Page 9 of The Music of Love

“Yeah! Come in!”

He pushes the door open and gently nudges me in, then closes the door behind me. For the first time since running into him, I have to admit that I’m slightly overwhelmed.

Inside the dressing room are Cal, the man and woman who were with him at the restaurant, and another man and woman who I assume are his parents. That throws me off guard for a moment. World-famous rockstar still has his parents with him before a show?

“There she is!” Cal exclaims, much louder than I’d prefer as he throws his arms up in the air. “My wonderful date for tonight! Don’t you look nice?”

Don’t blush, don’t blush, do not blush!

Too late. I feel my cheeks heating even as Cal gets up from his chair and comes over to sweep me into his arms for an enormous hug. I want to push him away, but I take the opportunity to hide my rosy cheeks from everyone in the room and tuck my face into his chest.

“Don’t think I’m flirting with you, okay?” I whisper. “You’re justsoembarrassing.”

“Oh, I wouldneverthink that,” he whispers back. He holds me there for long enough that the other people in the room start to get antsy.

“You gonna let us see her, Cal?” the older man calls out with a laugh. Finally, Cal breaks our embrace and turns to face the room. I do my best to let some of my hair fall in my face. I’m not blushing as hard as I was, but some of it’s still there. Maybe I can blame it on how hot the dressing room is.

“Oh, she’s pretty, Cal!” the woman who must be his mom says with a smile.

“Reese.” Cal grins. “These are Julia and William, my parents.” His parents both nod and smile politely. He turns and motions to the man and woman sitting on the other side of the room, who are not giving off great vibes. In fact, the woman is kind of glaring at me.

“And this is Kathleen and Josh,” he says. “They’re my managers.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say.

“You too,” the man replies, clearly forcing it. The woman just nods and looks the other way.

“Ignore them,” Cal chuckles. “They’re just jaded industry types. But I hopeyouare ready for the show tonight.”

“I didn’t even know you were performing tonight,” I reply. “Then I thought I was just gonna be out in the crowd and–”

Cal laughs and wraps an arm around me. “You think I’d do that to you? For our first date? Come on, Reese,never!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I reply, pushing him away with a palm. “Firstdate? Who said there will be anything past a first date?”

Cal grins and turns to everyone in the room. My heart is pounding, and although it’s only my first year out of high school, it sure feels like I’m right back there now, getting into it with a popular guy in front of everybody.

“You see, guys?” He laughs. “This is why I love her.”

His dad is already nodding. He points an old, thick, wrinkled finger at me. “She’s a good one, this one. A keeper.”

“She sure is,” Cal agrees.

I’m not even sure how to process what’s going on. This Cal is so far away from the Cal I’ve seen in the media. Shouldn’t his dressing room be filled with groupies? Half-naked women all fawning over him, drugs and alcohol, dudes that look like they just walked out of a frat fighting for his attention?

Not his parents and his managers. Not some waitress from a local restaurant that’s not even that great.

Just then, the door to his dressing room opens, and a man with a headset pops his head in. “Cal, it’s time.”

“Right on,” he replies. “Be right there.”

“Gotta go?” I ask.

“Gotta go.” He smiles. “It’s showtime. There’s a spot from just offstage where you can watch the whole show, okay? And I’ll see you after.”

“O-okay…”

I feel like I should be tossing a flirtatious insult his way as he grabs his guitar from the corner and slips out the door, but I can’t think of a single thing to say. And honestly, I don’t really even want to either.

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