36
TERA
“How did you manage to come here and him not come with?” I ask Lucy and Sera.
Lucy blows out a breath and rolls her eyes. “It wasnoteasy. He kept on insisting.”
“He’s going nuts not being able to talk to you. Good deal calling while he was in the shower and leaving voicemails,” Sera tells me. “Well done.”
“I didn’t want him to be that upset, not to the point he was. I mean, him talking about quitting the band—yikes,” I say.
“Yeah, he was tormented those first three days. You coulda planned that a little better for the sake of my sanity,” Lucy tells me.
I wince. “Sorry. I just wanted to pack everything, so it could be shipped while everyone was here, in New York, for the concert.”
“I got the permission we needed. How exactly do you want to do this?” Lucy asks me.
“Here’s what I had in mind…”
Ifeel like I’m going to puke and it has nothing to do with the baby in my ever-expanding belly. There’s no doubt now that I’m pregnant. I had to get stretchy jeans. I hate them. I’ll stick to my yoga pants and leggings.
“Hurry up!” Lucy whisper shouts, pushing me into a room backstage. She yells, “Zip it!” to Spenser just as he’s about to do that squeal/yell thing he does when he’s excited.
“I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, Iknewit!” he exclaims, rushing toward me to hug me. “Oh my, how our little bambino has grown in a week.”
I sigh. “I know. This is going to be massive.”
Lucy nods. “And then some. Jesse’s been wondering what’s going on since they’re going on before we are, but I’ve been keeping this secret.”
“Thank you. I know it can’t be easy,” I tell her.
“Whatever,” she waves it off. “He kept you a secret for the entire time we’ve been together, he can deal.”
I laugh.
“Let’s get you fixed up,” Spenser announces, pulling me away from Sera and Lucy. Meggie bounces in, Trace and Jace following close behind.
“I can’t even tell you how excited I am,” Meggie laughs out as she continues to bounce on the balls of her feet.
“We can see,” Trace tells her. “I gotta tell you, Tera. You sure know how to make a statement.”
I blow out a breath as Spenser works his magic.
“Let’s just hope it works.”
Damian sneaks me around to the other side of the stage. It’s cluttered with containers and boxes for all the bands’ gear.
He catches me when I nearly trip over a cord.
“That’s why no one goes on this side of the stage,” he informs me.
“I see.”
“Be careful. They’re almost done, and you don’t want to be seen, right?”
I nod. “I’ll stand here. You can keep an eye out.”
The wait for Falling Down to clear the stage and the crew to set up Blush’s equipment seems to take forever. I knew it would be a good forty-five minutes to an hour. I should have brought something to occupy my hands. I wouldn’t have been able to focus anyway. Not when my heart is threatening to leap up through my throat. My stomach is still flip-flopping, and I’ll admit to my knees being a bit weak.
