Take Me Home Tonight by Erika Kelly Page A

the hell up.
    â€œCool, but I’ve got to do something other than get turned down.” Gus snapped his laptop closed. “I don’t know why I waste my time.”
    â€œNot wasting time,” Terrence said. “There’s more to do than merchandising and licensing.”
    â€œYou know that’s the bulk of what I do each day.”
    â€œI’m sorry, what exactly do you do, Gus?” Mimi sat cross-legged in the sand, facing the Bourbons. “You’re, what, twenty-three? Around my age?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhere’d you go to college?”
    She couldn’t miss the snap of tension between his parents and Gus. Oh, crap. She’d stepped in it again.
    â€œI didn’t.”
    â€œHe started at Julliard,” Terrence said.
    â€œI dropped out.”
    Three years ago he’d have been twenty—ah, of course. He’d dropped out because of Hopper. And, oh, crap, that would explain why Lee wasn’t doing fashion or decorating.
    Life had come to a screeching halt for this family.
    â€œSo now I run the 100 Proof LLC.”
    â€œWhat does that mean, exactly?”
    â€œI take care of all the business things that still go on from my parent’s music. Licensing, merchandising, stuff like that.”
    â€œThat sounds interesting. I guess you’re not a musician?”
    â€œI play, but I like the technical side more. Mixing and spinning.”
    â€œAnd you’re good at it. What you played me last night was really cool. Can you do that for a career?”
    â€œThere’s a lot I could do.” Gus leaned forward, his eyes alight with excitement. “I could be a DJ or work in a studio.”
    Plenty of clubs in the Hamptons used DJs. And, of course, the obvious solution—Slater’s studio was half an hour away on the North Fork.
    She shot Terrence a questioning look. Seemed
too
obvious, so she should probably keep her mouth shut. Wait, what was she thinking? Calix worked at the studio every day, so it had to be all right. “Why don’t you work with Blue Fire?”
    He had boyish good looks, but in that moment he looked like a kid holding a present in the shape of what he’d asked for. His excitement leveled, though, and he looked at his laptop. “I’m not trained at anything. I only mess around.”
    â€œDon’t they already have a recording engineer?” Lee asked.
    â€œYeah, but she actually works with Dak,” Mimi said. “So, once Blue Fire finishes this—”
    â€œThey’d never hire me. I don’t have the skills they need.”
    â€œWould you want to be a gofer? That way you’ll learn some skills, get some experience.”
    â€œHell, yeah. You think they’d let me do that?”
    â€œI don’t see why not. I can ask them when I go home.”
    â€œWill you?” Gus looked so excited she had to smile. Funny, how they were nearly the same age, but he had the exuberance of a much younger man.
    â€œOf course I will.” But when she looked to the others to share her amusement, she found nothing but tension. Oh, crap. But Calix worked with the band. He worked in the studio every day. How was Gus doing the same thing bad?
    â€œYou got a business to run.” Terrence’s tone indicated the subject was closed.
    Mimi fixed her attention on Jo, who’d gone perfectly still, the beer bottle clutched in both hands.
    â€œI can do both at the same time,” Gus said. “I want to do it.”
    â€œYou wanna get coffee for the guys?” Terrence asked. “Fetch Dak his slippers? From what I hear, the guy’s a dick.”
    â€œStop trying to talk me out of it. I want to do it.”
    â€œYou guys—” Lee began.
    â€œLet him do it.” Jo got up.
    Terrence watched his wife with concern.
    â€œLet him do it.” Jo said it more softly this time. Pain spread like a slow leak across her features. And then she lowered her