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Maddy served the cake, and Kyle got jostled as more big cowboy bodies joined him at the bar. Blake talked about some problem with his computer, and Jesse gave him advice about how to fix it. Classic Jesse. He always knew more about things than everyone else—even things he knew nothing about.
Todd ate his cake quietly, but Nash kept throwing in ideas for Blake too. It was clear his contributions annoyed Jesse, who kept glaring at him, and Kyle figured there was some drama he hadn’t heard of yet.
His phone rang, and he tugged it out of his pocket. Jolene’s name sat there, and his heartbeat fired through his body like a cannon. He excused himself from the cake-consuming and went down Maddy’s hallway to get some relief from the noise.
“Jolene,” he said pleasantly.
“Kyle,” she said, and she sounded rushed. “Can you come to Nashville tonight?”
His mind blanked. “Tonight? Why?”
“Gregory Lyons will be here for two days only, and he wants to hear you.”
Kyle turned back to the party as a loud wave of laughter filled the house. He edged further away from them, wondering how far he’d have to go to make his music career happen this time. “It’s the Fourth of July,” he hissed. “I have family stuff here in Texas. Play him the demo.”
“We have,” Jolene said. Her voice teetered on the edge of nervous. “He wants to hear you live, and he wants to hear something new.”
Kyle’s back straightened as shock poured through him. “It’s been two weeks.” Almost three, but Jolene didn’t argue. “I don’t have something new that’s polished enough to play for him tomorrow.”
On a holiday. He shook his head. This wasn’t going to happen. “I have a double-header concert tomorrow, plus the fireworks. No, I can’t come to Nashville tonight.”
“Kyle?”
He spun at the sound of his name in Maddy’s voice. She stood in the doorway to her bedroom, and he hadn’t even realized he’d gone inside it. She frowned and looked around. “What are you doing?”
He pulled the phone away from his mouth. “Jolene wants me to come to Nashville tonight. I’m telling her no.”
Maddy’s eyes widened in surprise. Jolene started saying something on the other end of the line. Kyle could barely hear her as he crossed to his girlfriend. He did catch, “…not exactly pleased we signed you when you’re so unproven.”
“I don’t have a song ready,” he said.
“That’s what he’s expecting,” Jolene said. “What can you get ready? You’ve sent me four demo tapes in the past two years. That’s forty songs. He’s heard the one tape. You don’t have anything on the other three that might impress him?”
Kyle wanted to rage and her and tell her those songs hadn’t impressed her, but he held his tongue. “Give me an hour,” he said, and then he hung up. He’d planned to spend the next hour eating cake with Maddy and kissing the frosting from her lips.
Now, as he lowered the phone, he’d still be with her for the next hour, but the activities would definitely be different.
ChapterEighteen
Maddy wasn’t sure what to tell Kyle. She’d turned off one of her hearing aids before four of his brothers had walked in. Todd had joined the party just as Kyle had gone down the hall, and Maddy had been so busy dealing with them, she hadn’t seen him leave.
Finding him in her bedroom was a bit of a shock, but at least she’d made her bed that morning. “Are you going to go?”
“I don’t know.” He pushed past her, but he didn’t leave the room. “I don’t know what to do She moved out of his pacing path and watched him go back and forth. “They want you to go tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To play for the owner.” He threw her a dark look. “Apparently, he’s not thrilled with my contract and wants me to ‘prove myself’.”
Maddy’s eyebrows went up. She’d had no idea country music was so intense. Sometimes teaching felt like standing on the edge of a cliff and then getting pushed off, but she’d never paced the floor in her bedroom with quite the level of unrest on her face that Kyle wore on his. “Do you have anything to play?”
“No.”
“You’re thinking of going.”
He didn’t look up from the carpet. “Yes.”
