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“Yes,” she said.
“Five or six,” he said almost over the top of her. “With fifteen or sixteen or twenty-one tracks oneveryone of them. That’s dozens of songs. Almost one hundred. Jolene likedoneof them. She pitchedonesong to the board, and they approved it. George didn’t like it. He doesn’t likeanyof the almostone hundred songsI’ve written and sent in.”
Maddy said nothing for a few steps, and Kyle’s breath had caught in his chest strangely. “You’re worried it won’t matter how hard you work on the song or how perfect it is. It still won’t be good enough.”
He kicked at the gravel with the toe of his boot. “Something like that,” he muttered. He hated this humiliation and weakness filling him. “I don’t know. Maybe this dream just needs to die. I’m happy here, or at least I could be if I wasn’t always lookin’ for something better out there.”
Frustration burned through him, fiery and hot and too familiar for his liking. “I’m sorry, Mads. I know this isn’t the summer you were anticipating.”
“Actually,” she said. “It’s okay. Life isn’t always lemonade and sweet tea, as my momma would say.” She smiled at the stable and reached for the handle. She opened the door and stepped into the doorway before turning back to him. “We’ve grown closer, Kyle. We’ve had a lot of good experiences together this summer. Just because a conversation is hard doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be had.”
He nodded, her words a bit too wise for him at the moment.
“Wait for me to change?” she asked. “We can go over to the concert together?”
“I thought you had to pack.”
“I do.” She ducked into the stable and the door drifted closed. Kyle pushed through it before it could latch, because they cooled their stables, and he didn’t need to stand out in the heat, sweating.
A burden had been lifted from his shoulders with his confession to Maddy. Her words echoed in his ears. Just because a conversation is hard doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be had.
He should’ve shared with her sooner, but he told himself it wasn’t too late. She was going to visit her parents for a couple of days, and then Kyle would make a concentrated effort to set aside his music…in favor of Maddy.
* * *
“Hey.”Todd pushed open his bedroom door, interrupting Kyle’s thought. The note he’d been about to write flew from his mind, and he looked over the top of the music stand with pure irritation streaming through him. “Where’d you put my wallet?”
“I didn’t touch your wallet,” Kyle said. Todd didn’t normally lose things, but Kyle had definitely lost all of his patience for his brother. Maddy wasn’t back from Dripping Springs, and he needed to finish this before she returned to the ranch.
Having her gone had been…nice. Kyle would never say that out loud to anyone, but without her here, he didn’t carry the burden to text her all the time, meet her for meals, or worry all that much about her.
He wanted her here, of course. If she were here, though, he’d worry he was neglecting her. This way, he knew he wasn’t.
“You did,” Todd said, frowning. “You spilled all that watermelon in the fridge, remember? You started to clean it, and my wallet was there, and—”
“It’s on top of the fridge,” Kyle barked at him.
“Yes, sir, Cranky,” Todd said.
“I’m not cranky.”
“You’ve been sniping at me for days,” Todd said over his shoulder. “Weeks.” His voice carried down the hall. He said something else under his breath, and Kyle only half-cared what. He looked back at the lines and dots on the music stand, his train of thought completely gone now.
He sighed and got to his feet. He went down the hall to find Blake and Jesse in the house too, and surprise filtered through him. “Hey. What are you guys doing?” He looked around at the three of them.
Blake exchanged a look with Jesse and Todd, and it was clear neither of them was going to say. He sighed and rolled his neck from side to side. “There’s a race they’re broadcasting at Spanky’s.”
“You’re gambling on the horses?”
“No,” Blake said. “We’re going for wings and drinks. A night off.”
“A guy’s night,” Jesse said.
“The three of you?”
“And Adam,” Jesse said.
“And Nash,” Todd added.
