The Fourteen Day Soul Detox by Rita Stradling Read Free Book Online Page B

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while we stood in super short cut-offs and red and white striped crop
tops, giving the camera attitude. “We were all such babies back
then, and look at us, we’re practically naked.”
    “Yeah, sure, I’ll look,”
he said.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I said,
pulling the CD back to me. “My fifteen minutes of fame,
immortalized in a compact disk.”
    “Let’s put it on,”
Chris said.
    I looked over to Margret who was still
working away on her computer. “I’m pretty sure we’ll
drive away Margret for good.” She was a professional looking
young woman; this was probably her office away from her office.
    “Hey Margie,” Chris called.
    “Yeah?” Margret called, not
looking up from her laptop.
    “Did you know that Jamie here was
in an early 2000’s pop group?” he called back.
    “Are you serious?” she
said, looking up with interest. She walked up to the counter. “Early
2000’s were my years. Were you famous?”
    “No,” I said.
    “They were a one-hit wonder.
‘Cherry Pie’, you ever heard of them?”
    Margret gave me an apologetic smile. “I
can’t say that I have.”
    Chris sang, “ Don’t you
want to love me, baby? When the sun goes down. Don’t you want
to touch me, baby, when I’m not around? ”
    I buried my face in my hands. “Now
I’ll definitely not be able to listen to it, I’m already
too embarrassed.”
    “Oh, can we? It sounds familiar,
but I’m not sure,” Margret said.
    “Oh, fine,” I said, face
still in my hands.
    A second later I heard the
oh-so-familiar opening notes from the first song of our CD before
Chris skipped forward to our famous song.
    The intro notes played and Margret
burst out laughing. “Oh my god, I remember this song. This was
like senior prom for me. That was you?” she asked.
    I nodded.
    When the chorus came on, both Chris and
Margret sang along, “ Don’t you want to love me, baby?
When the sun goes down. Don’t you want to touch me, baby, when
I’m not around? It’s been so long, baby, and to you it
might sound sappy. But it’s been so long, so long, baby, since
I was happy. ”
    “Come on, Jamie, you know the
words,” Chris said, nudging me.
    “Fine,” I said with a
smile, and I joined them for the next chorus.
    When the chorus ended, I stopped
singing too, though I remembered the words.
    When the song was over, Margret smiled
at me. “Well, I’m going to have to go buy a copy of your
CD and have you autograph it for me.”
    “Good luck,” Chris said,
“Took me forever to find it. You can buy the track off iTunes
though, and have Jamie sign a napkin. Cheaper that way too.”
    “No, I’m determined.”
she smiled. “Have you ever been on one of those ‘where
are they now’ things?”
    “Nope, but my friend Susan was.”
I pointed to her on the cover. “But, only because she married
an international supermodel and they ‘retired’ together.
Susan’s partner was the main article.”
    “Well, that’s very cool,”
Margret said, “I’m going to go pack up and get out of
your hair, guys. I’ll see you Monday.”
    “Thanks for coming in Margie,”
Chris said.
    When the next song started playing, I
pressed eject on the CD player and replaced the CD in its case. I
slipped the CD case in a pastry bag, taping the ends down.
    “What was that?” Chris
asked, raising a brow at me.
    I gave him a sheepish smile. “I
don’t want the case to get scratched. Thank you so much Chris,
this really was the best present ever.”
    “What else did you get?” he
asked.
    “Nothing yet,” I said,
shrugging.
    “Well, the point I was trying to
make earlier, was that when I first met you six years ago, you told
me you wanted to go back to your singing career. You told me that you
were just putting things on hold until Logan’s coffee shop and
bakery was on its feet.”
    Shaking my head, I stowed the CD in my
purse, making sure I zipped up the purse so it wouldn’t fall
out. “Dreams change, Chris. Even then I knew it would be hard
to be a