Page 72 of I Dreamt That You Loved Me

I angled my body toward him and rested my cheek on the car seat, tucking my legs underneath me. His dark, wavy hair lifted in the breeze and he was just so lovely, so incredibly precious to me that I couldn’t imagine how anyone could ever leave him.

“What if she showed up now? Would you forgive her?”

“I don’t know. When I was young, I spent so much time wishing and hoping she’d come back. Now? I don’t really need her anymore.”

I thought about that for a minute. I couldn’t imagine not having my mom in my life. “And your dad? Did he make your life a living hell?”

Gabriel shrugged. “We were just so different. He never physically abused me, but he always gave me a dressing down.”

“What does that mean?”

“He’d get right in my face and scream and shout, berating me until I apologized for my wrongdoings.”

I wouldn’t have been able to live like that. I think I would have preferred getting spanked over verbal abuse. “Okay, you win.”

He looked over. “The prize for the most pathetic story?”

“Yep.”

“No, no.” He waved his arm in the air. “You won the contest fair and square. I’m not that heartless to steal your crown.”

“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure your story is sadder.”

“I’ll tell you what. Let’s call it a draw. We’ll share the crown.”

I laughed. “What a pair we are.”

He smiled. “It’s like we were meant to be.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I never wanted to date a musician.”

“Well, too bad. You’re stuck with me and I’m going to be a poor, broke, struggling musician for the rest of my life. So you’ll have to be the breadwinner.”

“I guess we’ll just have to go hungry then.”

That prompted an a cappella version of Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike.”

I was, of course, completely in awe and had shivers running up and down my spine. That voice.Thatvoice.

I cheered and whistled when he was done. “With a voice like that, you won’t go hungry for long.”

“You’re just worried that I won’t be able to buy you any fruit—” His head swiveled as we passed an exit. “Hang on, aren’t we supposed to take one of these exits?”

Oops. I’d been so enamored with him that I hadn’t even been paying attention to the road signs.

We missed our exit.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“I should probably have warnedyou that this is going to be a big music scene,” I said when we finally arrived after three wrong turns, thanks to my terrible navigation skills.

“Cool place,” he said, peering through the windshield at the rustic A-frame cabin with a wraparound deck. It sat on ten acres of woodland and there wasn’t another house in sight. Off to the left was an old stone mill that my dad had converted into a rehearsal space and now the doors were wide open.

Winnebagos and vans were parked near the firepit in the clearing, and from the back deck, I heard Ian’s booming voice over the loud music.

The party had already gotten started.

“My mom can be very rock and roll when she gets together with these people.”