Page 8 of Love is a Drum Beat
Noah stole the phone they were talking on. “He’s kind of a jerk, right?”
Melanie sighed. “Don’t call him that. You work with him now.”
“I’ve heard you call him worse things.”
Dax watched their banter in fascination. There was no scorn to their argument, not true anger. It was like they enjoyed needling each other. He cleared his throat. “He was okay, I guess.” Except for the part about wanting Dax to reveal his identity.
“Ringing endorsement.” Drew cocked his head. “I can’t wait until I get a chance to meet with him.”
Melanie frowned. “Drew, do not make his job more difficult.”
“He keeps emailing me interview questions from the most random publications. I am a rocker; I don’t do interviews forGolf Weekly.”
Melanie laughed at that. “Devlin believes in a more well-rounded approach. And he’s not completely wrong. Any publicity is good. All that blog wants to hear is that you enjoy golf.”
“But I don’t. I really, really don’t.”
Ben and Noah shared a laugh. Dax was too busy watching Jo to react. She’d leaned her head on the table in front of where her phone was propped up. There was something sad in her eyes and in the way she didn’t make fun of Drew like she loved to do.
Dax didn’t hear Ben saying his name until he’d repeated it a few times. “What?”
Ben laughed. “Well, Dax, I got an email from Mr. S. himself, saying my request for a collaboration with the one and only Dax Nelson was approved.”
Wow, Mr. Snyder moved fast. “Why did you ask the label and not me?”
“Because you wouldn’t have said yes.”
It was true Dax kept to himself, so much that even these meetings were a stretch of patience for a guy who preferred to be alone. But it was also true he’d say yes to any member of Rockstars Anonymous. They meant more to him than he’d ever admit. “Did Mr. Snyder tell you my stipulation?”
Ben nodded. “You want a Piper song.”
“Hey!” Drew chimed in. “Piper is still my assistant for the rest of this tour. I’m not letting go of her yet.”
“Do you know Piper at all, Drew?” Ben laughed. “She’s probably spent every spare moment on tour writing. She’ll have a song for us. I know it. And it’ll make her life to hear Dax Nelson performing her words. She’s a fan.”
Drew grinned. “Oh yeah, she’s a huge Dax fan. I can’t get her to turn your music off, man.”
Noah joined in. “I mean, who doesn’t love our Daxy? Our big, strong, very handsome Daxy.”
“Noah.” Melanie took the phone back. “Don’t be creepy. Look how red his face is.”
Dax removed his glasses to wipe them on his shirt, if for no other reason than to give him a distraction.
Only Jo didn’t laugh at their jokes. Her biting sarcasm was gone, and that scared him most of all.
“I’m going to go.” Jo didn’t give any of them a chance to respond before her image went dark and disappeared.
“Okay.” Noah sighed. “Dax might be right. There’s something wrong with her.”
“The pregnancy?” Drew asked.
Melanie shook her head. “Jo has come to terms with having a baby. Maybe she just isn’t feeling great. None of us here have ever had a whole other person inside us, but I imagine it isn’t fun.”
“My mom always said being pregnant was the best months of her life.” Dax shrugged, surprising himself for saying so much.
Noah’s eyes brightened. “Dax, you’re there! You can check on her.”
Dax’s face heated. “Um… er… what?”
