Page 1 of Chasing After You
PROLOGUE
Two Years Earlier
MATTI
“I don’t care what you promised, Gary. I haven’t seen my wife for more than twenty minutes at a time in at least three months. I’m taking the next few days off. I have a surprise trip booked, I planned all kinds of romantic shit she and I are both way-the-fuck overdue for and I’m not canceling it for some last-minute promo appearance to appease the label. They want Knox and The Wilds, they can have ‘em. They’ll just be short one bass player. They’ll get over it.” I finally end my call and take a gander at the time. Soundcheck should have started at least ten minutes ago.
I hurry off the bus and in through the back door of tonight’s venue,House of Rock. As soon as I step foot inside, I can hear plenty of commotion coming from the stage, but two sounds are clearly absent. The impatient tapping on Cass’s snare drum and Knox obnoxiously counting down over the mic, threatening us like he’s the mom and we’re all in for a timeout if we don’t make it to the stage by ten.
Clearly, I’m not the only one running behind schedule, which is perfect because I have one more call to make.
Still moving, I glance down at my phone to find her name. I’m about to tap it when I nearly get hit by a door swinging in my direction.
“Holy shit!” I stumble back just in time.
“Oh.” Cass looks both startled and guilty when she sees me. “Sorry.”
Before I can respond, Jason follows her. “Matti. Shouldn’t you be on stage?”
I frown. “Bit of a weird question coming from you, don’t you think?” But since we’re asking weird questions, “What were you two doing in the beer cooler?”
“We were...,” Jason starts, gaze shifting sideways like he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t.
“Tasting,” Cass fills in when he can’t seem to finish his own train of thought.
“Tasting?” I laugh. “What, like you were just helping yourself in there?”
Jason shrugs, smirking. “Something like that.”
I’m still tempted to pry and poke holes in this sketchy little scene when I hear it.
When we all hear it.
“One. Two.” Knox clears his throat, creating a loud unpleasant sound over the speakers. “Three. Four.”
I roll my eyes. “Guess we better go out there before we get in trouble.”
Once we all finally make it on stage, soundcheck doesn’t take much to complete. We’re just finishing up when I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. It’s Ness.
Since it’s mostly just Knox fiddling around with the lighting guy now, I take the call and start to move off-stage. “Hey,” I whisper, “Give me a sec. We’re just finishing soundcheck.”
“You’re just finishing?” her voice sounds funny. “That’s fine. I’m actually just calling to let you know I’m not going to be home this week when you get back.”
I’ve barely left the stage when I stop abruptly. “What?”
“Yeah. I got a call from my grandmother this morning. She’s got this friend whose daughter is hosting a wilderness retreat or something, it’s like summer camp for adults, I don’t know,” she rattles off. “Anyway, their yoga teacher flaked at the last minute, and they offered me the gig. They know I’ve never actually given lessons, but they don’t care. So, I’m going to go stay with mygrandmother for a few weeks and teach yoga. The kids are away at camp anyway. Nate’s already asking to extend his stay for their leadership training and Isobel has been hounding me to go visit your sister when she gets back. Plus, you have your tour through October, so I figured, why not?”
Why not? A million thoughts overlap inside my head, most of them reasons why I don’t want her to go, but I don’t say any of them out loud. How could I? “Sounds like a great opportunity.”
“So, you’re good if I go?”
“Of course.” I shake off the immediate disappointment of realizing I won’t see her in two days. “Maybe I’ll just come your way on my days off. Visit with Nana Lila while you do your yoga thing.”
“I’m not sure it would be worth the trouble,” she shoots me down gently but undeniably. “You’re already traveling non-stop, and I’ll be busy with the retreat and prepping for classes. You’ll probably get more out of your days off just staying home, enjoying the peace and quiet.”
The empty and lonely is more like it. But I get it. She doesn’t want me crashing her party or distracting her. This isn’t about me. It’s about her. And I’m nothing if not all about Ness. “You’re probably right,” I say the only thing I can think of that doesn’t sound like I want to convince her otherwise. “I’ve got a few projects around the house I’ve been putting off for too long anyway. Maybe I’ll finally get those done.”
“Sounds good.”
