Page 68 of Love is a Drum Beat
Jo scowled at Drew’s word choice.
“I am air fiving you, Ben.” Piper lifted up a hand. “Go you.”
“Pipes.” Noah chuckled. “Why doesn’t she believetheBen Evans could end up in someone else’s bed?”
Ben sighed. “Because when I haven’t been on tour with her, I’m living the hermit life too.”
“Dude!” Jo stared at him. “Didn’t you give me grief for that very thing?”
When he didn’t respond, Noah chuckled. “Jo, you’re avoiding me and Mel. Why?”
“It’s not just you,” Drew chimed in before hollering at someone. “You, dancer. I need you to hold the phone while I talk so they can see every glorious inch of me.”
Nolan appeared, making a face at Jo as he took the phone. “He’s been doing this thing where he pretends he doesn’t know everyone’s names. I saw him do it to his girlfriend yesterday.”
“Nolan,” Drew said slowly. “You aren’t supposed to talk to my friends, you’re supposed to help me talk to them.”
Nolan made another face that had Jo laughing before he turned the phone on Drew.
Melanie appeared on Noah’s screen with the kind of smile Jo could really use right now. She loved all these guys, but what she really wanted, what she needed was Melanie.
“We all here?” Melanie asked.
“All except Dax.” Jo didn’t like doing a meeting without him.
Ben gave her a look. “I talked to Dax. He’s cool with this. The meeting isn’t about him anyway.”
Jo shrank back in the bed, putting a protective hand over her stomach. “Just give it to me.”
They all started talking at once, trying to be louder than the rest. Jo didn’t like video calls for that reason. She’d rather see them in person than listen to the non-stop chatter.
“Guys,” she groaned. “Use your inside voices.”
That quieted them. Each of the boys had sheepish expressions, but Melanie’s eyes cut into her.
“Jo.” Melanie spoke with a low, measured tone. “Are you okay?”
Jo sighed. She was tired of being cooped up, tired of feeling like a beached whale, of being woken in the night by sharp pains and an even sharper need to pee. But she didn’t say all those things, she couldn’t. It wasn’t what they wanted to hear from the Jo they knew.
“I’m just tired.” She mustered up a weak smile. “And I’m out of ice cream.”
All four of them relaxed at the ridiculous need that told them she was still their Jo. Ben side-eyed her. “You should have told me. I’d have picked some up on my way over.”
“Yeah, don’t send Dax.” Drew laughed. “He might get in another fist fight.”
“Wait a second.” Noah took the phone from Melanie. “Fist fight? Dax?”
“It was epic.” Drew grinned. “Sending you the link now.”
“How did you not see it?” Ben asked. “It was everywhere.”
“We’ve been avoiding all news lately.”
That didn’t sound like Noah, like the guy who loved to create scandals and then watch the media explode. A sudden jealousy ripped through her. Noah found someone to love, the best someone. Ben and Piper had 'meant to be' etched into their foreheads. And even Drew had Lola, the only girl who could stand him for long periods of time.
That was a joke. Sort of. Her boys… they had good hearts, and she was happy for them.
But it was hard being around all the happy couples.
