“Well…” I take a second to collect my thoughts. “I’m thinking I don’t want you on a tour bus alone with Travis Malone. I’m thinking I don’t want you to go at all, but that’s selfish of me. And, I’m thinking…”
It’s my turn to be honest.
Andi leans forward, toward me, and places her free hand on top of our already clasped hands. Raising her eyebrows, she nods to urge me to continue.
“I’m thinking that I’d rather you come with me to Las Vegas for the training and conditioning camp I’m going to be in during that same time,” I confess.
She leans back in her chair, pulling her hands away, and openly gapes at me. “I…” she stutters. “I just thought you’d come with me, Luke. I never really intended to go on this tour without you.”
This gives me cause to smile slightly, and the corner of one side of my mouth lifts in amusement. “Well, we have next year planned out pretty well for each other, don’t we?”
She smiles in return. “What do we do now?”
“All I know is I can’t lose you, Andi. We’ll do what we have to do to make this work.”
“You’re not mad?” She eyes me dubiously.
“I’m not mad. I’m not happy, but I’m not mad. So, how does this touring thing work?”
She knows what I’m asking without me spelling it out for her.How close of quarters will she be in with Travis?
“It’s a forty-city tour, from mid-January through the end of May. A lot of the stops are on the East Coast, many even in the southeast, so I think those will actually be easy for me to travel separately and meet them there.
“From the middle to the end of the tour, the venues are mainly in the Midwest and western states. That’s when I’ll be on the tour bus. But, I don’t know which bus since there is another act opening for them, too. It’s an all-girl band, so I just assumed I’d be on the bus with them.”
The point I need to make to Andi has nothing to do with my jealousy or insecurity. It’s just a cold, hard fact. “Baby, listen to me. You need to understand something. Shane is a rare man. He really does look at you like a sister and protects you like a brother should. Any other man in the world won’t see you as a sister, though. That includes Travis Malone.
“He is very interested in being more than friends with you, and he will make a play for you. Andi, it’s not that I don’t trust you, because I do. It’s that I don’t trust him to not try to make the most of his time with you—away from me.”
She sighs audibly. “You may be right, Luke. He may be interested in me. He may even try something with me. But if you trustme, you should know that it doesn’t matter what he says or does. I’d never do that to you.
“I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. This was actually a very hard decision for me to make. It means leaving the youth center behind, my friends, the gym, and now you. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that one at all.”
She squints her eyes at me, silently asking me about this little hiccup.
“Yeah, that’s my fault. Mack asked me a couple of weeks ago about my future, my career, and what I really wanted. Then he offered me this spot in his buddy’s camp. This is probably the only time I’ll even have a chance at really making this a career. It’s just not something I can turn down.
“He asked me for my decision when I went to the gym this morning, and I said yes. So, I’m officially in training now and will leave for camp after the first of the year. When he first asked, I just assumed you’d go with Mack and me to Vegas.”
She moves to sit in my lap, and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. Her sweet breath fans out across my cheek as she leaves a trail of soft kisses. Laying her head on my shoulder, she offers a small consolation.
“If it helps any, Pop’s friend, Joe, wouldn’t let me help anyway. He says it’s a distraction to have a female in arealman’s gym,” she says with a giggle.
“Mack just recently told me about that rule. Joe’s just afraid you’ll show him up,” I offer.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” she laughs. “He’s the best at what he does, Luke. Listen to Joe and Mack, and you’ll be even more amazing than you are now.”
“Speaking of, I have to get back to the gym pretty soon. Mack has me on an intense schedule every morning and every afternoon. I’m afraid I won’t be around much.”
“It’ll be the same for me. Our concert rehearsal starts today, and I’ll be there every day until we leave for the tour.”
“What songs will you sing?” I ask.
“The label gave me some individual songs that are solely mine. I’ll have a few cover songs, too.”
“I want to see you in concert. I love watching you onstage.” It suddenly occurs to me that I’ll miss her entire tour because I’ll be in training camp. “Will you be close to Vegas?”
“We actually have two out there. One is in Phoenix and one is in Los Angeles,” she says excitedly. “L.A. is close enough to Vegas for you to drive out to see me if it’s during one of your off days.”
