Page 51 of High Notes & Hail Marys

He passes him Adalyn’s card.

“That’s my junior personal assistant,” he tells him. “That money should clear first thing tomorrow. If it doesn’t, you let her know, and I will handle it myself. Okay?”

The photographer, having just dumb-lucked into a pot of gold, is powerless to do anything but nod.

Jamie and Sandy make an appearance on the sidewalk, fingers entwined, looking hesitant. Like they aren't sure if they are allowed to be there.

“It was great to get together,” Sterling tells them. “Everything’s fine. Did you enjoy dinner, Jamie?”

“Yes,” she says. Her smile looks forced. Sandy has a good game face, but Jamie keeps looking from side to side, like sheknowsshe just missed something bad. “Thank you, Ster.”

“Let’s do it again soon, okay?”

The couple makes their exit, Jamie waving her fingers at you guys as Sandy guides her to their car.

When the driver hasfinallyclosed the car doors behind you, you reach for Sterling. He looks like a puppet with the strings cut. Defeated. He’s curled in on himself, looking out the window as you guys start to drive away.

“Ster…” you begin, feeling helpless. You put a hand on his knee.

He covers it with his own and pats it softly.

“Everything’s fine, Kai. Long night,” he says. His tone is reassuring, but he doesn’t look back at you.

Chapter Thirteen

Merry Christmas! **OUT OF OFFICE**

22 December 2024: Just a friendly reminder that the team at SterlingGMerch.com will be unavailable from midnight tonight until 9 AM PST on 26 December so that we can spend the holiday with our families! If you placed an order by the shipping deadline last week, we guarantee that your merch will arrive in time for Christmas Eve delivery!*** If you missed the deadline, or can’t find the perfect stocking stuffer for the special Grayling in your life, our email-delivery gift cards are always an amazing gift!

If there’s a legitimate #STERMERGENCY over the break—Trainspotter holiday engagement???—you can check our Facebook page for updates. Other than that, we’ll see you bright and early on Thursday to kick off our ONCE A YEAR POST-HOLIDAY SHOP-A-THON! Scoop up clearance and doorbuster deals for 50-75 percent off! Hot items (like our viral “just a Grayling girl living in Sterling’s world” tee!) WILL sell out fast!

Thanks for another amazing year of choosing SterlingG. Merch for your officially-unofficial fan gear! We love you!

***Subject to UPS/USPS carrier limitations and availability. Delays may occur.

***

You get lucky, and the Cyclones don’t have a Christmas game this year. Following a Week 16 win that puts you guys at 12-3, Coach encourages the first string to go home and enjoy their families. The division is clinched, along with first seed as long as you don’t lose out, meaning that the starters will see only limited playing time for the last two regular season games. Until January 2nd, when the playoff grind begins, you have a tiny bit more time on your hands than usual.

Christmas Eve, which falls on Tuesday, sees you fighting the crowds at Miami International to fly home for the holiday. You can’t help but think that it would have been faster to drive. The airport is an absolute madhouse, packed with wall-to-wall families trying to make it to their destinations before Santa shows up. Everywhere you turn, there’s a wailing baby or someone barely covering a wet cough. You hate flying under the best of conditions, and December 24th isnotthe best of conditions. It might actually be the worst, and you are kicking yourself for being too proud to let Sterling loan you his jet.

You two are spending Christmas with your respective families. Your mom invited Sterling to come to Macon, but you asked him to please extend his regrets. Your relatives area lot, to say the least. The thought of trying to steer Sterling through your huge collection of extended aunts, uncles, and cousins is enough to plant you right in Miami and make you refuse to leave. So Ster goes to Connecticut, and you are taking not a midnight train to Georgia, but a midday commercial plane.

Your eldest big brother comes to collect you from Hartsfield-Jackson. It’s almost a ninety-minute drive, and you are grateful for his efforts. Roman grunts and isn’t effusive when you thank him. Unlike August and Aquila, who have lived big and loud every moment since they rolled into the world side-by-side thirty-one years ago, Roman is a man of few words. He’d move heaven and earth for the people he loves, however, and you know that you are included in that lucky number.

On the way home, you manage to extract from him that Mama is very excited for you to be coming home—which you knew—and that Vanessa, Roman’s ex-wife and the mother of his two daughters, is also coming. Which you didnotknow. You understand from experience that probing Roman for information on his relationship status will get you nowhere, so you keep your mouth shut and vow to pump Quill andAuggie for the lowdown.

You are hoping for a couple hours of peace and quiet to regroup and maybe FaceTime Sterling when you pull up to your house in Macon. It’s three streets over from your folks’ home—close enough to walk, but far enough for a modicum of privacy—in the same gated community. Except for the fact that Roman can’t even pull into the driveway, because both spaces in front of the garage are taken.

“The hell, man?” you complain to Roman. “What’s this?”

His expression impassive, Roman shrugs. “Mama said that you didn’t need all that space and that some of ‘em could stay over.”

Your eyebrows shoot for your hairline, and you are ready to kick up a fuss before you remember that, until two days ago, you yourself didn’t know that you would be able to make it home, and that you previously gave your mother carte blanche to use your house as she saw fit. Considering that she’s your de facto property manager and spends more time there than you do, you guess she has the right to use the extra rooms for overflow guests.

“My damn bedroom better be free,” you grumble.

“Couldn’t tell ya,” your brother says. “You needin’ help with your bags?”

---