had always been nothing more than a necessary break to recover.
But now I was looking forward to every moment of downtime. I knew exactly what I was going to do with them. Taking Isabelle with me on the tour might be reckless. She might find the experience too much to handle, but I didn’t want to hide any part of my life. If she was going to be with me long term, she needed to see it all—the good and the bad.
I used to be happiest when I played music, but that had changed. Now I was happiest when I was with Isabelle. And I wanted her to know that beyond any doubt.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Isabelle
The next three weeks were very intense, almost rivaling the time when I moved to New York. I started by contacting every client I was seeing during the time when I’d be away with Brayden. I wanted to do it by phone, which was much slower than if I would have done it via email. I offered to do online sessions with them, but if they preferred to be counseled in person, I could arrange for a counselor friend to step in for me while I was gone. I would lose money, but I wanted my clients to be comfortable.
But the hard work did pay off though. Only one client canceled the session we’d scheduled during that time. Everyone else was okay talking to me online.
My family and the Winchesters were calling me almost every day, checking if I needed help with anything. They’d all been surprised but happy that I was going with Brayden on tour.
Jana and Donna both messaged me on Instagram, saying Brayden had told them the good news and giving me about a gazillion pieces of advice. I appreciated their support.
I even met with Cami, who basically just told me to take everything easy and to remember that the crazy interest of the press and fans always faded. She wasn’t coming on the tour, which was a pity.
Brayden had been right about the press being thrown for a loop that we’d gone official, but I still had a few reporters show up in front of the office. Sasha had instructed me to tell them they should contact my PR team—aka Sasha herself—so I parroted back her exact words.
On the day we were taking off, I asked the sibs over to my apartment to keep me company while I packed. The plane was leaving at five o’clock, and Brayden was picking me up at one. It was a bit silly to say I was already missing my siblings, since I’d only be gone for three weeks, but I did.
“Why do you need a whole day to pack?” Ian asked, gawking around my bedroom. I had clothes on every single surface.
Dylan seemed too stunned to say anything at first, but he recovered a few moments later. “Why do you need so much stuff? Are you leaving for three weeks or three months?”
“Weeks, you buffoon. But Sasha, the manager, sent me a list of how many outfits I need, and apparently the answer is a lot.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to ask our opinion on what you should take with you or something.” Dylan looked so desperate that I didn’t even have the heart to tease him about it. I had mercilessly tortured my brothers with this in high school.
“No, I simply wanted to see you two. And maybe ask you to make your famous omelet.”
“I knew it. You want to put us to work,” Dylan said with a grin.
“Just to feed us,” I promised. “I still think your omelet is the best ever!”
Ian pointed to a burnt-out light bulb in the corridor. “Do you have any spare ones?”
“I think there are some in the cupboard.”
Ian was cute, always checking to see if everything was in working order when he was here. I was proud to admit that they’d both spoiled me a lot growing up. Even though Ian was younger than me, they’d both looked after me, probably because Ian was hero-worshipping Dylan and wanted to copy him.
That phase lasted until Ian turned thirteen, when he totally rebelled and decided he wanted to be the opposite of Dylan. But one thing never changed throughout the years: we were always close, and grew even closer once Josie left.
Catching up with them was not the only reason I’d asked them here though. I wanted to tell Dylan about this great woman I’d met through one of