Page 121 of Torch Songs

Thanks, Livvy—that’s kind.

Is the truck as ugly as you said it was?

Electric lime green. Thank you, darlin’. I can’t thank you enough.

One word. Babysitting. Now stop texting and start driving. Love you!!

Love you back.

He set the phone in the holder and wondered about all the people in his life he had to love. He hadn’t known that in April, when he’d gazed out at the audience and seen Tad looking back at him, those gray-green eyes catching at his heart.

But he knew it now. Knew he wasn’t riding through the world alone. Knew that if he fell, he’d have someone who’d care enough to help him up. And knew that if someone he loved fell, he’d be there ready to do the same.

Funny how knowing something like that made you free in the world. He’d spent his life on the road, from gig to gig, and he’d never felt like he had wings until now, Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” pounding through his new sound system, urging him to fly home.

All the Promises We Made

“HEY, LIVVY,what’re we eating tonight?” Aaron asked as he led Tad through the front room of the house. Dozer had already gotten his customary greeting of lots of body wiggles and happy woofings, and now it was time to let him out back to pee.

“Beef stroganoff,” she said happily, her back toward them as she fussed with something on the stove. “I’m sautéing the beef now, in wine so cheap, it giggles when it breathes.”

Tad laughed, and they both watched as she almost dropped the bottle of wine.

“Oops!” he said. “Didn’t mean to startle you!”

“Oh!” She turned and gave him an odd smile. “You’re eating here tonight? Aaron, watch out for the car carrier!”

“Not my first rodeo, Livvy,” Aaron said, neatly sidestepping the carrier that sat back from the kitchen table. He checked inside on his way to the door and gave the sleeping baby’s cheek a tap with a blunt finger.

“Of course not,” she said. “Just, you know, startled to see Tad.”

Her surprise was almost panicked, and Tad wasn’t sure what to do with that. “If that’s okay?” he asked, looking at Aaron, who had invited him since April was having some sort of crafting thing with Laura and Rosie Mills, Eamon’s wife.

Aaron shrugged. “Larx said so. Livvy, didn’t he tell you?” He let Dozer out, and the dog ran outside with a mission obviously in mind.

Olivia shook her head. “No worries.” There was a new element to her expression—a deviousness almost that Tad couldn’t decipher. “I’m making plenty, and the three teenagersare all out—” She made a fluttering motion with the hand not holding the wine bottle. “—working or going to a football game or, you know, raising hell and getting laid.”

Aaron snorted. Tad had gotten to know the three “teenagers”—Aaron’s son, Larx’s youngest daughter, and Larx’s foster son—in the past couple of weeks. The two boys were fresh out of high school and working while attending junior college classes in Truckee, and Christiana was involved in every club known to man or guidance counselor.

“What about Jaime and Berto?” Aaron asked.

“Berto’s with April, Laura, and Rosie,” she said, “and Jaime’s with Christiana—something about physics club.” She shrugged. “It’s just us grown-ups. Tad’s definitely welcome.”

Reassured, Tad chuckled. “April didn’t tell me Berto was going to be there. That’s sweet. Maybe she’ll teach him her yarn thing, and they can do that together.” He sobered. “I understand handcrafts are good for trauma and PTSD too.”

“He’s looking forward to it,” Olivia said earnestly.

“I’m gonna go shower and change,” Aaron said, letting the dog back in and taking note of the knapsack in Tad’s hand. “Feel free to use the guest bathroom to do the same.”

“Thanks,” Tad said with relief. He’d locked his weapon in the lockbox in the SUV, and he did feel like relaxing with friends for an evening. It was easier to do in jeans and a hoodie. The shadows were growing long, and the evening was cooling off in the mountains in late September, and Tad was looking forward to huddling in the soft fleece sweatshirt—new, in forest green, with Colton County emblazoned across the front in white and yellow.

He disappeared, familiar with the house now that he’d been in Colton for nearly a month. He emerged twenty minutes later feeling a lot less road-dusty, hearing Larx’s and Elton’s voices in the kitchen as they bantered with Olivia.

“And how was our princess today?” Larx cooed, and as Tad rounded the corner, he saw Grandpa Larx had taken the opportunity to pull the baby from the car carrier into his arms.

“I’m doing fine, thanks,” Olivia chirped. “Saved the world a couple of times, did the bills, created food for a human being from my own body—all in a day’s work.”

“How’smyprincess today?” Elton asked, standing behind her and wrapping tender arms around her waist. Tad watched as she melted back against him.

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