Page 9 of Heartstring

“She’ll listen to him,” Bastian says, and I nod. She always listens to him. He’s like the Kay whisperer or something.

“How are you going to handle the press?” Nikko asks. “You can’t hide at home forever, and this isn’t Bastian’s place.”

“Is that why you’ve grown your beard and stopped brushing your hair?”

I flip Stone the bird. My hair is brushed, it’s just longer than usual, and I haven’t had time to find a trustworthy barber. The beard, though, I’m not going to deny it’s helped to go unrecognized in the grocery store.

There was a time this week when I thought I was almost recognized by the cashier, but the guy just shook his head like he was shaking off a silly vision and carried on ringing up my groceries. I paid with cash just on the off chance he looked at the name on my credit card.

“Is Daisy helping you settle in?” Nikko asks.

“No. She doesn’t know we moved yet.”

“Why? It’s not her job, but she’s the best at making shit happen. If you want to live here undetected, I’m sure she’ll know a way. I swear she works for the Mafia.”

I snort, but he’s not wrong. Our young agent-slash-manager has done more for us in the last five years than our old-school agent did. Including making sure Kay remained anonymous after a really close call a couple of years ago.

If the press knew what really goes on during our tours, they’d have a field day.

Fox having afternoon tea backstage with dolls and a five-year-old bossy Kay. Teaching her little fingers how to play the guitar, the constant fear of something heavy falling on her. It’s been the scariest, eye-opening, and most wonderful fourteen years of my life, and the guys have been there for it like they became parents the same day I did.

The guys stay for a few days before they all go back to Vermont to Bastian’s place. His family has a huge dairy farm, which he manages mostly from a distance. I have no clue how he does it because he’s up before the sun, and we only see him when we’re all working together on our music.

It’s like he’s two different people. The musician and the farmer.

Just like me…the musician and the dad. I know which one is the most important to me. Sadly, it’s the one I feel like I fail the most at.

Kay has few words for me while the guys are with us. Fox works his magic and manages to convince her to give Stillwater a chance, so a week after they leave, I finally draw a real smile from her.

It could have something to do with the ridiculous order of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream delivered straight from the factory in Vermont.

Who knew it paid off to visit the place yearly and make friends with the factory store manager.

Whether or not Kay will remain agreeable, only the future will tell, but I’m afraid that even with a freezer stocked with her favorite ice cream, she’s not going to take well to starting school for the first time in her life.

Every time I think about it, my heart breaks for her. Kay is world smart. She can command attention in a room full of rock-star divas, but will she be as confident with her own peers?

I can’t shake the feeling that it could be the reason for her recent behavior.

My little girl is a grownup in so many ways, but she’s also still a child, and I want to protect her from the nasty people of the world for as long as I can.

No one told me this would be what being a parent is, but then again, so much of my life has been so different from my expectations. Like how I never thought I’d be a parent until Kay was left at my doorstep, almost literally, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I don’t want to disappoint her.

I can’t handle looking into her eyes and feeling like I’ve failed another person in my life. Broken another promise.

Stillwater will work. I’ll make sure it does.

4

TYLER

THEN

“I’ll race you there,”Mik says.

I want to kiss the cocky smile off his face so badly that I step back and curl my hands into fists on either side of me.