“You are, aren’t you.” Devin’s not really asking anymore. “I just spent ten minutes trying to talk Brianna and Jess out of this insane idea that you’re a famous rock star and now it’s going to wind up being true.”
“I wanna tell you no,” I start in a way that makes it pretty obvious it’s not going to end with that answer. “Because honestly, I think it would make both our lives easier. But I plan on being around a long while to come and I don’t want to start our relationship off with a lie.” I pat his shoulder. “Sorry.”
“I’m the one that’s sorry.” He looks over his shoulder, scowling slightly. “I’m going to have to go back there and tell them they were right. And once they hear that, there’s really no counting on any kind of good judgement anymore.” He sighs. “Sila brought a shit load of those frozen daiquiri pouches and they’ve been sucking them down since we left the dock.”
“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before,” I assure him.
He twitches his mouth back and forth, eyeing the water and then looking back the way he came. “I don’t have to tell them right away.” Next thing I know, he’s picking up a spare rod and settling in.
“So,” he starts up again when the silence doesn’t seem to be a gamechanger in our fishing efforts. “You and my sister.”
I nod but I’m not sure where this is going. “Me and your sister.”
“And Sloan.”
I nod again. “And Sloan.”
“How long has this thing with you two been going on? It’s obviously pretty serious if you’ve had a chance to get so close with my niece.” Clearly, he knows about Kenley’s required security clearance where Sloan’s concerned.
“Going on twenty-four hours,” I say as casually as I can, as if I can somehow slide this major detail in without it being of much notice, all the while keeping my eyes out on the ocean.
“You’re joking.”
Kind of figured it wasn’t going to work. Plan B. I put the rod down and face him. “I’m completely serious.” I have a feeling he’s going to need more to believe me. So, I give it to him. “She came to my show last night. Her friend Arizona arranged for us to meet. Best damn meet and greet of my entire career.” I start smiling just thinking about it. First Arizona’s antics in line. Then winding up on a video call with Kenley. “I knew the second I saw her; I was done looking.” Not that I was searching for love. Mostly, I was actively working on accepting that I’d found the closest thing I was ever going to have in making music. That I’d missed my window of opportunity to have that something extra with another person. But that didn’t mean I didn’t still have one eye open in case she showed up, that I wasn’t still hoping she was out there, waiting for me to find her.
“So, this isn’t something you do regularly? Go home with a fan after the show, spend a few days with her, then hit the road again?” His tone has changed pretty drastically. Not that I blame him. I’d probably be saying the same shit if it was my sister who turned up with some dude she only just met the night before, and one with a tendency for taking off at that.
“Before I met your sister, the last woman I was involved with was a girl I’ve known since high school,” I tell him. “We were off and on and for a long while, but in the end, it just wasn’t right.” I clear my throat. Talking about Emmery still gets to me. Maybe it always will. A mess like that, it’s hard to walk away with cleanfeelings you can just tidy up and be done with. “My point is, I love music. I do what I do, because that’s my passion, playing for people, feeling the way it lights people up to hear a song they love, hearing them sing along, dancing all their problems away. I don’t do any of it because I enjoy the lifestyle or particularly care for the extra attention that comes with it. Most nights, I leave the venue, get on the bus, and go straight to bed. Alone. Or I sit around and bullshit with my bandmates. It’s truly not the exitingsex, drugs and rock and rollparty people wanna make it out to be.”
Devin’s expression shifts again. He’s even starting to smile. “I didn’t really need all that, but I appreciate you telling me.” He plays with his line, slowly reeling it in a few feet at a time. “I saw you through the windows of my truck out in the parking lot while I was letting Sloan pick a rod. No one’s ever looked at my sister the way you were looking at her. Not even the asshole who married her.” He turns to face me. “Never seen her be so much of herself, so openly, with someone else either. Definitelynotthe asshole who married her.”
KENLEY
“Come on, you have to tell me how you found this one,” Sila hounds me while I help her make sandwiches for lunch out of the cooler of groceries they brought. “More importantly, I want to know how he busted through your rusted-ass armor and wound up walking around with your fragile, fucked up heart just beating away freely in the palm of his hand.”
“He does not have my heart in the palm of his hand,” I hiss. Only as soon as I hear myself say it, I can hear that I’m lying. “Fuck me.”
“Is he doing that too?” She wiggles her brows suggestively, a wicked smile on her face while she waits with eager anticipation for me to answer.
“Sila,” I say as calmly as I can, “I only just met the man yesterday. No, we’re not...doingthat.”
“Yet.” She laughs. “But seriously. I’m not crazy. That man is Knox Marley. Right?”
“I kind of try not to call him that,” I admit, squirting mustard onto a new slice of bread. “Freaks me out a little bit.”
“Why?”
“Um, because the whole thing is surreal enough as it is. Adding the wholeKnox Marley, Rock Godlabel just makes something already hard to believe, downright impossible.” I grab one of the premade tomato, lettuce, and onion stacks from the Tupperware before I make my way to the meat and cheese selections. I don’t even know how many of these we’re meant to be making, I just keep picking up a new slice of bread every time I finish.
“Kenley,” she says my name in a way that prompts me to stop what I’m doing and look up at her. When she’s sure she has my attention, she smiles and spells it out for me. “You suffered through years of a shit marriage to shield your kid from being subjected to the hurt and abusive manipulation you knew her father was capable of. You played the long game. And you won. As much as anyone could have in your situation. And then you went about rebuilding your life from scratch, all the while maintaining a happy, healthy, and secure home for Sloan. You didn’t date. You didn’t even want to look at the possibilities of dating if all you were going to find were dead-end one-nightstands and more douchebags. You refused to settle so you went it alone.” She leans in a little closer, grinning. “If you weren’t holding out for a fucking rock god, what the hell were you waiting for?” She laughs. “Girl, I’m not even a little surprisedthis is the plot twist your love life was headed for. Embrace it. You deserve it.” She puts the twisty tie back on the bag of bread. Probably to keep me from making more sandwiches. “And I don’t mean for any dumb cliché reasons either. I mean you deserve a man who has the same hunger in his soul to chase his dreams. One who leans into his artistic side the way you do, fueling his passion and sharing it at the same time. I’ve heard the man sing and I’ve read his lyrics, that man knows his own heart. And Kenley, you deserve that too.” She takes the mustard from my hand and puts the cap back on it. “You’ve had enough shit reality. Go live the fucking fantasy. Together you sure as hell look it. Like you’re a goddamn love song come to life.”
I don’t even know what part of that speech triggered the tears, but I’m busy swiping at my face, smiling like an idiot because I think I just might decide to believe she’s right. “He is kind of amazing,” I blubber, still trying to get it together. “And I really do think he’s the reason I was waiting. I just always felt like something big was out there, something I wouldn’t question because it would be undeniable when it showed up.”
“Babe, something big definitely showed up,” she confirms, crooked smile and a nod backing her up. “Now then, can we talk about how? Because I’ve got some single friends wasting their time on Tinder and I’d really love a good story to help sell them on holding out for the motherfucking magic!”
I laugh. Sila never holds back. Not the crass. Or the truth. “We can talk about how,” I finally give in. Then, as soon as I commit to it, the story just spills right out of me. Every detail from Arizona showing up out of the blue to Knox putting my ex in his place, free flows from my lips until I wind up back in the present and the current spot in our story.
Here. Fishing. With my brother and his family.
