Page 40 of Tumbling Hearts

“Well, I assume she must be pretty special if you made it official. You’ve waited until you were twenty-two years old, and she’s your first. So I assumed she must be someone important to you.”

“I mean… yeah, I guess.” Gene shrugged, grabbing the phone cord with his free hand. “Though, I don’t want to think of kids at the moment. With how I’m with the Dusty Brooms, and we’re starting to tour a lot, I don’t think I could handle having kids on top of it…”

He heard his mother tsk over the phone. “I suppose so. You always loved your music. Well, it’s simply something to think about. Alright, dear?”

“Alright.” Gene nodded, despite his mother not being able to see. Almost every time he talks to her, she mentions something about either him finding a girl or having grandkids. But now that he does have a girlfriend, he knows it’s only going to get worse with her pestering him about grandkids. Gene is an only child, so it’s not like he has any siblings that could have their own kids. No, if his mother wants grandchildren, the duty is all on Gene. He never gave much thought into how he personally would feel about it, but figured it was more just something one does in life: get married, have kids, have grandkids.

But that prospect, however, gives Gene chills.

As he sits next to Toshiko on the rooftop of the Hyatt House days after that phone call with his mother, moonlight making the glitter on Toshiko’s dress shine, palm trees surrounding them, he ponders a possible future. What would it be like if he married Toshiko? While he likes her a lot, enough to make her his girlfriend, thinking about being locked into a commitment like that…

It terrifies him.

Maybe he only thinks that because he hasn’t known her for long enough, and if they’d been together for, say, a year, he’d feel differently. But he wonders what his life would look like if he were to marry her—would they still be touring, apart for months at a time, only living together during breaks? How would having kids work out like that? Furthermore, would marrying her grant her US citizenship? It gives him a headache, worrying about this sort of thing. He takes a drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke toward the pool, the warm breeze carrying it over.

If he were to marry anyone, he’d want it to be someone he can share his whole life with, obviously. That’s the whole point of marriage, isn’t it? Someone who understands him on a deep level, who loves music as much as him, who’d be with him every step of the way, writing songs and performing them…

Of course, his mind drifts to Ray.

Sometimes he feels like he’s already married to Ray. Their songwriting partnership is basically just like a marriage, working together through thick and thin, having chemistry, feeling the other’s groove. They even have a name for themselves now: ‘The Flare Twins’. And that’s not even touching their friendship in general, or… whatever else it is between them.

Oh god, how I miss him.

He and Toshiko aren’t busy doing anything other than sitting up here with Yasuhiro and Pete, are they? They’re simply chatting, not doing anything in particular. He waits for her to finish laughing at whatever Yasuhiro said; Gene wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation anyway.

“Hey, Toshiko?”

“Hmm?” She turns her head toward him, her black bobbed hair swishing over her ears.

“I’m gonna retire to the room, if you don’t mind.” Gene smiles. “I realized I haven’t called the Brooms this whole week I’ve been here. I need to; they gotta update me on how our album’s coming along.”

“Oh yes, definitely.” Toshiko nods. “Go right ahead.”

“Alright. If you’ll excuse me, dear.”

He stubs out his cigarette in the ashtray on the little table between Toshiko and Yasuhiro, then heads over to the staircase, walking down a couple flights until he’s back on his floor. Once inside the room, he shuts the door, kicks off his boots, and sits on the bed he shares with Toshiko, grabbing the phone from the nightstand and dialing the number back home. It’s about ten o’ clock at night here in LA—meaning it’d be around one in the morning in Michigan—but the Brooms are always up at odd hours. Someone is bound to pick up. Thankfully, someone does after a few rings.

“Hello…?”

“Hey, Santi! It’s Gene.”

“Gene! Oh my god, it’s about time you called,” Santiago chuckles on the other side of the line. “You realize what time it is over here? Scared me half to death hearing the phone ring.”

“Well, at least you were up to answer, right?” Gene chuckles as well. “Is Ray awake?”

“He just went into his room, so I doubt he fell asleep already. I can go grab him, if you want.”

“Yeah, please, if you could.”

“Alright. Hang on.”

Gene can hear the phone being set down on the counter while Santi scurries away. It’s only for a few minutes, yet Gene’s heart rate ramps up as he waits for the man he wants to talk to. He glances at the door. While it shouldn’t matter if Toshiko were to enter, he’d rather her not overhear. Sure, he probably wouldn’t say anything to Ray over the phone that would make her suspicious, but he’d have more peace of mind knowing he’s alone in the room.

In no time at all, Ray picks up.

“Hey, Gene?”

“Hey Ray.” Gene smiles, even if Ray can’t see him. “How’s it going?”