When Daisy suggested I sing again, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would be with the band.I figured, best case, it would be me, my guitar and a microphone in Lisa’s bar, which I was totally okay with, considering how things turned out last time.
But now, Dean’s question—his comment that he would be here tomorrow if I wanted.—suddenly feels like too much, too soon.Like it’s way too much for me and Daze to handle.
I glance up, seeing Daisy through the window of her shop.She’s working on something inside, but as though she can sense me watching her, she turns, her eyes meeting mine.I watch as she smiles at me before mouthing, “Are you okay?”
I nod, scrubbing my hand across my jaw as Dean says, “Fuck, Miles.I work in a recording studio, and not in the good way.I’m sitting on the wrong side of the glass, dude.So yeah, I would get on a plane and come back, and so would Sutton.”
“What about Lace?”I ask, not wanting to commit just yet.God knows how she’s going to feel about this, considering all the shit she put up with.I’m not even sure I know the half of it, either.
“Sutton’s talking to her now,” Dean says.“But it’s sounding good.She says she’ll reach out.”
“Fuck,” I say, blowing out a hard breath.“Are we really gonna do this?”
“I mean, yeah, why not?”Dean says with a laugh.“We all want it.”
“We’d have to do things differently this time,” I say.
“I know,” he replies.“And no fucking Isaac.”
“Fuck no,” I say, knowing I’ll probably have to fill them in on all the shit that’s gone down the last couple of months.
“So, we’re doing it?”he asks again, and even through the phone, I can hear the excitement in his voice.This wasn’t just my dream; the band was all of our dreams.Something we worked really hard for, too.
“Well, I mean, don’t quit your day job just yet,” I say with a laugh.“But yeah, if you wanna give it another crack, I’m in.”
“Fuck yeah!”he shouts, relaying the message to what I guess is Sutton in the background.“I’m gonna book flights now.I’ll text you our deets, and in the meantime, go see Lace and let’s get this fucking band back together!”
After we hang up, I stay outside for a minute, trying to process everything that just happened.When I’d texted our group chat initially, I never in a million years thought I’d hear from them, let alone that they’d want to get the band back together.
And to hear that Sutton and Dean are good now, sharing a place in L.A.after all the shit they went through, I feel so relieved.As I wonder about Lacey, my phone chimes with a text.
Lacey: Hey stranger...long time no chat.Guess you wanna sing again, huh?Still looking for a drummer?
Her message makes me smile, and instead of texting back, I call her, my heart pounding in my chest as the phone rings a couple of times before she answers.
“Hey.”
Laughing, I reply, “Hey yourself.”
Lacey laughs, and just hearing that sound is enough to tell me that Dean was right.Things are better with her.“So is it true?”she asks.
“Is it true you’re back on Maui?”I fire back.
“Yeah, it’s true,” she says.“I would’ve come to see you.It’s just...”
“I get it, Lace,” I say with a sigh.“I know things were bad at the end.How is everything now?Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she replies, letting out an exhale.“I am.I’m doing good.Went and saw Lena after it happened, and I’ve been hanging out at Jonah’s since I got back.He’s been looking after me.”
I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that of everyone, it was Lacey I worried about the most.She was like a sister to us, and we were protective as hell with her.Jonah made sure of that when we left for the mainland.It was never anything more than friendship and family, but the three of us always felt like it was on us to look after her.
And when we failed, we all felt it.Fuck knows what Jonah thinks of us all.I’m almost scared to ask.
I feel my phone buzz with a text as Lacey’s pings through the line.She laughs as she says, “So looks like those two clowns will be back on Maui tomorrow night.”
“Shit, they didn’t waste any time,” I reply, surprised at how fast this is all moving.
“Yeah,” she murmurs.“I think this is something we’ve all wanted—for a long time.”
