Dan had admitted he was doing better than before. “Not as good as Sarah, though.”
Which was hard. He was supposed to lead her, but he sometimes felt like she was leading him, showing him how to manage their emotions. Which was a little ironic, considering she was known for her fiery temperament, and he was Mr. Cool, Calm and Collected, but there it was. She seemed to be riding the waves of grief far better than him.
He paused, his ears pricking at the music coming from the house. See? Even now she was playing the piano, last year’s Christmas gift that was perhaps as extravagant as Sarah said, considering she wasn’t here all that often to justify its expense. And yet it was perfect for a musician who loved to drop whatever she was doing and create music, like she was doing now.
That song. He recognized it now as the one she’d played on their previous stay. He washed off as best he could and ascended the steps leading to the cottage’s back deck, keeping his movements quiet to not disturb her.
Then her music stopped, and he heard her voice. “So it obviously needs work, but I thought that might be something to consider for the new Heartsong album.”
A new album? Why didn’t he know? She usually shared every new piece of Heartsong news with him.
She sighed. “I know. I still need to talk to him about it. I’d obviouslyloveto do it, but it’s when his season starts, and I don’t think he’d be too keen for me to run off for weeks.”
Run off? His heartstrings tightened. Was she talking about another tour? The last one she’d been on had seen Heartsong Collective traveling for nearly two months, from Australia to Europe then a bunch of places across the US. Part of him still blamed her exhaustion for why she’d miscarried. How could she be talking about another tour when the doctor had specifically said she needed to take things easy?
He opened the back door into the living room where her piano was, and she jumped. But for once it didn’t raise his smile. Her smile soon faded, her gaze questioning, and she spoke to the person on the other end of the line, “I need to go.”
Another murmur, then she held the phone at him. “It’s Tisha, so say hi.”
“Hi.” He could picture the bubbly curly blonde who often led the worship songs when Sarah couldn’t.
“Hey, Dan.” Tisha’s Aussie accent was crisper than his wife’s. “I hope you’ll say yes and let her go.”
Lether go? The way she talked it made him sound like some medieval husband locking up his wife. Which he wasn’t. But neither was he excited about his wife making plans about a tour and not telling him. Who did that?
He returned the phone to Sarah, who was eyeing him with pressed-together lips. Maybe she sensed his frustration because she soon said goodbye and stood from the piano stool. “So, uh, was fishing good?”
“It was. Until I came home and discovered you’ve been planning a tour.”
Her eyes widened. “Whoa, I haven’t planned anything. Like I said, I wanted to talk to you about it.”
Oh. His pique decreased. Maybe this was new. And she wasn’t pregnant now, so maybe a few weeks traveling in North America wouldn’t be so bad. “How long have you known?”
Her cheeks pinked. That was never the sign of innocence. “A few weeks.”
“A few weeks?”
She bit her lip.
Her uncharacteristic response only drew his irritation. How could she stay quiet? “What do you think we’ve been doing here? You’ve had plenty of time to talk, Sar. Why haven’t you said anything?”
“Because there’s been a few other important things happening, and I didn’t want to upset you.”
“Well, not telling me stuff doesn’t help.”
“Apparently,” she snapped. “So I’m sorry.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m sorry too.”
She stared at him, then her lips twitched, and she rushed at him and hugged him. “I really am,” she murmured against his chest. “I was going to tell you, but your contract stuff happened, and then—oh. You’ll never guess who else is here in Muskoka.”
“Who?”
Her shoulders slumped. “I know this makes me sound like such a terrible person, but when I saw her today, it was all I could do to get away.” She sighed. “I think Ange was really disappointed in me.”
“Who did you see?”
Her grip tightened around his waist. “Lincoln Cash’s wife.”
