Page 109 of The Drummer's Heart

She placed her hands on her hips. “You need to listen to me.”

I nodded once, letting her continue.

You’rewaytoo quick to blame Ronan for us being together when in fact it’smydoing.”

Rolling my eyes, I huffed. “I highly doubt that.”

“I need you to hear me out.”

“Alright.” I crossed my arms.

“I pursued him. I’ve had a crush on Ronan basically since you started performing with him. Foryearsnow. Obviously, I was way too young back then to be dating him, but the crush never waned.”

“A crush is fine, but—”

“You said you were gonna let me talk.” She glared.

“Okay…” I murmured.

“After Tristan’s wedding, almost everyone had gone back to their rooms. I’d just finished breaking down all of my equipment when I noticed Ronan hanging out by the water. So I went to join him.” She looked away. “We had a long talk that night—about his abusive upbringing, his parents’ alcoholism, my pain over losing my dad, my career aspirations. We stayed upall night. And I realized my physical attraction to him all these years was just the tip of the iceberg.” She paused for a moment. “I asked him out that night. And you know what?” She chuckled. “He turned me down.”

“He did?”

“Yes. He said as much as he’d enjoyed talking to me that night—more than anyone he’d ever opened up to before—he couldn’t do that to you. I was devastated because Ireallyliked him.”

“But clearly the story didn’t end there,” I said.

“Ithoughtthat was the end of it, but then the following morning, we walked out of the hotel at the same time. I told him I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. And he confessed to having thought about me all night, too. I didn’t want to leave him. I knew in my heart that he felt the same way about me, but he was scared to hurt you. I took another chance. I dared him to come to the airport with me and travel to the East Coast for a couple of days.”

I sighed. “Ronan has never been one to turn down a dare.”

“Right. He told me that even if he followed me back east, it wouldn’t change anything. He still couldn’t pursue me. Yet he accepted the dare, and when we landed in New York, we spent a few days exploring the city together. He put me up in a hotel near Times Square—separate rooms. I was supposed to go backto Monksville at the end of it, but yet again, didn’t want to leave him.”

In retrospect, I remembered Ronan disappearing for a few days... “Well, he came back to California, because I remember seeing him a few days after the wedding.”

She nodded. “He did, and that trip was totally platonic. He didn’t try anything. We just had fun.” Kenzie paused. “In the weeks after, though, we stayed in touch every day, talked on the phone late into the night. We just fell for each other more and more. I flew out to L.A. for a few days about a month later, and that’s when things changed. I promise we weren’t gonna keep it from you forever. We just didn’t want to ruin your tour.” She raised her chin. “But Uncle Atticus, this is not something you can change. We love each other.”

As I stood there in silence, I knew she was right. There was nothing I could do.

“He’s not perfect, but you love him, right?” she added. “You trust him. Why shouldn’t I?”

“I don’t have a good answer for that.” I breathed in and out. “I just need to let this sink in for a while.”

“That’s fine…but please don’t let this ruin the tour, or more importantly, your friendship.”

“I’ve never let anything stop me from performing. This won’t be any different.”

“Okay…” she mumbled. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but then she didn’t.

Nicole and Emily approached with the takeout just as Kenzie was leaving. While Emily entered the bus with the food, Nicole got a look at my face and turned to watch Kenzie walking away. She looked back over at me. “You know…”

What the fuck?Was I the only one who didn’t know? “Youknow?”

Nicole blushed. “I accidentally found out a couple of days ago when I came back to the bus to take a nap instead of going to sound check. They didn’t know I was there, but I saw them together briefly.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Jesus.”

“It wasn’t my place to tell you. And I didn’t want to ruin the tour…”

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