Page 94 of To Believe In You
She handed over the napkin and produced a pen from her pocket. Gannon signed, then John, who sat next to him. The hostess collected the napkin and pen and offered them to Philip, opposite the other two.
Philip lifted his hands. “If you’re looking for Awestruck, it’s him you want.” He hiked his thumb toward Matt.
She blinked, uncertain, but extended the napkin and pen to Matt.
He hesitated, the tip of the ballpoint hovering beneath Gannon and John’s familiar signatures. As soon as he did this, there would be evidence that he’d rejoined the band.
He should’ve given Lina a heads up, because in the small community of Lakeshore, word would spread like wildfire. Then, it would reach news outlets and beat him to Texas too.
But he’d signed the contract and deposited the check.
Ready or not, he was part of this now.
26
Texas wasn’t all cacti and longhorns. In Nadia’s neighborhood, trees provided shade for layers of landscaping. The houses boasted signs of wealth like balconies, columns, and tall windows. The address Tim had procured led Matt to a cinnamon-colored one-and-a-half story home with a massive pair of planters flanking the front walk. A shiny SUV waited in the circle drive.
Matt could’ve spared himself one more surprise—a mild one, but still—by looking up the address before he’d come. He’d had ample time yesterday, at the airport, but he’d also been a ball of nerves. He’d forgotten to take a water bottle out of his backpack before the security screening. The officers had picked him out of the line for a pat-down, and he suspected the reason wasn’t his tattoos.
“She’s done well for herself.” Krissy waited a beat, then the oval of her face turned his direction in his peripheral vision.
As if fifteen seconds after parking here he’d be ready to jump into the riptide by walking up to the front door and ringing the bell. But to Krissy, maybe this seemed like a slow build up.
They’d arrived yesterday, a couple of hours before dinner. Krissy had asked if he wanted to go right away. He’d said he’d rather try on Saturday morning, so here they were.
“It’s not too late to call first.”
True, but he’d come all this way on the belief it would be best to ask about the pregnancy in person. To see the look on her face, to read from her body language truths she might not voice.
And if Axel was his …
Light and shadows slid across the front door. At first, he thought it was the power of his imagination or wind in tree branches causing the illusion of movement, but a young girl ran out, followed by a woman. Nadia had curves she hadn’t had before. Her hair, twisted and clipped up, appeared darker. The girl disappeared on the far side of the SUV. Nadia called back into the house.
A fist grabbed Matt’s stomach and twisted.
She was talking to someone, either her husband or her son. Maybe both.
“Breathe.” Krissy swept a hand up and down like an orchestra conductor counting off a single beat.
He inhaled.
“You could go talk to her.”
His fingers found his seatbelt buckle, but before he clicked it, a boy joined her on the front walk. The skinny scrap of a kid had brown hair darker than Matt’s, the same color as Nadia’s. He held a basketball under his arm and ran to the side of the SUV closer to the street.
“He’s got your energy.”
The boy tugged the back door of the vehicle open with one arm, but in the process dropped the ball. He left the door ajar as he ran after it. When he retrieved his prize from the landscaping, he lifted the ball over his head and grinned.
Krissy gasped. “And your smile. Wow. Does Jade look that much like me? That’s uncanny.”
His smile? Really? It had been a long time since he’d grinned so freely.
The boy turned his back and scrambled into the SUV. The door shut, and window tinting hid him from view.
“You’ve got to talk to her.”
Nadia must’ve finished securing her daughter, because she came around to the driver’s side. Her face was still recognizable, but this life? Completely different from what they’d shared. She had permanence and maturity, a family, responsibilities. She’d grown up.
