“Hey!” Matt called as she stepped on stage. He rushed toward her. “I have something important to say to you.”
“What's that?” Her hopes soared. Was he about to propose? Right here and now? Kyra's heart raced.
“You're beautiful.” Matt brushed her bangs from her face. “And I'm lucky to have you. I'll never let you forget that. Oh yeah, and we have a tree house date tonight. It's overdue.” He winked before kissing her lips.
I love that man. During sound check, Kyra couldn't keep her eyes off of him. When Randy and Blaine entered the venue, Matt was the first to stand and cheer. With Andrew playing guitar, Kyra launched into the song she'd written just for the happy couple. All the while, she fell more and more in love with this life.
You love me at my lowest
You love me at my best
I get to hold you close
When I lay my head to rest.
My heart is full of feeling
My world is never dull
Today, she would smile and celebrate love with her friends. Tomorrow, she'd obsess and worry about the tour she'd been excited for and dreading at the same time. It was only a few weeks away now. So much could happen, but Kyra Sanders was ready. Ready for just about anything.
Chapter Three
Two weeks later, the night before the tour
“Surprise!”
“We're going to miss you!”
“Good luck on your first tour, Baby Stetson!”
Whoa! Matt and Kyra trailed behind everyone else as they entered Catered Whims for what was obviously a surprise going away party, one that even they didn't know about. It must have been set up by the owners. Matt glanced around the bar. They'd really gone all out. Catered Whims was the place Baby Stetson performed at on a regular basis. So many memories had been made here.
The manager, Dylan, headed their way with a smile on his face. “I don't know how I feel about you, Miss Sanders! I should ban you for taking our pride and joy out of Texas,” he teased, his eyes twinkling. “You take real good care of our band, you hear?”
Kyra giggled. “I have every intention on it. I'm actually quite fond of everyone. Besides, since I'm dating Randy's cousin, I think I have to take care of them.” Kyra nudged Matt playfully. “Seriously, I'm so stoked to be taking them out on tour with me. The pre-buzz excitement keeps building. You all have had them to yourselves long enough. It's time to share Baby Stetson with the world.”
“I'll miss them, but I do agree with you. Welcome to the party. Come on in and see what we've set up in Baby Stetson's honor.” He gestured. “Do y'all know how difficult it is to keep a secret around here?”
Matt laughed, because yes, he sure as hell did. He shot a glance over at Kyra, who was checking out some of the photos Dylan and his crew had set out of Baby Stetson's performances. Tons of great shots of them on stage or group shots of everyone hanging out over a game of pool.
“I can't believe you have our very first performance here on tape!” Avery exclaimed as she hugged Dylan. “My God, the memories! This is amazing!”
“We always knew you had it in you, Avery. When you started performing here, we were real glad to host you. Now you're going on tour with one of Texas' biggest stars and you're signed to a management team. Y'all are gonna go far. I just know it. Harmony's Echo is gonna be put on the map by our hometown phenomenon! Enjoy the party. Anything you want is on the house for you all, which includes you, Kyra and Matt.” Dylan nodded their way. “And if you don't mind, we'd love one last performance.”
“It will most definitely not be our last!” Jameson exclaimed. “No matter what happens to us as a band, we'll always make time to come home and play. Right guys?”
“Absolutely,” Randy added. “We'll be back after the tour for a few months before we make the final move to Nashville. You won't get rid of us that easily.”
“We're going to display all your best moments on our board. You can bet on that,” Dylan promised. “Thanks for all the memorable years. We're proud of you, Baby Stetson.”
Matt rubbed Kyra's shoulder affectionately. After Blaine's wedding, she had to return to Nashville once again to prepare for the tour. She'd come in early this morning, and they had only a little while to spend alone before he had to work and other commitments pulled them apart. Tomorrow, they'd be rolling out on the buses for Kyra's Bare My Soul tour. He'd spend the first week with them. Part of him looked forward to this, but another part didn't. Just from the last few months he'd spent with Kyra, Matt learned how much went into all of this, and he'd marveled every time at how Kyra managed. Some days, he barely managed a ten hour shift at the shop, and Kyra worked almost eighteen to even twenty hours a day sometimes. That blew his mind!
Someone fired off the jukebox with a slow tune. Odd for a party starter, but obviously someone was in the mood. Matt tapped Kyra's shoulder. She turned around and faced him with a smile. “Dance with me?” He held out a hand, hope filling him. Maybe, just maybe, tonight would be the night he stopped holding back.
“I'll always dance with you.” She took it, smiling all the while.
Matt pulled her close out on the dance floor. “So, answer me this. Am I your roadie now?”
Kyra giggled as she rested her head against him. “You're whatever you want to be.” Colorful lights from the flashing disco balls on the ceiling lit up her hair in shades of green, blue, and red.
“I read some reviews on your CD. They're raving. You're all over the radio. I have to stop and watch or listen, depending, and I smile because I think to myself, 'That's the woman I love'.” Right now would be a good time to pull out the ring and ask, but again, he didn't. He went as far as to run a hand along his pocket. Hell, one day Kyra might accidentally stumble across it, and then the perfect moment he'd been searching for would be ruined.
It would be so easy to do it. Matt would easily catch her off guard. She'd go on her comeback tour wearing his ring. He knew what the media said about him. Some of it was good, others not so much. Matt spent most of his life not caring one way or the other what people thought of him, but being in the limelight as the boyfriend to one of the most famous country singers changed things.
He wouldn't change it for the world. It just took some adjusting, which months after dating her, he still had to do, but he wouldn't let Kyra go without a fight.
Kyra brushed strands of hair from his face as she peered up in his eyes. Hers were full of love. “I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for you. You saved me. When I'm having a rough time, your words get me through. After the tour, I'll take a few months off, or at least, not do as much in terms of heavy promoting. I might go to Nashville a few times to help everybody settle in and do the same for my sister when she's ready to make the move. I have to plan next year's tour and collaboration with Tucker and Quinn, but we'll have a lot more time to focus on us,” she promised. “Maybe, if you'll let me, I can take you away on a weekend retreat. Anywhere you want, with no interruptions.”
“Kyra … are you feeling guilty over working hard on your career?” Matt ran his thumb along her jaw. He wouldn't deny that the back and forth got to him. There were long stretches of time where he didn't hear from her, and then there were times he heard from her more than once a day. Kyra would come home tired and focused on what she had to do, which didn't always leave room for the two of them to do things together.
She cleared her throat. “You do that well, damn it. I always feel nervous when I go away. I worry that when I come home, you might have changed your mind about us.”
“Kyra,” Matt uttered, stroking her cheek lovingly, “I'm not letting you go again. Those two months without you were horrible. We've got to stop going down this road. I know it's my fault for being hesitant in the first place, but you're the woman who holds my heart. I know how important your music is to you. So what if I have to share parts of you with the world. You're looking at me with love, and no one else gets that. It's ours. Those are the moments I look forward to. It's moments like this
- right here, right now, that I get to hold you in my arms. And dodging my son while we have long distance...” He shrugged, not finishing the sentence. Heat flushed to his face. The things Kyra brought out of him. Lowering his voice to a whisper, Matt leaned close to her ear and said, “And don't you use that for song inspiration, either.”
Kyra giggled. “You have my word.”
At that moment, Matt reached toward his pocket. Time to show Kyra that he was here forever, if she'd have him. Forget the dream he had of everything being spectacular. Being together was what mattered.
As he was about to slide the box from his pocket and sink to one knee, angry shouts drew his attention. Off in the far left corner, Marty and his girlfriend were having a heated argument. Heated was actually an understatement. Angie was pretty much going ballistic on Marty, and while he was upset, it was nothing to her.
To top it off, Blaine clutched her stomach and darted toward the bathrooms. She still hadn't made the announcement yet, but Matt had a feeling everyone was about to find out. No, this was not the perfect moment to propose to Kyra.
*****
Chaos. It always had to happen and ruin a moment. Angie stalked off after yelling at Marty that she couldn't live like this any more, and he ordered several shots and drank them one right after another, secluding himself from everyone else. That in itself sucked, but when Blaine ran to the bathroom and hadn't come out after a while, Kyra worried. Obviously, so did Avery and Melody, because they followed her to the bathroom. The door was locked, which was odd because they weren't normally. It wasn't a single stall bathroom. The door shouldn't be locked. Kyra knocked. “Blaine?” What in the world was going on with her lately?
“Is anybody else sick?” Avery asked.
“Not me, and I've been eating the same thing Blaine was,” Melody answered.
“Same here. I feel fine,” Kyra stated.
They looked at each other as if one of them had the answer. “No way,” Avery whispered. “Do you think-”
The door flew open and a whoosh of air sent tingles along Kyra's left arm. There stood Blaine, red faced, with her hand clutching her stomach. She burst into tears when she spotted the three of them. “I think I ruined everything,” she whispered.
“What? What are you talking about?” Kyra reached out for her, but Blaine scooted back.
“I'm pregnant,” she uttered through her tears.
“What?”
“Congratulations!”
“That's fantastic!” Kyra squealed, but calmed down quick when Blaine didn't share the enthusiasm. “Wait. Two questions. Why do you think you ruined everything, and are you not happy about the baby? Is Randy not happy about the baby? I guess that's three questions.”
Blaine ushered them in, sneaking a glance at the full room of people behind them. The three entered the bathroom- which reeked. Kyra wrinkled her nose, trying not to be obvious about it.
“This explains why we haven't seen much of you since you got home from your honeymoon,” Avery noted. “You've been hiding it.”
“Only partially on purpose,” Blaine admitted. “The morning sickness is terrible. It's a damn lie though, because it goes on and on. It's not just mornings.”
“That doesn't explain your other comment,” Kyra pressed gently.
“You know how Randy is when it comes to me. Very protective. He's feeling uncertain about all of this. He just found his groove in music, and I ruined it!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down,” Kyra instructed. Poor thing was serious about this! “First off, you didn't ruin anything. You're just overemotional because your hormones are out of whack.”
Someone knocked on the door, and everybody froze. “Blaine? You've been in there too long. Is everything okay?” Randy called from the other side.
“I'm fine!” She raised her voice. “I-I've got Kyra, Avery, and Melody in here.”
“You sure you don't need anything?”
“Unless you can get me some crackers and Ginger Ale.”
“I'll go ask Dylan, but you have to come out of there. You're not gonna eat or drink in the bathroom. Do I need to take you home?”
“No! I'm staying. I want to be here with everyone,” Blaine insisted. “I'll be fine in a minute.”
“All right. Come on out though,” he pleaded, his tone softening.
“We'll be out in a minute.”
A long stretch of silence followed after Randy obviously walked away. After a while, Blaine heaved a sigh. “We never discussed kids one hundred percent. We've always skirted around that subject because of his music career and my age. We figured we'd have time later to decide on what we want in that aspect.”
“So you weren't trying,” Avery said softly.
Blaine shook her head. “No. This came as a surprise.”
“I had the same worries you did when I was pregnant with Emily. I thought there was no way I could go on with my plans to pursue music. You're okay, Blaine. You didn't ruin anything,” Avery insisted as she reached out for her, crouching to be level with Blaine. “You can ask Lucas. We went through this conversation so many times. If you have a great support system, and we all know you do, things will work out.”
Someone knocked on the door again. “It's me,” Randy said from the other side. “Let me in, or come out, please.”
Blaine attempted to get to her feet. Kyra helped her without a word, and she went to open the door. Randy hesitantly took a step forward, glancing at the three of them. “So the secret's out, huh?”
Blaine burst into tears. “Yeah. I'm so sorry!”
“Aww, baby, come on. Don't cry.” Randy handed Kyra the stuff he held so he could pull Blaine in his arms.
“Do you want a baby, Randy?” Blaine cried against him. “I mean really and truly?”
“Well of course I do. You're having a little Randy or Blaine Junior. We'll be fine.” He tried to soothe her, but Blaine was near hysterics.
“Yeah, but you said you didn't want to miss appointments, and I don't want you to miss your first tour. I don't want to be the reason you don't get your dreams when they're right there within your reach!”
Randy shot everyone an apologetic look as he continued to comfort his wife. “Blaine, let's go home and talk. We'll make it work to where we both get the sense of relief we need over this. Come on, we'll make it an early night.” As they headed out of Catered Whims together, everyone else stood behind, stunned.
The focus returned to Marty, drunk and spilling his entire life story to the redhead behind the bar.
What an interesting night. Definitely one to remember.
Chapter Four
“Okay, so you know how everything goes-”
“Matt, I've helped you run this shop for years. It's in good hands. Everything will run smoothly. Now why don't you look around one last time for a week, then go enjoy a vacation with your girlfriend. You deserve some time off.” Rhett's words were reassuring, but Matt had never left his shop in anyone's hands for this long. Yeah, he did need to loosen up. Damn, this was difficult.
Matt faced Kyra. “Drag me out of here. Make sure I don't ask to come back for anything, “ he practically begged.
“And take away his phone privileges. I don't want him calling me every fifteen minutes,” Rhett added, a hint of a smile on his lips.
“I'll do my best to occupy him,” Kyra promised Rhett as she took Matt's hand. “Come on, let's go round up the troops. It's almost time to roll out. Thank you for this, Rhett.”
Matt nodded. “What my girl said. In addition, I really do appreciate you, and I'm sorry for being an uptight ass.”
“It's all good. Well, only if you get out of here and enjoy the tour. Lucky duck!” Rhett waved as Kyra made good on her promise and dragged Matt out of his shop.
“You do know that no matter how much I worry about leaving the shop that I'm excited to go with you, right?” Matt asked once they were in the bright glow of the morning sun.
A soft, soothing laugh escaped her lips. “I know you
are. I also know you like things to run in a good order. It's your hard working ethics, but every once in a while, even hard workers need a break.” She cocked her head to the side, shooting him a sweet smile.
“I'm sure at some point I'll be using those words on you,” Matt warned. “I happen to know you're a hard worker and you put in a lot of time.”
“And I'll take those words to heart.” Kyra's eyes glittered with excitement before a serious expression took over. “I wonder if I should go talk to Blaine. She's really upset over her unexpected pregnancy. What would you do, or want to do, if I got pregnant and we weren't planning for it? I hate to ask, because we're not anywhere near that stage, but it does make me wonder, considering...”
Matt clasped her hand. Oh boy. This talk. One he hadn't expected for a long time, but it obviously weighed heavy on her mind. “Honestly, I never put much thought into it. Until you, I never even considered dating, let alone anything else. Do you even want kids?”
Kyra pondered this. Her lips thinned, and her eyelids lowered briefly. “I do ... at the right time. My music means a lot to me, but I don't want to miss out on being a mom, either. What about you?”
“Yeah, I can't say I don't want to miss out on being a mom, because I'll never be one,” he joked.
“Oh my God!” Kyra sputtered, laughing uncontrollably.
“I wouldn't mind you carrying my child,” he admitted, finally having to make a serious comment.
Kyra didn't say another word, and by the look on her face, Matt could tell she was lost in thought.
“Kyra?”
“I guess I'm wondering what you would want, I mean, if or when the time came for us to really discuss kids. Or even marriage. I wouldn't bring it up normally, but Blaine has me thinking about it a lot more than I want to admit.” Her cheeks were flushed.
Skyrocket (Love and Music in Texas Book 6) Page 3