Chapter 11
Leah
There was no escaping Tyler once he’d hatched a scheme, not that I wanted to. Tyler’s schemes usually involved cheap beer, hot dogs on sticks, and bad music choices. Much to Gabe’s chagrin, Tyler had a weird love of hair bands from the eighties. Our junior year of high school, he dressed up as Axl Rose for spirit week’s dress-like-a-rock-star day, complete with a red wig and a bandanna tied over it. He’d even borrowed a mic stand from Gabe and carried that around all day.
It was the one and only time Tyler participated in a high school event. The three of us hadn’t exactly been joiners.
When I pulled up to Tyler’s dad’s house, the sun was just setting, and Tim English was in the driveway, packing up his car-washing supplies. “Hey, Leah,” he said easily. “The guys are already out back.”
“Thanks.”
“Can you do me a favor?” He leaned in with a conspiratorial grin. “Keep those guys in line.”
I snorted. “You’re setting me up for failure.”
“Figured as much but had to ask.”
As soon as I stepped to the left of the driveway, I saw the bonfire. Jesus. That sucker was huge. Tyler would be lucky if he didn’t burn the house down.
When he saw me, he pumped his fists in the air. “Woohoo!”
My gaze shifted to the man behind him. I only ever had eyes for Gabe. My steps slowed as I gathered my wits.
As I got closer, he held his arm out, and I tucked myself against his side. He kissed my forehead, as he’d done a million times before. I exhaled, feeling like I belonged there.
It really was like old times, just like Tyler had wanted.
Nope, nope, nope. I was falling into the nostalgia trap, dangerously close to allowing myself to believe Gabe and I had a chance. But I couldn’t. Hope was a dangerous beast.
I held up a grocery bag. “I brought stuff for s’mores.”
Tyler held up a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. “I brought the booze.”
I wrinkled my nose. When my father hadn’t been drinking beer, Jack was his alternative. I’d never been able to stomach the stuff. “Did you bring anything else?”
He grinned. “I brought everything else.”
I raised a brow but didn’t say a word.
“Don’t judge me,” he muttered. “You’d be drinking too if you spent half your work day in the ladies’ room at the damn Stop & Shop.”
“Dude,” Gabe said. “Cedar Creek isn’t full of crime, but surely, you have something more important to do.”
“You would think so,” Tyler agreed, “but the owner is the mayor’s wife’s cousin, and I’m low man on the totem pole.”
“It could be worse,” I offered, trying not to laugh. Though I’d been in that bathroom once. Once was enough.
“How?” Tyler deadpanned. “Tell me how it could be worse.”
I managed to hold in my laughter, but Gabe didn’t bother. Beside me, he shook with it.
Tyler pointed at him. “You, sir, can suck it. I’m going to get the hot dogs. Do you think your fancy rock-star ass can manage the tents before it gets any darker?” He jerked his thumb toward the heap of canvas.
Gabe rolled his eyes. “I’m famous, not a pansy.”
Tyler shot him the finger as he trudged toward the house, leaving Gabe and me alone. His arm around my shoulder suddenly felt heavier, stiffer. I was all too aware of his body heat seeping into my side.
“Can I tell you a secret?” he whispered, even though no one was around to hear.
Suddenly, I was the one who was stiff. “What?”
“I don’t remember how to set up a tent.”
My shoulders sagged with relief, and I laughed. I didn’t know what I’d been worried he would say because I was the one with the secrets, not him. “I know how.”
“Thank God. Tyler would never let me live that one down.”
I was glad Tyler had given us a project, because I still felt awkward around Gabe. Sometimes, it felt like nothing had changed, then something would jolt me back to reality, like catching sight of one of Gabe’s newer tattoos. For better or worse, things weren’t the same.
I knelt beside the tent and sorted the pieces. I handed Gabe a pole. “Thread that through the little sleeve here.”
“Got it.” I watched as he did what I’d instructed. I wondered what his fans would think if they could see him now—those fingers that were magic with a guitar, working to put together an ancient tent.
His fingers were magic in other ways, too. Gah! When thoughts like those crept into my mind, it was difficult to remember I was supposed to be keeping things in the friend zone. I averted my gaze, hoping that would help to get me back on track. Avoiding looking at him wasn’t a sustainable strategy, though.
“I guess you don’t have much time to go camping,” I commented. What we did in Tyler’s dad’s backyard wasn’t exactly roughing it in the wilderness, but we were surrounded by trees and under the stars, so it was still fun.
“No. Music keeps me busy almost all the time. Besides,” he said with a grin, “the crowd I run with these days considers anything below a five-star hotel roughing it.”
I cocked my head at him. “How many stars does a Days Inn have?” That was my only frame of reference. I hadn’t had many opportunities to stay in hotels.
“Uh… two? I think?”
Nodding, I looked back down at the tent we were assembling. Gabe lived a five-star lifestyle, while mine wasn’t anywhere close. I didn’t mind my life, but I hated that Gabe and I no longer shared much common ground.
It doesn’t matter, I chided myself. Gabe’s stay in Cedar Creek was temporary, so I needed to focus on enjoying the time he was here. As friends. “How’s Aunt Rose? Still flying high on Vicodin?”
“No, thank God. I think her recovery is coming along, but she’s not used to being laid up, so she’s driving me fucking nuts. At least she finally told her friend, Karen, about the surgery. Karen’s keeping her company tonight. And she brought over some homemade fried chicken. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.”
“Yum.” I tried to think of something else to say but came up blank. I’d already exhausted the short list of conversational topics, proof again that our worlds didn’t mesh. We worked in silence until Tyler returned with an armful of supplies.
“Heidi told me to tell you that you have house bathroom privileges,” he told me, “but we guys will have to piss in the woods.” Heidi was his stepmom.
“Thanks,” I said gratefully. I’d peed in those woods before, and I could say from firsthand experience that poison ivy on the butt wasn’t fun.
An hour later, we were stuffing our faces with hot dogs and potato chips while Def Leppard played on Tyler’s Bluetooth speaker.
“You can’t tell me this song isn’t a classic,” Tyler argued about “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
“It has its place in music history,” Gabe said, “but artistically, it’s not as good as say… ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey.”
“That is a good one,” Tyler allowed.
“A lot of a cappella groups have done covers of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’,” I said. “I would think that’s a good measure of its musical value.” I didn’t usually offer my two cents in the boys’ music debates, but after watching the Pitch Perfect series with Lacey a million times, I’d gotten into a cappella music.
“Oh, great,” Tyler muttered. “I’m the third wheel all over again with you two ganging up on me. This is definitely just like old times.”
“Weren’t you the one who was singing praises about the band getting back together?” I asked.
“Yeah, but this was supposed to be the two-point-oh version, where everyone was on my side.”
“Choose the right side, and that’ll happen,” Gabe quipped.
“Screw you guys.” Tyler swiped the bottle of Jack. “I’m taking a walk.”
I eyed him as he walked off into the woods. “Is it a good idea for him to go off by himself like that with
a bottle of Jack Daniel’s?” I asked quietly. Tyler normally let things slide off his back, but he had seemed more intense than usual. It worried me.
“He’ll be okay,” Gabe assured me.
“I don’t know. This is like the beginning of a horror movie. First, one person wanders off into the woods. Then another goes to look for him, and so on.”
“In that case, he’ll definitely be fine. He’s not a virginal hot chick. Now, if we sent you into the woods, I’d be worried.”
“You know better than anyone that I’m not a virgin.” The words were out of my mouth before I thought them through, and I instantly wanted to take them back. I wondered if my blush was evident in the light of the fire.
I also wondered if Gabe’s thoughts were in the same place mine were, enmeshed in memories of us being naked together, the sheets tangled around us. We’d been each other’s firsts, but even our first encounter hadn’t been awkward. Perhaps a little clumsy, but sweet nonetheless. It hadn’t taken long for the clumsiness to change into finesse.
Gabe took so long to respond that I thought he might let the comment slide. “You’re so pure of heart that your virginity status wouldn’t matter.”
I liked to consider myself a good person, but I wasn’t as saintly as that. Gabe knew that firsthand.
“Do the Hollywood girls buy these lines?” I tried to keep my tone light and joking, but I failed miserably.
“Some of them.” His answer was matter-of-fact, which I hadn’t expected.
I was dying to know who he’d charmed, but I didn’t have the right to ask. That was probably for the best, anyway. Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe if I knew, that knowledge would stomp out that tiny wisp of hope that had formed despite my best efforts. “You always did have a way with words,” I said.
“Tell that to our sophomore-year English teacher. She flunked me. I had to take summer school, remember?”
“That’s because you skipped her class at least once a week.” I was glad he had taken the conversation into lighter territory.
“I never was a good student. School always felt like a prison, just like this town.” He threw back his beer, the same one he’d been nursing for the past half hour. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve traded one prison for another.”
I shifted my camp chair so that I could see him more clearly. “How do you mean?” It was the second time he’d made comments about his life not being as great as it seemed on the surface. From where I was sitting, though, it seemed like he had things pretty good. He had everything he’d always wanted.
Except me.
Damn my traitorous thoughts. I pushed it out of my mind.
“I always thought that once I was rich and famous, I wouldn’t have to answer to anyone. That’s so far from the truth. There’s the record label, tour organizers, sponsors associated with the tours, the media. Hell, even the fans. They made me, but they could unmake me just as fast.”
“That sounds like a lot of pressure.” I’d never had a desire to claim my fifteen minutes of fame. I almost threw up every time I had to do an oral presentation in class. While Gabe had always cared more about his music reaching people than becoming famous, he seemed to do well in the spotlight.
“All of last year, I had no idea where I was half the time. Right before I’d go on stage, the stage manager would remind me what city we were in so I wouldn’t fuck up and say the wrong one.”
“You’ve gotten to see so many places, though. That’s a nice perk.” I couldn’t help but be envious.
He shrugged. “Not really. I’ve seen lots of airports, hotel rooms, and the inside of my tour bus. Even if I had time to sightsee, it would be a logistical nightmare. Kind of hard to go incognito when everyone knows you’re in town for a show.”
“That’s a shame.” I didn’t know what else to say, because I really couldn’t put myself in his shoes. The most exciting place I’d ever been was Washington, D.C., on a school field trip, and I wouldn’t exactly have called our nation’s capital exotic.
He took another pull from his bottle, finishing it off. “Sorry. I don’t mean to complain and be a downer.”
“No, it’s okay. I asked.” I wanted to know more about his life, but the more I found out, the more I realized I couldn’t relate. All the more reason we don’t belong together.
“You didn’t, actually. I brought it up.”
I thought back to the beginning of the conversation. He had brought it up when he talked about school and Cedar Creek being a prison. “Cedar Creek isn’t so bad.”
Once I got away from my father, I didn’t feel trapped anymore and could see the benefits of small-town life. Don’t get me wrong—there were some definite detractors, but there was something to be said for knowing your neighbors. Plus, I liked the people I worked with, and the local community college offered an R.N. program. If I was lucky, I’d be able to get a job at the hospital with Tyler’s mom.
“I always thought that I was better than this town.” Gabe chuffed. “How fucking conceited is that?”
Damn, he was in a mood. “Maybe you are.”
“If that’s true, then what does it say about Aunt Rose? About Tyler? About you?”
I shrugged. “Our life paths are different. Tyler can be a cop here. Once I get my degree, I can be a nurse here. You can’t be a rock god here.”
That brought a smile to his face, which had been my intention. For as long as I’d known him, Gabe’d had a tendency to fall down brooding rabbit holes, which I supposed was part of his artistic nature.
“You think I’m a rock god?” He flashed his signature smile, and the light from the fire danced over his face, illuminating his features. It reminded me of the few times I’d seen him perform. I’d always been drawn to him, even when we were kids. Most of America would agree that he had a magnetic presence.
But I wasn’t going to tell him that. Surely, he realized the effect he had on people. On me. I rubbed my hands on my thighs. “I mean, those aren’t my words. I’m quoting Us Weekly.”
“That’s some deep reading, Miss Jacobson,” he said with a teasing smile that could have melted my panties off.
Oh, boy. “My brain can’t handle anything deeper than that after reading a microbiology textbook.”
“Here I come, you guys!” Tyler called. The trees distorted his voice, so I couldn’t tell if he was ten yards away or fifty. He popped out of the woods a moment later. His hands covered his eyes, but he parted his fingers to peek through. “Thank God, you’re decent.”
“Jesus, Tyler.” I felt my cheeks flush. “What did you think we were doing?” I knew exactly what he thought we were doing. And hell, with the thoughts that had been running through my mind, I couldn’t blame him. But it wasn’t like that anymore. It couldn’t be. Now that Tyler had rejoined the group, I hoped the dynamic would get back on track.
“I don’t know. He’s sex on a stick, and you’re, well, you, so—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I stopped him. “‘You’re you?’ What the hell does that mean?”
“Sex on a stick?” Gabe asked. “Dude, seriously? I think I threw up in my mouth a little. Why would you say that?”
“I’m as much of a victim as you are. Mary Jane, the cashier at the Stop & Shop, kept talking about you, and”—Tyler shuddered—“just don’t let yourself be alone with her, okay?”
“When would that possibly happen?”
“I have no idea, but I can’t be everywhere at once. I can’t protect your virtue and find the Stop & Shop bandit.”
Gabe snorted. “I’m pretty sure I don’t have any virtue left to protect, but I’m also pretty sure I could handle one middle-aged woman if it came to that.”
I could testify that Gabe’s virtue had flown the coop years ago. Damn you, Tyler. So much for his presence helping me keep my thoughts in the friend zone.
“I don’t know, man. She had some pretty specific thoughts. She might have been a little tipsy on the job, but that’s not my problem. Her boss can tackle that one.�
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“Let’s get back to the ‘you’re you’ comment,” I interjected.
Tyler gestured between us. “That one is self-explanatory. Gabe has never been able to resist your feminine wiles.”
“My feminine wiles,” I said dryly. The idea was laughable. Gabe had access to the most beautiful women in the world, and like Tyler had said, I was just me.
“Yeah, you’re wily, like the Wily Coyote.”
I shook my head. “You’re drunk.”
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.” His words were starting to slur. Oh, yeah. He was wasted.
Gabe laughed. “Well, that clears that up.”
Tyler sank into his camp chair. “It’s that S.S. Bandit. I swear to God. I can’t take it anymore. I’m a damn good cop. I mean, I thought I was. But I can’t find the slippery bitch.”
“Maybe you need to set up a sting operation,” Gabe suggested with a straight face.
“Har dee har. Very funny.”
I reached over and patted him on the back. Poor Tyler.
He exhaled. “Sorry. It’s a ridiculous situation. But I guess I’d rather deal with that than the accident this afternoon.”
Frowning, I exchanged a look with Gabe. He shook his head—he had no idea what Tyler was talking about, either.
“What accident?” I asked.
“Out on Route 51. A moving van plowed into a family in a minivan. The mother died on the scene. The father and kids were taken to the hospital. They’ll be okay. A few broken bones, but…”
He didn’t have to say it—the poor kids had lost their mother. They would never be okay again.
“I’m sorry, Tyler,” I said quietly. “I had no idea.” His mood earlier suddenly made sense. My heart went out to him.
“I was the first responder. I haven’t lost anyone like that before. But I guess it’s just part of the job.” He let out a shaky breath. “Sorry, guys. This is supposed to be a party.”
“Then let’s make it a party,” Gabe said. “I’ll get my guitar.”
Tyler exhaled again slowly, like he was expelling the memory with the breath. Then he reclined in his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. “If you must, I guess I’ll suck it up and listen to your sappy-ass shit.”
Back To You (In Tune Book 1) Page 11