Page 70 of When the Storm Breaks
“You don’t need to. I’m guiding you.” Just then he removed his arm that had been around me.
“Am I playing pin the tail on the donkey?” I asked. “Oh wait. Do you have a piñata out here?”
He chuckled. “Be quiet.”
I couldn’t tell what he was doing but a couple seconds later, he held my upper arms and guided me into a sitting position. Thankfully, there was a chair underneath to hold me up. When he took off the blindfold, my jaw dropped. “Oh my God.”
Dumbfounded, I stared at the table in front of me set for two. Lanterns hung from the tree branches, casting a soft glow on the dark night. To my right was the lake and the guesthouse was behind us. The way the trees had grown here, it looked like a cathedral, a round clearing big enough for a table and two chairs. Next to our table was a camping stove with a pot sitting on it and next to that was a cooler full of beer and ice. It was those two things that made me laugh. They were so Brody. He didn’t even bother with glasses, assuming we’d just drink them straight from the bottle. Which was exactly what we did after he popped the caps with his key and handed me a cold beer.
When he took a seat across from me, I stared at him for a few seconds in the flickering light from a candle in the center of our table. The candle was green, shaped like a cactus, and sat in a terracotta planter. The tablecloth was buffalo plaid, and I thought it might actually be a wool blanket doubling as a table covering.
Romance, cowboy-style.
He slid his phone out of his pocket, scrolled through his playlists and hit play. I laughed when The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” blasted from the portable speakers. The June night was warm, the stars were bright, and the man across from me was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Not just on the outside. Through and through. This night couldn’t get any more perfect than this.
“I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“I did it for myself, not you.”
“How so?”
“I wanted to take you out to dinner without having to punch anyone in the face or break someone’s phone.”
I sighed and put my hand over my heart. “What a charmer. How could I ever resist your sweet talk?”
He snorted.
If only he knew what it was like when I wasn’t here, safe in this little bubble. Brody would hate it. He already told me he hated crowds and he hated cities and wasn’t a big fan of flying or being stuck in traffic. Which was my entire life away from here. Yesterday I talked to Bastian. When I spoke to him, he was in Barcelona, headlining for a rock festival.
“So… did you find what you were looking for?” Bastian asked.
“I did. And I got so much more than I bargained for.”
“You fell in love.” I heard him take a drag of his cigarette.
“I did.”
He was quiet for a beat. “Who is he?”
“Just… a guy. He owns the ranch I’m staying on.”
“So you met a cowboy and you fell in love, but you have to leave him.”
“That pretty much sums it up. When are you and Hayden finally going to admit your true love?”
“Never.”
“Why not?”
“Because I would destroy him, and I love him too much to do that to him. Far better to love him from afar.”
“So you do love him?”
“Was that ever a question? I love him as much as I’m capable of loving anyone. I’m a fickle, selfish, unholy mess of a lover. He would never be number one in my life. That spot is reserved for myself and my music. There’s not a lot of room left over for anyone else.”
“That sounds so lonely.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
