“Think he’ll come?”
Donny finally stopped looking at his laptop. “Don’t know. I hope so. Maybe he can stay a couple of days at least.”
I sighed, probably overdramatically. “Me too.”
Donny smiled. “I knew you liked him more than you said.”
“Oh, come on, I like him already.”
He started dancing in his chair and sing-songed, “Kay and Daddy sitting in a tree…”
“Shut up.” I pushed his shoulder, but he only laughed.
“Yes, please stop,” Joe called from the back of the bus. “My stomach is upset from how sickeningly sweet you two are.”
I was unable to stop the snort that came out of me.
Donny leaned over and whispered, “He knows Saxon is our daddy.”
“Then why are you whispering?”
“Because he’s cranky.”
Joe yelled, “I’m not cranky.”
We both cracked up laughing, and Joe actually laughed, too. He made me feel comfortable, and I was pretty happy we got Joe out of everyone else. He was super easy-going and had my back. And didn’t judge us on what we liked.
I tapped the table. “I’m bored.”
“Why don’t you color while I finish working?” Donny was right, I should color. It calmed me and kept my mind occupied.
I pulled the books out from the back, along with colors and picked one that had cars. It had an old-fashioned truck on one page, so I started in with that. After a few minutes, Joe came out and took another book, one with animals, and started coloring too. We spent the majority of the afternoon quietly coloringwhile Donny worked until we finally pulled into a hotel parking lot in Albuquerque.
I glanced out the window. “Holy shit. This is the Hard Rock.”
“Fuck.” Joe leaned against the window. “Man, we’re playing here.”
I knew we were playing at the pavilion for the Hard Rock, but the dots hadn’t connected in my head that we’d be actually staying in the hotel. “We’re going to be here? Overnight. Are we sharing a room, Donny?”
“Of course,” Donny started packing his laptop away.
“I want a picture of us in front of that giant fucking guitar.”
“Fucking hell, let’s get the whole band,” Joe added, and I nodded furiously in agreement.
We all got off the buses and, in fact, took pictures in front of the guitar. But then security ushered us in, probably frustrated that we were acting like a bunch of kids, but what the fuck, we were on a dream ride here and wanted to remember every bit of it.
We weren’t allowed to eat in the fancy-ass restaurants and had to call for room service. Someone on the security team said it was because of the reputation of potential food fights that followed Midnight Hunt. I’d been at Jinx and Miami’s wedding, and the reputation wasn’t wrong. Their reception had erupted into a free-for-all.
Our room was fucking nice, too. We settled in and ordered food. We needed an early night, since the sound check was at oh-fuck-my-life-thirty in the morning. After we ate, I was antsy. All night with nothing to do and confined to the room—ugh! I wasn’t a hyper dude, but it sucked. And Donny was worse. “Let’s call Daddy.” It was the only thing I could think of. “On video call.”
“I want to see his face. Great idea, Kay.”
When Saxon picked up, it looked like a big garage behind him. “Hey, guys. Everything alright?”
“Yes, we missed you.” Donny made kissy faces at the screen, making Saxon laugh.
“Cute. Is Kay there?”
