Page 80 of With Stars in Her Eyes

“What was the first thing you ever quit?”

“Hmm.” I adjusted my sunglasses. “The Little Miss Huntsville Starlight Princess Pageant in 1995. That was the shoe incident actually. Stop laughing at me.” I flicked Courtney’s earlobe. “Mymomwas into that stuff. I wasn’t. We were just a normal family otherwise.My sisters did all that, so when I turned out to be more of a disaster than a debutante, she didn’t know what to do with me.”

“I bet you were a debutante dropout too?”

“Shh…” I uncurled my fingers from Courtney’s hand to press a finger to her lips. “You’ll give me flashbacks.”

“How have things been going with your family? Still talking to your mom all the time?”

“Less…” I traced Courtney’s palm lines, thinking for a few minutes before deciding what to say. “It’s getting even more obvious every day that I’m just really different from them.”

“You’re really different than Marshall and you’re still close.”

I signaled to change lanes to avoid an aggressive tailgater in a giant off-roading truck. “Marshall doesn’t feel like he needs to give a ‘warning’ whenever he introduces me to someone.”

“Ugh. I hate that.” Courtney’s exhale was full of regret. “Fuck, it’s hard when your family wants you to be different.”

“Yeah, I guess at least my parents didn’t push me into being a baby musician.” I smiled. “I still want to hear you play or sing.”

“We’ll see.” Courtney lifted our clasped hands to her mouth and swept soft lips over my knuckles. I risked a glance at her. The afternoon sun gilded Courtney’s natural highlights, her green eyes glowing warmer than usual. “So where are we going?”

“You’llsee.”

CHAPTER 27Courtney

“This is…wow.”

A wide expanse of green rose and fell all the way out to the horizon in every direction. The wind brushed over the landscape as if a large hand was scraping over sand. Clumps of wildflowers created swaths of yellow and orange and purple. A large vertical rock in the distance cast a long shadow.

“You said we were going to…”

Thea held up a postcard. The image was similar to where we stood.

Visit the Sea of Grass in Flint Hills, Kansas

My breath caught in my chest.

The sea of grass.

Thea’s dimples deepened. “I figured since we both hate boats but long for the sea this would be a good—”

I threw my arms around her.

After a long time spent wrapping me in the tightest hug possible, Thea let her chin dip, her gaze drifting to my mouth. Her fingers played with the hem of my sweater. My hand threaded through her hair, and I pulled her mouth to mine. Thea’s hand slid down, her fingers a cool presence over my spine. As my tongue moved against hers, she moaned.

I slid the postcard into my pocket. I needed both hands free. I stroked Thea’s neck and kissed the trail of my touch to the slope of her collarbone.

When my roving hands slipped under her shirt to sweep over Thea’s stomach, her delicate gasp pulsed in my core.

“God, Thea.”

A rumble of cars approached, forcing us apart. This was a red state after all. I had had experiences on tour that taught me not to forget that. A few other parked cars were not exactly close, but close enough we probably shouldn’t be gratuitously putting on a show.

“So now…” I looked around. “Are we hiking?”

“Nope.” Thea popped open her trunk. “Now we set up the equipment. And…” She walked around the driver’s side rear door and pulled out a cooler. “You missed our last sandwich lunch.”

I beamed. “Tell me what to do to help.”