The Spaces Between

I rolled Wanda onto her back and dove down between her thighs. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure a few of you are getting all squeamish and grossed out. The way I figure it, if she's willing to swallow, then I'm willing to do my part on the leftovers. Yes, there have been times that the 'dinee' freaks out and things end quickly. Fortunately Wanda was at the other end of that spectrum exclaiming her approval with an empathetic "yes, yes, yes" until she pushed my head away looking at me with wild-eyed wonder and overstimulation, "Too much, oh my god, too much."

My response was rolling her onto her hands and knees and entering her forcefully from behind. We had that trailer rocking in no time and Wanda was pushing back as hard as I was pushing in. This was when I discovered that Wanda is a noisy fuck, and I mean that in all sincerity. Girl couldn't help it, once she gets going she gets loud, which truth be told is very inspiring. All of this led to a St. Vitus Dance orgasm that had Wanda's body twitching and jerking about in all directions. Her cunt clamped down on me triggering my own orgasm. We collapsed in a tangle of limbs, co-mingled fluids, and ridiculously happy smiles.

I rained soft kisses on her neck and back. "You're going to get me in trouble if you don't stop."

I rained my kisses down to her perfect butt. "Jimmy, please, I need to clean up and get back in the house. My mom will be getting up soon and she doesn't need to...oh, oh, stop that! Please!"

I replied by rolling her onto her back and miracle of miracles my amazingly rejuvenated cock slid right into her. "Oh Jimmy."

We didn't necessarily make love, it was more of a really easy, slow fuck. Me raining kisses, or looking into her eyes. Wanda gazing back, making sweet, satisfied murmuring sounds. We kept going even as sounds from the house indicated the beginning of a new day. Wanda simply wrapped her legs around me as we continued.

I never came, neither did Wanda, but we finished - finally. I rolled to the side and I was deeply asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I woke up about noon, feeling better than I had for months. I showered in the trailers tiny bathroom, although it was more of a dripping whore's bath than anything else. Once dried, I dressed and made my way to the house. I was both starving and aware it was time for me to face the music.

"Good morning Jimmy. You missed breakfast," Marguerite Harrison, "Margie" to husband Jerome and "mom" to a deeply blushing Wanda welcomed me into her kitchen, "although judging by that smile you got more than enough last night."

"Mother!"

"Oh hush child, I'm sorry, I meant this morning. You don't think your smile was any less? And the way your butt was swinging side to side when you walked up the stairs earlier leads me to believe you got what you needed too!"

"Mother please!"

"What? You're both adults. You haven't been a virgin for years and..."

"Oh my God!" Wanda jumped up and stomped out of the kitchen. I couldn't stop myself from watching her go, mesmerized as her bewitching bottom twitched side to side. I turned back to Margie and saw the kitchen knife in her hand pointed in my general direction. I lifted my hands in surrender.

"As for you Mr. James Rollins. Jerome speaks very highly of you Jimmy. And since you and Wanda are old enough to make your own decisions, well if she chooses to spend time with you in that trailer, then she's spending time with you in the trailer. However, this is my house and that means my rules. It will not end well for you if I find you've snuck your ass up those stairs into Wanda's bedroom. I don't care what that girl says, I'm telling you, right here, right now, do not disrespect my home. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am, very."

"Good, I'm glad we've cleared that up. Now you just sit yourself down. I've got fresh coffee here, and I was just getting ready to make a grilled cheese sandwich, California style. We lived out there for a half-dozen years or so, Wanda was in grade school. So I use Swiss cheese, slice of tomato, lettuce, and mashed avocado. There'll be no bacon I'm afraid, I've got Jerome on a very strict diet right now. I have to get him into shape before he goes out on tour and eats and drinks too much, and all the other wrong things besides. That work for you?"

It most certainly did work for me -- I ate two.

The scant time remaining before we left for the first six month leg of the tour was exhaustingly busy. Practice, practice, practice, shopping for clothing suitable for being a part of the Giles quintet (thank you Wanda.) Add to that the challenge of finding any spare moment Wanda and I could continue in our efforts to wear out the bed and other parts of that trailer. Jerome never said a word, Margie'd smile said it all.

Right before I left, Wanda and I had 'the talk.' Touring musicians are subject to many temptations on the road, especially when confronted with extended periods of boredom. Wanda simply told me she had no intention of 'waiting' for my return. Straight up she said, "Listen Jimmy, if some guy asks me out on a date, I'll likely say 'yes' and if I decide I like the guy and want things to go further, things will go further. I will not abide you placing expectations upon me."

I did not pine away for Wanda during our separation. Nor was I an unconscionable man slut, I pretty much reverted to my pre-Wanda ways, which was enough to keep me sane but made me miss her even more.

We had a four week break after completing the first leg of the tour which was intended for rest, recuperation, and recording, of course.

It was also four weeks where Wanda, for all practical purposes, lived with me in the trailer.

Just before we went out for the next leg of the tour, the European one, Margie pulled me aside and said the trailer wasn't long for this world and most likely they'd have a room for me at the top of the stairs when I returned. She was smiling.

I knew Wanda couldn't keep a secret!

Here's how that happened, a few days before I was to leave Wanda and I were lying side by side looking up at the ceiling above our bed and counting the pinholes of sunlight coming through. There were holes in the floor, the shower leaked, and one of the banquet seats flexed alarmingly when anyone sat in it. I had asked Wanda if she thought her mom might ease up on her rules.

"Babe, the only way that possibly happens is if there's a ring on my left hand. I'm sorry Jimmy, I can't promise even doing that is enough."

I took her left hand and held it up, "Okay, but I'm too busy to get a ring now. We'll do it first thing when I get back...if you'll have me?"

Her demonstrative yes wore us both out.

Ever hear the one about, "Man make plans, and God laughs."

Following the first tour, and with Giles album sales blowing up huge, cities were being added to the tour. Hell, countries were being added to the tour. Six months became nine, then four weeks off, but NOT four weeks off back home. Wanda and I talked and wrote as often as possible, but time spent apart is time not spent growing closer together. An Asian leg was added to our Australian tour, then South America.

The road took its toll -- it always does.

And that is how an originally planned six month tour became a year, then two, then three year tour. Yeah we'd get a couple weeks off here, a month off there. I did get time with Wanda. But when it was all added up, we'd been on the road, preparing for the road, or recovering from the road for over three years. We were all exhausted, a few of the guys had gotten so badly strung out they had to leave the group. Giles himself was so deep into heroin he could barely function when he was off stage.

If all came down to a show in Buenos Aris, Argentina. In searing heat and near 100% humidity Giles overdid it and came within a heartbeat of OD'ing (thank you Dr. Fuentes for being in the audience.) Once Giles was stable we all flew home and that was that. The road had beaten all of us.

The impact extended beyond the band, simply put, Wanda and I were not the same people. Oh we definitely got together, and for the first few weeks we had a lot of sex, really great sex, but we were nowhere close to where we'd been when I'd left. We talked about visiting a jeweler, but kept putting it off. Nor did I return to Jerome's house, instead I took a fair portion of my unspent tour earnings and bought a practice space with an apartment above. I was back in the city.

After a couple of months, Wanda and I were working our way closer together and had actually gone looking at rings. She helped me put my apartment together and we spent some quality time baptizing every horizontal surface and a fair number of the vertical ones.

I tried to stay away from getting involved with studio gigs, but when Lester called I answered. And I know you know what happened, thus began The Kid Rollins Band. You want to know the kicker? That session that Lester set up (with an assist from Jerome I might add) the one that became an all-nighter. Well, that particular session that led directly to the founding of The Kid Rollins band -- it was supposed to be a date night for Wanda and me. We had a tentative dinner and ring shopping date scheduled if my thing with Lester ended early - yeah, God had a good laugh at that plan - things didn't end early. They didn't end early for the weeks and months that followed.

As the Rollins Band gelled, Wanda and I saw the reality of our relationship. The former studio rat and the young graduate student were now a seasoned 'much in demand' touring musician, band leader and an aspiring CPA. Yeah, exposure to musicians and the music industry had certainly opened Wanda's eyes. As much as we wanted each other, and of that, there was never a doubt, it just wasn't enough. Wanda wanted kids and a nuclear family situation even more. When the Kid Rollins Band debut album "Sunday Morning" exploded up the charts, my time was booked and then double-booked.

I came back to the apartment after an all day and nearly all night series of meetings with lawyers and managers, labels and instrument companies, to 3/4 empty closets and drawers. In all honesty I actually didn't notice until the next day and I certainly can't say I was all that surprised.

By the time the Rollins Band went on its first tour, Wanda and I were well on our way to being friendly exes. She got herself married to a lawyer before that first tour ended. She was divorced two years later, no reasons given that I heard of, and thankfully no kids either. Although she did end up with a really nice house in Maryland.

Her second husband was of all things a general contractor (word was they met when he bid on the renovations she wanted.) I heard he was a good husband and a great father (3 kids) during their twenty-two year marriage. Unfortunately, he was killed by a drunk driver. I know next to nothing about husbands three and four.

I did find out, via my agent Irving Jr, how Sophia, one of Wanda's great grand children, came to visit me not too long ago. Turns out the granddaughter of the Kid Rollins Band first bassist, Bill Carson, was a super talented, rising like a rocket pop star (singing & dancing) and one night she was a guest on a really popular talk show. During the interview it came out that besides singing and dancing she was a really good bass player. The bass player for the house band brought his instrument over and wired her up. Evidently she played some funk, then a dash of old school Motown, before easing into and singing a slow, smoky jazz version of "Have Yourself A Very Merry Christmas." The audience went crazy and social media blew up big time before the show was over. The rising rocket was a bonafide star.

The host was blown away and asked her how all of this came together and she mentioned her love of jazz due to her grandfather having played in The Kid Rollins Band. That got a big shout out from the house band. It turned out Sophia was watching the show that night and decided to look me up. (If you read Note by Note you'll understand.)

And the second craziest part of all this was an across the board bump in sales and streaming of our entire Kid Rollins catalogue.

I'm going to wrap this up now. And I don't mean to be morbid, but the other day I read about this actress who had just passed away. She was like 100 years old or near enough to it. Well supposedly the last words she spoke were her late husband's first name, just 'Alan. Alan. Alan.' Evidently they had been a very happy couple and very much in love.

It got me thinking about what my last word(s) might be. I wouldn't surprise at all if they were "Wanda, my love."

-=-=-=-=-=-

Irving closed the notebook. He looked around the room at the books and papers. For a brief moment he considered contacting Sophia, then dismissed it.

These were private and deserved to remain so. He turned to his laptop and typed a message to himself: [all non musical writing to be archived and stored, held in trust by the james rollins estate for the rollins foundation, approval of release subject to executor authorization]

Irving closed his laptop, and locked up as he left. Whistling the song 'Sunday Morning' from The Kid Rollins Band debut album of the same name, 'Sunday Morning.'

Irving smiled as he walked, 'Oh Jimmy you never ceased to surprise, Sunday Morning. The song, the album, just like that first Sunday morning in the trailer. Just you and Wanda Harrison.

While Irving had heard about her from his dad, he'd never met her. Wanda must have been some woman. Oh Jimmy, you and Wanda, you sly dog you.

Arriving home, Irving hugged his kids, knowing those hugs would be avoided soon enough. He kissed his wife passionately and repeatedly. She resisted at first, then surrendered into active participation.

"Okay Irv, what have you done?" It was asked as much in jest as in inquiry. Norah Thaler knew her husband well, he was a good man, but she was no dummy.

Irving held her, "Do you remember me telling you about a young woman, Sophia, who came to visit Jimmy not to long before he died?"

"Sophia, was she the one with a grandmother who knew Jimmy?"

"Yeah, great grandmother actually. Freddy and I found a reference to her in Jimmy's personal papers. Looked like he was more than ready to marry her, until "BOOM!" The Kid Rollins Band, and that was that."

"Right, she was the one with four husbands and lots of kids; grands, greats, steps, a pretty big family."

"That's the one."

"And Jimmy had his music. But he loved playing with the kids when he was here. Who do you think came out ahead?"

"Us Norah. We came out ahead."

Irving kissed his wife again, but it was a home from work kiss. He did goose her bottom as she turned to go back to the kitchen.

"Watch it buster!" And she wagged a warning finger at him.

"Oh I do, I watch it every chance I get."

Norah turned toward the kitchen to hide the tear trickling down her cheek. She knew she was thirty pounds heavier than when they married -- three kids will have that affect on a woman's body.

And she knew that there were times when she refused Irving or promised 'not tonight, some other time sweetie.' She wiped that tear and promised herself and Irv, that he was going to be a very lucky husband tonight, and maybe tomorrow night too.

Irv thought about Jimmy, The Kid Rollins Band, the musicians who had come, the musicians who had gone, and the ones who had stayed. He though about Wanda, about all the Wanda's in the music business, the Wanda's known and unknown.

He took out his iPhone and sent himself an email, 'look into possibilities of support for the families of musicians.'

He walked into the kitchen, "Wow, something smells delicious." He paused in perfect rhythm before adding, "Are you going to cook anything tonight?"