Patty stands outside the door, arms folded, scanning the area like the bodyguard they think he is.
“Ooh, is this the bodyguard?” Miranda says, eyeing Patty in his sunglasses like he’s candy and she’s fixin’ to cheat on her diet. “The LJ fandom was right—I could ship this.”
I laugh, even as my guts twist into a knot. “The LJ fandom would be better served wondering about the date of my next album. Which I don’t have,” I add with a smile.
Annie slaps my shoulder. “Now that’s just mean!”
She reaches a hand out to Patty. “I’m Annie Ray. And you are…?”
“Patrick,” he says.
“What’s it like being a bodyguard for someone so famous?” Miranda asks.
“It’s a job I take very seriously.”
“Would you risk your life for her?” Miranda asks.
His head shifts just enough that I can tell he’s looking at me when he says, “Without a doubt.”
His voice is so steady, his words so unwavering, that a ball of emotion swells in my throat.
“And what about you?” Annie asks me. “Would you trust him with your life?”
I look at Patty—at his folded arms, the set of his wide jaw, the furrow of his perennially flat brow—and I think of my mom.
How she traded her life for one with my dad, with us.
I think of the truths Patty’s still holding on to and about how he’s asking me to trust him, anyway.
But then I think of the two of us on stage together, of the feeling of playing a melody only he can understand, only he can harmonize with.
“Yes,” I say with a nod, tearing my gaze from Patty’s to look at Annie and Miranda.
“I would.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
PATTY
“Is everything fixed with the bus?” Alicia asks Jimmy after the Country Soul Sisters leave and we’re all back on board.
“No, we need to run some diagnostics,” Jimmy says. “It'll take another few hours, but considering we don't need to be in Kansas City until 10 AM tomorrow, we’ve got plenty of time.”
“Perfect,” Alicia says. “Then I have an outing planned. Manny agrees it’ll make for great PR, too.”
Lou’s eyes jump between Alicia’s, mine, and Jimmy’s. “What is it?”
“Are any of y'all claustrophobic?” Alicia asks.
An hour later, we learn the reason for Alicia’s question when we stand outside a tour bus for Fantastic Caverns … along with a group of elementary school kids.
There is so much crying.
Lou hugs each and every girl and boy and takes picture after picture, beaming all the while. Alicia managed to hire extrasecurity for the event, and since the cavern tour was already closed to public tours for the field trip, we don’t have to worry about fans—just the chaperones.
One of the dads has on a wedding ring, and I see him casually slip it into his pocket before heading toward Lou. I block his path before he can get a word out.
“Put your ring back on,” I say, low and firm. “Save your family the heartache and yourself the embarrassment.”
