Page 64 of Love Deep

“I can’t, Fisher. You say bring Riley, but what’s she going to do while I meet with Grace and agents? Having a kid is the best thing in the world, but from the day you give birth, it means they come first. Before my ambition. Before my choices. Before my life.”

“Riley can stay with me at my offices. Or we can bring yourmom.”

She splutters out a laugh. “My mom would not go to New York City. Hell, she won’t go to Denver. It’s not happening.”

“Then let’s find a sitter if you don’t think she’d want to stay with me.”

“I think she’d want to stay with you a littletoomuch. It’s another reason I can’t go. If we go away together, she’s going to become attached. To you. Hell,I’mgoing to get even more attached. And then the next time you fly out to New York City, you’ll stay there. And I’ll still be sitting here on my porch, and Riley will be snoring in bed. I can handle that. But Riley? Her father moved to Florida. I don’t want her to get attached to another man who lives across the country. It’s too much for her.”

I’m out of arguments. I wouldn’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt or upset Riley. I understand what Juniper’s saying but it kills me to see so much talent stay in Star Falls.

I take a swig of my drink. “I’m sorry if I pushed too much.”

She slides her hand onto my knee. “I like that you did. It makes me feel…” She shakes her head, like she doesn’t want to say. “I like it.”

“Finish that thought?” I say, and I turn to her. “It makes you feel…?”

She smiles and looks up at me under her lashes. “I was going to say ‘important,’ to you at least.”

My stomach lifts in my chest, and I cup my hand around her neck and pull her in for a kiss. She doesn’t even see how special she is. And sheisimportant. To me. More important than I should have let her become, given I’m leaving Star Falls for good in just a few weeks.

Maybe part of the reason I’ve been pushing so hard isbecause if Juniper was in New York, I’d be able to see her after Vivian has stopped recording. After I’ve gone back to New York. In real life.

I deepen our kiss and pull her closer. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about anybody, and I know I’m not going to want to give her up when I go back to New York.

TWENTY-THREE

Fisher

I expected New York to feel different when I came back from Star Falls, but as a cab hoots its horn at me as I walk over a pedestrian crossing that’s on green, I’m faced with the reality that New York is just the same as it ever was. Like it’s been on pause while I’ve been away and someone hit play when I touched down at LaGuardia.

I’m meeting Benny, the manager of The Homecoming Kings, at an Irish bar in Greenwich Village. I’ve not seen him in a couple of months, which is unusual. He’s based in New York and we’d usually grab a drink most months. He’s been busy. I’ve been in Colorado.

I see him by the bar. He’s at least fifteen years older than me and has been in the music business a long time. He’s old school and I like that about him.

“Fisher,” he says, with a nod. “Can I get you a beer?” He beckons over the waitress. He already has a Guiness, but there’s no way I can stomach that tonight.

“I’ll take a bottle of…”

“Heineken?” she suggests, smiling at me.

“Sure,” I reply. “Thanks.” I settle onto my stool across the high table from Benny.

“She likes you,” Benny says.

I frown, not quite understanding, until I realize he means the waitress. “What can I say? I’m a likeable guy.”

“You are that,” he says.

“How are things?” I ask. “Any thoughts on the next album? How Right Records can best support the guys?”

“Yeah, the guys are good. Enjoying the downtime after the tour ended.”

“We need to wrap things up from a legal perspective, obviously. Where are we with the contracts?” I ask, like I don’t know exactly where we are. The new contracts are with Benny, and they have been for weeks now. I made sure they went out before I went to Colorado.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Benny says.

His tone is breezy and it makes my stomach shrivel. Benny is never breezy. He’s grumpy and bad tempered, and if he wasn’t a music manager, I’m pretty certain he would be doing something that involved hard labor and alcohol.