Page 86 of Forever To Me

Kelsie chuckles, shaking her head. “Alright, then. Here’s how it went down.”

I lean in closer.

“You ever met Will’s kid?” she asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know who Will is.”

Kelsie grins. “Will Maren, my manager. Anyway, Will has a daughter, Harper, in college, in Nashville.”

Will Maren? Holy shit. I know who Will Maren is. One of the best managers in the industry. I’m not at all surprised that he manages Kelsie.

I blink. “What happened?”

Kelsie takes another sip of her drink, her eyes sparkling. “Well,” she says, “Harper and her boyfriend Collin decided to run a little dog-walking side hustle through one of those apps. And guess who signed up for their services?”

It hits me instantly. I gasp in surprise. “No way.”

Kelsie nods, smirking. “Yes. Your ex. He hired them to walk Rip. Never suspected a damn thing.”

I press a hand to my chest, trying to process this. “You’re telling me Will Maren’s kid stole my dog through a dog-walking app?”

Kelsie shrugs, unapologetic. “Let’s call it reunification.”

Istare at her. “How?”

She grins. “They picked up Rip for a ‘walk’ and never brought him back.”

My jaw drops.

“Oh my God,” I breathe. “That’s insane.”

Kelsie laughs, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder. “Nah. That’s called doing the right thing. I heard your ex is a piece of work.”

I glance back up at Kelsie, my brain still struggling to put all the pieces together.

“So let me get this straight,” I say, shifting in my seat. “Will’s kid stole my dog, and you brought him to Wyoming on your tour bus?”

Kelsie grins, tipping her drink toward me in a mock toast. “That about sums it up.”

I shake my head, in awe of the sheer absurdity of it. And I love it. Serves Brice right. He knew Rip was mine. Then another thought hits me like a train.

Walker made this happen.

He set this in motion.

I glance over toward the back, where Walker leans against the wall, arms crossed and watching the bar with his usual broody intensity.

Kelsie follows my gaze. Her smirk softens just a little. “Hell of a man, that one,” she murmurs.

I tear my eyes away. “Who the hell is he?”

Kelsie tilts her head, considering me. Then, with a knowing smile, she says, “Oh, sweetheart. That’s the question, isn’t it?”

Chapter 21

Walker

Red and I clean up the bar in record time, moving together like a well-oiled machine. We work in sync without even thinking about it—passing each other bottles, wiping down the counters, stacking chairs. It’s easy. Natural. Like we’ve been doing this forever.

---