Page 159 of I Dreamt That You Loved Me

“I was jealous, too,” I admitted. “Still am.”

“I went out with him that night. Jack, I mean. We were at a bar and one of your songs came on and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And I was so annoyed by that. Furious with you, really, and you weren’t even there.” She let out a shaky laugh.

I didn’t want to let on how happy that made me. “Even from behind the scenes, I was working for the greater good. A guy named Jack who invites you on a yacht is never going to make you happy,” I scoffed.

“You don’t even know him. He invited you to sail on his yacht too.” She laughed. “Can you imagine?”

No, I couldn’t. “Good thing you didn’t accept the invitation.” My hand flexed at my side. “I would have had to punch him in the face.”

“You’re ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her smile. “So, there was no one else, huh?”

I shook my head. “No one. You?” I braced myself for the answer. If she said a number above zero, I’d just have to suck it up. Wouldn’t change anything. Not like I’d deserved her loyalty.

But still. If she had been with other men, a big part of me would rather not know.

“No one since you,” she said.

Relief flooded my body. “Because you still love me?”

“It had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me and whatIwanted and needed.” She lifted her chin and lookedme right in the eye. “If I’d wanted to sleep with someone, I would have.”

That last part wasn’t necessary, but Eddie was calling my name, so I didn’t have time to further debate it.

We’d made our peace. Just in time, too.

Eddie charged out the front door, brandishing his sticks. “Where the hell have you been?”

I pushed off from the railing. “Waiting for you and Dev to get your act together.”

Dev ambled out with a beer in his hand. “We’re good. But we lost our bass player.”

“What do you mean, you lost him?”

“He’s gone,” Eddie said. “Walked out about an hour ago. We thought he’d come back but this time I think he’s gone for good.”

“What do you mean,thistime?” I asked.

“He was always threatening to quit,” Dev said. “He’s a good bass player but never really gelled with us. Whenever we were on the road, he just kept to himself. He hated when we drank or smoked weed or had any kind of fun.”

“He’s a devout Christian,” Eddie said as if that explained everything.

Truth was, I didn’t really know Tyler. This was only the second time I’d met him (post-surgery, anyway).

“Fuck,” I said, looking at the driveway. The van was still there but that meant nothing. It was Devin’s van. “Do you know any bass players?” I asked Eddie and Devin.

“No one who’s goodandavailable,” Dev said.

Cleo joined our circle. “Call Ian.”

Tempting but that seemed excessive. “I can’t ask him to fly all the way from London to play at a dive bar.”

“He would though,” she insisted. “He would fly halfway across the world just for a chance to play with you.”

“He’s filled in for Tyler before,” Eddie said. “Ian played with us at Glastonbury.”

As luck would have it, Ian didn’t have to fly halfway across the world.

He was already in New York.