Page 54 of Only for the Moment
Epilogue
Isaac had asked Grace not to meet them at Sydney Airport. He’d wanted to see her, but hype over his first Australian concert had begun the minute his PR company announced the date on social media, and he didn’t want to come face-to-face with Grace with cameras flashing in their eyes and microphones thrust at him. Instead Nick and his team got them through the chaos like the prosthey were, escorting Isaac and Kennedy to a car out front with a minimum fuss.
“They are a bit hungry to talk to you, yeah, boss?” Nick grinned into the rearview mirror at him.
“Of course they are,” Kennedy said, keeping a grip on his arm even as she stared avidly out the window. She’d never been to Australia. Her excitement mixed with rock-steady support had helped to get him here despite somemoments when he’d stumbled. Moments when the music would elude him and he’d fall back into wondering if his gift was as lost as Oliver.
Kennedy hadn’t let him linger there. Her belief in him kept him striving forward until the spark lit again, usually after he’d spent some time with her beneath him—or above him, in his lap, against a wall…
Inventive and daring, that was his woman. The womanhe intended to offer his collar when the time was right.
“And ‘Lost at Sea’ is ready?” Nick asked as their driver finished with their luggage and returned to his seat behind the wheel.
The song he’d written as much for Oliver as he had for himself. “It is.” The words had poured out of him before he even met with Tad Dugan, but the music had taken longer. After a lot of long nights, the bandfinally had a finished product they were proud of. And Isaac knew when he stood onstage tomorrow and sang it, he could finally say everything he’d needed to for five long years.
“First stop, Grace.” Nick was rubbing his hands together as he turned to their driver, eager to give the man Grace’s address. If his best friend didn’t cool the excitement over meeting Isaac’s “little sister,” Isaac mighthave to pull his chain.
But for now, they had other business. “Nick…” Isaac’s throat felt tight, choking off the words he needed to get out. “I have a stop to make first.”
His friend glanced in the rearview mirror again, concern in his gaze. Isaac appreciated it, but he’d been living with that look on far too many faces since he’d decided to come home. He couldn’t handle the burden anymore.Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved a slip of paper and passed it to the driver. “Take us here, please. Nick, would you let the band know we’ll meet them at Grace’s?”
Grace and Oliver’s parents had died two years ago in a boating accident. Grace had inherited their estate and had offered rooms for Isaac and his mates to stay.
Disappointment lit in Nick’s eyes, but so did understanding. “Ofcourse.”
While Nick made his phone call, Isaac turned to wrap Kennedy in his arms.
“Where we going?” she asked quietly, just between the two of them.
“To the beach.”
She lifted her face to his. He braced himself for more concern, more worry, more responsibility on his shoulders that he couldn’t think he could carry right now. What he got was the featherlight brush of her lips across his. Shewas his spitfire, one hundred percent full-bore, driven energy unless she was in his ropes—and even then she surrendered as fully as she pursued life. Her tenderness at a time when he was afraid he might break shook him hard.
“Whatever you need,” she whispered.
The rest of the ride was quiet. When the driver reached their destination, Isaac directed him to pull up to a sidewalk lining the street.The cove where he and Oliver had spent so much time together as boys was private, attached to a stretch of public beach on the outskirts of town. Only the families that lived above the cove were allowed to use it, and one of those families was his.
Once the car was parked, Isaac grasped the door handle. “Any chance I can get you to take Kennedy to Grace’s?” he asked Nick.
“No!”
Kennedy andNick answered at the same time. Isaac smirked. “Right. I’ll be back.”
“Isaac.”
One foot out of the car, he turned back. Nick handed him the ball cap his friend had worn on the plane to block light while he slept. “Keep it on.”
“Will do, mate.”
He gave Kennedy a quick, hard kiss and was out the door before he could stop himself.
The breeze was cool, a shocking contrast to the heat they’d leftbehind in Vegas. Isaac focused on the chill taking over his skin as he traversed the length of the beach. Anything to keep his thoughts off the memories banging at the door of his brain, demanding to be let in. He watched the sand shift beneath his shoes when the sidewalk ended, refusing to look up, to unleash the emotion inside him. Only when the cliffs surrounding the cove began to block outthe light did he finally stop.
Raising his head, he traced the path from his feet to the shore to the waves breaking just past the entrance to the cove. Echoes of the laughter of two young boys rang in his ears. The smell of smoke from the campfires they’d lit as teens. The chill of seawater that wasn’t quite warm enough for swimming but was too much temptation for the kids they’d been. So manymemories. So much time lost because of a decision Oliver had made without him. Why? Because some dick hadn’t seen what a great guy he was? Because Isaac hadn’t been available enough to help his friend through the breakup?
Why? For Christ’s sake, why?
He hadn’t realized he was yelling the words until they caught in his throat, a victim of the tears choking him. He’d expected his anger to surfacethe moment he returned to their childhood haunt, maybe guilt at not being there, maybe a mix of things, but all he felt was…incredible, unbearable sadness. Oliver was gone. Truly gone. He had made his choice, only it was those of them left behind that had to live with it.
