He waggled his cell phone. “Check your email.”
A moment later Tori squealed. “Are you serious? Jem!”
“I mean, I’m not going to need them.”
“Why? Is River gonna sit you on the stage and just serenade you the whole night?”
God, Jem hoped not. He could barely handle it when River played his songs for him at homewithoutany other audience. “Uh. I think I’m like, with Eric and Ward’s families. There’s like a little….”
“VIP area?” Tori suggested.
“Well, no, because you can’tbuytickets. But yeah. Something like that.”
He should’ve known better than to do this in the lunch room, because inevitably, someone had to come investigate her squeal. “What are you two conspiring about?” Frank wanted to know.
Tori glanced at Jem as though to confirm she could tell the story. He gave her a nod.
“Jem got me tickets to his boyfriend’s concert.”
“Rivergot you tickets to his concert,” Jem corrected. His cheeks burned a little. “He wanted to meet you.”
“Jem.” She whacked his arm. “I don’t have anything to wear to meet a rock star.” As if she’d wear anything but cargo pants and a polo even if she did.
Frank blinked at them both. “Rock star?” he asked. Then he looked pointedly at Jem’s watch. “Who exactly is your boyfriend?”
Well, shit. It was going to come out eventually. “River Wild.”
“The guitarist from the Flat Tires,” Tori filled in, in case the name alone didn’t ring a bell. “Oh shit, I gotta go call Ivy and figure out if she’s up to this. Can you go to a rock concert if you’re like, enormously pregnant?”
“Do I look like an OB-GYN?” How was Jem supposed to know? “That’s a question for the internet. But I can check if River has an extra set of the fancy headphones he got me.”
“Best not let Ivy know you called her enormous,” Frank cautioned as Tori skittered out of the lounge.
She waved acknowledgment over her shoulder as she went.
“Your boyfriend has good taste,” Frank commented. “You gonna bring him to Easter dinner?”
Shit, whenwasEaster? It was almost April now; it had to be coming up. “I don’t know. He might be on tour.”
“You let me know. Always room for one more. He can bring the wine.”
“Wine?” Jem snorted. “Nah. If he’s coming, he can bartend. He makes a mean cosmo.” And no one could drink like a bunch of teachers. They’d have to come up with a good story for how they’d met, since the thrift shopping thing wouldn’t work—though maybeonline datingcould kind of blanket cover it. It wasn’t a total lie.
It might be nice, actually. He’d met River’s friends. Tonight River’d meet Tori and Ivy. The idea of bringing River into the circle of people he cared about made him feel like his lungs were too big for his chest. “I’ll, uh, I’ll ask him.”
The rest of the workday passed in a blur thanks to Jem’s guitar and a song about all the places you shouldn’t wipe your nose, which the kids enjoyed laughing along with even if they failed to internalize the message. Then suddenly it was three o’clock and the last of the students were leaving his care.
Tori waved at him on her way out. “See you tonight?”
“You better.”
Of course, River wasn’t home when Jem got there. He was already at the venue doing sound check and lighting stuff and whatever rock stars did to prepare for concerts.
But on the kitchen island, Jem found a box with a bow on it and a note written in River’s familiar scrawl.
Sunshine,
Wasn’t sure you brought anything to wear to the concert, so I took the liberty.
