Page 43 of Hero on the Road
Our last appearance was a small one. We’d thought Atomic might have something big planned as it was in a major city, but I guessed they’d figured out that we did better in smaller venues and wanted us to go out with a bang. It was in a bar, just the way we liked, though the crowd was packed from wall to wall—probably because Colin had been screaming about us coming to this spot since the day we left Great Falls.
They also all knew our songs by heart, and sang almost the entire show with us, dancing and rocking to the faster songs and holding their phones and lighters up during the ballads. Connor and I laughed and sang until we were going hoarse, and then drank water and sang some more, taking requests from the crowd and doing our best covers of the songs they requested that weren’t ours.
We stretched the show on for as long as we could, both of us well aware that this was our last time on stage together, at least during this tour. And maybe forever.
Finally, though, we got a signal from the manager of the bar that they were ready to close and we needed to get our butts off the stage. Connor cast a quick look at me and lifted one eyebrow, and I nodded. It was time for the song that had started it all. We hadn’t played our Christmas song nearly as much as we wanted to, both of us feeling that it needed a special occasion, but this last show deserved that song.
And I deserved the chance to watch Connor perform it.
We hadn’t written the song to be more about him but it had turned out that way when he needed it during that first performance, and we’d perfected that out here on the road. It meant he had a bigger part in the song and I performed mostly harmony, with his guitar taking the lead and mine playing backup. He always stepped forward for the performance and took the spotlight, and though Colin might not have liked it—he’d complained more than once—I thought it was perfect.
That was the song that had won Connor his contract. And as far as I was concerned, it belonged to him more than it belonged to me.
We started out quietly and built as we went through, my guitar supporting Connor’s and propping him up in the spots where he had to stop playing to focus on singing. And as he sang, I watched him, standing there in the spotlight like he’d been born to do it. God, he was gorgeous. Blond hair and tight jeans and shoulders so broad they could support the entire world if he wanted them to. His arms, which had held me so gently last night, were muscular enough that they should have been frightening, and I’d seen enough of the rest of his body to know that it was all that impressive.
Born and raised on a ranch, he had the build of someone who knew how to work with their hands and had spent more time on a horse than off.
He was beautiful. And talented, and incredibly good-hearted. He was everything any girl should ever want.
And I’d had him for a full month. I still couldn’t believe we were here, performing our last show. We’d taken a bit to get started but now we felt right together. Natural and easy, like we knew everything the other person would do. We could go on like this forever—and I thought the countryside would have us. We could make our careers traveling from small venue to small venue, doing shows at places that had room. We’d never be rich, but we’d be happy. And we’d be together.
There was no way Atomic would let us keep touring this way, though—on the road and by ourselves, just us and our guitars and the random blogger following us around. This was the feel we’d built for ourselves but it was the opposite of what Atomic would want. We were hippies on the road, in the van that didn’t have air conditioning or terrific brakes. Best friends who played together every night and never got tired of doing it.
Best friends... and maybe more.
I backed away from the thought, not wanting to touch it too closely, and broke into the song with my melody. I sang with everything I had, putting my heart and soul into the song and trying to make a memory that would never fade. Because this was probably our last time singing together. Tomorrow, we were getting on a plane back to Nashville and going home to meet with Atomic, and I already knew how that was going to go.
We’d lose this thing between us. Atomic wasn’t going to let us sign a contract together because the brand we’d built was too small for a record company. They were going to separate us.
But Connor would get the record contract and career he’d always wanted. They’d set him up in the big stadiums and with the public appearances, and he’d be brilliant at it. He’d be perfect. He’d kiss every baby and sign every autograph, and he’d probably never lose that good boy charm he’d had since we were kids.
I wanted that for him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my entire life. Because he was, finally, someone who saw who I actually was. He supported me when I needed support and let me be his hero when he needed someone to help him out. I wanted him with every cell in my body. I wanted him and his guitar and his stupid, sweet smile and those dumb lilies he kept finding for me.
But you didn’t always get what you wanted.
And if Atomic was going to give us trouble for the way we’d behaved on this tour—and I was almost positive they would—I would take the fall for it. I’d tell them it had all been my idea and that I’d made Connor go along with it. I’d give up my contract as punishment.
And in doing so, I’d make sure that Connor got his.
Because that was what friends did. And right now, on this stage, I knew that I might not be able to stay with Connor, and we might never make another appearance together.
But I could make sure he got the contract he wanted.
And nothing was going to stop me.
CHAPTER26
Colin
Well, Connor and Olivia are leaving Montana and heading home to Nashville. Their tour is over.
My heart is broken.
The question is, will they actually be back next year, like they kept promising? Will their record label send them out again, and will we be lucky enough to get them? Will I be invited on the tour again?
More importantly, are they a couple? Rumors are flying about it and if you’re like me, you saw the way Olivia was looking at Connor on stage last night at their last show. You probably saw her heart in her eyes, same as I did.
And you probably think, like me, that they may have gone back to Nashville, but this love story is far from over. Because for these two, going home doesn’t mean they’re finished. Not by a long shot.
