“And if it does,” I continue, “I promise things will be different this time, okay?Nothing is going to come between us.”
She smiles at me, nothing but love and happiness in her eyes as she says, “I know, Miles.We’ve got this.”
And I can only hope she’s right.
Because I cannot go through that again.
It’s been abouttwo weeks since Miles reached out to the band, confirming what I suspected all along.While they struggled immensely with the tour and the fame, they all missed being together, being together as a band making music.
The day they all met up here on Maui, Miles was gone for the entire afternoon and night, texting me updates constantly, telling me how they were having a great time catching up.When he finally came home, well into the morning, with the sky still dark, he picked up his guitar and started to play.
There was nothing I wanted to hear more than the sound of his voice and the rhythm as his fingers strummed on the guitar.
He needs me, but he also needs the band, and this time will be different because we’re different people.We have learned so much about ourselves and that being apart isn’t what we need.What we need is each other.
And when he stopped playing, in the darkness of our bedroom, he whispered that he loved me.The moment was real and raw, but heartbreakingly beautiful, and all I could do was ask him to keep playing.
It’s crazy that the band is getting back together, or more nights at the bar.
It will be a bit before anything gets going since Miles made it clear that he wants to be here to support me in the opening of the bakery.He plans to spend the first month or so just helping me work through all the growing pains a new business faces.We both know there will be a lot.
The band did agree to play their first show, if you want to call it that, for Lisa since she was the first place they played all those years ago.
It’s sweet and nostalgic, but more than that, it’s comforting for them—playing here where they all grew up, where it all started.It’s like going back home again.
I haven’t gotten to meet up with any of them, too consumed with the bakery and still working at the bar, but I think about them often, especially Lacey.
The first time I heard her play, I was awestruck.While we went to school together, she didn’t run with our crowd—not the surfing type.
She was always into music, growing up with a famous drummer for a father.But more than that, she spent any free time she had with Jonah, her best friend, learning sign language for him and teaching him to play the drums too.
She was a loner—quiet and gorgeous—but with this gives-no-fucks punk rock attitude with deep brown hair and bright blue eyes.She’d been playing the drums since she was little, basically a legacy, and in my own mind, I knew she would be the reason the band made it big.
We’d be at shows, and I’d hear guys make disgusting comments about her, yelling at her to show her tits, or that she should be serving them beers, not playing, and she wouldn’t even flinch.
And there were girls who would tell me to watch out for her, be jealous, because any girl who is in a band with guys wants only one thing.
I used to respond that she wanted to make music, but that wasn’t the narrative they were spinning, and I was never jealous of Lacey.If anything, I was inspired by her, longing to one day be as fucking cool as she was.
As she still probably is.
I’m taking inventory, making sure I have everything I need for the opening that is now only a couple of weeks away, when Miles walks in.
He has a massive smile on his face, and I cock my head to the side, taking him in, curious as to what has him so happy.
“What’s up?”I ask, narrowing my eyes, and he lets out a deep chuckle.
“You know how everything on the island takes forever?”he says, and I nod.“Well, not sure how the hell this happened, but they’re about to deliver your sign, like, right now.”
“What?”I squeal, throwing the pen I’m holding and bolting for the front door of the bakery.“It’s two weeks early!”
Miles follows me out front to where we find a waiting truck along with two men, and I feel like I want to scream out loud.
“Here to install a sign,” one of the guys says, totally oblivious to my excitement.He’s probably done this a million times in the last year, unaware of the changes and growth that are taking place in front of him.Unaware of how much my life is about to change and he gets to be a part of that, but it doesn’t matter to him.
He collects a paycheck, and I live out my dream.
“You’re early,” I tell him, and again with the indifference despite the high-pitched tone of my voice.
