Page 25 of Love is a Harmony
He sat next to her, his eyes never leaving Stella. “I miss the L.A. warmth too.”
Melanie bumped her shoulder against his. “You’re good with her.”
“You say that like it surprises you.”
“Well.” She chuckled. “No one ever imaged Noah Clarke as a dad.”
“I’m not her dad.” He’d never take Carson’s place.
“Noah, she’s so young she won’t remember much of her father. Sure, you will keep that memory alive, but you’re all she has now, her one and only parent.”
He groaned. “People usually get nine months to prepare for this.”
“And then, years where they can’t talk back or run away.”
Noah bent his knees and rested his arms on them. “This is not how I saw my post-tour break going.”
“Speaking of…” She turned to him, the blanket pulled all the way up to her nose, making her look like a ridiculous burrito.
He reached out, pushing the top of the blanket down so he could see her face. “That’s better.”
Her mouth opened, but she seemed to have forgotten what she was going to say.
He pulled his hand away and cleared his throat. “I know. The label is probably angry I haven’t been in contact after I said no to the shows. But Mel, you know I didn’t want to do those. Not without Jo.”
She sighed. “They hired a drummer for you. How is it different from the revolving door of bassists you two go through?”
“Because they’re not her. I don’t want to be a solo act, and the fans don’t want me without Jo.”
Her eyes locked onto his. “You’re Noah Clarke. I’m pretty sure they’d take you any way they could have you.”
Noah couldn’t look away, not when his normally cool and collected publicist held such vulnerability in her eyes, like she too understood the loss shredding his heart to pieces.
Without thinking, he brushed a hand under her chin, tilting her face up so he could stare more closely. “Who did you lose, Mel?”
“What?” She swallowed.
“You can talk about what the label needs of me all you want, but you defied them too. You came here because I needed you. Why?”
“I was worried.”
“That’s not good enough. You’ve lost someone too. I know we don’t talk about our lives before we met, but I can’t help wanting to know, Mel.”
She stared at him like she wanted to tell him, but something held her back. “Noah.” Her eyes slid closed.
His hand slid up to cup her cheek. He’d always known Melanie was beautiful, but he’d never looked at her this closely before. At the way her eyes lit up and dimmed as if on command. The lines telling him she spent her life smiling—even if it was a part of her job.
The crease in her brow telling the world of the stress clients like him caused her. For the first time, he wanted to tell her he was sorry. For the scandals, the fake feuds online, anything that had made her life more difficult.
While he added complications to her world, she’d only brought good to his, smoothing over his gaffes, bringing together Rockstars Anonymous.
“Please stop,” she whispered.
He let his hand drop and shifted his eyes away, finding Stella skipping stones out across the small waves.
These girls… they were going to be the death of him.
Or, at least, the death of the Noah Clarke the world knew.
