Page 7 of Love is a Lyric
3
Ben
Morning came way too early. It was nearly midnight by the time the band got to the house in Gulf City that Piper had picked out for the next three months.
And another two hours until Piper walked in. With Quinn asleep in bed beside him, Ben had stayed up reading as he waited for the second Hayes sister to get there. He didn’t tell her he’d waited. She’d have groused about him being too protective, too much like the older brother he wasn’t. But he couldn’t help himself.
And now, at eight in the morning with sun streaming across the white tile floor, all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. His phone chimed with a text message.
Mel:Don’t even think about sleeping in.
She knew him too well. The band kept the same publicist since first signing with the label, and he couldn’t imagine anyone else doing the job. Even when she made him get up early to attend a meeting he didn’t tell the rest of the band about.
Coffee. He needed coffee.
As he rolled out from under Quinn’s arm, he groaned. Months on the road made him feel like the old man he was becoming. Everything hurt. His bare feet hit the cool floor, and he slipped into a pair of sweat pants before heading into the hall.
Massive windows spanning one wall greeted him as he stepped into the living room. The night before, they’d barely looked around the house except to find the bedrooms to crash. But now, he saw why Piper chose it for them. Beyond the gleaming glass was a sight that would inspire music for the new album. The ocean shimmered like a diamond under the early morning sun.
White sand stretched the length of the beach where seagulls were the sea’s only companion on land.
Reluctantly, he turned toward the kitchen, surprised to see a spread of breakfast along the island counter. How did Piper do that? They’d only gotten in last night and already the house was stocked.
He went straight for the coffee pot. Three mugs sat next to it. One empty, one with a spoonful of Splenda in it, and the other with a mound of sugar. He chuckled as he took the cup with sugar and poured coffee into it. Sipping it, he sighed. Perfection.
Laughter came from beyond the sliding glass doors leading out to the pool deck overlooking the ocean. Piper sat on a deck chair with her hands curled around a mug and her phone balanced on the chair beside her.
As Ben walked outside and neared her, he heard his brother’s voice coming from the speaker on the phone.
Piper didn’t notice him at first. “You should have seen it, Chase. He looked ridiculous.”
Ben froze.
“He’s a rockstar, Pipes. He’s paid to look ridiculous.”
Piper shook her head, her gaze catching on Ben. She let out a squeak but didn’t greet him.
Chase kept talking. “I’m going to guess by that sound he just heard you.”
Ben sat on the chair next to Piper’s. “You’d guess right.”
“Hey, bro. You going to come home on this vaca at all?” Chase was just like his parents. They’d continued bugging him to visit Ohio now that he would be back stateside. The truth was he couldn’t wait to see them, butFatehad a grand total of zero songs for the new album, and the weight of that hung around his neck.
“If I don’t, Mom will probably show up in Florida to murder me.”
Chase laughed. “Probably. Look, I gotta get to work. Take care of Piper for me.”
“Always.”
Piper bristled at that. “I don’t need taken care of but okay. Later, Chase.” She hung up and sat back against the chair.
Ben stared at her over the rim of his mug as he sipped the coffee. “Thanks for the coffee.”
She only shrugged. “It’s my job.”
“You got in at like two in the morning. How is it we have a fully stocked kitchen?”
“I’m not going to ask why you know when I got in, Dad, but I ordered a grocery delivery for this morning. I know you won’t eat any of the breakfast I worked hard to make, so I got some Pop-Tarts.”
