“Thanks for tellin’ me what I need, asshole,” I say to him.

“Jess, chill out, brother,” he says back.

I remember that.

I do.

Him telling me to chill out.

[Rolls eyes to the ceiling]

Fuck.

Then he says, “I hope you’ve been writing songs that you haven’t sold seein’ as this charity gig is the perfect opportunity to relaunch with an album then hit the road on a tour.”

Yes.

He says just that.

Still planning world domination, our Preacher.

I’m all “Dude, are you kidding me right now?”

He’s all “No.”

I’m all “Hello? Maybe you wanna tell me where you were for over half a decade. If you’re good. If you’re healthy. I mean, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you what all was going down, or about to go down when I last spoke to you.”

And that’s when he says, “No, you do not.”

So, Tim’s the one who sorts it all seein’ as he has a kid he wants to show off, not to mention a new fiancée.

Big thing at his pad in Malibu.

Roadmasters reunion.

The private one.

Shawn shows with his wife Vanessa, who’s about to pop with their first child, so I don’t know how she talked a doctor, and DuShawn, into letting her get on a plane, except she’s Vanessa and she’s never met Preacher, but she’s heard a lot about him and she isn’t about to miss this.

And Vanessa is the kind of woman, she wants something to happen, she makes it happen.

Tommy shows up with fifteen of the biggest, thickest steaks I’ve ever seen in my life, even though Tim’s now a fuckin’ vegetarian.

Tom’s got his wife Simone with him, which is good, because she’s French and she’s gorgeous and she’s chic and she classes up every joint, even Tim’s surfer-dude beach hut that has four thousand square feet, direct beach access and a ten-million-dollar view.

Dave shows by himself and he brings a case of Dom and a dime bag of weed, times about fifty.

[Grins]

The pills are gone, sister, the blow, and we all learned to curb our appetites.

But Dave is never gonna stop bein’ Dave, thank God.

Tim’s girl is named Marty and we’re all pretty certain she peeled herself off an advertisement for surfing at Zuma beach, made herself three dimensional and then ran into Tim.

Wearing a bikini.

She also looks at Timmy and Brody like they both can make sun shine outta their asses.

I leave my woman home because I’m sensing it’s not gonna work out and I don’t want some woman I’m about to break up with to blow the memory of this occasion for me.