Well…shit. Disappointment wasn’t nearly a good enough word to describe the way my stomach sank. I drummed my fingers on the conference table and tried to pay attention.
A few minutes later, Quinn placed her hand over mine to stop the incessant movement. “Do you need a fidget cube?”
“He needs a redhead,” Jonas muttered, turning his page in time with Ethan.
I glared at him.
“…things are still in motion by the time we’re in Phoenix because Rising Tide just canceled on us as an opener. His wife went into labor early. Anyone have suggestions?”
“Seven to One,” I said, after raising my hand.
Quinn laughed. “You have it so bad!”
“No can do. They’re booked for the entire month of July and into August,” Ethan stated.
“They fucking what?” I dropped my packet onto the table.
“They. Are. Booked,” Ben chimed in from the doorway. “We’ll see if we have anyone in-house, and go from there.”
“And their manager is on the road with them?” My blood pressure spiked.
“Seeing as they’re nowhere near the size that demands a separate tour manager, yes.” Ben sank into the chair across from mine.
She’d booked out her band until August, knowing our three months was up in July. What the fuck did that mean? My fingers went double-time on the table as my mind whirled. Had she made her choice?
Had she not understood what I meant by sending Kaylee’s guitar to her? That thing was collateral on my heart. Shit, had she decided I came with too much bullshit? Fallen out of love with me?
Quinn’s hand covered my own again, but she didn’t tease me this time.
I stopped my fingers, but my concentration was shot as we finished the meeting with a note from Ethan to check the final drafts of our riders at the back of the packet.
Who the hell cared about our nitpicky dressing room demands when the woman I loved had just extended our separation by a month?
“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked the universe as the three of us left the conference room.
“It means she’s working,” Jonas answered.
“Bullshit. Go figure, the first time I let myself fall for someone, they can’t be bothered to—”
“To what?” Quinn interrupted with a bone-crushing glare. “To put her entire career on hold while you sort your shit out?”
I blinked.
Jonas punched the button for the elevator, then flipped to the back of the packet and read down.
“I thought you were on my side, here,” I said to Quinn.
“I am, as long as you’re not being an idiot. If you’d wanted some simpering groupie who had nothing better to do than follow you around, you would have chosen one, but you didn’t. You chose an ambitious, intelligent woman who is currently in some pretty pivotal months of her career, so if you have to adjust your little deadline, then do it. You remember what it was like when we were first starting out. Why are you making that face?”
“Because there’s a perpetual toddler living inside him who hasn’t been told no for the last ten years,” Jonas noted, flipping another page.
“Accurate,” I admitted, following the other two into the elevator as it arrived. “I’m allowed to be disappointed.”
“Yeah, you are.” Quinn rolled her packet and swatted me on the chest with it. “Just. Don’t. Be. A. Jerk.”
“I miss her!”
“Well, the entire office will be sure to tell her that when she checks in.” Jonas nodded toward the raised eyebrows of the receptionist, and then hit the button for the parking garage.
“She’s not going anywhere, Nix.” Quinn cringed. “I mean, emotionally. Not physically, obviously, since she’s not here right now.”
“You don’t know that. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not easy to love.” My voice dropped.
“Yeah, you are,” Quinn replied softly. “Remember when we were in Chicago, and you two had that whole hallway encounter?”
“Obviously.” Jonas turned another page.
I shot him a glare.
“When she came out of your dressing room, I asked her if she was all right, or if she’d learned to climb for higher ground yet,” Quinn said as we reached the garage and the doors opened.
My eyes narrowed slightly, not quite following.
“She said, ‘you don’t need to climb for higher ground when you’re the dam.’” Quinn raised her eyebrows at me, and we filed out of the elevator. “Get it? You’re the river. She’s the dam. She knows she’s the one who can hold on to you. No other girl has ever come close.”
My chest tightened. “That doesn’t mean she wants me.”