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I glance over and wave.
Taylen laughs into his beer. “This is ridiculous.”
“You saved Christmas, Tay.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
We eat some more and drink some more. When the third round of free beers arrives from a different table, I’m feeling buzzed and so relaxed that I know we’ll need to leave Taylen’s truck behind and walk to my apartment.
I turn to Taylen properly, resting my elbow on the table.
“So.”
“So.”
“How are things?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“With my brother.”
Taylen shrugs. He picks up his beer and takes a sip to avoid answering. I know him that well.
“That good, huh?”
“It’s fine.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s fine. We’re…fine. Things are complicated because they’re always complicated with him. But we’re… I don’t know what we are. Sometimes we talk. Sometimes we don’t.”
“They’ll be back in two days, in time for the opening of the festival.”
He snags a wing from the plate and picks it apart with his fingers.
“Finn.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know why they went to New York?”
I stop mid-sip. “Fox said it’s a label meeting. That’s all I know. It came up quickly. Honestly, all I know is that Fox said he’d be back for the festival. I’ve been drowning in work, so I didn’t ask further questions.”
Taylen puts the wing down and wipes his fingers on a napkin. “You don’t think it’s weird that the label asked for this meeting a week before Christmas.”
“Maybe? I don’t know much about the music industry. Fox told me the label isn’t happy about the hiatus.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re probably going to push for another album.”
“Does that mean they’ll be back on tour?”
I set my beer down.
“I guess it’s a possibility.” Because a new album means a new tour and me looking at my calendar to figure out when Winterberry might get a Hall of Fame visit again.
“He said he was staying,” Taylen mutters.
