They finished our track to wild applause and launched into an original. I couldn’t explain it, but I was sure Adeline had written this song. Something about the way she sang it, as if every word had a hidden meaning, reached right inside me and tugged on my heart.
“Been walking on a road to nowhere,
Green roses lining my way,
Won’t you come and see,
Where the path will take me.”
What was she singing about? I wanted to discover her, to learn everything there was to know about the life she had lived and the dreams she was chasing. When she announced their last song, I felt a twinge of regret. I really wished Abel hadn’t made us miss their first set.
Twisting my head around, I looked for the lead singer, but he was no longer standing with us. How the fuck was he missing this?
Silas caught my eye. “He left during ‘The Thing About You.’ He knows this is a sign.”
The corners of my lips inched up. A sign we’d record this album after all.
ADELINE
“I thinkI’m going to sleep for twenty-four hours when I get home,” Mason commented between gulps of water when we made it offstage.
“Aren’t you supposed to be young and springy?” I asked, fanning myself with my palms. My white shirt was drenched from sweat and the water I’d poured on it once we’d gotten backstage. We needed to get back out there and grab our equipment, but first we needed to catch our breath.
“Nineteen is the new thirty.” Mason laughed.
Liam was texting someone on his phone, probably his fiancée, Vanessa. She usually came to support him, but she was seven months pregnant now and not in the mood for a musty, loud concert hall.
“Okay, I’m going out there, but I want to be tucked into my bed within the hour,” I said over my shoulder, moving toward the stage.
“I’ll be there in two minutes,” Elly groaned from the couch.
The Barnyard was emptying out, everyone eager to get out now that last call had passed. I walked across the stage to my guitar and started unplugging it from the amp.
“Great show,” a deep, pleasant voice sounded from below. I craned my neck to look past the stage and blinked. The grinning guy from Carly’s pic was staring up at me, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“Thanks,” I said once I got over the initial surprise of seeing him. His smile grew, and instead of walking away, he placed a palm on the stage and jumped up to kneel in front of me. I stood up and took a step back.
“I’m Cole,” he said, straightening up and offering me an outstretched palm.
“Adeline,” I responded, giving him a firm shake. His palm was calloused and cool. Up close, he was beyond attractive—lean and muscular with a tightly cropped beard and hazel eyes that lit up when he smiled, which seemed to be always. His lips had a perfect Cupid’s bow that I wanted to trace with my fingers.
Get it together, Adeline.
“It was cool of you to play one of our tracks.”
I laughed awkwardly. “We had the set planned a day in advance. I didn’t expect the original songwriters to show up.”
His eyes grew wide, “Oh, yeah, of course. I hope us being here didn’t intimidate you or anything. If it did, it certainly didn’t show. That was one of the best covers I’ve ever heard.”
My cheeks heated. “Thanks,” I said and bent back down to finish what I was doing.
“So, you all are from around here?” Cole asked.
“Yeah, born and raised,” I said, glancing back up at him.
“Cool, same with us. Hey! Come up here.”
I jerked up with my unplugged guitar and looked around in alarm. Two more guys were walking toward the stage, weaving through the lingering crowd and stopping to sign autographs for those that came up to ask.
