I could feel her eyes on me as I made my way towards the elevator, so I turned walking backwards as I pointed at her grinning, “Hey, one more day without a drink. How cool is that?”
Her smile matched mine when she said, “Pretty cool,” and blew me a kiss.
That simple gesture hit me right in the chest as I winked at her before stepping on the elevator. Thankfully I was alone, with a second to process what had just happened. I saw my past and my future in her baby blues, and I was finally starting to believe that maybe, I could become the man she’d always deserved.
* * *
I invited my brother to hang out in the bus with me before the show the next day, since my band was still at the hotel with their families.
“So, how’d it go with Amanda last night?” I asked, passing him a bottle of water.
“She’s something else, man.”
“Yeah, but you’re in Raleigh and she’s in Nashville. How would that work?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. We haven’t thought past today.”
I wish I had Noah’s knack for living in the present. I’d been making myself crazy wondering what would happen between me and Codie when I returned home after this tour. I already had invitations to hit the road with other headliners on Luc’s label. Namely, Ty McCall, but I wasn’t ready to sign up for anything just yet. I needed time to figure out where things stood with Codie before I committed to being on the road all year.
“Did you guys spend the night together?” I asked, leaning back on the small sectional, and kicking my feet up.
He smirked before tipping the water bottle to his lips. “What do you think?”
I grunted as I twisted the cap off my own water bottle and took a deep swallow.
“What’s wrong, Mav? Jealous ‘cause you’re not getting any?”
“No.” I meant what I said to Codie last night. I’d wait forever for another chance to make love to her. “I’m a patient man.”
He cocked an eyebrow before claiming a swivel chair at a small built-in desk across from me. “Did you make any headway with Codie last night?”
I couldn’t help but smile. As a teenager, kissing Codie would have felt like nothing. But now it felt like everything. “Sure felt like it.”
He kicked my booted foot with his own. “Don’t keep me hangin’. What happened?”
“We connected.” That’s all I needed to say. My brother got it. That connection, that I assumed was irreparably severed, was somehow forged together last night. It still felt fragile, like anything could tear it apart, but at least it was a start.
“Glad to hear it. I love that girl.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Really?” Noah asked. “You’re ready to toss that word out there again, so soon?”
“In my head, I never stopped.” Whenever I’d thought of Codie over the years, I always thought of her as the only girl I’d ever loved. And I had no doubt, no matter what happened between us, she’d always have that place locked down.
“That’s crazy,” Noah said, quietly. “To feel that way about someone after all these years.”
“Yeah, it is. But it feels right too. Like all the shit we went through was part of it, the journey, ya know?”
He chuckled. “Okay, songwriter. How long before you pen a song about that?”
I hadn’t stopped writing since Codie walked back into my life, which coincidentally, was the last day I took a drink. I’d never felt more inspired, like I’d tapped into some kind of creative energy that had been elusive to me when I was drunk.
“That girl’s my muse. It feels like every damn song I write is about her.”
“I want you to get your happy ending with Codie, you deserve it.”
“But…?” I could tell by the tone of his voice, there was a warning buried in his words.
