Page 54 of To Bring You Back
Would he ever have that?
“Gannon, how you doing? Long time no see.” Adeline’s dad gave him a firm handshake.
“I’m good, Mr. Green. How are you?” His PR training spoke for him—never complain, be grateful, care about people. Under normal circumstances, these things came naturally.
“Lance. Call me Lance. You’re not a high schooler anymore.” He chuckled. “Your last record won quite a few accolades, I understand. We’re beyond proud of you.”
Adeline picked up her helmet from the front stoop and approached.
Her dad slung his arm around her as he continued. “Sort of wish we’d never kept Addie from going with you boys. Bet with her, you would’ve gotten that record deal faster.”
Adeline gave him a helpless smile that seemed to say,Parents, right?
But her dad’s belief in her wasn’t misplaced. She had talent. “We hated to leave her behind, but we were just stupid kids. The move could’ve turned out badly.”
Adeline bit her lip at that.
Gannon tipped his head, silently acknowledging that in important ways, the band’s early days in California had turned out badly. If she’d come, everything might’ve played out differently—but for the better or the worse?
“But it didn’t.” Lance slugged his shoulder, then circled the bike. “This looks like fun.”
Gannon followed him into conversation about the motorcycle until Mrs. Green came outside again, holding the flowers. She handed them to Adeline, and Lance laughed.
“Janie, how’s she going to get those home on this?”
Mrs. Green dropped her hands to her sides, and her mouth popped open. “You rode here on a motorcycle? All that way? In the dark?”
“There were hints, Mom.” The helmet in one hand and flowers in the other, Adeline lifted her arms the way she had when she’d exited the dressing room last night.
Lance pulled Janie to his side, gaze kind but serious as it focused on Gannon. “Gannon’s a good driver, right? He’s going to be careful.”
“Yes, sir, but I’m afraid the flowers probably wouldn’t survive the trip.”
Lance clapped Gannon’s hand into a second handshake while Adeline said goodbye to her mom.
When they switched, Janie squeezed Gannon’s arm. “Treat my baby well.”
“I’ll get her home in one piece.”
She held her focus on him an extra beat, conveying she hadn’t meant for her directive to apply only to the ride. Clearly, she had the same ideas about them as his own mom.
Though they were wrong, he nodded. He’d wronged Adeline years ago, but he’d do everything in his power to treat her well now. That meant seeking her healing above his own desire for a romance that he’d have to leave behind when he went back to his normal responsibilities. In return for his nod, Mrs. Green pulled him into a hug, the flowers damp and fragile against his neck.
15
Apair of picnic tables sat on a concrete slab beneath a metal roof in the wayside. Adeline tightened her arms around Gannon for the bump as he steered the bike up between the tables, under the shelter. As she pulled off her helmet, the noise of rain pounding the roof reached her ears.
Gannon jerked his own helmet through the air, sending a spray of water out toward the grass. “I’d rather not keep going in this.”
Her front, where she’d been leaning against him, was dry, but the arms and back of her jacket were soaked. She removed the outer layer and took her phone from one of the zippered pockets. Thankfully, the device hadn’t gotten wet. “I’ll text Asher. If the weather’s the same in Lakeshore, the food truck won’t be busy.”
A notification reported Asher had already reached out to her.
She dialed voicemail.
“You don’t have to come in today. Some guys with serious cameras are hanging around, and it’s gloomy anyway.”
Gannon whisking her away last night must’ve made her seem worth watching. She didn’t mind as much as she might’ve a couple of days before. Dealing with some attention came with the territory of life among the living—when Gannon was involved, anyway.
