126:A

"Hello?"

The man who answered me spoke in very broken English with a heavy Spanish accent. I switched to Spanish myself, and asked who he was. He identified himself as the Temple President of the Guadalajara Temple, and we were to have an interview tomorrow morning at six. He wanted to know if this was good for us, and I said that it was. All of the temple baptisms I'd been to we had to be at the temple early.

When I hung up I explained to the guys about the interviews, and they all filed it away for future reference. Jeff set his alarm for early, so he could get ready.

"Good thing we have access to nice showers tonight." He said.

"We should tomorrow as well." Jeremy came up behind us. "Why do you need access to good showers?"

"We are going to the LDS Temple in the morning." Rafe said. "Going inside."

"I want to go inside." Jeremy looked enthused. He was ready to participate in just about anything we were doing, having discovered that we usually planned interesting and energetic activities.

"You can't." Jeff said and started walking away.

"Why?" Jeremy looked hurt, and Levi came up behind him looking perplexed.

"We like the Cathedrals we've been to so far." Levi stated, giving me a nod, as if trying to say they wanted to be included.

"It will be very early, guys. We have to be there at like quarter to six. And then we can go in, but you have to have a special appointment and a recommend and be a member of the church to go in. There is a waiting room if you want, and things to read about the temples. Or there is a visitor's center where they play films you can watch, and you can walk around the grounds, if you have a body guard."

"You have to be a member of the church to go inside the church? But we went with you Sunday."

"It's not that church. It's a temple. It's different than just a church. But like I said, you can come and watch the films and walk around the grounds. We probably won't be more than a couple of hours." The guys were looking at me like I was crazy, inviting this non-member rocker guy to come with us. But I gave them the most innocent expression I could, and tried to mentally remind them about being good missionaries too. Apparently they didn't get it.

"I'll come." Jeremy said. "Have you got plans for afterwards yet? I could look some stuff up."

"That's a great idea, Jer." I said, and Rafe squeezed my hand. I wasn't sure if that was a warning, but if he'd had plans he should have said something.

I looked at Ben who was giving me a bemused expression. "I need a hair cut." He said. His blonde hair was really pretty, light on top and dark on the bottom, very neat and long, to his shoulders. He parted it in the middle, and I thought it looked fine for what it was.

"We can find a stylist." Rafe said. "I could use a trim too." He smoothed his already very short hair.

"You have your electric shears---." I started.

"Clippers." Rafe corrected me. "Don't you know clippers?"

"Yes, I know they're clippers. I was going to offer to cut your hair for you, if you wanted. I used to do my brothers."

"This is million dollar hair, Aubrey. Are you sure you want to mess it up? I would be very mad at you if you messed it up."

Ben and Jeff both smoothed their longer hair for me. "Ours is only half a million dollar hair."

I laughed. "I would be more worried about doing their hair than yours."

Rafe managed to look hurt.

"You can do mine, Aubrey, and if they all like it, then you can do theirs, and if not, they still have time to do a barber." Jeremy volunteered.

"A stylist." Rafe corrected. "Don't you guys know anything?"

"Maybe we're not as vain as you, Rafe." Jeff laughed.

"I'm offended." Rafe joked swinging my hand. "You can do my hair, Aubrey."

"I'm not sure you can afford the going rate for million dollar hair."

"How much does it cost for amateur hair stylists who only cut their brother's hair?"

"You forget, I'm a surgeon. These hands are skilled. Very skilled."

"You cut people, not hair."

"I can cut anything very precisely." I waggled my eyebrows and he actually looked scared for a second. Not sure what he pictured me cutting in that instant.

We made it back to the vans and hopped inside. There was a nice atmosphere between us, a camaraderie that was blooming.

"Hey, Tim! Can we stop at the local market just for a minute? I'm going to see if I can get a pair of hair cutting shears, and a different skirt." I hollered up to him and he gave me the okay sign. In moments we were near a smaller farmers market, and we all jumped out, promising to keep it short.

I turned into Rafe's chest with my arms folded across my breasts, and he held me, not sure why he was holding me till I had bowed my head and started silently praying for guidance in finding the shears. It happened so fast, he was surprised. Then his arms tightened around me in tender shelter. I lifted my face and he kissed me gently.

"We have this funny mixture of spiritual moments coupled with crazy moments, and then this whole other world of rocker moments." He said.

I smoothed his hair. "Are they colliding in your brain? Causing chaos?"

"A little bit. They don't exactly blend well."

"I had to set my life on hold in order to understand your life. It is a little awkward."

"I didn't think of that. Are you having a hard time, not being on your routine?"

"I'm with you. It's where I need to be."

He blinked. "Gah- Man, Aubrey. You make me feel like---."

"Superman?"

"Yeah. You make me feel so good. I've never felt this good with a woman."

"Then I'm sorry for you. But I'm glad at the same time, because it means now that you've met me, you can really make the easy comparison, and value me for who I am."

I pulled him across the way and found shears almost instantly. Finding the skirt was a little harder, but I felt like I wanted something less formal than the dresses I'd brought for going out with Rafe, and my one church dress had got a stain, and the dress Rafe got me, well, I'd slept in it. We were able to locate a stall with skirts and tops fairly quickly, and while I picked one out, with a peasant top that went with it, Rafe was at a jewelry stall. I warned him I didn't wear a lot of jewelry and he waved at me flippantly.

We met back up at the van with Tim and Aiden following us circumspectly. It was too hot to wait inside the van, so Rafe started texting the guys to hurry, then he opened his little bag and pulled out a box. He opened it. Inside was a traditional Mexican silver and turquoise necklace. It was a floral design, with leaves all facing the same way, and then a teardrop of two leaves and a drop hanging down in the center. While I held that and marveled at its unique shape and color, he pulled out turquoise and copper earrings, not the same, but matching, and a ring.

He was pleased with his selections and I was amazed at his perception. I did not wear a lot of jewelry, as it seemed gaudy to me much of the time, but these items were delicate, pretty and sweet coming from him.

"Will you wear them?"

I nodded and kissed him. He blew out his breath. "Whew. I wasn't sure you'd consent. I know you're not a big jewelry fan. But I think you look pretty in it. Brings out your eyes."

It was too hot to snuggle, but we got back to the venue and went in for lunch and a hair cutting session that took all afternoon. In the end, I was able to cut the band's hair, including Mr. Picky, who had to have two mirrors for every snip, and two for the clippers as well, stopping me every five seconds just to be contrary. I ended up cutting Ben's all the way up to Rafe's style, which made him look nearly unrecognizable, and when he face timed Addie she screamed. Most of Conger also asked for haircuts, and so did Jeremy and Levi.

The guys sat around and played guitar, or sang, or played video games and some drank. Rafe showered again, and then went into the little dressing room by himself, he said he needed some space, not from me, and invited me in, but I decided to give him even that space before the show. It was a huge show; he probably needed to prepare himself. Seven thousand was really big.

I wasn't prepared when Jake came and got me, I was to be backstage again, side stage actually. I was. Not. Prepared.

There were mounted cameras, hanging from the rafters of this really huge, flashing lit stage, with three tiers away from the crowd and seven thousand screaming fans. There were floor cameras, and huge video cameras, in your face, don't see anything else cameras. The music was already playing when Jake took me out there, and I felt instantly overwhelmed. I turned to run back the way I had come, not sure I wanted to be that close to it all.

And I bumped into Rafe who had followed me. He grabbed me and cupped my cheeks. "Stay with Jake." He yelled over the crowd.

"Rafe!"

******