As we moved down to the next stop, I said, “You have to stop torturing him. He’s here protecting you.”
“No, he’s here protecting you, and I get the benefit.”
I couldn’t argue that. I doubted Nash would have ever shown up in Florida if I hadn’t been there, and as mad as I’d been at the time, I knew now that it said something about us I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge then: we were tied together somehow. The ebb and flow of us unable to exist without the other. The moment we’d joined lips at Tristan’s, something had happened. Magic. Fate. Souls tying a knot along the weave of time.
We finally made it into the theater and were shown to our seats in the second row on an end. Brady would be up and down to sing as well as for any awards he received. Alice had given us a schedule of events with breaks listed, but for the majority of the next few hours, we would be stuck in the seats.
I’d been warned not to drink anything that wasn’t given to me by a member of the team. As I was not anxious to repeat the Tallahassee performance in front of an entire theater full of the music world’s elite, there was no way I was drinking anything unless Nash himself gave it to me, which he did, handing me a water bottle before he took his position near the stage to the side of the cameras. He could see almost the entire theater from his location, but I knew he’d taken the spot because it was as close to me as he could get.
The entire event felt surreal, almost as if that dreamlike world we’d been living in at Wellsley Place had followed us into the real world. The list of performers whom I admired and who were sitting around us was a little staggering. Touring with Brady hadn’t seemed quite this big. Sure, I’d seen the screaming fans chanting his name at the concerts and people accosting him on the street outside his apartment in NYC, but sitting next to some of the world’s music icons, I was suddenly overwhelmed with just how big Brady was. He always acted humble, an easy-to-approach, flirt of a man, and I’d never really taken in everything he’d accomplished by singing the songs he wrote with Ava, my brother’s best friend’s wife. Maybe because they were all so close to me personally, it hadn’t felt like the enormous achievement it was.
Brady was grinning when he looked over at me. “Seriously, you keep letting that smile slip, and you’ll be fighting off a whole host of rumors about you, me, and how miserable I am to be around in tomorrow’s news.”
I plastered on a smile but then said, “Brady. You. You’re kind of incredible.”
“Don’t let the Otter hear you say that.”
I laughed. “Not like he’s incredible to me. I’m just saying, stop and look around you. You’re up for five AMAs. Five!”
He smiled. “You’re my PR manager; weren’t you already supposed to know that?”
I slapped him on the shoulder. “Stop deflecting. I want you to really look around, take a breath, and then let it set in. You’ve made it. All your dreams have come true over the last three years.”
His smile lowered a level. “Three years, six months, five days.”
“What?”
“That’s how long it’s been since I signed my contract with Nick. Three years, six months, five days. Two years ago, I was here for New Artist of the Year, which I didn’t get. The next year, I was here for Video of the Year, which I won. Now, my second album is out, I’ve got my own headlining tour in major stadiums, and I’m up for five awards. It isn’t lost on me, Dani. The only thing that would have made any of this better is if I’d been able to talk Ava into doing it with me.”
“You haven’t let the fame go to your head,” I said. “After being here today, I kind of can’t understand that, and it makes me want to work even harder as your PR manager.”
I could have sworn he blushed a little. “I have parents who won’t let me forget exactly who I am.”
“Yeah? Who’s that?”
“The kid who lost the dog and his sister all in one night.”
“You did not.” I chuckled.
“I did. I’d finally earned enough money to get my guitar, and I was so lost playing it that my little sister went to walk the dog without me, made a wrong turn, and ended up three streets away. Thankfully, nothing happened to her, but I lost the guitar for another few months because my parents were so pissed at me.”
“Let’s just keep all of that under wraps, shall we?”
He laughed and then said, “You better send your man some I-love-you looks or something. I think he’s having a heart attack because you’re laughing with me.”
I turned to look at Nash, and sure enough, he was shooting daggers into Brady. I thought about texting him, but I knew he’d never take the phone out of his pocket while he was on duty. So I just tried to give him my best smile and, like Brady said, send him an I love you with my eyes.
♫ ♫ ♫
Brady was up early to perform so it wouldn’t mess with any of his nominations. When he left, one of Malone’s FBI agents sat with me. The man was so nervous sitting amongst the celebrities that I thought he wouldn’t have seen a snail if it crawled up to him, let alone any danger. I tried to get him to relax, but he wouldn’t look my way.
When Brady finished his song, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and I joined them, lost in the happiness I felt for him. He returned to his seat only to have to get right back up for winning both Favorite Country Album and then Favorite Male Country Artist.
