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A commotion behind him made him pause, and he twisted to see Adam crouching to pick up something from the floor. “Sorry,” he said gruffly as he straightened.
He handed something to Hadley, who grinned at him like he’d just given her a diamond ring. “No problem,” she said. She turned toward the sink and tossed in whatever she’d been given. Adam kept his head ducked as he finished lighting the candles.
Adam hadn’t dated anyone in a long time, and Kyle watched the exchange with mild interest. He didn’t care if his brother dated or not; he just wanted him to be happy.
“She’s here,” Hadley hissed a few minutes later, and Kyle went over to the chair in the dining room. The music sat there. Candles flickered around him. All of Maddy’s favorite meats and cheeses sat on the charcuterie board on the counter. Everything was set.
“The ring,” he said, pure panic in his voice.
“You’ve got to be joking,” Jesse said.
Todd entered his line of vision. “Where is it, Kyle?”
“Glove box,” he said, swallowing. “I meant to have you bring it in earlier.”
“I’ll get it.” Todd faced the door, then strode toward it. He opened it only a moment before Maddy tried to, and they dang near collided. Kyle couldn’t quiet distinguish the words, as so much blood rushed through his ears.
He could only stare at Maddy as Adam and Jesse rushed forward to help her carry in the groceries she’d gone to town to get. She knew something was up, her eyebrows sat sky-high as she took in all of her company—and Kyle with that guitar across his lap.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she heaved her bags onto the counter.
Kyle’s original plan had been to launch into the song he’d written for Maddy. It had come to him all at once, and he hadn’t been able to write fast enough to get it out. He marveled that sometimes songs came like that, and others he labored over for months, and they still weren’t right.
He didn’t have the ring, and he needed Todd’s voice in parts of the song. Jesse and Adam bought him a few seconds by making a big show of putting their bags of groceries on the counter too. “Anything else?” Jesse asked.
Adam drifted over to Hadley, who leaned against the wall that led down the hall, her phone out and ready to record.
“No.” Maddy looked over to her cabinmate and then back to Kyle. “Are you doing a concert?”
“I finished that song I was telling you about,” he said. “I wanted to play it for you.”
Maddy took a couple of steps toward him, her smile beautiful. “All right. Oh, and I got you those salt and vinegar chips you like.”
“Thanks.” Kyle wasn’t sure he could get his voice to work. His throat felt like dry sandpaper.
Todd walked into the house, anxiety on his face, and Kyle read his look in a single second. His brother shook his head, which meant he couldn’t find the diamond ring. Panic built beneath Kyle’s tongue, but one more look at Maddy, and he didn’t need the ring right now.
He picked up his guitar, looked at the strings, positioned his fingers, and started to play. He knew exactly how the song should sound, and he’d practiced it for a while already today. He played through the intro once while Todd looped his strap around his shoulder and moved to stand behind Kyle.
“Every now and then,” he sang.
“An angel appears in your life,
And she picks you up when you’re down,
Takes you by the hand,
Takes you home.” He hung onto the last word, and then added, “Becomes your home.”
That was what Maddy had become to him. A safe place. A place of shelter from the craziness of the lodge, of the concerts, of his family, of his life.
Home.
“I wanna go home to her,” he sang.
“Only her. Yeah, only her.”
Todd’s fingers stumbled, but Kyle didn’t care. Everyone started to sing with him on the final line of “Only her. There’s only her.” Even Hadley.
