Page 14 of Hero on the Road
He held his hand out toward me and though my instincts told me it was a no good, very bad idea, I reached out and took it, just to feel the comfort of having someone else there with me.
“Then let’s get this done. Great Falls, here we come,” he said, squeezing my hand.
I squeezed back, though I didn’t answer him, and walked with him quickly toward the front door of Nashville International.
Great Falls, here we came.
I hoped the town was more ready than we were.
CHAPTER9
Connor
Istood up and stretched, trying to get the kinks out of my knees. Flying from Nashville to Great Falls hadn’t been quick—six hours—and it had been even worse because we were crammed into coach. That had been fine for Olivia, who topped out at about 5’5”, but I was 6’4”, and fitting my legs into that tiny row had been nearly impossible.
“I can’t believe they didn’t even get us first class,” I said, handing Olivia the backpack she’d brought with her.
She shrugged into it, looking like a little kid about to go off to school, and I stifled a smile. She saw it, though, and jabbed a finger right into my ribs.
“Are you going to laugh every time I put this on?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
I gave her my most charming grin. “Probably. That going to be a problem?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice prim. “And to answer your question, I’m not at all surprised about the seats. We’re talking about a record label that thinks it’s funny to send us out on the road without any backup. I’m surprised they flew us all the way to the city where we’re starting.”
I didn’t want to tell her, but I agreed with her. When Danny had called with the details for our tour, I’d been shocked and horrified. Sure, some tours were smaller than others, but I had a lot of friends who’d gone out on small tours and none of them had to travel without even their bands or equipment. We had our guitars—at least I hoped they’d managed to make the trip with us—and had been promised that each venue would have amps for us to use so the audience could at least hear our music.
And that was it. No support other than what Olivia and I could come up with ourselves.
I would have thought it was some sort of joke except that no one was laughing.
I shouldered my own bag and stood back, blocking the rest of the crowd so Olivia could get out of our row without being run over. “I still feel like this can’t actually be happening.”
“Unfortunately, cowboy, I think this is definitely happening.” Olivia ducked in front of me and hustled down the aisle, her red hair up in a messy bun and her backpack dwarfing her tiny frame.
I grinned, not even bothering to hide it now that she wasn’t looking, and walked after her.
“Stop grinning,” she said over her shoulder. “I know you’re laughing at me.”
The grin dropped off my face. “How the hell did you know that?”
“I have eyes in the back of my head. So I’d be careful if I was you.”
* * *
The moment we stepped off the stairs leading down from the airplane, flashes started going off, accompanied by the sound of cameras clicking.
Strike that.Onecamera was clicking.Oneflash was going off.
I put a hand up, shielding my eyes, and squinted as I tried to figure out what was going on. Who the heck was out here on the tarmac taking pictures of us? Did anyone even know that we were on tour, or who we were?
I doubted it.
When the stars cleared out of my eyes, I saw a tall, skinny guy with black-rimmed glasses in front of us, his legs clad in blue denim and his shirt sporting the wordsLed Zeplin. He had a cowboy hat on and a camera round his neck, and he was grinning like he’d just managed to get backstage at the biggest show he’d ever been to.
The second he saw me looking, he stepped forward, hand outstretched.
“Connor Wheating? I’m Colin Cravers, head writer at Uncommon Country. It’s so nice to meet you.” He turned and looked way down, finding Olivia’s eyes and grinning even wider. “Olivia Johns? Gosh, it’s good to meet you. I’ve been following your career ever since you were playing with Dean Summers. It’s a real shame what he did to you.” He dropped his voice and leaned toward her like he was going to tell her a secret. “For the record, I was on your side. I think we all know that most of those songs were yours, not his.”
