“How much are you into Boss for?”
“Too much. I’ll be gone for a few short years, you won’t hardly notice, babe.”

The low-grade panic she was almost used to at this point, but the hard edge of real fear was a lot closer now. It filled her up like a thick fog, it slowed her response time, she couldn’t think.

Love is a motherfucker. Boss wasn’t going to let that kind of debt slide. If he didn’t pay it back, there would be consequences. She hated that look in his eyes, they used to glow with intensity, ambition, creativity. Now they could only see the next fix. She could only get through when she was singing.

“I’ll be there for one last gig, babe, then I’m out.”

She was going to turn it on tonight. Give him something to remember. To come back to. She saw him from backstage, sitting adjacent to an exit. He seemed calm, like his old self a little bit. Then the lights came on, she was on, she was amazing.

When the applause finally stopped, and they turned the lights down, he was gone.

Boss was there.