by Amy Vastine
Sawyer’s opinion on the song meant a lot. He hadn’t said if he liked it or not. She sent back a quick reply.
My bus or yours?
* * *
“CAN YOU PICK up after yourself just a little bit? Is this what it would have been like if we had lived together in college?”
Hunter was a complete slob, and it wasn’t like Sawyer had high standards, either.
“What is the big deal?” Hunter didn’t bother to move while Sawyer focused on putting all the garbage in a bag.
“Piper’s coming over to work on a song.”
“Is that a good idea? Shouldn’t you two give each other some space?”
“I want her to come over.”
“You want to torture yourself,” Hunter accused.
Maybe that was true. Sawyer deserved it. He had forced her to call off the wedding because of his behavior and lack of consideration for her feelings.
“We’re working on a song for the baby. I need to do this.”
Hunter didn’t argue. When it came to the baby, he knew to keep his mouth shut. Sawyer’s son was his number one priority from here on out.
There was a knock at the door, and Sawyer ran up front to push it open.
“Come aboard,” he said. “Now remember, this bus isn’t as tricked out as yours.” He snatched a dirty sock off the top of the microwave. “And my roommates are not as clean as Lana.”
“No one is as clean as Lana.”
Hunter sat upright. “I heard rumors that we’re getting lunch today. Any chance I can get the scoop on what we’re eating so I can impress a certain wardrobe director with my inside knowledge?”
“I don’t know, what do I get in return for this favor?”
“Anything you want.”
Piper didn’t even need to think about it. “I want you to teach me how to do an epic drum solo so I can challenge anyone and win.”
Hunter seemed impressed by this request. “You got it. I didn’t realize you were that cool.”
Sawyer threw the dirty sock at him for his backhanded compliment. “Maybe you shouldn’t tell him anything.”
“Come on. I knew she was cool, just not that cool,” Hunter said.
“It’s fine. I am that cool,” Piper said with a wink. “You can tell Darla that I ordered you guys about fifty deep-dish pizzas from Lou’s.”
“Thank you very much!” Hunter said, slipping on his shoes. “Excuse me while I get in good with the woman who mends my pants.”
Piper had her hair up in a messy bun and a worn-out Boone Williams T-shirt on under her unzipped pink sweatshirt. He loved that whether she was glam or grunge, the style seemed to suit her.
“You wanted to show me what you added to the song?” she asked, snapping him out of his stupor.
His faced warmed with embarrassment. How long had he been standing there staring at her? “Yeah, let’s go back here.”
He hated that things had to be so awkward between them. One of Piper’s best qualities was her way of making everyone feel comfortable. What he wouldn’t give to go back in time a few days. Before he messed everything up by trying to rush to the altar.
They passed the empty bunks on their way to the back. Sawyer set his guitar on the floor and pushed the video game controllers aside so Piper had somewhere to sit.
“I’ll admit I was surprised you wanted me to look at this.”
“Why? I wrote it for our son.”
“It’s just so soon after…” The fact that she’d even be standing in the same room with him seemed like a big deal given what had happened.
“After we broke up?” she asked.
He was shocked at how detached she sounded. Not that he expected her to get all emotional being around him, but he did imagine she’d feel something. “Well, yeah.”
“We’re having a baby. Whether we’re together or not, I want to be able to talk to you about him.”
Sawyer tried backpedaling. “I’m glad. I just thought you’d need some time.”
She cocked her head to the side. “More time than you?”
Apparently not.
“No. I wasn’t saying that.” He wasn’t gaining any ground with her this way.
“Maybe it’s too early for both of us to talk about the breakup,” Piper suggested. “Let’s focus on the song. What did you think?”
Much safer territory. “I think you were really paying attention when we talked about selling the song’s message in the verses and using the chorus to add that unforgettable punch.”
She smiled down at her lap. Piper had every right to be proud of how far her songwriting had come.
“I didn’t think you needed to change anything. I thought maybe I could add a bridge before going into the final verse.”
He picked up his guitar and started strumming. “Did you have a melody in mind?”
Piper sang the first verse, giving him chills. He had her sing it again, and this time he tried to play along based on what he had heard. They spent the next hour going back and forth and jotting down the notes that worked best.
Piper had written a beautiful song about fear and hope, about how much she needed their son to know that unexpected didn’t mean unwanted. It was a special song for a special baby.
Piper’s phone rang. The pizza was here. “I have to go. I need to give a little speech thanking everyone for their hard work.” She stood up and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “Thank you for helping me put this together. I love the way it sounds with the guitar, and I think the bridge is perfect.”
“I love it, too.”
Her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip. “I’m glad you love it,” she said.
That word was clearly a trigger he hadn’t meant to pull. He should probably get used to sticking his foot in his mouth around her.
She left. Sawyer stayed behind, picking up his guitar and working on the song a bit longer. Piper would be a wonderful mother. He had no worries about that.
It was crazy that he had been so afraid she would be like Gretchen. Neither one of them was like his mother. They both wanted to put the baby first. They both wanted to love without fear. Only Piper had been braver than he had. She’d been willing to take the risk, to trust, to believe that what she felt for him and their unborn baby was love.
Sawyer added one more verse to the song. This one, if Piper kept it, would have to be sung by him. When he finished, he went outside to see if there was any pizza left.
He started walking toward the group of pop-up tents on the other side of Bus City. It wasn’t unusual for band and crew members to gather outside. Sometimes people skateboarded or played some hacky sack. Occasionally, the dancers created dance circles. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for people to be whooping it up.
However, as Sawyer got closer to the tents, he heard someone yell something about getting help. One of Piper’s backup singers was crying as she ran past him. His anxiety kicked into overdrive as the sound of shouting was replaced by sirens. An ambulance drove by, headed in the same direction as Sawyer. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as another ambulance pulled up.
He imagined every scenario that could have led to not one but two ambulances being called. Every time he thought of something, it was Piper he pictured going into the back of one of them. Full of panic, he took off running.
“What happened? Is Piper okay?” he asked the first group of people he came across.
“Golf cart accident,” one of the stagehands said. “Some people were messing around and one of them tipped.”
“Piper?”
The guy shrugged. “I don’t know who it was, but she was over there.”
Sawyer took off again, pushing his way through the people standing around gaping at what had happened.
“Have you seen Piper?” he asked one of the women wiping t
ears from her face.
“She just got in that ambulance,” she said, pointing at the first one.
Just before Sawyer got to it, the emergency vehicle took off with its sirens blaring. He tried to get it to stop but failed. Out of breath, he bent over with his hands on his knees. The other ambulance was still there, helping some of those with minor injuries.
“Are you going to the same hospital as that ambulance?” he asked one of the paramedics.
“Sure are.”
“My pregnant fiancée was in that one. Can I ride with you?”
Thankfully, they agreed to let him tag along. Sawyer climbed in the back with one of Piper’s background singers. The poor guy definitely had a broken leg. He was wailing from the pain as the EMT gave him a shot of what Sawyer hoped was some seriously strong pain medication.
When they got to the hospital, Sawyer hopped out and ran into the ER. It was packed with people waiting to be seen. He searched for someone who could tell him where Piper was and if she was okay.
He found the registration desk and cut to the front of the line. “Excuse me, I need to find the woman who just came in on the last ambulance. She’s pregnant. Blonde, about five and a half feet tall.”
“Sir, you’re going to have to wait in line,” the nurse said.
Sawyer’s heart was racing, and his hands shook. “You don’t understand. She’s pregnant. Her name is Piper Starling, she’s a country singer. Her ambulance must have gotten here minutes ago. I just came in on the other one that was sent to the same scene.”
“Sir, I understand you’re feeling panicked. Please get in line, and when we get your information, we can see if your loved one is here.”
His loved one. It was clear as day. That was what she was. If anything happened to Piper, he’d never forgive himself for being so blind to his feelings for her. Everyone had said he would simply know when he was in love. They’d said it wasn’t something they could describe, that he would just know because he wouldn’t be able to imagine his life without that person.
That person was definitely Piper.
He couldn’t wait in a line that was five people deep. He needed to find her and tell her he was in love with her. A nurse hit a button on the wall and opened the doors to the exam rooms. Sawyer waited until they were almost closed and slipped through.
“Sir, you can’t—”
“Piper?” he called out, poking his head in every room. He needed to find the operating rooms. She must have been seriously injured. He stopped at the nurses’ station. “Can you help me find my fiancée? She was in an accident at the Allstate Arena. She was just brought in.”
“He’s not allowed back here,” someone yelled from down the hall.
“Please. She’s pregnant. I need to find her.”
No one would listen as security descended and pulled his arms behind his back. Sawyer kept yelling Piper’s name in hopes she could hear him. If nothing else, at least she would know he had been here looking for her.
“Piper!”
“Sawyer?” A perfectly intact Piper stepped out of the crowded waiting room back where he’d first come in. “What are you doing here?”
“Is this who you’re looking for?” the uniformed security guard asked.
Sawyer’s face nearly split in two from grinning so big. “That’s her.”
The guard let him go, and he ran to her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
He didn’t bother with those minor details. He grabbed her face and kissed her long and hard. He kissed her in a way that would make it clear why he was there. He had come to tell her he was in love with her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PIPER NEEDED TO come up for air, but the way Sawyer kissed her in the middle of that loud, crowded hospital waiting room must have given her superpowers.
As the kisses got slower, Piper let herself get lost in the feeling of his strong hands holding her face firmly in place, contrasted with the soft and gentle way his lips moved against hers. When he ended the kiss, he kept his face close. His nose brushed hers.
“You’re safe,” he said as if he had doubted it the moment before.
“Of course I am.” She didn’t care that she wasn’t supposed to be this close to him anymore. She kissed him again, her fingers tracing the hard line of his jaw. She loved his jawline.
He pulled back. “I was so scared. The thought of anything bad happening to you or the baby made me lose my mind.”
The love haze she was under began to lift. The reason for her being there came back to the front of her mind. “I’m fine. It was Hunter. He’s been hurt…bad.”
Sawyer released her and his face fell. “Hunter?”
Piper grabbed the clipboard of forms she had been filling out before a ranting and raving Sawyer was dragged out by security.
“I don’t know any of his information. I’ve been trying to call you, but it kept going to voice mail.”
Sawyer took the clipboard from her and scanned the first sheet. “I can fill most of this out. What happened?”
“He was fooling around on the golf cart with Milo and they flipped it. I think Milo might have broken his leg, and Hunter hit his head. He was unconscious when the ambulance first got there. I didn’t want him to come here alone.”
Sawyer kissed her again. “Thank you for being so sweet.”
Between the two of them, they were able to fill out Hunter’s registration forms and get ahold of his family. Sawyer was frustrated with his careless friend. At the beginning of the tour, he and Hunter had been out of sync, but since the wedding had been called off, Hunter had proved to be the friend Sawyer knew he was. Hopefully his injuries weren’t as serious as they seemed.
After Hunter had a CT scan, Piper and Sawyer were allowed to go back and sit with him. The doctor quickly assuaged Sawyer’s fears.
“Six stitches, a broken arm and a mild concussion. He should be able to head out as soon as we get that arm in a cast.”
“My life is over,” Hunter complained.
“I think you’re lucky it wasn’t worse,” Sawyer said.
“Lucky? How am I going to play the drums with only one arm?”
“Wasn’t there a one-armed drummer in some ’90s rock band?” Piper asked.
“He had a special drum kit. Looks like I’m off the tour,” Hunter lamented. “Just when I was this close to getting a date with Darla.”
“Too bad Piper didn’t ask for those drum lessons earlier. She could’ve been in my band.” Sawyer put his hand on her knee.
“Thanks for staying with me, Piper. You are way cooler than I gave you credit for. I’ve never met a famous person who’s so down-to-earth. I mean, I’m nobody, and you’re Piper Starling.”
“You’re not nobody. You’re a member of Sawyer’s band and his best friend.”
“I haven’t been very fair to you. I’ve spent this whole tour trying to convince this guy he’s better off without you. I was jealous and I’m sorry. I think karma paid me back.”
Piper seemed to appreciate his apology. Sawyer did, as well.
“I’m glad you realize how amazing she is. One, because she deserves it, and two, because I’m in love with her and you’re going to have to be the best man at the next wedding we have.”
Hunter began to laugh and pointed at Piper. “I’m not surprised, but it sure looks like someone else is.”
Sawyer crouched in front of her. He took her hand. “I’ve been a fool. I told myself that all these things I felt weren’t love—until I thought something had happened to you. That’s when I realized there was nothing else it could be. All my stupid defenses fell away and this feeling burst out.”
“Love?”
“Without a doubt love.”
* * *
PIPER DIDN’T SEE an ounce of uncertainty in Sawyer’s eyes.
They were the clearest they’d ever been. There was no confusion, no fear. And she was looking.
“I also have to apologize to you for putting my anger ahead of your feelings,” he said. “I promise you that I am going to make things right between me and my mom. I know now that I have to work these feelings out if I want to move forward with you.”
She put her hands on his cheeks and bent down to kiss those lips one more time. His honesty made her heart feel like it was about to bust at the seams. “I forgive you.”
“I love you, Piper. I want to be a family. Will you be part of my family?”
“I still love you, but I’m not marrying you unless I have enough time to plan my dream wedding.” This time, nothing would be rushed. Both of them would savor every moment.
One side of Sawyer’s mouth curled up. “You can have as much time as you need,” he said. “When we get married, I want everything about it to be right.”
* * *
MAKING THINGS RIGHT for Piper meant making things right back in Grass Lake. Sawyer needed to resolve his issues with Gretchen before he brought Piper into the mix.
He accompanied Hunter home in between the shows in Minneapolis and Detroit. Faith was riding Sassy in the front paddock. She waved at her brother as he parked the car.
“How’s Hunter doing? Did he survive the flight okay?”
“He’s fine, but he was hogging the armrest the whole way home with his cast.”
“Your sympathy for his pain is admirable,” Faith said with a laugh. “I might have baked some of your favorite cookies, so you’d be in a better mood when Mom comes over.”
Cookies would help his growling belly. It was unlikely they would help him feel less anxious about talking to Gretchen. If he was going to be completely free of fear and distrust, he had to confront the woman who had put those two things in his heart.
“I’m going to take Sassy to the tack room and clean her up. I’ll meet you inside in a few?” Faith asked as she dismounted.