Page 4 of To Bring You Back
Tim frowned as he worked out the implication. “You left mine.”
“I didn’t know she’d make a scene.” Or that at his first glimpse of her, he’d revert into the twenty-one-year-old kid he’d been when he’d last seen her. Every coherent thought had fled. He’d dropped the number in the tip jar, hoping that, if the first encounter didn’t work out, they might have another conversation later. Still, he’d feel a lot better if he’d managed a single intelligent sentence when he’d followed her away from the food trailer.
She’d never use that phone number.
The road leveled out. Larger homes, spaced farther and farther apart, dotted the cliff. Soon trees and gates obscured views of the homes and the lake beyond.
Tim glared out the windshield. “You could’ve gone anywhere in the world to work on the album, and you picked this place instead of a nice, warm beach somewhere. Why the interest in digging up the one person in the world who hates you?” Tim gave him a look probably intended to shame him into relocating to the tropics to overcome his writer’s block.
A lost cause. He wouldn’t focus on a beach any better than he had in LA. Not after John had come back from Christmas and hinted Adeline wasn’t doing well.
He offered a wry smile instead of an explanation. “Other people hate me too.” Though only Adeline’s rejection stung like this.
Tim checked the mirrors again before turning off the main road. “True. And mostly people who love you cause the problems, don’t they?”
Tim meant fans, but without them, Awestruck wouldn’t exist. Gannon couldn’t blame them for anything. He had caused himself more problems than anyone else ever could.
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Tim braked for the gate that blocked the drive. At the swipe of a card, the wrought iron parted. A carved sign labeled the propertyHavenridge Estate. Gannon had first heard the name two months ago, when he’d signed the rental agreement, securing the place indefinitely. Just inside the gate waited the guest house, a cottage about the size of the home Gannon had grown up in. A few more twists in the road landed them in front of the main residence, a sprawling three-story log cabin.
Tim cut the engine. “There’s a lot on the line here.”
“I know.”
According to Tim, there always was, and even Gannon felt the pressure now.
The band’s first contract would be up in less than two years. Afterward, Awestruck would be free to sign a new deal with the highest bidder. If they could maintain their momentum until then, the new contract would be their biggest payday yet, the stuff most musicians—and their teams—only dreamed of.
But if the next album bombed, Awestruck could tumble from the charts, and some other band would be right there to take its place.
Tim grabbed the keys. “I’d be the first to encourage you to let loose and have fun, but you and that girl? Nobody’s got time to scale mountains of baggage that high. Especially not somebody due in the studio in a few months. Have your fun, sure, but don’t get distracted by the past.”
“Adeline isn’t the past. She was the start. There’s a difference.”
“Label it however you want. Just stay focused.” Tim got out and shoved the door shut.
Gannon studied the aspen and pine trees sheltering the cabin. The setting promised peace no place on earth could deliver. Tim was right. The future was on the line—his, the band’s, Adeline’s—but for any of them to move forward, he’d have to first fix what had gone wrong at the start. “Lord, give me strength.”
2
Adog person shouldn’t have this much trouble saying goodbye to a cat. Adeline held Nissa’s carrier in one hand as she opened the door to the animal shelter with the other.
Heather, one of the few paid staff members, sat behind the front desk. Her sloppy bun of red hair bobbed as she stood. “The family’s in one of the visitation rooms. Do you want to take her in?”
Adeline considered the lump in her throat and wished she could scratch the soft fur between Nissa’s ears once more. The gray and white domestic long-hair cat had won her over by greeting her at the door whenever she came in. And her rumbling purr had comforted her through the barrage of memories Gannon’s visit brought on.
But she’d had a week to put Gannon behind her again. She could cope on her own if it meant allowing Nissa to go to a great family.
“I’ll introduce her.” Maybe if she got a bad vibe, she’d put in an application to adopt Nissa herself. She could figure out the money later.
In the room Heather indicated, Adeline found a family she knew from church. Joe and Carrie Cullen sat in the plastic chairs against the wall. Their pretty seventeen-year-old, Olivia, had settled on the floor.
In a recognition ceremony for graduating high school seniors at church, Olivia had shared her plan to attend the local college while living at home, which meant she got along with her parents well enough. Adeline got along with them too. Still, if not for the way Olivia’s blue eyes widened with adoration when she spotted Nissa, Adeline might not have been able to open the latch on the carrier.
The girl sprang to her feet, pushed her long hair over her shoulders, and gently transferred Nissa’s weight to her arms. “Mom, look. She’s gorgeous!”
They would love her to pieces. Much better than Adeline ever could.
