Page 53 of When We Burn

“I’m so excited.” She passes me the cup and does a little dance. “I know it will be a lot of work, and the poor horses need so much love, but I think it’s going to be great. Anyway, did you hear that we’re getting a Sidney Sterling concert at the end of the month?”

“Who is?” I ask at the mention of my favorite country artist.

“Weare. Bitterroot Valley.”

I blink at her and then look down at the coffee. “Are you on something, Mill?”

“Ha ha. You’re funny. No, the little Campbell girl, one of the kids of the family that lost their home last week?”

“I know them.”

“Well, she goes to school with my niece, Holly. And Erin is related to Sidney by marriage.”

I’m too tired for this. I need a map or a graph.

“Okay. I think.” Erin is married to Millie’s oldest brother, Remington. She’s originally from Seattle, and her family is huge. And most of them are celebrities.

“Well, Erin mentioned to Sidney that the family lost everything in the fire. I have no idea how the subject came up, but Sid loves it here, and she’s been wanting an excuse to visit, so she offered to do a concert to help raise funds for the family. Now, I’ll bet it’ll be for all the families that have recently lost their homes.”

I blink at my best friend. “So, Sidney Sterling, country music megastar, the woman who sold out her last world tour, is going to put on a concerthere? Where would this happen? We don’t have a venue for that. The fire codes would be a nightmare.”

“Here you go, making everything not fun.Again.”

I narrow my eyes at her, and she sighs.

“The Wild River Ranch has volunteered the space. They’ll set up a stage and stuff, and it’ll be field seating.”

“No.” I shake my head, the absolute nightmare of that making my head want to explode.

“Yes. The permits have been secured,” she says softly. “But there will be a cap on tickets at ten thousand.”

“You think it’s safe to packten thousand peopleout at the ranch, at once?” I shake my head, wishing I hadn’t come in here today. “What if something goes wrong, Millie? We havetwoambulances. Only two.”

“Listen, I don’t know anything about the specifics. Talk to Chase.”

“Oh, I’ll be calling your brother and his boss.” I pay for the coffee, but before I can leave, Millie stops me.

“How are things with Dani?”

“I had the best weekend of my life with her.” Millie’s face lights up. “And I haven’t seen her since.”

She loses the smile.

“Yeah. I guess I did see her this morning, and I can tell that my being MIA has given her doubts, and I don’t have time to reassure her.”

“Bullshit. Yes, you do. A text message or a quick call is all she needs, Bridge.”

“I’ve sent texts, but damn it, she deserves more than that.”

“It’s one week,” she reminds me. “It’s not like you ghosted her for a month. And she knows you’re slammed. We all know.”

I nod and sip more coffee.

“I’m going to see her tonight at the school thing.”

“Take her flowers,” Millie advises me. “Trust me on that.”

“Good idea.” I can do that. It’s not enough, but once again, it’s all I can do to hopefully soothe the rough edges that this week has caused for us. I nod and turn to go. “Have a good day, Mill.”

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