“Okay. Thanks for tonight. It was just what I needed.” Unbuckling my belt, I laid one hand on Chad’s cheek and kissed the other. “You’re a great friend.”
“Just following your example,” he said with a grin, his eyes twinkling.
“C’mon, Lace.” The wind lifting his brown hair, Bryan flipped up the lapels of his black leather jacket to cover his ears. “I’m freezing out here.”
“Okay.” I scooted across the seat.
Bryan opened the door for me, and I got out. We both returned Chad’s wave, watching the truck headlights for a moment as he drove off.
“I like him,” Bryan said.
“Me too.”
“Good you have a friend outside the band.”
“He’s my only one outside the band.” Shivering, I wondered if being cast out of the group would cost me all my friendships with the guys. Uneasy, I pulled the unbuttoned edges of my wool car-length coat together.
“You look cold.” Bryan’s brow creased in concern. “Better get you inside.”
“Yeah, that would be good.” I hitched the strap of my bag higher on my shoulder, and Bryan put his hand on my lower back.
“This way.” He guided me toward the building, a high-rise. Opening the door, he gestured for me to precede him. As we crossed the lobby, I had the thought that he might have grown up without a father around, but he wasn’t lacking in gentlemanly manners. He always treated me with respect and care.
“Our apartment is on the second floor.” At the elevator, Bryan pushed the button and returned his hand to the small of my back.
It wasn’t possible for me to feel the heat of his palm through my wool coat and the dress I wore underneath it, but somehow, I did.
“I’ll bet you hear a lot of street noise.”
“Yeah, but we got a three-bedroom for half the rent of the units higher up.”
“That’s a good deal. Do you have your own bedroom now?”
“I do.”
“That’s cool.” I gave him a furtive look. “Do you think your mom will mind you bringing me up without telling her first?”
“She’ll love the surprise.”
The elevator dinged, the door slid open, and he steered me inside. Not as certain as he was, I avoided my anxious reflection in the glass.
Bryan’s mother had been more like a real one to me than my own. She’d often invited Dizzy and me to share meals with Bryan and his sisters, meals that had kept us from starving. She’d also been the one to call the cops the night of the Metallica concert. If it hadn’t been for her, I might have been raped.
She’d cared for Dizzy and me when no one else had, treating us like we were her own children. But maybe we’d only been a burden. Why had she never invited us—me—to visit here? I suspected she thought I was a bad influence on her son, that being associated with me would lead him away from his goals, rather than helping him achieve them.
Bryan pointed. “Just to the end of the hall.”
“Okay.”
I kept pace with him. At the door, he stopped to pull out his keys. I heard laughter inside and his mother’s voice.
“Hey, everyone,” Bryan called out after throwing open the door. “I have a surprise for you.” He gave me a gentle push to put me in front of him.
“Hi. Surprise.” Holding up my hand, I waved it in the air.
His sisters shrieked.
“Lace!” Miriam shouted, flying at me, her ebony hair trailing behind her.
I rocked back on my booted heels as she threw her arms around me. “Hey,” I said, warmth filling my chest. “Let me have a look at you.”
“Sure.” She drew back, and my eyes widened.
“You’re beautiful. Practically grown up now.”
“Thank you.” She beamed a smile at me, then turned to gesture to her sibling. “This is Ann.”
“Oh my goodness, so it is. Are you little Annie?” I asked, the blond girl hanging back behind her taller, black-haired sibling.
“Not little anymore.” Beneath her wire-rimmed glasses, Ann’s cheeks blushed.
“No, you’re not,” I said. “You’re practically grown up.”
“So are you, Lace.” Bryan’s mother came forward. In her mid-thirties and still strikingly pretty, she had a dish towel over her shoulder and was wearing her hospital scrubs. “You’re as beautiful as Bry said you were.” Her brows drew together between gray-green eyes like her son’s.
“Thank you.” I glanced at Bryan, surprised that he’d been talking about me to her. He only shrugged.
“Come in.” His mom turned. “Don’t just stand in the entryway. Have a seat in the living room. I