“I don’t know if I’ll go.”
“Did you hit your head?” She placed her hands on the sides of my face, smushing my cheeks together. “What do you mean you don’t know if you’ll go?”
“He’s going to be gone for a month,” I said, prying my head from her grasp. “I can’t leave for that long right now.”
“The hell you can’t. Katie and I can hold down the fort here. I’m serious, Liv.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You need to go. If you don’t want to go for the whole month, fine, but at least go for a week or two. Look at it as a test drive for your future career as a rockstar.” Her eyes lit up with excitement. “I think you should surprise him.”
“How?”
“It’s simple. We get the guys in on it. You have to be adamant in telling him you’re not able to go, though. He needs to not be expecting it at all. We get the boys to sneak you into their show and stick you in the front row. He looks out and sees you andta daaaa!” She turned her fingers inward, admiring her navy-blue polish.
I considered her suggestion for a moment. “It’s not a bad idea.”
Before I could say anything else, Katie burst through the kitchen door with a big smile on her face. “You’ve got a delivery out front, Liv.”
“A delivery?” I questioned. Ella and I glanced at each other then back at Katie who nodded cheerfully. Ella and I followed her back through the door and gasped. On the counter was a beautiful arrangement of tequila sunrise roses. There had to be at least four dozen.
“Open the card!” Ella shrieked, shaking me by the shoulders. “What does it say?”
“Hold on.” I waved her off as I plucked the card from its holder in the bouquet. My heart felt like it was about to take flight out of my chest when I opened the small yellow envelope with Ella and Katie reading over my shoulder.
Dear Liv,
I can’t wait to come back home
to my sweet tequila sunrise.
Miss you already.
Love,
Jax
“You aresogoing!” Ella squealed as she and Katie bounced excitedly together. “If we have to fold you up, put you in a suitcase, and take you ourselves, you aregoingto see that man.”
I turned to face my friends. “Do you really think I could take a couple of weeks off?”
“Hell yeah, I do!” Ella threw her arms around me.
“We’ll take care of everything here.” Katie reached out and squeezed my arm. “You always take such good care of us. Let us take care of you.”
“Okay. I’ll go.” I held up a finger to Ella. “But not until I see Grace in her Homecoming dress.”
Ella grinned. “Deal.”
I pictured Jax and my heart disappearing out of sight earlier that morning in Brady’s SUV, and I knew there was no way I could wait another month to see him again.
The week Jax was gone passed by excruciatingly slow. The evening before my flight to Los Angeles, I was packing while I waited for Ella to arrive. Grace had rehearsals for her part inher school play, so Ella was coming over for dinner.
My phone rang from beneath a pile of clothes on the bed, and I dove for it.
“Hey, Dal,” I said, cradling the phone between my ear and shoulder.
He chuckled. “We’ve been over this. My code name is Agent Sprinkles.”
“My bad.” I snorted.“Agent Sprinkles.”
“You’re gonna blow this entire operation, Officer Cupcake.” His laughter was infectious and boisterous, and it was one of the things I liked most about him. “I’ve got everything worked out. Brady will sneak away to pick you up at LAX when your flight lands at 8:15 tomorrow evening. He’s going to bring you right to Microsoft Theater, and Jax will be none the wiser until he looks down and sees your beautiful face in the front row.”
