Page 21 of OctoBEARfest

Gwen, glancing over her shoulder as she headed for the Chevy, saw a bunch of the oncoming crowd visibly deflate and give up after one look at Bill's large self blockading the easiest path to her. A few, more determined or more intoxicated, approached him, but as she got in the Chevy she noticed none of them wentpasthim. It was like he was so big the idea of going around just didn't cross their minds. She grinned, turned the engine on, and waited the minute or two it took him to dissuade the smaller group. To her surprise, they didn't look at all pissy when he left them and came to get in the car with her. "What'd you say to them?"

Bill stretched his legs as best he could into the footwell. "That my fist was bigger than most of their faces and that they were welcome to try, if they wanted."

Gwen gave him a shocked look and he laughed. "No. I reminded them you'd be playing at the Thunder Bear all weekend and they had plenty of chances to meet you if they wanted to come to the other shows. I don't think I've physically threatened anybody since I was a linebacker in high school, and that was all action, not talk."

"Oh, so you're a man of action," Gwen purred, and to her delight, Bill Torben blushed again as she drove out of the parking lot. "You're a man of blushing, anyway."

"I've blushed more since I met you than in the past five years," Bill announced with a sense of outraged dignity. "It's you. You're affecting me."

"Is it okay if I like the sound of that?"

"Yeah." His voice softened enough to send a thrill through Gwen. "Yeah, it's great if you like the sound of that. You, ah. Mm. This has been an interesting day, with you. Better than I would have expected. And my God, Gwen. You were incredible up there on stage." His tone changed completely, from that low softness to pure pleased astonishment. "I can't believe you're not playing stadium tours."

An unexpected twist tightened Gwen's stomach, making nausea swim in her belly. She tried to swallow it down and fought for a smile. "Maybe some things aren't meant to be."

"I can't believe that."

"I can," Gwen said a little too sharply, and from the corner of her eye, caught Bill's concerned, interested glance. She braced herself for the inevitable questions, but to her surprise, after a few seconds, he only said, "You would know more about it than I do," and let it go, adding, "So what's the deal with the Impala? I was expecting a van."

"Ah." Gwen cleared her throat. "I had a crush on a tv character and when the Impala came up for sale I couldn't resist."

Bill laughed. "So the van life is a lie?"

"No, I do have one," she admitted. "I use it for longer tours, because living out of an Impala sucks. But this is just a weekend, and it's not a long drive, so I thought I'd live it up."

"Where are you from, anyway? Turn up there, the one way street gets us home faster than going back the way we came."

Gwen flicked the turn signal on. "I'mfromSeattle, but I live in Denver."

"Really?" Bill gave her another startled look. "I didn't know you were that close."

"It's a good city to live in if you want to travel a lot of places. I do drive if I'm going on a tour, but if I've got a weekend gig, the airport can get me just about anywhere."

"So you're close enough we could—" Bill audibly broke off, then chuckled. "Drive out to see your gigs there. You play in clubs there, I assume?"

"At a few of them, yeah. I'll keep you posted if you want. Hey, I didn't say thanks for handling the fans back there at the Harlequin. If you ever need a new job as a door guy, I…totally can't pay you for that. Damn."

Bill laughed as they reached the Thunder Bear parking lot. "How could I refuse an offer like that? I'll be your door guy for the weekend, at least. I'm feeling optimistic," he admitted. "Total turnaround from when you blew in this afternoon. Oh, God, I didn't mean it like that."

"Are you sure?" Gwen parked the Impala and grinned at him. "Because you looked like your worst nightmare had just walked through the door."

"My face is a liar, then. I thought you were the most overwhelmingly cool person I'd ever seen." Bill puffed his cheeks out and gazed through the windshield at the pub. "But also, yes, kind of my worst nightmare, when I was expecting a little old white-haired lady with a jazz band. Oh, no. Did you get checked into the hotel? They were expecting Brooker, not Booker."

"I haven't even tried," Gwen said, surprised. "I came here first to check out the venue and then things went crazy."

Bill made a face. "Sorry. But at least I can call and let them know I had the name wrong. It's three rooms under your name? Well, Gwendolyn Brooker's name?"

"Yeah, my bassist and keys are a couple, and Penny says Sandy doesn't snore so she doesn't mind sharing with her."

"Implying you do snore?"

Gwen snickered. "Myles and Gemma say I don't, but when we've all crashed in the van a couple times on long trips Penny does sleep really badly, so either being on her own or sharing with somebody quiet is better for her. Not that any of that matters to you." Gwen smiled at him. "Tomorrow's going to be fine, Bill. The whole weekend is going to go well. Okay?"

"I'm starting to believe it." He took out his phone and called the hotel, correcting the name it was booked under, then hung up and nodded. "You're good to go. So we'll see you, what, tomorrow evening?"

"Oh, no. The band should show up around two and I'll be there to meet them, so that's the absolute latest I'll be there. You should expect me bright and early, though. I bet we can get some more promo done in the morning." She wrinkled her noise. "Okay, let me backtrack that. 'Bright and early' has certain limitations when you're used to performing until midnight and staying up a few hours after that because you're on an adrenaline rush."

Bill made a show of looking at his phone to see the time. "Well, it's only eleven thirty now, so you shouldn't be up past two, right? I'll expect you by eight a.m."

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