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She shook her head. “Wow. That was a very specific example that you just had right in your back pocket,” she teased.
“Yeah, well, to be fair, most of my analogies do involve beauty queens and sex tapes, so it was kind of right there in my quiver.”
Abby kissed him and then leaned her head against his shoulder. “God, I’ve missed this all these years.”
He stroked her hair. “Really? I don’t remember us doing this all those years ago. I know I’ve killed a lot of brain cells over the years, but I feel like that would’ve stuck with me.”
Abby gave him a playful smack. “Not the making out, perv. The banter.”
“Ah. You mean the verbal making out.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, well my little wild woman, how about you prove your rock ‘n’ roll creds and show me that forbidden kitchen.”
Abby took his hand and led him through the kitchen, which was bustling with catering staff, and out through the back door. The air was crisp and cold, and made him feel even more alive than he felt every moment he stood next to Abby. And that was saying a lot.
He glanced down and saw Abby shiver and rub her upper arms. “Oh, shit. Yeah, it’s cold. Here, take my jacket.”
He whipped off his leather jacket. The one he’d had since he was fifteen and only dreaming of being a rock star. Wanting to look the part. The jacket was scuffed and beat up now, and he thought he liked it even more that way. It had been a part of him longer than anything else in his life, other than his family.
Without thinking twice, he slipped it over Abby’s shoulders and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close as they strolled around the impressive grounds of the property.
It was magical, really, with strings of twinkle lights wound into the branches of every tree. It was like being in a fairy tale. But, truthfully, he wouldn’t have even noticed his surroundings if he hadn’t been standing next to her. She made everything feel like magic, like being in a fairy tale.
He never wanted it to end. He didn’t want to burst the bubble. But there was something on his mind that he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around, and he wanted absolutely nothing more than to talk it over with her.
Shit. That’s what he’d secretly wanted to do with every problem even before they’d gotten back in touch. But now it was an actual possibility.
He took a deep breath. “I got an email from Rome today.”
She looked up, immediately grasping all of the layers of meaning behind the words. “Rome, the drummer in your band, right?”
He shook his head ruefully. “My former band.”
She mirrored his small head shake. “Nah. You founded it. It’s named for you. It’s your band. Even if you’re not in it at the moment.”
“Thanks, Abs.”
“So. Did he say what he wanted?”
“Not really. He wants to meet me for coffee next week when he’s in Portland. But he didn’t say why.”
They were silent for a moment, then she said, “And how do you feel about that?”
It took him a moment to respond. When he did, his words were not sure, but rather careful. “I guess, in the end, how I feel is going to depend on what he says. If he wants to unload on me more, I mean that’s shitty, but I can’t say I don’t deserve it.”
Abby looked straight ahead as she added the next words. Her shoulders were upright and a little stiff, and when she spoke, it seemed to him as if she were choosing every single word very, very carefully. “And if he isn’t still upset with you? If he actually wants you back in the band… And, back in your old life? What then?”
He breathed out, all of the tension in his body relaxing as she put into words what his biggest fear was. What if he was faced with a choice? What if he was offered the chance to go back to his old life of pain and music? Of being adored and idolized? What if that meant giving up all that he’d gained here in Valentine Bay?
Would he have the strength to turn it down?
He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. In fact, there’s only one thing I’m pretty sure of right now.”
She turned her face up to his. “And what’s that?”
“That we better get our butts back inside or we risk getting moved down to the C list. And we all know how fucking hard it is to work your way back from that.”
As the sound of Abby’s laughter rang in his ears and sent a warmth through him that he never felt with anyone but her, he started to think that maybe it wouldn’t be such a tough question after all.
