AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When we arrived at the venue and I glanced around, I couldn’t believe Colby had pulled this off in such a short time. According to Brian, Colby had approached the Children’s Hospital board about fundraising with a yearly concert that would be dedicated toward bringing in money for a music program and helping families. As if I didn’t love him enough already.
Once Brian’s signal came through via text, I took out the phone that Josh had given me to use which would flash up as an international number. Dialing, I held my breath, waiting for the sound of Colby’s voice.
“Hello?”
“Hi, there.”
“Hey, this is an unexpected surprise. Hold on a second while I find a quieter spot to talk to you.”
Right now I knew he was backstage and hopefully, if my partners in crime were effective, heading toward the back offices, which would allow me to take my position unnoticed.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Believe it or not, I’m at a concert. There, that’s better. I can hear you. Is everything all right?”
Given that we’d only exchanged emails the entire time I’d been gone, he was probably wondering why I was calling him. “Yeah, it’s good. What kind of concert?”
“It’s a charity one. Are you still planning to come home in another couple of days?”
I smiled, not technically lying. “No, I’m afraid not.”
He sighed. “Right. Okay. I take it you’re still trying to decide what you want to do?”
“Actually I think I’ve figured that part out. I’m still doing the backup singing job for the Misfit Toys tour next summer as I think it’ll be a great opportunity, but in the meantime I’m planning to go back to school.”
“Music school?”
“Sort of. I’ve decided I want to be a teacher. The time here with these kids teaching them songs and instruments really made it click within the first couple of weeks. It should have dawned on me months ago because it was right there in front of me with the volunteer work at the hospital. There are a lot of ways I can do it, but since I want to be a music teacher specifically, I’m applying for UCLA’s music education program. It’ll mean another couple years at least if they’ll transfer over some of my credits, but it feels right, if you know what I mean.” I’d already spoken with my parents who were keen to pay for school, but I planned on getting a part-time job to offset the cost of living expenses.
“I don’t know why I didn’t realize it, either. Then again, it’s not the first time that the best thing in front me was something it took me awhile to see.”
I chuckled. “That was pretty smooth.”
“Would’ve gone better with the grin. So how much longer do you think you’ll stay there in Bali?”
“I would’ve been home sooner if someone had told me about the charity concert he’d put together to raise money for the hospital.”
He cursed softly. “Our families can’t keep a secret worth a shit. I wanted it to be a surprise for you when you returned.”
All these days away from him with his daily emails and unwavering support—and then to find out he’d planned this fundraising concert to surprise me was touching. “What prompted this?”
“I know how much those kids from the hospital mean to you and kept thinking about that little boy from the day I spent with you. I thought maybe going back there would, I don’t know, make me feel closer to you, so I bought forty hand-held video games to drop off for the kids. Before I knew it, I’d spent a couple hours with Tyler and his family. He’s responding to his leukemia treatment really well, but they’ve been there two months. His mom had to quit her job, and his dad is still trying to work to keep the medical benefits, not to mention pay the bills, but that means he can’t be there full time.”
His voice had grown thicker, and I swallowed past the lump in my throat, listening as he went on.
“So I went back to the office and talked to Rhonda, my assistant. Then I called my brother who, within an hour, had Haylee on the phone. I mean, talk about embracing this whole foundation idea. Obviously Haylee would since she lost her parents to cancer.”
“Wait. What foundation?”
He chuckled. “Guess I forgot to mention that part. I started—well, technically Gamble Enterprises and its subsidiaries, which includes my production company—started a foundation for the support of cancer patients and their families. Tonight is only the tip of the iceberg, I hope. Hell, Rhonda, my assistant, has already organized a group from the office that is doing this bicycling event, with the profits going to the charity foundation, and Josh said his assistant, Nigel, whose partner had cancer, wishes to plan a dinner out in New York in the next few months. Catherine has already offered up a charity fashion show.”
“All of this in two weeks?”
“More like four weeks. I actually went to the hospital a couple days after I left you in Vegas. I remember you posed a question months ago on our way back from New York: don’t you ever want more? And the answer is: yes, I do. And this kind of work gives me something to feel good about. Tyler talked about taking nothing for granted and living in the moment. At freaking eight years old. So I wondered how I could for one second spend time regretting my past when these kids are there fighting for a future one day at a time. It’s such a wasted effort. Anyhow, the idea for the concert started when I met with…”
I stopped listening after his words about his past.
“Are you there?”
