She rolled down the window as the big, ex-Marine went around the front. “Ora-Bora.”
“Yeah?” I called out.
She set her forearm across the frame of the window and propped her chin on it. “You know you can always come on tour with me, don’t you?”
I had to press my lips together before I nodded and smiled at her. “I didn’t, but thanks, Yu.”
“Will you think about it?” she asked as her bodyguard set the car into drive.
“I will, but I’m pretty happy here for now,” I told her honestly.
I didn’t want to live out of hotels anymore. That was the truth. The idea of living on a tour bus with my best friend didn’t bring me much joy or excitement anymore, even if she was the only thing that would make it bearable and fun.
I wanted roots. But that was something cruel to bring up to her when I knew that with each time she left home, she was more and more miserable. It was hard being away for months and months at a time, far from loved ones and peace and privacy.
And the little smile she gave me as Roger hollered, “Bye, Ora!” told me that she knew exactly what I was thinking.
If I could leave again for anybody, it would be her.
But I wouldn’t.
“Love you,” she called out, sounding way too wistful. “Buy a new car before winter! You’re going to need it!”
I was going to text her mom and sister ASAP, I decided as I yelled back, “Love you too! And I will!”
And she was gone. In a trail of dust. Off to fly high and nurture a career made from tears and guts.
And suddenly, I didn’t really want to be by myself.
Hadn’t Mr. Rhodes invited me anyway?
My feet took me to the house as I nursed the bittersweet visit that had lifted my spirits and made my day. I knocked on the door and spotted a figure through the glass making its way over. From the size, I knew it was Amos.
So when it opened and he gestured me inside, I managed a little smile for him.
“Did she leave?” he asked quietly as we walked side by side toward the living area.
“Yeah, she told me to tell you bye,” I said.
I could sense him looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “Are you okay?”
Sure enough, Mr. Rhodes and Jackie were sitting at the small kitchen table, demolishing plates loaded with Chinese food. They both sat up at Am’s and my voices. “Yeah, I just miss her already,” I told him honestly. “I’m glad she came. It’s hard not knowing when I’ll see her again.”
The chair beside Mr. Rhodes was pulled out, and it took me a second to realize he’d pushed it with his knee and it hadn’t been magic. He was chewing as he gestured to a stack of plates on the counter beside the containers of food. I picked one up, feeling a little shy all of a sudden, and loaded it up with a little bit of everything—not really that hungry for some reason but wanting to eat anyway.
“How do you know her?” Amos asked as I served myself.
My hand stilled for a moment, but I went for the truth. “We met at a big music festival in Portland about… eleven years ago. We both got heatstroke backstage and were in the infirmary tent at the same time, and we hit it off.”
I hoped they didn’t ask how I got backstage and was ready to explain… but neither one of them did.
“Should I know who she is?” Mr. Rhodes asked out of nowhere, sitting there eating quickly and neatly.
It was Amos who covered his face with his palm and groaned, and Jackie who launched into an explanation that I was sure made Mr. Rhodes regret asking.
I wasn’t sure why he’d decided to be so nice to invite me for lunch, but I really appreciated it.
He really was a decent man.
And I could not have asked for a friend better than Yuki.
Chapter 15
“Wait a second, wait a second…”
Clara grinned as she handed the customer she had just finished ringing up his receipt.
Tidying up the stack of flyers on the counter for hunting excursions, I made a face at them. “Why do people catch bass if they don’t eat them?”
Walter, one of my favorite customers because he was so sweet and one who came in when he was bored, which seemed to be very often because he was newly retired, picked up the small plastic container of flies he’d bought from Clara just a moment ago. “Bass don’t taste good, Aurora. Not good at all. But they don’t fight much when you reel them in, and there’s plenty in the reservoirs around here. The game wardens restock them.”
I wondered who.
The older man winked in his friendly way. “It’s about time I get going. Have a nice day, young ladies.”