Page 29 of Wish You Once More
“I don’t know what we’re going to do next summer. He can’t keep going on like he has been.”
Seeing Jonny so defeated had me worried. He was right, I hadn’t been around as much as I could or should have. Coming back and hearing bitter home truths hit harder than I expected.
“Let me talk to Scott, see if I can get some time off.” I made it sound like I was asking my boss for a holiday.
Jonny laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I know you guys have got new music coming out soon and that will mean another tour. I’m not about to stop you doing that. I hear the new stuff is awesome.”
I let out a hard breath. “I need to do more, Jonny.”
My brother reached out and grabbed my arm. “You did enough when you rescued the business the first time around. It’s up to me and Dad not to fuck it up now.”
“Let’s talk tomorrow. Once we’ve done this gig and everything has calmed down a bit,” I suggested. “We can work out a plan.”
Jonny grinned. “When did you get to be the sensible one, little bro?” He mock punched me. “Shall we get the other two in and have one last run through?”
“Sure.” Somewhat pacified by the proposed discussions for the following day, I felt reassured. We’d come up with something which would help protect our father’s health, while maintaining the success of the business. I chuckled to myself. Usually my life consisted of working out bass lines for Scott’s new ideas. How the hell I’d think of something to keep the family business going was another thing entirely.
Chris and Kelvin came back in with Jonny, holding up pieces of white kitchen roll as white flags.
“Is it safe now?” Chris asked.
“Do you see any blood on the floor?” I joked.
While they got settled back in, I checked my phone again. Ellie had confirmed a time and a place for lunch. But that wasn’t the message which made my heart soar.
Bree: looking forward to it xx
14
Bree
Ah, how I loved volunteering.
Some little shits had climbed over the fence separating the Dart Sundowner from the rest of the park and taken great delight in trashing the food and drink stalls around the perimeter. While they hadn’t done much damage or destroyed any stock, there was a hell of a lot of work to put in to make sure it was ready for when the first band came on at midday.
Darla and Bryan had rounded up the committee and other volunteers, asking if any of us knew anything about the wilful destruction. There were a few suspects, namely a bunch of teenagers from a neighbouring town, who’d been dicking about, throwing bottles and tipping over bins towards the end of the previous evening.
It was the last thing I needed on so little sleep.
I’d tried ignoring Mat’s message this morning for as long as I could.
He knew I would be there watching, so why ask if I would be?
My fingers brushed my lips, still tender after our kiss last night.
I’d also tried to forget about the kiss, with little success.
Even now, as I picked up paper napkins and burst tomato sauce sachets, the sticky red sauce coating my fingertips, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
In a few short, sweet moments together last night, he’d managed to bring back all the feelings I’d kept squashed down for so long. They say you never forget your first true love and, hand on heart, I could stand by that statement.
If I saw him today, I had no idea what I’d say.
How I’d react should he snub me.
I pushed the thoughts out of my head, attempting to focus on the clean up efforts.
“Orange seriously isn’t your colour, Bree.” Callie’s voice floated across the park.
