Page 41 of OctoBEARfest

"What about your brothers?" Bill's mother still sounded mystified. "They help out, don't they?"

Bill sighed. "They spend April through September doing ren faires, Mom. Sometimes March through October. They're great promotion for the brewery. Between their efforts and Steve out in New York we've expanded our customer base across half the country now. But…" He remembered how Ashley had phrased it,and echoed that: "They do what they're asked. They don't seem to see slack that needs to be picked up, much lessdothat."

His mother's mouth tightened. "That's inexcusable. I raised them to be more responsible than that."

"You raised our oldest son, Mr Responsibility, and our second-oldest, who left town to go have his own responsibilities instead of tending to the family's," his dad said wryly. "I suspect Bill's been picking up slack for his younger brothers for most of his life, Heather. Older siblings tend to. Which you know. And so do I."

Bill was grateful his father had said it so he didn't have to, and even more grateful that someonenoticed. "It's fine," he said quietly. "I just can't keep doing it on my own, and if Jon and Laurie don't want to, I need to find someone else. It's not going to be Gwen," he said almost fiercely. "She's got an incredible career right at her fingertips and there's no way I'm going to ask her to give that up."

"And I think we need to consider the possibility that you'll go to support her," his father said just as quietly.

Bill's heart lurched. He hadn't really let himself think about that, either. His mother's jaw fell open, complex emotions dancing over her face as considered the idea. Then she inhaled. "I suppose we really might need to look at coming back from Tucson, then."

"I don't know, Mom. Ashley's out there taking over right now, running Jon and Laurie and everybody else like a pro. I've already offered her a job twice, but I don't think she believes me. Just…this is all really new. I need some time to think about things. Okay?"

"Of course." His father spoke again, then offered a smile very like Jon's crooked one. "I'm sorry you didn't tell us about this before, Bill, but I'm glad it's out in the open now. And I'm thrilled for you. Gwen is a hell of a woman."

Bill felt his smile go silly with joy. "A literal rock star. Completely out of my league."

"She most certainly is not!" his mother said indignantly. "A good, solid, reliable, kind man like you? Most rock stars should be so lucky!"

Bill laughed and stood so he could kiss his mom on the cheek. "Not that you're in any way biased."

"I'm not!" She looked even more indignant as both her husband and son laughed. "I'm not! I'm absolutely right! Aren't I, Pete?"

"You are," Bill's father agreed. "But that doesn't mean you're not biased."

"I am not!"

Bill, feeling lighter than he had in months, left his parents to their good-natured disagreement, and went to find his fated mate.

CHAPTER 25

Sneaking in the back way brought back memories for Gwen. Not necessarily good ones, although for the first time, she thought maybe they weren't entirely bad, either. The rest of the band were exchanging slightly hysterical glances as they scurried from the back parking lot into the pub's kitchen, and from there, through the staff hall to Bill's office. Gwen still had a key, and let them all in, though there weren't enough chairs and she ended up sitting on the floor against the filing cabinets while the others nabbed what chairs there were, and, in Penny's case, sat on the desk.

Penny was the one who asked: "Is it always like that?" There were easily three hundred people already at the pub, most of them in the parking lot, and they were making a lot of noise, even this early in the evening.

Gwen thumped her head against the cabinets and smiled, then shook her head. "No. For bigger stuff you end up coming in from a distant entrance most of the fans don't even know about. It's less sneaky, or it feels less sneaky, because you can't hear them, or see them. It's safer. Less overwhelming. Under the right circumstances, though, going in through the crowd is…it's fun, in a way. You really get hyped up for the show."

Myles had thrown his long legs over the arm of the chair he'd taken. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk that much about any of it before."

"We never had five hundred screaming fans show up to a gig before," Gwen pointed out. "Look, guys. We haven't talked enough about whether we want to sign with a label or not, but whether we do or not, if we're right and this album does break big, if we start getting national coverage…" She sighed and raked her hands through her hair, knowing it would mess up the rough ponytail. "I'm not sure you really get how much it could change everything."

The others exchanged glances before Gemma said, "No, obviously we don't. You're the only one who's lived it. But we're adults, Gwen. I think we can handle it."

Gwen shook her head. "No. I mean, yeah, the popularity, I think you can, that's not a problem. It's how they're going to treatme. I really…" Her heart contracted, a funny sad little twist. "I really want to be a member of a band."

"Gwen." Sandy sounded exasperated. "Every band has a front man. A few of them have two, but mostly it's Josie and the Pussycats. None of us thought we'd end up being Josie when we decided to join a band with Emma Hart."

Gwen dropped her hands to stare at Sandy a moment, then at Gemma and Myles. "Did you all know who I was when you joined?"

The women all snorted, sounds that made it clear the answer was 'obviously,' while Myles, embarrassed, said, "Actually, Gemma had to tell me last year."

"Myles!" Penny's voice shot up. "You've been part of the band for three years! Are you serious?"

"Her name's Gwen!" Myles half-yelled back, still obviously embarrassed. "Why would I think she used to be Emma? There was some gig in Cheyenne," he mumbled. "A fan kept holdingup a sign that said 'I HART EMMA' and after the show I asked Gemma why. She laughed at me for half an hour."

"That wassix months ago," Sandy said incredulously. "That wasthisyear!"

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