That was all. One syllable, followed by a stretch of silence, and Dean knew. He swore silently and kicked his foot against the ground. “You got news?”
“Yeah. I got the call. I’m going sooner than later.”
“No work up?”
“It’ll be fine. There’s a need for a…” The phone crackled and for a second, Dean thought maybe his brother was already headed overseas, that he was calling from a foreign airport and the pain in his chest felt like a heart attack. “Sorry, shitty signal. I’m on the lake. Anyway, I’m going up to Pet on Monday, and then I’m heading over sometime in the next few weeks. Lots of stuff in flux. Just wanted to tell you.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Fuck, he wasn’t ready for this. He hadn’t felt like this when Jake had gone on his tour. But this was Sean. Mr. Mercurial. The baby.
“How’s the hot singer?” Sean changed the subject.
Smoking hot and really complicated. “She’s nice. I like her band.”
“Are there groupies all over the place?”
Dean laughed. Sean was still a pile of hormones. The eleven years between them sometimes felt like a lifetime, although when it came to Liana, his hormones worked just fine. “No.”
“Shame.”
He threw his brother a fictional bone. “Well, who knows. Tonight is the first real concert. I’ll report back.”
“I’ll hold you to that!”
Dean snorted. “Hey. I’m proud of you. You know that, right?”
A hesitant pause. “Yeah.”
That worried Dean more than he wanted to admit.Sean’s going to be just finewarred pretty hard in his head withget on a plane and go see for your fucking self. “Talk to you later.”
“Peace out, bro.”
He stood there for a minute, hands on his hips, head down, before turning back to the bus. When he did, Liana was standing in the open doorway.
“Everything okay?” she asked, pushing a loose strand of hair off her face. Gentle frown lines creased her brow.
“Yeah.”
“You look worried.”
“My youngest brother’s leaving for overseas sooner than later. Last minute call up.”
“With the military?”
He nodded and slowly walked toward her. She stepped up the stairs, making room for him to follow her out of the mid-day heat. He closed the bus door behind them, but he didn’t sit down inside. He was suddenly restless. “Hey, you want to go check out the workout room inside the arena?”
“Sure.” She shot a quick look at the clock on the microwave. “I have a meet-and-greet in an hour and a half, but I’ve got time for a workout first. Let me grab my bag.”
He should address the thing that almost happened between them before Sean called, but that hadn’t gone well the day before, and right now he really wanted to just lift heavy stuff and not think about anything for an hour or two.
— —
One of theearliest lessons Liana learned in Nashville was that sometimes opportunities slipped through your fingers. A great song gets picked up by a bigger performer, even though you heard it first and were in talks with the songwriter. You miss a call to perform at the Grand Ole Opry at the last minute. Schedules don’t line up with a producer you’ve been drooling over.
Or on a personal level, your super hot bodyguard gets a phone call at an inopportune time and comes back distracted by something that has nothing to do with you.
It was important not to dwell in the regret of the missed opportunity, and instead plan ahead. Be ready for the next lightning strike, because that’s often what it was—dumb luck at the right time.
Too bad the infinite patience she’d cultivated for her professional persona was missing right now.
