Page 8 of Drum Me Away
“Do you miss it?”
“That’s where I was, these past six weeks.”
“Oh.” Had he met a girl while he was home? Or was it an old flame and they’d rekindled their love? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t really want to know.
“Did you enjoy yourself?” I finally managed to squeak out, curious and yet hoping he wasn’t about to go on and on about some mysterious lady love.
“Yeah. It was nice to hang with my parents. And my sister, although she was so crazy busy with work that I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with her.”
I envied his relationship with his family. In truth, it was something I couldn’t comprehend. I hadn’t gotten along with my own parents—or my sisters, for that matter—even before I came to LA. Dropping everything and visiting with them for five minutes let alone six weeks was pretty much nonexistent on my to-do list.
I opened my mouth but then snapped it shut. He hadn’t mentioned his new girlfriend, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up.
Instead, I said, “Disappearing like that might play in our favor.”
Even though I’d spent the entire six weeks reassuring everyone—including our bandmates—that we were fine, once we officially broke up, I imagine fans would say, “Remember when he went off the radar for six weeks last spring? I bet that was the beginning of the end.”
He glanced at me, his eyes hidden behind mirrored glasses, reflecting my own pensive expression back at me.
I waved my champagne flute. “The rest of the band kind of freaked initially when they realized you were gone. Already thought we’d broken up.”
I hated lying to the people who were my closest friends. Hell, if I were being honest, they were my only friends. My only true friends, at any rate.
But Dahlia had insisted it was too dangerous to let other people in on our little ploy, even those closest to us. She said their reactions upon discovering we were dating would only increase fan support.
She’d been right, of course. Then one day, we’d been carrying on the charade for so long, it was suddenly way too awkward to loop in the band.
So we’d continued to hoodwink our best friends for four, long years.
Lucas turned back to face the water, the mountain range beyond. “Yeah, my phone blew up there for a few days.”
And he’d not replied to a single text or call. I’d had to field the questions, the concern, when they all showed up one morning, like a rock ‘n roll support group, with coffee and a bottle of Bailey’s and the intention of helping me through my supposed grief.
I should have let them believe, then this would be easy. Except I hadn’t known this was what Lucas wanted. If he’d actually talked to me before he took off, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.
“You obviously placated them,” he murmured without looking at me.
I nodded and sipped at my drink. “I totally lied and said one of your parents was sick so you went home to take care of them.”
He snorted. “That explains why Matt kept asking how my dad was doing.”
“Kind of ironic that’s where you actually went.”
He shrugged, and we fell into a few moments of silence, until he blurted, “I’d still take a lake or the ocean over a pool in the middle of the city any day.”
I glanced up at the mountain peaks in the distance. It didn’t feel like the middle of the city when we were back here, but I understood what he meant. The minute we stepped through the front gate, it was like this oasis didn’t exist.
“I suppose we need to talk about that at some point,” I said, grateful for the change of subject, even though honestly, this one wasn’t any easier to deal with.
“What?”
“Moving. When this breakup happens. It won’t make sense for us to continue living together.” Especially if he planned to move his hometown sweetheart out here, and, more than likely, in with him.
He nodded and drained his glass. “Do you want the house?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
He shook his head. “This was never me.”
