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“No.” Skylar shook her head. “We’ve made the decision to keep it private until after the tour.”
Elena felt guilt creeping up in her body. She hated that Skylar couldn’t be herself because she was holding her back. Skylar must have sensed the uneasiness and squeezed her shoulder before continuing.
“I’m sure you all understand.”
“We do.”
“Totally.”
“Whereas I don’t see myself staying in the music world, Elena wants to. So, we’ll have to figure out how to handle all of this after the tour. Elena coming out right now would take the spotlight off the tour and put it all on that, and that isn’t something either of us want. That’s why we’re trying to be careful.”
“I totally get that.” Blake nodded firmly. “And if you ever need help my agent, Salem, is great.”
Alexis huffed. “As long as she stays away from me.”
“Oh, stop it,” Blake laughed. “Alexis has beef with her because we used to date years ago before I ever met Alexis.”
“Doesn’t matter.” There was a grin on her face as she stuck her tongue out at Blake.
“See what I deal with?”
“I love it,” Skylar’s voice was dreamy. She tickled Archer, who was still contently cuddled against Elena. “Hey, Harper, why don’t you play your song for everyone?”
“I’ve been waiting for the grown-ups to finish talking.”
She looked exactly like a miniature Alexis as she sat cross-legged on a chair with her guitar in her hands. Everyone chuckled, and Harper began to play the song Elena knew all too well. After all, she wrote it with Skylar.
As Harper played, Blake recorded it on her phone. Elena and Skylar started singing along, which made Harper smile. At the end of the song, everyone applauded, even the babies who caught on to the clapping.
“You’re going to be joining us on stage before too long, Harp.” Skylar high-fived her once again as Harper giggled.
“Yeah, you’re totally hired if we need a new guitarist.”
“Thanks.” Harper giggled as she sat down the guitar and ran over to Alexis. She jumped into her lap and rested her head on her shoulder, seemingly suddenly shy. Alexis kissed her head in reassurance, and Elena’s heart melted.
She wanted that. There was no denying it. If the universe ever saw it fit for her to have a child, Elena knew she’d embrace that new journey. As she turned to look at Skylar, she was surprised to find her already looking back at her. And the look on her face told her she was thinking the same thing. Elena leaned in and kissed her.
“I love you.”
“Back at you.”
Chapter 22
Skylar
Half of the tour was already over, and Skylar honestly couldn’t believe it. It seemed like it had just started, and yet they only had five more weeks on tour. Skylar tried not to think what the inevitable end to the tour would mean. Instead, she tried to focus on what Riley was saying about the journalist that would be arriving at any moment.
Riley had set up the interview with the music magazine before the tour started. The magazine wanted to feature the entire band and talk about the tour and what the future held for Maine Event. Granted, none of them knew the answer to that question. There had been talks of a new album or another tour, but none of them had committed to anything yet.
Skylar was seated at a long table along with her bandmates. She and Elena were in the middle, with Andy and Gordon on the other side of Elena and Erica and Michael beside Skylar. Riley had been giving them mock questions for nearly a half hour, and all of them were already over it.
“We know how to answer questions, Riley,” Andy whined as she crinkled the empty soda can in front of him with his hands. “We’ve all done interviews before.”
“But it’s been years since the last time the band did an interview together, and this is the first one after the breakup.”
Skylar didn’t dare look away from Riley, but she felt every other eye was focused on her. She knew everyone but Elena blamed her for the band’s breakup. Hell, so did most of their fans. As soon as word got out that Skylar’s leaving was the reason for their demise, she faced instant backlash online. Thankfully, social media didn’t have as strong of a presence then as it does now, so the comments eventually died down, and people moved along. Although she hadn’t been brave enough to see what fans were hypothesizing now, she could only assume some still held a grudge against her.
But that was a burden Skylar was willing to carry to keep the truth a secret. No one needed to know that Elena’s inability to admit her feelings publicly for Skylar was the reason she left and the band split up. She was content to just let people assume what they wanted.
