“You scared us.”
He nodded, pushing the hood off his head and dropping his backpack on the sidewalk before he plopped onto the nearest picnic table. “I just needed a break.”
“A break?” I sat down beside him. “I get that, buddy, but you’ve just got to tell people first.”
He swallowed, his eyes avoiding mine as he twisted his hands together.
“‘What’s on your mind? Did something happen today?”
He shook his head, troubled eyes conveying more than he was willing to say out loud.
“I’m gonna send your dad and Fallon a quick message, and then I want to know exactly what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“What if you’re mad?”
“I won’t be mad, Jack. Not ever. I might be worried, but I promise you that anger isn’t something you’ll get as long as you tell me the truth.”
He nodded again, breathing a reluctant sigh when I hit send on the two messages confirming Jack’s whereabouts.
“I’m just worried that I’m gonna get home from school someday and you won’t be here.”
His words hollowed out my soul, the sheer worry in his innocent little eyes leveling me. “That won’t happen, Jack.”
My voice was barely above a whisper, my promise to him as much as myself.
“But Fallon’s got his music. I know he doesn’t want a kid—”
“You don’t know what Fallon wants at all, Jack. And the best part, you don’t even have to worry about it. Fallon and I will work out all those adult things.”
The man of the hour pulled in then, bright white truck parking alongside us.
Fallon Gentry unfolded his big body from behind the wheel of his truck, a look of relief dominating every feature of his face.
He smiled, taking long strides to Jack and then placing a kiss on his head before wrapping me in a quick hug. “Scared the hell outta us for a minute, kid.”
Jack smiled weakly when Fallon plopped down beside him, crossing one ankle over a knee and cocking his arms back on the bench.
The way he filled up a space did things, swallowed up the energy around him. Drew people into his bubble like moths to a flame. It was exactly the thing the crowd witnessed all those nights he sat onstage, exactly why he’d made it so far in Nashville, and why he would have made it much further if he’d chosen that life.
But the longer he seemed to stew on what he wanted to do next, the more he seemed to be unhappy about it.
“I know someday you’re going to go back on the road,” Jack’s meek little voice finally admitted.
Fallon rubbed a hand through his beard, body still easy, casual. “Ever heard that sayin’ ’bout assumin’ things?”
Jack tilted his head, shaking it finally in confusion.
Fallon nodded. “Well, when you go assumin’ things, Jack—”
“I think he’s a little on the young side for this particular lesson,” I interjected, hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“What’s assumin’?” Jack scrunched up his cute little button nose, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“It means you’re wrong if you think I’m leavin’ anytime soon.” Fallon wrapped an arm around him. “Couldn’t get rid of me if you wanted to.”
Jack’s grin split his face, Fallon’s hand in his hair, messing up the cute little style he’d been rocking.
“But how’re you gonna make music?” Concern etched Jack’s small features, showing he’d put a lot of time into thinking about just this.
