Page 44 of Hero on the Road
And I, for one, will be keeping my eye on the news coming out of Nashville, waiting breathlessly for the announcement of their first record together. And when they come back, I’ll be first in line to greet them.
Even if Olivia’s happiness means I will have lost her forever to Connor Wheating.
Olivia and Connor, I’ll be waiting to see you on the road again. And so will all of Montana.
-C
CHAPTER27
Connor
Iput my hand on her back like it belonged there and ushered her out of the plane, her backpack slung over my shoulder and my own bag hanging at my side. The guitars were checked and should be on the luggage carousel when we got there, along with the bags of stuff we’d brought back with us. We’d never found Barry or our tour bus, and honestly the thought had slipped my mind the entire time we were on the road.
If I was being completely honest, the guy had done me the biggest favor of my life by deserting us, because he’d given me that month with only Olivia.
That wouldn’t stop the police or Avery, though. I hoped she’d filed a report and had him arrested for making off with her bus. Hell, maybe if she had, we could get back the stuff we’d left on the bus.
I’d have to ask Olivia to ask Parker about that.
But not right now. Right now, we were back in Nashville and trying to remember how to be in such a loud, bright place. I glanced at Olivia to see her looking around with a hand over her eyes, sheltering them from the fluorescent lights. She looked as dazed as I felt.
We were here, though, and that meant she’d agreed to getting on the plane even after I’d asked her to stay with me on the road. And that meant... Well, that she wanted to move forward with her life, I guessed.
“I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with a car that doesn’t smell like cherry KoolAid,” I said, just to see if she’d respond.
The corner of her mouth curled up. “Or one that sports such great carpet.”
“We really should have brought it home with us.”
This time she laughed aloud. “I don’t think it would have made it all the way here, honestly.”
“You never did give that van enough credit. It could have made it easily.”
Her laughter got even louder, and we relived several of our most memorable moments in the van as we walked through security and toward the baggage claim. WhenMagical Mystery Tourcame on the speakers above us, Olivia stopped walking and stared at me, eyes big.
I smiled at her, hating that this was the end and hoping against hope that we’d find a way to keep this magic.
“I’ll never be able to hear this song without remembering that van,” I said.
Her nose wrinkled. “Or the smell it made when you drove too fast.”
“Hey, I never drove too fast. I drove fast enough to get us to where we needed to go.”
She shook her head in disbelief and started walking again. “Sure, Connor. Keep telling yourself that.”
When we got to the baggage claim, we found Parker talking to Danny as they waited for us. I stopped Olivia with a hand on her arm.
“Is it me or does she look like she’s trying to teach him nuclear physics?”
Olivia nodded. “And he’s definitely not getting it.”
Danny looked like he was enduring a lecture he’d never signed up for. His face was pinched and his eyes were flitting back and forth, looking for escape. When he saw me, he started for me before Parker had finished talking, and Olivia and I laughed.
“I guess he’s had enough of her,” I murmured.
“She can be hard to take. She’s got a lot to say. And she almost always knows what she’s talking about.”
“And yet you spent all four years of high school taking care of her,” I said. “Which, I guess, makes you even smarter than her.”
