Page 59 of The Drummer's Heart

Tina slapped her son on the arm. “Kyle…”

I shook my head. “You know if you really needed me, I’d drop everything and come back to New Jersey, right?”

“Well, that’s sort of what you’re doing for Nicole,” my sister added.

My niece, Kenzie, gave me a hug. “Did Nicole tell you I stopped by?”

“Yeah. She said you guys had a nice talk.”

“We did.” She smiled.

“Good.”

“How’s Emily?” Kieran asked. He knew Tristan’s fiancée from the tour.

“Wouldn’t you love to know…” I taunted.

Kieran asking about her was a running joke. “How’s Emily?” was always the first thing he said to me. I liked to tease him about his little crush on Tristan’s fiancée. They’d even gone out to dinner once, but nothing ever came of it, because unbeknownst to him, Emily had already been obsessed with Tristan.

As we sat down to dinner, I grilled Kieran about his new job. “What’s the latest with that TV gig? What are you doing there again?”

“I’m working in the control room at a cable station here in New Jersey,” he told me. “I’m liking it. Most especially I like the cute morning news anchor I’ve gone out with twice now.” He winked.

“Nice.”

“Yeah. Only problem is, she’s looking for other jobs in bigger markets, so I don’t know how long she’ll be here.”

“Well, not like you have too much going on. You could always move and find a similar job somewhere else, couldn’t you?”

Tina glared at me. “Don’t encourage that, please. I don’t need my son following some girl around the country.”

“Sorry. But he needs to do what he needs to do. Spread his wings.” I reached for a roll. “Although, I have to admit, there’s no place like home. It’s just that sometimes you have to leave home to figure that out.”

Kyle put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mom. You’ll still have me when the other two are gone.”

Kyle had one aspiration in life, and that was to become a firefighter like his dad. He wanted nothing more than to do that right here in Monksville and had pretty much been guaranteed a position. The current fire chief had been a good friend of Brian’s. He was just waiting for Kyle to finish the appropriate training.

I grinned. “Dude, I can’t wait to see you in that uniform. Your dad would be so damn proud.”

“Thanks, Unc.”

I turned to my niece. “What about you, princess? Tell me what’s new.”

“Just weddings up the wazoo.”

“I know you’re not too happy about that.”

“I’m not. I feel like my creativity is stifled. But the weddings pay the bills.”

I smiled at Kenzie, though I knew Tina wasn’t thrilled about this. “Do you think you’d want to go on tour with us…as the band photographer?”

“Get out of town.” Kenzie dropped her fork. “What are you saying?”

“Well, Layla, who’s worked for us up until now, just got married and is pregnant. She can’t travel anymore. So, we’re looking for a new photog. I asked Doug if he’d be okay if I offered you the position.”

“Oh my God.” She looked over at her mother. “Did you know about this?”

Tina nodded. “He mentioned it to me, and while I’m apprehensive, I think it would be cool for you. So I’m not gonna discourage it, even if you going on tour freaks me out a little.”

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