“You’re okay then?”
“Fine and dandy. Right as rain. Happier than a toad in a downpour.”
“Convincing.” The baby started crying. “I gotta go. Keep me posted.”
The call ended, and the anger merged into a plan. This guy thought he was too good for this town, huh? Too badass a rock star to help the children of his own community in need?
Well, I wouldn’t be the hot-headed cliché people made me out to be. I was going to be smart. Rational. Make a plan. No more of this reactive, intense Mari stuff.
But I sure as hell wasn’t about to give up.
“If he’s too good to leave his house, then...” I muttered out loud, now fully distracted from the remaining ache in my heart, a plan formulating. I paced my short hallway.
Maybe it was the disappointment of another long, lonely weekend stretching ahead of me. Or the knowledge that another person was abandoning this town. It wasn’t ladylike, I should keep a lid on the frustration. I could use honey rather than vinegar, but the tendrils of an idea were forming and spreading through my brain like the sticky tentacles of an octopus.
No more moping. No more wallowing. So what if everybody else in town had family, and I was totally alone. I gripped the counter and took a deep breath in.
I wasn’t alone. I had the bands, my students, and Cath’s future to focus on. I would narrow my focus on my students and forget anything else. I could make that happen.
Janice had said Leo just needed a good push. Might as well be me who pushes. And really, maybe he just needed a proper welcome to Green Valley.
Turned out, I did have plans for the weekend.
CHAPTER 4
LEO
Ishot out of bed, heart racing and confusion coursing through me.
“What’s that? Who’s there?” I slurred.
Bright, early morning, pink light filtered through the cracks in the blackout curtains.
In my hand was a lamp I didn’t remember grabbing as another shout of commands were called from outside, followed by a crash of cymbals. I set a hand to my racing heart and blinked the rest of my sleep away with a shake of my head.
Seconds later, horns blared a loud, quick tempo as snare drums and another cacophony of cymbals.
“What the hell?” I put down my illuminating weapon, stumbled to pull apart the panels of curtains, and was blasted with a ray of sunshine straight to the face. I hissed like a vampire. I hadn’t witnessed a sunrise since I was on tour and that was only because I never went to sleep. As it wasn’t the Stone Age, there was no evolutionary advantage to seeing the sunrise when your job didn’t require it.
From my second-story window, the neighbor’s massive pine took up most of the view. The residents of Clearview Lane had all complained about it needing to be trimmed for months. Those dry branches at the top were asking for trouble, but this wasn’t the time to let that transgression be my focal point. I had plenty else on my plate as a group of maybe fifteenhooligansstomped in somewhat coordination to the jaunty tune they tutted and trilled. Other neighborsappeared on their porches, coffees in hand, confusion on their faces, or they peeked out their windows.
I see you, Clara Hill.
The band of no-good ruffians had spread out and were headed dangerously close to the shrubs and creeping vines.
“Not the dahlias!” I yelled, sprinting out of the room and hammering down the stairs as fast as my feet would carry me.
Janice sipped coffee serenely at the table, head bobbing slightly to the melody. Her gray curls were shorter than mine, and her signature tortoiseshell glasses sat low on her nose as she looked at her phone. The woman already had her bright red lipstick on. Where did she have to be so early?
She glanced up with a sweet smile. “Good morning, darling.”
I scrubbed my hand through my hair, a loose curl flopping into my eyes. “Are you aware there is a marching band in the front yard?” I asked.
The horns and woodwinds continued to blast so loud that the patrons of Daisy’s Nuthouse had to be wondering what the hell was going on.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s the whole marching band. Are you aware that you forgot a shirt?” She gestured to me, her bracelets clinking like wind chimes.
I stood akimbo. There hadn’t been time to get dressed, but I probably couldn’t go out in only my boxers to a bunch of youths. I glanced around the kitchen. My choices were a raincoat I would likely rip at the seams or a flowered apron hanging on a hook on the back of the kitchen door. “Can I borrow your wrap?”
