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“Well, hello.” Mom looked and sounded happy to hear from me when I reached out on FaceTime. “I watched you on TV this morning. I have to tell you—seeing Onyx Knight live never gets old.”
I laughed. “Not to me either.”
“You’re back in L.A.?”
“Yeah. Just got in a little while ago.”
“Not going over to Z’s?” She knew me well.
“Nah. I’m tired.”
“Something’s wrong,” she said softly. “Is it Devyn? That’s the new bass player, yes?”
I smiled. “Yeah. And no, everything is fine with her. Too good, in fact.”
“Too good?” She paused. “Oh, sweet Jesus. You’re sleeping with her.”
“Mom, I’m falling in love with her.”
“What?” My mother sounded completely shocked.
I laughed again. “I know, I know. Try not to hurt yourself gaping at me.”
“I’m confused. Did you know her before?”
I grimaced. “No! Why is that the first thing everyone asks?”
“Because it feels…fast.”
“She blew me away the first time I laid eyes on her. And we’ve spent almost every day together since we met. She’s special. I know it’s fast, which is why we haven’t announced it. I’m starting to understand why she’s so nervous about going public.”
“Because people will assume you’re the reason she got the job.”
“Exactly. And you know the irony? Carter is the reason she got the job. He found her years ago when she was still in college and mentioned her in his letter to the band. He’s the reason we let her audition.” I wasn’t going to mention her history with Carter.
“I’m sure it’s stressful for her.”
“It is. I’m trying to be patient but sneaking around is stupid. I’m not a teenager anymore.”
She chuckled. “You’re not. That’s why you’re acting like a grown man who understands that the woman in his life needs him to be patient. This is probably a lot for her. The fame, the paparazzi, and the big tour that’s on the horizon.”
“I just want to fix it for her,” I admitted. “But she would hate that.”
“And you wouldn’t be falling for a woman who wanted you to fix things for her.”
“Stop being reasonable,” I muttered.
“Well, tell me about her.”
That was easy. Talking about how sweet she was, how she took care of her great-grandmother, and how well we got along was easy. When I got into her talent, how much fun we had playing piano together, and the song we’d started writing together, I realized I wasn’t really worried about commitment. All of my hesitation had to do with what Devyn needed and letting her navigate her way through the journey of becoming a member of Onyx Knight.
“No matter how you feel about her, or how much you want to pave the way for her, she has to do most of it on her own,” Mom said, practically reading my mind. “If you want to be the man in her life, you have to be there to catch her when she stumbles, but you can’t stop the inevitable.”
“The problem is that I feel like she has a secret. Like she’s keeping something big from me.”
“Something like an ex-husband or a kid?”
“No, nothing like that. I can’t put my finger on it, and while I could call Chains and have him dig into every detail of her life, I haven’t done it because I think it would piss her off.”
