Page 23 of Paint Our Song (Cloverlily #1)

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

“This is the set list.” Grinning and way too excited, Chase gives Calvin the paper he got from the coordinator. “They’ve got the band’s equipment all set up already. All we need to do is get into suits and do our thing.”

Oh. Right. The suits. Miles looks around frantically, trying to get a glimpse of Gabby. At the other side of the lobby, the twins are still chatting to their stream.

“Hi.” Calvin puts a hand on Miles’s arm, stilling him. “I told you to tell me if you needed help.”

Miles goes slack and doesn’t say anything.

“Eight hundred! Whoa!” One of the twins exclaims.

“I need to… um. I need to find Gabby,” Miles tells Calvin.

“She’s right there.” Calvin waves at Gabby, who’s coming out from the hallway behind the front desk. She’s got Matthew with her.

“Three of our regular crew called in sick,” she tells Miles. “Some flu thing is going around. No wonder they looked terrible last night.”

Well, isn’t that perfect? Miles closes his eyes. “Um. Suits. We need suits.”

“Suits?” Matthew asks.

“The band they booked is still stuck on the highway,” Gil explains. “We’re going to do it instead, but we need suits. Cal’s going to borrow one from Miles.”

“Oh. Shit. Really?” Gabby lights up immediately. “Thank you so much. Oh. Okay. Suits, suits… okay, you three hang tight. I’ll figure this out for you.”

“Gil, let’s study their set list,” Chase says, taking it back from Calvin. The three of them huddle together, bringing out their phones and talking in low voices.

Miles stares. He’s amazed by how professional they seem, a total contrast to the rowdy group of friends he’s been hanging out with the last few days, and he can’t decide how to feel. Miles wants to feel appreciative. He wants to jump for joy for them saving the day, but, for some reason, he can’t.

Gabby, Matthew, and Miles have their own little meeting, too. Or, at least Gabby and Matthew are. He stands there, lost in his own head.

Looking at Gil from head to toe, Matthew says. “Gil’s about my size. I can lend him a suit. What about shoes?”

“We’ve got some extra dress shoes in the staffroom; they can take their pick. All new and shiny, too,” Gabby says. “Do you think Diego would have something for Chase? They’re about the same height and build.”

“Diego?” Miles asks. “From back in school?”

Matthew takes his phone out and taps on it. “Give me a second, I’ll ask.”

“You and Diego are tight now?” His memory of Diego is the skinny kid back in high school who used to follow Matthew everywhere. Maybe they became closer friends when Miles left.

“I hope so, because we’re getting married next year.”

Miles gapes. “Wait—what? You’re engaged ?”

“Hi.” Matthew turns away slightly, talking into his phone. “There’s a wedding mishap at the inn, and we need to borrow a suit for the band. You wouldn’t happen to have one, would you?”

“Did you know?” Miles asks Gabby. Why didn’t he know about this? Actually, why would they have told him? Still, it’s really odd that Gabby’s never mentioned this.

She says, quietly, “I told you he was dating someone. I just found out they were engaged, too.”

Matthew wraps up his call. “He’s got a suit. I’ll be back in about thirty. Miles, give me your keys. I’ll grab yours from your closet.”

Miles eyes him as he hands over his keys. “You’re engaged?”

“Yes, Miles, I’m engaged. The world didn’t stop when we broke up,” Matthew teases.

“That’s not—Jesus. I didn’t know. You didn’t mention it, and I should have asked.” Miles takes a deep breath. All it took was a split-second for Matthew to figure out he had something going on with Calvin, even said he was happy for him, and Miles never bothered to ask about his life. Fuck. Miserably, Miles says to Matthew, “I’m a shitty friend.”

“Miles,” Gabby sighs.

“A shitty son too, while we’re at it,” he grumbles. “Shouldn’t have agreed to this. We’re not staffed enough. This probably wouldn’t have been such a shitshow if they stayed in Camilla.”

There’s a hand on his arm—Gabby’s. “You need to breathe.”

He takes a deep breath. It doesn’t help. Right on cue, a florist from the other side of the room trips and spills her box of centerpieces all over the floor, the sound of glass shattering resounding through the room. Perfect. The livestreaming teenagers gasp and point their cameras at it.

Matthew levels a stare at him as he walks off. “You’re neither a shitty friend nor a shitty son. We can catch up after this is all over if you’d like, and you’re doing more than enough for your mom.” He taps Calvin on the shoulder as he passes him, and points to Miles. “Talk to him, will you? He’s freaking out about everything.”

“That’s not—” Miles goes red. He groans and tips his head back, covering his face with both his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Calvin approaches him. “Everything okay?”

“Matthew’s going to be back soon with suits,” Gabby tells Calvin. “I’m going to go take care of that glass.”

“Got it.” He holds Miles’s elbow. “Miles?”

“Yeah, yeah. Hi.” His voice is muffled from under his hands. “Need to get someone on that broken glass.”

“Gabby’s already on it. Miles, hey.” Calvin grips his wrists and tugs his hands away from his face. He rubs his thumbs against Miles’s skin and smiles. “It’s okay. Everything’s under control.”

“Sorry.” He’s spiraling, and he knows it, and it’s so humiliating that Calvin has to see him like this. “I shouldn’t have agreed to this stupid thing. It’s my fault. Now hundreds of people are going to—this is going to go viral, with that stupid livestream and its fucking eight hundred viewers—”

“What livestream?”

Miles points at the twins on the other side of the lobby. “Those twins are live-streaming this entire fiasco.”

“Okay. Wait.” Calvin yanks Chase by the back of his shirt. Chase protests and turns to them, bewildered, and Gil cranes his neck to see what’s going on. “Do me a favor. Can you go chat with those teenagers, tell them we’re playing and all that, turn their mess of a stream around?”

Miles’s shoulders slacken in defeat. “You don’t have to.”

“Why would I—” Chase looks up, gets a glimpse of Calvin’s firm expression, and blinks.

Gil smiles. “We’ll take care of the stream.”

“Yeah, sure,” Chase says.

Miles watches as both Gil and Chase make their way toward the teenagers, who squeal when they see them approaching. Chase’s voice is loud and resounds across the lobby as he pulls into the shot. Miles can’t hear what they’re saying, but the teenagers are jumping on the balls of their feet.

“It’ll be okay.” Calvin rubs Miles’s arms up and down.

Will it? Calvin says it will be okay, but Miles’s head is throbbing .

There’s a flicker in Calvin’s eyes, and he looks around quickly before putting a hand on Miles’s cheek and leaning in to give him a quick peck on the lips.

That easily, Miles’s world comes into focus once more.

“It’ll be okay,” Calvin says, leaning away. Miles kind-of wants to pull him back, dive in again and again and kiss him until he can’t breathe, because apparently that’s all his brain needs to reboot. “Everything’s fine.”

Kiss me again, he wants to say, but the words get stuck in his throat. Calvin studies his expression and seems to get it, anyway, pulling at his wrist and leading him to the closed-off hallway behind the front desk. Once they’ve retreated out of everyone’s view, Calvin cups Miles’s face and kisses him, slowly and tenderly.

Something within Miles settles, all the tension in his body vanishing, and he grasps the back of Calvin’s neck and kisses him back.

“We’ve got you,” Calvin says, smiling against his lips and rubbing his jaw with a thumb. “Trust me.”

Then Calvin presses their lips together again, deeper this time, and Miles groans and sags in his hold. Calvin coaxes his mouth open with a tongue, a hand dropping down to Miles’s hip and drawing circles.

“Calvin,” he breathes, feeling much more like himself now. “If you don’t stop, I’ll forget about this wedding completely. I’ll throw you over my shoulder and head to your room to do stupid, unspeakable things.”

He laughs. “What kind of stupid, unspeakable things?”

Miles lifts his eyebrows at him .

“What’s that look?” Calvin asks.

“Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He grins. “I’m thinking about how I’m going to thank you for doing all this for the inn.”

Calvin trails a thumb over Miles’s lower lip. “Maybe you can thank me with whatever unspeakable things you had in mind when the wedding’s over.”

Damn it, Calvin. Groaning again, Miles’s pants tighten, and he adjusts himself. “What wedding?”

Calvin smirks, leans in close and kisses his jaw. “And there you are.” He pulls away, looking at Miles with a softness in his eyes. “I need to go over the set list with Chase and Gil. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay,” Miles says, then steals one last kiss from him.

Once he leaves, Miles heads to the restroom to splash water over his face. He needs to get it together. The band’s going to play for them for the entire night, and for free. They’re a popular band, and he knows their rate is more than what most people can afford. He doesn’t even know if Gil was telling the truth before, about how they wouldn’t be able to talk about it without their manager.

Oh, shit. Derrick.

He doesn’t know about this. He’ll hear about it soon, judging from the growing amount of viewers the twins are bringing in. Theo will hear about it too, probably—what will he say when he finds out that the rest of the band is playing without him?

“Ugh.” Miles splashes water on his face again. “Dad, are you watching? What would you do? ”

One of the cubicles opens, and a man steps out, giving him an odd look. Miles gets out of there before the man tells the wedding couple there’s a crazy man on the crew talking to himself.

Bridget is in the lobby. She’s in her wedding dress, and she’s gorgeous, getting ready to walk down the aisle. Her crowd of bridesmaids surrounds her. The twins aren’t in the lobby anymore. They’ve probably been shooed off to take their seats by now.

Outside, the place has been transformed into what Miles can only describe as pure elegance. The flowers have finally been set up, lining up the aisle and tied around the wedding arch. He spots the staff, as well as Mom, standing out of view by the back. His watch says they still have some time, so Miles ducks to the dining room to check if the food’s on track, and checks on the outdoor tent as well.

Everything seems to be going smoother now. Thank fuck.

Mom kisses his cheek when he steps up beside her. “Hi.”

“Hi, Ma,” he says, distracted by how the band’s fiddling around with the equipment. Gil’s on the keyboard, with Calvin and Chase on the bass and the guitar. The wedding coordinator signals to them that they can start playing, and slow, sweet music fills the air.

The wedding march starts. Several people in the seats are whispering to themselves and pointing at the band, and Miles gets it—nobody expected the music to come from the famous Cloverlily. The twins are sitting near the back, their cameras pointed at the band, and—yeah. The stream’s still going.

He leaves Mom to join Gabby and Matthew.

“How are you?” Gabby whispers, squeezing his arm.

“Perfect,” he lies .

Calvin looks good wearing Miles’s suit. Tucked in a corner of his closet, it’s been a while since he’s seen it. Dad had given it to him years back, and he’s not even sure if it still fits him. He’s only worn it maybe twice in his life.

It fits Calvin perfectly.

Bridget appears from the back. The guests gasp and point their phones at her, standing up. A bridesmaid’s crying, and the bride’s mom is sniffling so hard someone has to hand her a handkerchief.

Then the song changes, and Calvin steps closer to the microphone. Oh, god. They’re covering “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran. He should’ve guessed—it’s a pretty popular song for weddings, even if a tad bit cliche.

His voice, the cadence of it, how deep it sounds and how effortlessly he does this—Miles isn’t going to survive this.

Everyone’s eyes are on the bride, but Miles is frozen in place, staring at Calvin. He doesn’t have a name for what he feels right now.

Bridget reaches the front, steps up to Jeff. The song ends when she does, and Calvin switches his mic off and steps back. He turns to Gil to say something, who nods.

“Oh, Miles,” Gabby suddenly says, her voice quiet. She leans her head against his shoulder. “I think I might cry. It’s such a bummer that their band’s breaking up. They should still continue it, the three of them.”

“Yeah.” Miles presses fingers against his sternum and nods. He wonders what to do with how his heart is hammering.