He pressed something at his ear and checked in with the team before we headed back into the dressing rooms. Daisy was putting the finishing touches on Lindsey’s hair. For once, volume wasn’t a problem for all of us girls. The humidity was a bitch at these outdoor shows, but Montana was blissfully temperate.
I was already dressed for the show, and because we were a co-headlining tour, it was our turn to go first tonight. Normally, I liked a bit of quiet before a show, but today had been full of laughter, crazy cute alpacas, and possibly a new bit of family added to my life.
I was an only child. My first taste of crazy had been joining Brooklyn Dawn. My parents were about as all-American as you could get, and we were the quiet kind of family who played Scrabble every Sunday. Nothing like the busy Dallas family with their ranch and yarn business headed by a strong woman who had carved out a life for her loved ones even with so much loss.
Cooper had come from that. A man who valued family in all its forms.
I glanced over at him, pacing in the dressing room. He’d been a little off since our trip out to his mom’s place. Not exactly secretive but definitely antsy.
Had it been because I’d almost blurted out the big L word? It had been such a short time since we’d changed our relationship, but it felt right. Better than right. He was the other piece I’d been looking for all my life.
“Go in ten, people,” Noah called from the hallway.
I swear, he’d become our tour manager more than just the head of security lately. He seemed perfect for the role, even if he’d probably deny it to his dying breath.
I went over to Cooper and slid my fingers between his. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” His forehead was creased, and I watched him forcibly relax. “It’s just been one of those days. A lot going on.”
“Right.”
He kissed my forehead. “I gotta check on something. See you on stage?”
“Where else would I be?”
He started to walk away then turned around and caught me up in a hot, hungry kiss. “Right, gotta go.”
He released me, and I staggered a little. “Well then.”
Lindsey came up next to me. “Everything okay?”
“I think so. He’s being a little weird.”
“Well, he’s male. They’re thinkier sorts than we give them credit for. Don’t get me wrong, they definitely aren’t obsessing on the same things we do, but they aren’t quite as oblivious as they like us to believe.”
“I’m learning that.”
Lindsey squeezed my fingers. “You guys are really good together. I was a little worried about a Fleetwood Mac thing, to be honest.”
I laughed. “Pretty sure we won’t be trading partners in the band.”
“No, thank God. But I don’t want anything to hurt my family, and love makes us all a little crazy.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that.
She took my other hand and looked me straight in the eye. “Yours is the good kind of crazy.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so.” She fluffed my hair. Some part of me would always be the little sister, and I was really okay with that. “Now, it’s time to go kick some ass.”
We all took our places. The sea of faces out in the crowd and across the lawn were obviously ready to have a good time.
The sun painted the crowd in a golden hue, and the sky was so blue it hurt to look at it. And there was nowhere I’d rather be. That sizzle of excitement took hold. The one that told me a show would be extra special. It buzzed under my fingers as I laid my fingers on my keys. The stage wasn’t big enough for my Steinway, but I had a feeling we were going to be doing a lot of running around tonight. Everyone seemed charged up.
“Judgement” got the crowd riled. The outdoor shows relied on the chemistry we all had together. A dry summer had killed the pyrotechnics we usually used, and the end stage setup meant no huge mechanical arms sliding Jamie, Zane, and Oz over the crowd.
It was just us—stripped down and ready to rock.
Lindsey flew up and down the front of the stage, glitter and sunshine trailing in her wake like sparks. As always, her mood fed the rest of us. Jamie reached for riffs I hadn’t heard since before the tour began. Even Zane, who was the more solidly steady player, wanted his time in the spotlight. He climbed up on the stacked speakers on his side of the stage. He’d lost his shirt early in the show, leaving his skin sun-soaked and gleaming in the dying light.
We blazed through the first quarter of the set without even taking a breath. Even Lindsey wasn’t as chatty as she usually was.
The music had taken us all by the throat and wouldn’t let go.
Solos were a little longer than usual, and I’d taken center stage twice myself. The music was vibrating out of me faster than I could catch it. I was out of breath and ready to crawl under my gear to soak my head in a bucket of ice water. Between the lights and the warm night, I was toast.
And then Lindsey called an audible. We’d been jonesing to try out some of the new material we’d been writing, and tonight was the night. I gathered all my energy to play the new song. I hadn’t even properly practiced it all the way through yet.
Lindsey came up to my raised platform in the rear, and we played back to back. The song was so heavily layered that we were racing one another down the keys. Then I glanced over my shoulder and we quickly switched keyboards again and again in a waterfall of sound.
The sun had set, and cell phones lights lit the inky night as Lindsey crooned about coming through the other side of darkness. And for the
