Page 9 of His to Love

He glanced at Rainy again. He didn’t know whether to let her sleep or to rouse her and walk her home. He went over to her and sank to his haunches so that he was more or less face-to-face with her.

“Hey,” he whispered. He brushed the strands of her hair away from her face.

“That was super nice,” she said in a sleepy voice. “I can’t believe all this. I wish my guys were here. We would have a blast.”

“Give you me your number.”

She smiled.

“I already offered it to you and you said no.”

He played with her hair. “I was going to forward the recording to you so you could send it to them, but if you don’t want to…”

Rainy called out her number and Kris texted her.

“Maybe you were just playing hard to get,” she continued to toy with him.

“I know,” he smiled shyly. “The oldest ruse in the world. Get a gorgeous woman’s number under the pretext of sending her a recording.”

She giggled. “If I had a nickel for every time—” she joked.

“No doubt.” He loved flirting with her. It was different. While she respected his work, she didn’t come across as star struck.

He couldn’t resist. He reached out and brushed her cheek. Her blush was distracting and a great excuse to touch her.

“Grand Canyon? Really?” He shook his head. “The music world should weep.”

Pain wrenched her face. She sat up quickly, folding the blanket that had covered her.

“My parents sent me to school. All the way through law school,” she explained. “Their dream was that I would be a lawyer. So, I went to the University of Maryland in Baltimore. I graduated four years ago. But at the same time, I had a band from all the way back when I was in high school. We never quit playing. We played Cat’s Eye, Sound Garden, pretty cool places. Then I hit the big three-oh. My parents are pressuring me to do something with the money they spent.” She stood up and helped herself to a beer that was in a bucket of ice.

“So Grand Canyon was hiring. I’m like one of a gazillion lawyers who work for them. I’ll be a grunt. I had to take it so I can pay my parents back.”

“So, you had to give up on your dream,” said Kris.

Nodding, Rainy gave him a sad smile. “Yup. It was my life, you know? I didn’t even care if I ever got rich and famous,” she said. “I had a little world and we played almost every night. My parents saw it differently. I went to school to make them happy, and I didn’t realize I would be obligating myself for a lifetime.”

“So?” he asked.

“I’m going to make enough to pay off my parents and then I’m free.” She took a big swallow of the beer. “Anyway, thanks for inviting me over and sharing with me. I’m glad you are my neighbor.” She looked at him with a mix of excitement and resignation. He hoped he was the exciting part.

“We’ll be your surrogate band.”

“Thanks, because my former band mates are mad at me but they have a good replacement. They’ll do okay, but still…” The sadness was back in her eyes. “I should go home and get some rest.”

“We’ll go up to the studio.” He swirled his finger around and pointed upstairs. His band started to gather their stuff.

“No, don’t.” She eyed the instruments. “I want to hear you.”

Just then, one of the guys opened the door to the house and Jimmy bounded into the garage. The huge mutt greeted Kris like he hadn’t seen him for days.

“Rainy,” said Kris as he patted his dog. “This is Jimmy Page.”

Rainy laughed.

“What’s your goldfish named?” she asked. “Robert Plant?”

Kris had to stop and think about whether he would name a pet after that famous front man or not. “I don’t know. I would have to think about it should I ever get a goldfish.”

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