Page 226 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

Chapter29

HARPER

A palpable shift rippled through the concert hall.

With her heart in her throat, she observed Landon as the young woman’s question lingered in the air, and a thread of silence wove its way through the space.

But she wasn’t preoccupied with the student’s question.

What she wanted to know was how her husband would answer it.

Landon nodded to the woman, politely acknowledging her, but he didn’t speak. He strummed the guitar, toying with a melody. He picked at the strings and riffed an intricate, pebbly cascade of calming notes. She recognized his behavior. This was his reflective artist mode.

Anticipation built in her chest.

Would he share what it was like to be a neurodivergent artist?

Is that what he was considering?

She scanned the array of cameras and people holding up their smartphones.

He could do so much good by disclosing his struggles on a global livestream.

He plucked a few more notes, then pressed his hands to the strings, muting the sound.

He flashed the young woman his pop star grin. “How about I tell you how I discovered my passion for music instead. It’s a better story,” he answered, pivoting from the student’s question.

Thanks to Landon’s hypnotic persona and celebrity charm, the woman nodded as a dreamy expression took hold.

But he’d dodged the question.

And her heart sank.

A part of her wanted him to come clean. With his global popularity, he could inspire others. He could act as a role model to kids who struggled with the same issues. If she’d known that the singer she’d idolized had learning issues like she did, it would have comforted her and minimized the sting of the stigma.

“My foster parents had a garage filled with old instruments. My sister, Leighton, and I learned quickly that we could play just about any song on any instrument by ear,” he explained.

“You play by ear?” the girl pressed as the ringlets brushed the apples of her cheeks.

“I’d never touched an instrument before we set foot in that garage. It only took a few hours before I was pretty decent on the guitar, and my sister could knock out just about any tune on the piano. Music and our foster parents became our refuge.”

“You were in the foster care system?” a skinny guy with a punk rock vibe and spiky blond hair asked with a skeptical bend to his question.

She studied the audience and found several students slack-jawed.

And then it hit. He might not have disclosed his neurodiversity, but he had dropped the foster kid bombshell.

“I’ve never talked about it publicly, but yeah, my sister and I were placed in the system.”

“Many of us here have been in and out of foster care placements,” the girl with the ringlets commented as at least half the young adults in the audience nodded.

“And then in and out of juvie and jail,” another voice supplied.

“Why is this the first time you’ve mentioned it publicly?” a kid with a mop of dark hair asked.

Landon strummed a gentle, delicate melody. “It wasn’t a conscious choice. When Trey, Leighton, and I signed with our label, the PR people wanted to play up our youth and brand us as light and energetic.”

“You were okay with that? Or were you embarrassed by who you were and where you came from?” the blond spikes kid replied with a distinct edge to his tone, but Landon didn’t react.

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