“Where is your security team?” He’s moving so quickly I almost have to run to keep up with him.
“Two of them are behind us. I told them I wouldn’t be attracting any attention today, so I wouldn’t need a full team.”
“I’m sorry. It seemed funny at the time.”
“Itwasfunny. But it’s best to get out of here before it becomes overwhelming. I generally think people have good intentions, but sometimes big crowds can feel a bit crushing. Especially if you aren’t used to them.”
We make it to the car without incident, and Jaxon opens my car door before sliding into the driver’s seat.
I bite my lip. “I am sorry, Jax. I didn’t think about it.”
“We’ll wait for Weston and Eddie at the security booth so you can apologize to them, but I assure you, no one minded. It was funny. And nothing bad happened.”
He pulls out of the parking lot and turns right before reaching across the center console and squeezing my thigh. “How’d it go?”
His hand stays there as I tell him about the meeting and how well I think it went.
When we get back to his house, Jaxon invites me to his studio to watch him record, and I happily accept.
I claim the small couch at the back of the control room, where I can see both Andre working the control panel and Jaxon in the live room.
Turns out, he’s recording more than just the song for the Lupus Foundation, which he finished this morning. This afternoon, he’s working on a new song that’s sad and passionate.
Jaxon’s in the booth singing, “I didn’t see it coming, not in a million tries / You were the steady in my chaos, the calm behind my eyes / But then one look hit different, like a slow burn through my chest / Now every time you smile, I forget the rest,” and can’t help but feel a tug in my chest.
“Here you go, dear,” Annie says, handing me a tissue as Jaxon sings. “That line turned me into a blubbering mess the first time I heard it. Don’t know how you’re keeping it to those crocodile tears.”
I nod in thanks as I dab my eyes with the tissue, knowing I’m going to need it every time I hear the song.
It’s like he recorded each feeling I’ve had in the last month since we’ve been together and somehow put them to music.
Even if it probably isn’t about us, it still manages to feel like it is.
Chapter thirty-three
Jaxon
AfterdroppingIzzyoffat her office following our early flight back to Wild Bluffs on Tuesday morning, I decide to drop into the café for a late breakfast rather than forcing myself to face my father’s room. The idea of walking past his closed door makes my chest ache. I need noise. Movement.
Eggs.
Jameson and JT Johnson are just leaving as I enter, and we stop in the aisle to chat briefly. They’re both in town trying to spend as much time with their significant others before they leave for a tournament on the East Coast tomorrow.
When another couple walks in, trying to squeeze around us, we say a hasty goodbye, and I head for a table toward the back.
“I wouldn’t sit there,” Jameson says from behind me, but when I turn to ask why, he’s already gone.
The table is tucked away toward the back of the restaurant, and despite Jameson’s cryptic warning, I still think it’s my bestbet for not being recognized, especially since one seat has its back entirely to the door.
I order coffee and a couple of eggs to eat and pull out my phone to return a couple of emails while I wait.
The chair next to mine is pulled out, and an older guy with salt-and-pepper hair and a vaguely familiar face sits next to me.
I think he used to work with my dad during harvest season when I was a kid. Or maybe he just looks like every guy who drinks too much coffee and knows everyone’s business. Is he Becca’s dad? Billy? Bob? Robert? Ralph.
I think it might be Ralph.
Not my usual fan, but I’ll take anyone in this town who’s willing to acknowledge my presence at this point. Andre laughed for five minutes straight when I told him people are only starting to talk to me now that they think Izzy and I are together.
