I touched my face, immediately conscious of my sunburned nose, my salt-crusted hair.
Jimmy appeared from the limo with an armload of red and gold flowers like a pageant queen’s bouquet. He nodded to Jo as she got out of her car. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
Colt ignored them both, taking the flowers to give to me. “These are for you.”
I took them, overwhelmed. Bewildered. “Thank you.”
His blue eyes twinkled. “Don’t thank me yet. I got you something else, too.”
Not a kitten.
“I thought you were on tour,” I said.
“Got a break. Had to see my best girl.” He started to take me in his arms, but the bouquet was between us. “Jimmy,” Colt said without turning his head.
“On it.” Jimmy relieved me of the flowers, setting them on the polished black hood of the limo.
Colt took my hands in both of his. I stiffened, aware of our audience.
“What are you doing?” Jo asked.
But she was talking to Jimmy, who had raised his phone. Alec opened his car door and was hanging over the window, watching us.
“How... How is Mercedes?” I asked.
Colt shrugged. “She’s good. Says hey.”
“That was nice of her. How did the recording go?”
“I’ve been listening to the tracks. Three damn days in the studio, and it still wasn’t as good as your demo.” His grip tightened on mine. “The song isn’t the same without you, angel. Nobody’s got what we’ve got. We’re magic together, baby. I came to get you back.”
Panic choked me. “I can’t go back, Colt. I’m not ready.”
“I know I didn’t give you what you need. But I need you. I shouldn’t have put this off so long.”
“Put off what?” Jo asked.
“You never would have got sick if I’d done this six months ago. But I’m ready to do it now. For better or for worse, just like in the song. We’ll get ourselves married, lay down the new album, and be back on tour in the spring. You’ll see. You’ll be fine. Everything’s gonna be great.”
“Colt, I can’t go anywhere. I’m in a program.”
His gaze swept over me. “Getting a little beach therapy?”
I flushed. “A counseling program. For people with eating disorders.”
“You mean, like rehab.”
“Sort of.”
“Okay. So, you see a shrink for a couple months. Whatever you want. Whatever you need. You want to go to Hawaii for the honeymoon, that’s fine with me.”
Jo folded her arms. “She hasn’t said yes, asshole.”
He glanced over my shoulder. “You’re the sister, right? The one who got married. I sang at your wedding. Six million hits on YouTube.”
I wanted to sink with humiliation. My knees were shaking. “Colt...”
