he said glumly. "Come with me, Chloe. It would be nice to have some company."

"New York?" She blinked in disbelief. "Sure, I mean if you want me to come with you, I will," Chloe agreed excitedly. "I've never been to New York before."

"Great. I'll book us a flight and hotel," he said as he stood up. He took a step toward the stairs and hesitated. "We could share a room if you don't mind. I'll request two beds of course. For the sake of cost but if you prefer your own room it's not a problem."

"We can share," Chloe answered rather quickly. "Anyway, I wouldn't feel comfortable alone in a hotel room in city I know nothing about." She winced at the thought.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled thoughtfully. "Great, I'll get on it," he said, going straight upstairs to the computer.

Chloe sat there a moment longer. Wow, New York with Ashton. How cool would that be? This job was getting more interesting by the minute.

***

The next morning at breakfast, Ashton came and sat down, holding some papers. "Good morning, Chloe," he said, reviewing his notes.

"Good morning, Mr. Wright," Chloe said cheerfully, placing his breakfast on the table as she sat across from him.

"Miss Martin." He smiled and chuckled at her formal address. "So, it's done. I've booked us on a nine o'clock flight, Monday morning. I've got our hotel for two nights. I tried for one night, but the return flights were all booked up. I hope that's okay with you," he said, placing the papers aside.

"Oh, okay, sure. What time are you meeting with your client?" Chloe asked, trying hard not to sound too excited.

"Two o'clock in the afternoon. We'll get an early check-in at the hotel, drop off our luggage, and grab a quick meal. Then I'll go to the meeting. It shouldn't take long, maybe an hour. I'll meet you back around five or so."