Page 140 of Don't Bang a Bandmate

Katrina nods.

“It’s her,” he adds. “Marla. It was always her.”

My heart expands in my chest. Leave it to Jonah to put into words everything I’ve been feeling recently.

Bronson.

It was always him, wasn’t it?

“That’s beautiful, Jonah,” I say.

“Yeah, Jo,” Mac says from the driver’s seat; forever the eavesdropper. “You’re gonna be a real good husband.”

Jonah chuckles, but he doesn’t reply. Instead, he sits back and pulls his notebook out of his pocket. Within seconds, his pen races across the page, his thoughts and feelings becoming notes and lyrics. All thanks to Marla. Thanks to his muse.

Chrissy hops on board next. Alone.

She swings around the table and takes the empty space on my right, exhaling hard as she sets her things down.

“Uh-oh,” I say. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” she answers. “Well, something. Nothing major. August and I just hadthe talk.”

“Thetalk?”I ask, arching a brow.

“The usualhey, it’s been fun and everything, but it’s time to wrap it up.The relationship, I mean. Not his dick. Though we did do that a lot.”

I tilt my head with sympathy. “Oh, Chrissy,” I say. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says, nodding with no real enthusiasm behind it. “I’m fine. I’m cool. You know? That’s what I am. I’m cool. I’m totally fine with it. I mean, this is what I do.” She bites her cheek. “It’s just…”

I smile. “You like him.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s more that… I dunno. It was temporary. It was always temporary. But it’s like I expected there to be more time. I thought we had more time, but then this morning these words started coming out of my mouth and the whole time I was thinking,what are you doing what are you doing stop talking stop talking,but then the next thing I knew, August was nodding his head and agreeing with me, so…” She shrugs a shoulder. “That’s that.”

“I’m sorry, Chrissy.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be okay. I just need some time to process it, I think. In fact, by the time we reach Vegas, I’m sure I’ll be a…”

Chrissy’s voice falls too low to hear as August steps up onto the bus. Even I go quiet as he looks over, his stride briefly halting before he continues forward with a to-go coffee in each hand. He walks toward the table and silently sets one coffee down in front of Chrissy.

Chrissy looks up at him and smiles.

He nods once, then continues past, choosing to take a seat in the back and starting a friendly conversation with Jonah instead.

Chrissy throws on a pout as she picks up the coffee and gives it a sniff. “Damn,” she says.

I smile. “You like him.”

“Yeah,” she says with a sigh. “I do.”

“He likes you, too.”

She sips the coffee once and licks her lips. “You think so?”

“Talkwith him again,” I say. “There’s still a whole country between us and Vegas.”

To that, she says nothing. She merely hugs the coffee between her palms and stares at it for a while.

---