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He shakes his head. ‘My delightful cousin fessed up to everything – including planting the drugs in my truck. They’ve dropped the charges against me and, as he’s admitted to everything, I won’t be needed again.’
‘I can’t believe it’s all done.’
‘Tell me about it. Just glad he had the balls to admit to what he was doing. Nice to get it sorted before I head off.’ He pulls out of the car park and drives around the seafront.
‘How are the ticket sales going?’
He glances around and smirks. ‘Sold out.’
‘That’s amazing, Tate.’
‘I know. We lost a hell of a lot when we had to reschedule. It always happens though. People can’t make the new date or they get pissed off that the dates changed in the first place. Wasn’t expecting those shortfalls to be made up again so fast.’
‘So Ellen was right. Making a statement about everything was the right thing to do.’
He nods. ‘Guess so. Might have to stop arguing with her when she comes up with plans like that.’
Arguing is a bit of an understatement. Tate had been less than enthusiastic about making a statement. He knew the truth was going to come out but didn’t want to talk about it publicly. After a heated discussion, he begrudgingly agreed to the management company making a statement on his behalf. It was brief but confirmed all the facts about Dara, about his childhood, and about his addiction. Ellen had kept a lot of details back about what his father did, but he wasn’t keen on any of the details getting out.
It hadn’t taken long for Ellen’s decision to pay off. Support had poured in and helped bring back a little of his confidence. She’d seen the change in him over the last week. As the days passed, his mood had improved, but there had been more than a few tense moments while he got over what Dara did.
Difficult patient had been a monstrous understatement. He was irritable and would bite the head off anyone who looked at him the wrong way. Over the last few days things had slowly taken a turn in the right direction.
He was sleeping a little better. The nightmares still came. The guilt over what happened to his mother was still there, but she hopes in time that will ease.
Sending him on tour for a few months is the part she’s not convinced about. It had taken a long and heartfelt conversation with Dillon, Gregg, and Luke to convince her otherwise. Tate doesn’t know they spoke to her and he never will. They made her promise on pain of death not to tell him. The talk had helped her understand why he had to go.
Tate came alive when he was on stage. He adored performing and getting back to what he loves doing could only help him. He needed to see that he hadn’t messed things up for all of them. What better way to do it that on a stage with his fans in front of him?
They assured her they’d keep a close eye on him and, now they know all the facts, also know what to look out for when he’s getting lost in his thoughts.
All she can do is trust they have his back and try not to worry. She just wishes it wasn’t going to be six weeks before she saw him again. But this is the way it’s going to be from now on. She’d been spoilt since she’d met him. With neither of them working they’d had plenty of time to spend together. That was all changing. She’d had Tate to herself for months and now she was going to have to share her boyfriend with a lot of other people.
‘Stop.’
She looks across at him. ‘Sorry?’
‘You’re thinking. We promised no thinking until tomorrow.’
‘I know. I’m sorry. You’re right.’
Tate reaches across and holds her hand. ‘Hey. I’m going to miss you like crazy. You know that, right?’
Chloe nods and squeezes his hand. ‘I know.’ She takes a deep breath and pushes thoughts about him leaving to the back of her mind. There’ll be enough time to miss him when he’s actually gone. ‘So the plan for today is lunch, sex, dinner, sex. Did I get that right?’
‘Sounds like the perfect way to spend the afternoon.’
