She did know she hadn’t broken her rules.Not the ones that mattered.She’d drawn a line and walked it with him, and the world had not set itself on fire.
When she reached the car, she looked back.Jami stood in the open doorway, hand on the jamb, the barn warm behind him, the dark stretching out in front of all of them.He lifted a hand.She lifted hers back.A thrill ran the length of her body and back up.He was handsome and calm.She took a deep breath; sometimes he unsettled her.
Tomorrow would bring whatever it brought.Tonight, they’d kept the story theirs.
ChapterEleven
Jami woke before the alarm, to his phone buzzing on the nightstand like it had opinions.
He rolled over, scrubbed a hand down his face, and reached for it.A string of notifications glowed across the screen: news mentions, tagged posts, a half-dozen texts from Tony, and one short line from Carlene.
Holding steady.No action yet.
He exhaled through a breath.The air in the farmhouse smelled like coffee grounds and sea air, the kind of morning that usually meant a good day.Except today carried the weight of the night before.
He padded barefoot into the kitchen, poured a mug of coffee, and scrolled through the feed.
The dock photo sat front and center on the band’s page.Evening on the water.Nothing else.No hashtags, no names, no hint of a story.
The comments were calm.Predictable even.Locals saying they’d seen the two of them walking.
A few fans arguing whether he looked happier.
No one was screaming, no one was accusing.
The quiet was almost unnerving.
By the time he walked across the dewy grass to the barn, the band was already filtering in.The open doors let in sunlight, and dust motes floated through the beams like lazy fireflies.
Axel sat on one sofa, tapping a rhythm on his thigh with his fingers.Sean tuned a guitar, and Maddyn leaned against the door frame, half-listening and half-staring out toward the water.
Livia and Tony stood near the bar, phones in hand, talking numbers.
Carlene was where she always was lately, in her corner at the end of the bar, laptop open, posture calm, eyes alert.
She looked up when he walked in, and the smallest smile flickered across her mouth before she caught it.“Morning.”
“Morning,” he said, setting his coffee beside Sunday’s case.“We still steady?”
“Steady,” she said.“Engagement’s high, sentiment’s positive, and the label has stopped calling every fifteen minutes.”
He grinned.“That’s a miracle.”
“Miracles require planning,” she replied, typing something quickly.
He laughed softly and sat on the arm of a sofa.“How’d you sleep?”
“Enough to form sentences.”
It wasn’t much of an answer, but it was honest.She had a way of keeping her walls neatly up without ever sounding cold.
Tony looked up from his phone.“Analytics are good.That walk at the marina did its job.We’re back in control of the narrative.Carlene, the label says we should post a rehearsal clip to reinforce the connection.Though Vivian's been asking for the raw data files.She never usually gets that granular.”
“I’ve got a cut ready,” she said.“Thirty seconds.Honest, not polished.”
Jami nodded."Why don't we start rehearsing?"
They moved into the studio room in the front of the barn and began running through their usual set.The music filled the barn, sunlight pooling across the floorboards.He loved it here.He loved the way the barn felt and smelled when everyone was here and the barn was filled with music.
