Page 14 of Love Songs

“Okay, no more talking then.”

“Yes, boss,” I teased.

“What did I just say?” she barked, and I made a show of zipping my lips closed, earning a cheeky smile. “Love you.”

“Love you back.”

I disconnected and reveled in the warm feeling rolling through my chest.

For more than a decade, it had always been me and Kirk and then us and the band hanging out after shows, going to parties or clubs to burn off the excess adrenaline from performing. There’d never been a reason not to. Even when I hit my late twenties and grew bored with the endless parties, only going because I didn’t want to sit in an empty hotel room or on the bus by myself.

Then Jaylin had come along.

I’d never had someone I looked forward to seeing and talking with after a concert, but now that I had her, I couldn’t wait to get home and tell her everything that had happened. Well,almosteverything. She was still a child, after all, and I was still in a touring rock band.

For now.

I glanced around the bus. It was like a luxury suite at a swanky hotel. The only difference being it was on wheels rather than concrete foundations. I was sitting in the front lounge in a plush pleather chair, with a view through the fully appointed kitchen and down the hallway—where I could hear the water running in the full-sized bathroom because Kirk was in the shower. The hall housed eight sleeping bunks, complete with their own lights, climate controls, and small-screen TVs. Two of the privacy curtains were pulled, with our roadies, Craig and Todd, already tucked inside. Craig was snoring loud enoughto shake the whole bus, and the TV was on in Todd’s bunk, the volume low. Beyond the sleeping bunks was the back lounge-slash-primary bedroom where I slept.

Arthur and Luna were sitting at the kitchen table playing cards. Brian was sitting on the couch across from me reading, and our driver, Terrance, was sitting on the other end of the couch with his feet up on the ottoman, watching the big-screen TV.

The bus suddenly felt too small with everybody on it. I needed some fresh air, so I finished my tea and stood as Kirk exited the bathroom.

“I’m going to go take a walk around town, if anyone wants to join me.”

Please say no. I only asked to be polite, and luckily, everyone shook their heads. All but Terrance not even bothering to look up.

“I’ll join you,” Kirk said. “Give me a second.”

Kirk I could handle. We’d known each other since high school, but we became brothers when I’d brought a boyfriend home for dinner when I was sixteen, and my parents suddenly realized that bisexual meant being attracted to womenandmen. They kicked me out and Kirk’s family took me in. Looking back, that was the best thing that could have happened to me. Kirk’s parents showed me what unconditional parental love truly looked like.

We both tucked our hair up under baseball hats and put sunglasses on, even though daylight was giving way to twilight, and strolled across the park, past City Hall, and onto the quiet sidewalks of Main Street. It was only seven in the evening, but the town’s businesses and shops had already rolled up their carpets—either a very sleepy town, or they’d closed early because of Founders Day. All the booths and displays had been broken down and packed away, and the street cleared. Bannersstill hung above storefront windows and flags waved from Victorian-style light posts, the only remaining signs that the fair had happened at all.

“This town is too small,” Kirk said, as we wandered down the deserted street, window shopping.

“I think it’s quaint,” I mused. There was an air to the town that felt comfortable and inviting. The kind of place where everyone knew each other and always had a smile and wave and kind word for everyone they passed. The kind of place to raise a kid.

“Sure,” Kirk snorted. “If you’re a farmer.”

None of the buildings were over three stories, and most were brick facades in varying shades of red. Only the window treatments differed in style and color—some were painted white, some black, some yellow. Some windows had little baskets hanging from their ledges, overflowing with colorful flowers. Many, I guessed, were apartments. The ground levels were mostly retail businesses with glass fronts and creative displays in their windows.

We walked past a stationery store and a cafe bearing a logo I recognized from the drink Holliston had ordered for me after the fire. He hadn’t needed to do that, which spoke volumes about the kind of person he was, especially after I’d been the reason the fire happened. I hadn’t put the power bar there to connect my phone to, but I wouldn’t throw Craig under the bus for a request I’d made. The fire was my fault, full stop.

“Damn, those look good,” Kirk said with longing in his voice when we stopped to look in the window of a bespoke chocolate shop. Any second now, he’d start drooling. He pointed at a display of bite-sized chocolates in foil cups. “I gotta come back here tomorrow before we leave and get some of that.”

Kirk had a serious sweet tooth. I wasn’t much for sugary things, but I had to agree. Those chocolates looked damn good.We walked past a bank and a clothing store, a music store that also offered lessons and a knickknack shop with a display of wooden bowls and cute little animals carved out of wood by a local artisan. One carving was of a rearing horse. I made a mental note to come back and get for Jaylin. She’d love it.

We came to a real estate office next, and I stopped to look at the listings taped in the front window.

“What are we looking at real estate for?” Kirk asked with a frown.

“I’m just curious.” I’d been thinking more and more about buying a permanent home. “I need to find somewhere nice for me and Jaylin. Shuffling her around and leaving her with friends every time we go on the road is no life for a kid.”

“True. Kids need stability,” Kirk said softly and rocked on his heels. “But why not closer to New York?”

I shrugged. Honestly, I thought he worried I’d settle down and leave the band. I didn’t want to tell him he wasn’t all that far off the mark. I wasn’t ready to call the band quits, but I was ready for the settling part. Jaylin needed that.

A couple of houses for sale seemed halfway decent, but my eye caught on a listing in the bottom corner of the flyer collage that shouted LAKESIDE PROPERTY in large red letters. Below that a caption read:Secluded four-bedroom historical home on a two-acre wooded lakeside lot. The photo showed a nice-sized lake surrounded by trees and a small dock in disrepair that I assumed belonged to the property, but not showing a photo of the house made me nervous. If they were boasting about all the amenities of the property and only showing exteriors, that usually meant the house was a teardown. Not something I was interested in.

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