Page 5 of Rock On

Jerrin

But you were always right there

“How long have you managed this place?” I asked, still studying her picture that didn’t really do her justice.

“A few years. I worked here for the last two years of college then Gus—he owns the place with his husband—promoted me to manager.”

“What did you go to college to study?”

“Biomedical science… Which, by the way, I can’t do a darn thing with without getting my master’s degree.”

As a guy who’d scraped by to finish high school, that impressed me. “Wow! Smarty-pants. You didn’t want to do more schooling?”

She rubbed two of her shiny blue-tipped fingers together with her thumb. “No mas dinero, ya know? Lucky forThe Rock Shop, my minor was geology.”

Sky captivated me. And it wasn’t because of that dream I’d had back when I was eighteen. She was clearly smart, and Icouldn’t tear my eyes off her gorgeous figure as I followed her through the building. In my line of work, I’d met a lot of women. Besides groupies, which were a staple of the rock star lifestyle, my record label regularly sent me to events filled with beautiful female stars, celebutantes and high level executives. With her quick wit and the way she filled out her jeans and red blouse, her glossy auburn hair shimmering as she walked, she outshone them all.

As cliché as it might seem, I couldn’t help wondering where she’d been all my life. Here in Spring Harbor, obviously. And right now, I was ready to upturn my whole life and stay here with her. She’d probably think I was crazy.

“This is nice,” I commented when she led me into the employee’s breakroom which was setup like a lounge with a couple couches in the center and a table in the corner. Against one wall, shelves displayed what I could only guess was the store’s private collection of geodes, crystals and gemstones, the last displayed shadowboxes with labels on each rock.

I trailed Sky over to one of the sofas and dropped down next to her when she sat. “So why’s the store closed on a Wednesday? It is Wednesday, right? When you’ve been on the road for a year and a half, it’s easy to lose track.”

“Yeah, it’s Wednesday. We always close the week of the festival. Most of the staff works over there to help take care of the crowd of visitors that converges on the town every year.”

“You?”

“Let’s revisit what I said earlier about that circus. If not for my sister coming to town, I probably would have used my time off to go on vacation. That’s what I usually do.”

“So the rock scene is a no-go for you?” Being as it was my whole life, I needed to know where she stood and how I might need to change or compromise.

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not anti-concert, per se. I just need a week to decompress from all the people. And frankly, the Spring Harbor Music Festival is a beast. It’s like…a regular concert on steroids. Marley is making me go with her to theWaterstoneconcert on Friday, and I’m sure they’re fine and all—no offense since you work for them—but it’s not gonna be my favorite thing this year.”

I busied myself unpacking our food onto the table in front of the couch where we’d plopped down, hiding my amusement at theno offense.

“No offense taken. You don’t listen?”

She shrugged, pulling one set of the food closer to her. “I’ve heard their songLight Up My Sky. When it released, you couldn’t avoid it. It was on the rock and country stations, since it crossed genres. I was sixteen when it came out, so of course, like any teenage girl might, I pretended it was about me.”

She had no idea how accurate that thought was…

“But…” she continued. “Waterstoneisn’t really the music I listen to now.”

“Really? What do you listen to?” I asked. No wonder she didn’t recognize me, and the whole novelty of it, of her not even caring about Waterstone, just reeled me in more.

“Country—andLight Up My Skywas their only cross over. And I jam to older stuff. My parents always made us listen to stuff from the eighties and early nineties. And now, I find that I like it—not that I’d ever tell them that,” she laughed.

“Are your parents still around?”

“Yeah. Dad’s still teaching biology over at the high school and my mom is a vet tech—which is the only way she can be around animals since my dad is so allergic. That’s a whole host of special over at their house. Marley is staying with them while she’s here.”

“So you got the love of biology from your dad. Did you get the love of animals from your mom or allergies from your father?”

“Both.” She laughed. “I’m not afraid of needles like him, though. I got allergy shots for most of my teen years. So what about you? Parents? Siblings? I have three others besides Marley. All brothers.”

“I just have a brother. My parents are somewhere. They haven’t been in our life since we were teenagers.” Because they hadn’t ever wanted the inconvenience of kids—until we made it in music and they saw a gravy train. Andnow,they had restraining orders, instead. But that was too much to lay on Sky right now.

I’d have to share it all eventually, I supposed. My identity, too, probably sooner rather than later. We were already edging into “past the time I should have told her” territory.

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