Page 20 of Edge of Heaven

“He’s a fucking dick!” I snap.

“And we all agree,” Sam says. “But he’s a bully and it serves no purpose to call him out on his bullshit. Not now anyway.”

“Then when?” I demand. “When the tour is over? After they’ve had time to ruin our reputation and make it look like crowds hate us?”

“The album is selling. People know it’s not about the music. You can’t get people who love jazz to be happy at a Taylor Swift concert, and you can’t expect their fans to love us every night.”

“And there have been some great shows,” Jonny chimes in.

“They loved us in Minneapolis and Des Moines,” Sam says.

“And in New York,” Jonny adds.

“Great,” I say dryly. “That’s, like, four shows out of fifty.”

“It’s more than that,” Sam says, frowning. “And you know it. We knew going in that this tour would be rough but at the time we didn’t have a lot of options. We have to suck it up and you know that. What’s going on with you, dude?”

“This is about Taryn,” Tate interjects, shaking his head. “And dude—she is not your problem. She’s a grown-ass woman who made a choice to stay with him. I know you like her, but we can’t force her to leave him. Whatever goes on in their relationship is between them. You have to let this go.”

“I’m going to send her the picture,” Ryleigh says. “And the rest is up to her.”

“Didn’t you just interview him?” Tate asks.

“The two things are separate,” she says thoughtfully. “That was business, but Taryn is also my friend. I’d expect her to let me know if she saw Angus getting sucked off by someone else while I was away.”

“Never gonna happen,” he says, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping an arm around her.

She smiles down at him. “It better not. But that’s not the point. Maybe this is the wake-up call she needs to dump him.”

They continue to talk around me, but I zone out, my thoughts drifting to the conversation Taryn and I had on the shuttle to the airport.

About loneliness.

About how she only has to get through six more months with Callum.

None of it makes any sense, but my gut tells me she’s in trouble.

And I want to help.

If she’ll let me.

The thing is, I don’t knowhowI can help.

I don’t have much money, I’m committed to this tour for at least a few more months, and I’m positive the band will be pissed if I do something to get us kicked off. On top of that, I’m in no position to be in a serious relationship. I’d do it under the right circumstances—the right woman—but it feels like the timing would be off.

Granted, Angus and Ryleigh are together, and Sam is doing the long-distance thing while his girlfriend Kirsten is off in college, but relationships are hard on touring musicians. Unless you’re rich enough to bring them on tour with you—like Angus—or they have their own money—like Kirsten.

I can barely take care of myself, much less anyone else. Especially when that someone else has a kid.

It’s not that I don’t like kids, but what would we do with him if we were together? He’s not a baby. If my memory serves me correctly, he’s eight or nine now, so he’s probably in school. I seem to recall that Taryn’s mother has custody of him, but the details are sketchy. And Taryn seems pretty determined to keep him a secret.

There’s so much I don’t understand, and if I were smart, I’d put Taryn out of my mind and move on with my day.

But I can’t.

I’ve been trying for the last six months, and I want her more than ever.

“I just texted Taryn the picture,” Ryleigh murmurs to me.

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