Page 3 of Rim Shot Rebound

“I was going to wait until after rehearsal to bring this up, but since we’re talking gigs and all now, might as well throw this out there.” Her eyes switched back and forth between Eric and Kelsey.

Shit.

Robin pulled absently at the ends of her dark, wavy bob that fell just below her jawline. “I was thinking we haven’t added any new songs in a while.”

Natalie swung her guitar to the side and immediately lit up. “Ooh, I like it!”

No surprise there. Natalie was up for anything. Well, anything except whatever she hated that day. But if she was excited about something, she was all the way into it. Foot on the gas pedal. And Robin wasn’t much different—she just got a slower start getting to that excitement cliff.

“But wait,” said Natalie. “No Camille.”

Camille had taken the lead on writing most of their songs, sometimes collaborating with someone else in the band. That someone else had usually been Kelsey, since she’d taken lots of composition classes for her music degree. But Kelsey wasn’t the only one Camille had collaborated with.

Shit.

“Kelsey and Eric?” Robin said. “Up for it?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Heck yeah.” Eric was firmly in the up-for-anything camp with Robin and Natalie. “Kel, you in?”

She’d had a plan. Get through a few more rehearsals. A couple of gigs. Spend as little time alone with Eric as possible. Face everything in a month or two. By then she’d know if there was still anything to tell him this time.

But this threw a wrench in everything.

Kelsey looked up and saw a room of expectant, hope-filled faces staring back at her. Even Lauren—who had enough on her plate already as newest member and having to learn a ton of songs the last few weeks—had her wide, eager eyes trained on Kelsey, waiting for an answer. Waiting for the same answer they all wanted to hear.

As the analytical, levelheaded member of the band, Kelsey’s designated job was to rein everyone else in with a hefty dose of reality when necessary. Dodging shitty situation after shitty situation most of her childhood, she’d developed a quick, keen eye for when things were headed south, and she felt an obligation to share those warning signs. She was never afraid to cut and run, as they’d all learned pretty quickly when she’d almost bailed on the band last year after her painful breakup with Eric. If it hadn’t been for Natalie begging her to stay, she would have been long gone. No looking back.

Kelsey stared down at the sticks in her hands. She was making peace with the idea that the upcoming festival might be her last big gig with the band for a while, but peace didn’t erase the sting. She would miss playing. Especially playing with these people.

But writing…

She could still write tunes if she was a gazillion months pregnant. This could be her way of being part of things.

Except writing a song meant work sessions. Just her and Eric. Long afternoons. Late nights. Listening to him noodling on the piano. Scribbling heartfelt lyrics. It would ruin her.

And yet, she didn’t know how to say no to any of that.

She looked up from her sticks to Robin and nodded. “I’m in.”

 

* * * * *

 

When they shut down for the night, Eric packed his bass into its gig bag in a hurry. He’d been trying to figure some reason to talk to Kelsey alone all week. Some reason to drop the news that he’d broken up with Bria. That no amount of hook-ups or old flames would ever help him forget what he had with Kelsey. That he wanted nothing more in this world than to be with Kelsey again. To earn her trust and love again. For good this time.

Robin had dropped a gigantic gift in his lap with this songwriting thing. Although Robin wouldn’t think it was such a gift if she knew what he had in mind. Or maybe she did know what she was doing. Probably why she seemed so nervous to ask them in the first place, considering how their breakup had rocked the band.

By the time he zipped the bag shut and turned back to the drum set beside him, Kelsey and her sticks were gone.

“Kel, wait!” he shouted at her back. She didn’t hear him, and the studio door shut behind her and Natalie. Eric lifted his bass and shuffled across the room to catch up with them, but he wasn’t making any ground navigating the gigantic instrument around chairs and stands.

Finally, he cleared the now-empty room and squeezed through the door in time to see Kelsey and Natalie already at their cars. He trotted toward them, praying he didn’t trip in the grass, and shouted again. “Kel, wait up!”

She froze at her car door, and for a second he though she either didn’t hear him or worse—she heard him and was leaving anyway.

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