Page 35 of Rim Shot Rebound

Robin raised an eyebrow at him, but all he could do was shrug in response. Lauren sat nearby, flipping through sheet music, with Natalie sitting near her, throwing random glares his way. He picked up his phone again, and this time he called her. No answer.

Great. Not only was she avoiding him at rehearsal and not responding to texts, but she was ignoring his calls, too.

Unless she wasn’t.

His heart sank. What if something was wrong? What if she was in an accident or she got sick or…

He called again. No answer.

“Take a breath, man.” Robin kept her gaze steady on him. “I’m sure she’s fine. Probably just running late. You don’t want her answering while she’s driving, do you?”

He put the phone down and took a deep breath. Robin was probably right. Maybe Kelsey took a late nap. Those hormones were giving her hell.

But wouldn’t she have texted to let them know she was running late?

Robin’s phone buzzed, and her face tensed when she looked at the screen.

“Is it Kelsey?” Eric asked.

“What?” Robin looked up, confused, then shook her head. “Festival stuff. Give me a sec.”

She stepped out of the building. Before the door fully shut behind her, Natalie stomped over in front of Eric with her guitar hung low and a scowl on her face.

“All right. What did you do?”

“What makes you think I did something?”

“Because if it isn’t me, you’re next in line, buddy.”

Eric sighed. She wasn’t wrong. “I didn’t do anything this time. I just can’t make up for what I did before.”

Natalie narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought things were going well with y’all.”

“I thought so, too.” He laughed a defeated laugh and rubbed the side of his face out of frustration. “Well enough that I proposed at lunch today.”

Natalie’s eyes grew wide. But not with shock or joy. With horror. “You what?”

“I told her I wanted to get married.” He ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth and shook his head. “She took it about as well as you are.”

Natalie smacked the side of his arm with the back of her hand. “You idiot.”

Eric rubbed his arm. “Okay, maybe she did take it better than this.”

With a roll of her eyes, Natalie said, “What’s the one thing she’s most afraid of?”

“Losing the baby.”

“Wrong.”

Eric still thought Natalie was the one who was wrong here, but he didn’t have any better answers right now, so he played along. “That I’ll leave her again.”

“She thinks everyone leaves her. Why’s she afraid you’ll leave her?”

“Because I’m an idiot.”

“That’s a given,” Natalie said. “Don’t worry, we have that in common. But why would you, an idiot, leave her?”

“I’m not going to.”

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