Page 86 of Paint Our Song

Chase grins. “We can play for the wedding, but we don’t have our equipment with us.”

Immediately, she lights up. “The… the equipment’s here. Drums, keyboard, guitars, mics. They had it in a different van and it got here before the traffic jam. Are you for real? You’ll play? That would save the night.”

“Wait,” Miles says, weakly. “You don’t have to do this. Tell them your rates, at least.”

Gil leans back and whispers, “We can’t charge them. Boring, legal stuff. Our manager’s the only one who can talk about our rates, and if we get him on the phone right now to sort all that out, it will take hours. We’re going to have to do itfor free. “

“Oh god.”

“Besides, if we charge for this, Theo’s definitely going to make a whole different fuss.”

“Can I see the set list? Should be all the usual songs, right?” Chase puts his hand out toward the coordinator, who fumbles through the papers she’s holding. When she finds it, she gives it to him as quickly as she can. “Yeah, we can play these. Look, Gil, this shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Gil doesn’t even look. “Yeah.”

“You two actually mean it?” Miles asks, still dizzy. The two of them nod.

“Come on, Miles,” Chase whines. “We haven’t done weddings in a long time. It’ll be fun.”

There’s something gnawing on Miles. This isn’t right. Fuck. Everyone’s staring at him, probably wondering why he wouldn’t want Cloverlily to play at his inn. What an idiot, they must be thinking. “I get that you two want to, and I appreciate it. I really do… but I don’t want to force Calvin.”

“You’re worried about Cal?” Chase snickers. “That guy would jump off a cliff for you.”

“I don’t want him to jump off a cliff for me.”

“This isn’t a cliff. It’s barely a step off the curb. I’ll even fucking push him off myself. if he finds out you didn’t even ask, he’s going to be more upset about that than anything else.”

Gil gives him a sympathetic smile. “He’ll do this for you. Besides, it’s not really your choice, is it? If the bride wants us to do it, we’ll do it—unless you kick us out of your inn, but why would you do that? We’re only trying to help here.”

“Harsh.” Chase snorts.

Shit. Okay. Whyishe being so difficult about this? The coordinator looks at him hopefully, her lower lip wobbling. Miles nods. “Okay. But please don’t force Calvin if he’d rather not.”

Chase and Gil look at each other and then burst out laughing, as if what Miles had said was the most ridiculous thing ever.

“You’re hilarious,” Gil says, and he takes out his phone. “I’m calling Cal.”

“One problem, though.” Chase dramatically points at their outfits. “We need suits.”

“I…” Miles racks his brain. “Okay, I’m a bit taller than Calvin, but I think my suit would fit him. Let me ask around for you two. Wait, before that, what does Calvin think?”

“Ringing… Hey, Cal!” Gil says loudly to his phone. The coordinator’s frantically looking between all of them, eager and listening. “The wedding downstairs needs a band. You in? Yeah. Miles is here, he knows. Honestly, he looks like he’s about to have a meltdown.”

“Do I?” squeaks Miles.

Both Chase and the coordinator nod.

Gil ends the call. “He’s coming.”

“Thank you so much,” the coordinator says. “Thank you so, so much. I’m going to go talk to the couple. Please. Anything you need, let me know.”

Miles nods absently, his stare fixed on the elevator as they wait for Calvin to arrive. His mind’s so noisy, and he doesn’t know how to shut it up.

Get a fucking grip,he tells himself.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Miles’s breath hitches the moment Calvin steps foot in the lobby.