Page 93 of Wish You Would

“Don’t get me wrong, I adore your crazy ass. You brought something to this place that it’d been needing for a long time. Your brother is the happiest I’ve ever seen him.”

“Yeah, that probably has more to do with getting laid regularly than with me,” I drawled.

He laughed. “There’s that, too.” Then, he shook his head. “My point is, we’re good. He’s good.” His dark eyes found mine and seemed to see right to the soul of me. “You feel me?”

My chest tightened. I squeezed my arms around myself harder and dropped my gaze to the floor.

“And, hey,” Dante continued, placing his hand on my shoulder. “If for whatever reason you gotta come back?” He dipped his chin, finding my eyes again. “We’ll be happy to have you.”

Air left my lungs in one huge whoosh. My knees weakened, my eyes burned. “What—”

“Girlie, I got your number.” He pulled me away from the doorframe and wrapped me in a hug so tight whatever breath I had left was gone. “There’s no undoing what you’ve done here,” he said, his chin atop my head. “We’re your home, no matter how far you go or how long you’re gone.”

I let his words absorb into the deepest, most frightened parts of me. I didn’t know how this magical human pinpointed something I hadn’t even pieced together on my own yet, but…here we were. I knew he was right. From Vaughn’s encouragement to take the gig to Luke’s pushier tactic, to Parker…

To Parker.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

They all wanted me to be happy.

And they’d all be here when I came back. I wouldn’t have to fight and claw my way back into their lives. Not again.

Well, I thought, pulling away from Dante’s embrace. I might have fucked things up with Parker, but I can still get this part right.

Nodding, to myself and to Dante, I took a bracing breath. Then, before I could overthink or chicken out, I marched up front to find Halle sitting at the bar.

“Hey.” She looked up as I entered. “How’re—”

“I’m in.”

A few days later, I was backstage at Mumbo’s, a small-ish club outside of Port Agnes, with the entire band, warming up for our show. It’d been a chaotic few days. From the moment I said yes to this very moment, I’d been on the move. Between preparing Dante to hold things down at the bar while I was away, reworking the schedule to account for my absence, and rehearsals in Ryan’s basement studio, I had barely had time to breathe, let alone think.

Which was the biggest blessing I could ask for. Because when I thought, it was about Parker. It was a flashback reel of memories. An onslaught of regret and hurt so sharp it took my breath away.

Not thinking was the best thing for me right now.

Closing my eyes, I dragged in a lungful of oxygen and let it out slowly.

“Nervous?”

I opened my eyes to find Halle standing next to me. She had her long hair pulled up today, with the trademark ’90’s two pieces of hair framing her face. Combined with her brown crushed velvet baby tee and low-cut jeans, she looked like she walked straight off the pages of a Delia’s catalogue.

Tonight was my first official show, and so the first time I’d gotten to dress to theme. I’d gone with a plaid miniskirt and tucked-in turtleneck. It was very Rachel Green, if Rachel’s curves existed outside of just her bra.

Realizing I hadn’t answered Halle’s question yet, I shook my head. “I don’t get nervous. You know that.”

She narrowed her eyes. I grinned back. The heaviness that’d sat on my chest for the last week lightened a titch as I let myself feel something akin to excited.

“Parker coming tonight?”

Aaaaaand there went the excitement.

I folded my arms across my chest to muffle the sound of my slamming heart and tried to look nonchalant. “Nah.”

Halle looked me up and down, clocking my every awkward vibration with ease. When she met my eyes again, it was with a shrewd stare. “What happened?”

Squeezing myself tighter, I held my expression statue still. “What do you mean?”

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