Page 118 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
“You’ll have to play for me,” Jonah cuts in.
I turn my attention to him and find him smirking at me. When I flick my eyes back to Torren, I expect to see a scowl, but he’s smirking as well. My stomach flips, and then I frown. These stupid attractive men and their beguiling smirks. I clear my throat and look back at Jonah.
“Sure. Sav got me a keyboard, so maybe I can play something when we get to the next hotel.”
“We’ll have to see how you measure up to Sean.” Jonah’s smirk falls with the words. “He’s a prick, but he’s a great musician.”
I’m not sure what to say to that. I want to ask about Sean, but I don’t want to pry, and judging from the uncomfortable silence, my instinct says changing the subject is the best course of action.
“So...we rented out a diner?” I say awkwardly. “Those more rock star perks?”
Torren smiles, apparently welcoming my conversational pivot.
“Hammond started doing it once we realized we can’t go anywhere public without causing mayhem. On overnight drives, he’ll pick a place in some smaller town. He tells the owners it’s a private party and has them sign NDAs, but they never know it’s us until we show up.”
I laugh. “That must be quite a surprise for them.”
“Sometimes. Once we had a server start sobbing because she was such a huge fan. We ended up taking a ton of pictures, and Sav signed a practice guitar and gave it to her.”
“Remember that pizza place that was owned by the veteran?” Jonah cuts in. “Guy had absolutely no idea who we were. It was great.”
Torren nods, laughing with Jonah. “He did spend the whole dinner telling us some great stories, though.”
The bus starts to slow, the sounds of the road changing from smooth pavement to crunching gravel.
“So, what’s this one?” I ask. “Where are we?”
“Should be a small town just on the Georgia/Florida border. Burger joint.” Torren takes out his phone and checks something, then stands as the bus pulls to a stop. “It’s called Frank and Anne’s Diner.”
I follow him and Jonah down the stairs and into a gravel parking lot. It’s dark, only two lights illuminating the lot, and I watch as the tour buses pull out of the lot and drive away, leaving us with just the SUVs.
“They’ll park at a gas station a few miles away or something while we eat,” Torren explains. “Less conspicuous.”
I nod and turn to assess the small mom-and-pop looking diner
“Well, this place is adorable.”
“Bet they cook a mean burger,” Jonah says, giving my shoulder a nudge.
“These kinds of places always do,” Torren agrees, then he takes my hand and leads me toward Sav, Mabel, and Levi. Their bus was in front of ours, so they’re already standing with their security details as Hammond speaks with the owners.
Torren nods in greeting to his bandmates, then stands next to Mabel as he addresses the group. “They know it’s us, yet?”
Mabel laughs. “Yeah, I think so. I just saw two people peeking at us through that window.”
Hammond opens the door and waves at us to come in, so I let Torren lead me by the hand into the diner. Several tables are pushed together, forming one large table capable of seating all of us, and there are already waters and several different appetizers on the table.
“Thanks, Ham,” Mabel says, throwing herself into a chair and pulling a basket of mozzarella sticks in front of her. “And these are all for me.”
Sav darts a hand over her shoulder and snatches one, taking a bite out of it and flashing Mabel a grin as Mabel scowls up at her. “I’d have given you one if you’d asked.”
Sav shrugs and speaks while chewing. “S’more fun this way.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
Torren pulls out a chair at the end for me, and I sit. He takes a seat next to me just as an overexcited server comes skipping out of the back. She looks to be about my age, maybe a little older, and she’s grinning from ear to ear, so she must be a fan of The Hometown Heartless. When she greets us, her voice is high and quivering, belying her excitement.
“Hi there. Welcome to Frank and Anne’s. We’re so happy you chose to dine with us tonight. My name is Abigail. I’ll be your server.”
