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“Are you sure the hotel would let you do that?” Cherish asked.
“They’re going to, whether they like it or not,” Andi said firmly. “I can arrange for it to be packed up and transported over when we’re done, if that’s okay.”
“That would be great! I’ll call our staff to let them know they won’t have to cook dinner tonight!”
Cherish got out her phone and moved away to make the call. Meanwhile, little Gracie looked up at me sweetly. “Is Wyatt here?”
I stifled a smile. Gracie had had a crush on Wyatt for years.
“Yep, he and Kendall are both around somewhere. Why don’t you go find them?”
Gracie did just that. Then Mia, shyer than her sister, tugged at my shirt. I bent down and Mia whispered something in my ear.
“Yep, Santa is going to be here soon!” I answered her. “Are you excited?”
Mia bobbed her head. “I wrote him a letter already!”
“Well, I bet he’ll be excited to hear you tell him in person what you asked for. I’m sure he’ll remember!”
Mia ran off to play with the rest of the kids her age. Levi watched her go. “Good to have you two back,” he said to Andi and Cal.
“It’s good to be back,” Andi agreed. “After this tour, I’m planning on a long rest. I don’t want to see the inside of a hotel or a tour bus for a long, long time.”
“Well, while we’re here, I’m gonna go take advantage of the free booze,” Levi smirked.
“I’ll come with you,” Cal offered. “Prez? VP?”
“Yep,” Grey nodded. The four of them wandered off, Kai with them, leaving Andi, Eva, and me.
“This is still so surreal,” Eva remarked, looking all around her. “Andi, I always just kind of forget you’re a huge star when we’re in Lupine.”
“Me, too,” I agreed. “And I’ve been around since basically the beginning, when Andi and I were just a lowly bartender and server at The Cactus. That seems like so long ago.”
Andi giggled. “God, remember when The Nopes got our first regular gig at the Oasis here in Denver? We thought we had hit the big time. Can you imagine? We had no idea what was coming.”
“Do you miss those days?” Eva asked.
“Sort of. It was simpler back then. We played what we wanted. There were no record companies trying to tell us what would sell and what wouldn’t.” Andi looked pensive. “If I could just do everything I’m doing now, but without the fame, that’s what I’d choose. I was thinking the other day how different our lives would be if no one knew what we looked like, you know? You really don’t realize how hard it will be when you can’t just walk down the street without security with you.”
“I can only imagine,” Eva murmured.
“And it’s hard to keep the kids away from that, too. They deserve the most normal lives we can give them.” Andi turned to me. “That’s why it was so great that you and Grey were willing to have them stay with you while Cal came with me on the last part of the tour. It would have made me nuts to have them around the craziness and the danger.”
“Danger?” Eva looked at her, puzzled.
“Yeah. We’ve had somethreats recently come through social media, and an incident in Kansas City.” She shrugged. “It’s hard to know how seriously to take that stuff, even though it usually ends up being nothing. It’s one thing when it’s just me, but if I had to worry about the kids, too…”
Andi trailed off. A wave of sympathy filled me as I gazed at her creased forehead. I was even more glad now that Grey and I had taken Abigail and Chloe to stay with us these past few weeks.
“Hey, ladies.” Cal comes up to Andi and wraps his arm around her waist. “The Santa is here.”
“Thanks, Cal,” Eva said, then called out to Zoe, who was across the room. “Zo, can you help me get the littles together and lined up to go see Santa?”
Zoe, who was on her phone, put it away and came trotting over to her mother. “Can I at least take pictures of the band and stuff to send to my friends, since you wouldn’t let me bring them?” she said sulkily.
“You can take all the pictures you want, once you help me take pictures of the kids with Santa.” Eva pretended not to notice Zoe’s attitude. Zoe let out a sigh but nonetheless started rounding up the kids and leading them into the other room, where a very tall but not very fat and jolly-looking Santa was taking a seat on his throne.
“Couldn’t they find anyone a little more roly-poly for the job?” Cherish murmured.
