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Reese squeezed him harder. “I can’t imagine that to be true. Maybe they’re hurt. Maybe your fame made things harder for them. But you are still May’s brother. You are your mother’s son. You are family. You need to fight for that, even if it means fighting with them.”
He had just been thinking about that same thing. Sterling knew she was right and his chest lifted with the thought. He could buy a ticket out there, fly home for a day, and fly back for the concert. What would his mother say? What emotion would come to rest on her face when he knocked at the door of his childhood home?
What would May say?
“I don’t know,” he said.
Reese squeezed still tighter, with more force than he expected from her small frame. “I’ll go with you.” She must have felt the way his breath caught. “I mean, not that you need help or anything. I’m sure you’re fine. And we hardly know each other.” She paused. When she spoke again, her voice had lost the hesitation. “But I’ll go. If you need someone to just be there with you.”
Sterling’s emotions were rising into a tempest that matched the wild and tangled thoughts in his brain. Her words, this embrace—they had pushed him and Reese firmly into another level of relationship completely. It felt like they had walked together to the edge of something and chosen to step off a ledge, holding hands on the way down. He cupped the back of Reese’s head and she shuddered.
“Thank you,” he managed to choke out, just as the balcony doors opened and people spilled out.
Sterling felt the separation like something precious had been torn from him. He and Reese were suddenly on separate sides of the balcony as Moby, Chuck, and David plus Mike the sound guy and a few other crew members were all talking at once. Music was coming from somewhere. Morgan had come out last and went straight to Sterling. He caught Reese’s eyes over Morgan’s head as she gave him a hug.
“We had fun, you big party pooper. You should come next time. You can’t avoid every single outing. I know you’re an introvert, but pick a few nights out with us. Please?”
Sterling looked down, realizing as though for the first time that Morgan still had an arm hooked around his waist. He looked across to Reese, but she was moving inside the balcony doors, waving goodbye to Moby. Sterling fought the urge to go after her. She’d said that she wanted to go to bed a few minutes before anyway. He felt like he needed to thank her for being there. He could tomorrow. They would have plenty of time.
Morgan bumped her hip into his and Sterling smiled, instantly relaxing. “How’d your strategy sesh go? She’s brilliant, right?”
“You’re the brilliant one for suggesting we hire someone. She’s fantastic. I think that she’s got a really good handle on what I want. The best part? I don’t have to post anything. She’s handling it all.”
This wasn’t what he wanted to be talking about or who he wanted to be talking to. He didn’t want all these people on his balcony. He only wanted one person and she had just walked out of the door.
“Good. You need to have your full attention on this whole rebrand thing. Which shouldn’t be that hard after tonight. If things go as well as they did tonight, you could decide you want to revive big band music and your fans would follow right along.”
All because of Reese.
“Hey, speaking of which, I need to take a brief detour home in ten days. I don’t have a show. I think that’s actually the longest stretch we have between shows.”
“Home?” Her nose wrinkled in confusion. “You’re going back to Santa Monica?”
“Yep. Just for a night, maybe two.”
Morgan’s eyes traced over his face. “Anything specific?”
Sterling ignored her fishing. He could tell her. But he didn’t want to. She knew his family, knew May, back in the day, but hadn’t stayed close to them after he left. He had half-hoped that Morgan would remain like a big sister to May when he left. Not that he blamed her for drifting apart from his family. He had been the reason that Morgan spent so much time at his house. It only made sense that she never went back after he left.
“Everything okay?”
“Totally okay,” Sterling said.
“Good. Because I’ve got a really good feeling about this tour. Things are changing for you, Sterling.”
Sterling smiled and gave her a side hug before moving over to talk to Mike and Moby. He could almost taste the change and it almost completely eclipsed the bitterness on his tongue from his conversation with his mom.
As soon as everyone left, he would book plane tickets. The thought of taking Reese with him sent a shudder of nervousness through him and sent a smile hiking up his face.
Chapter Twelve
“Can you take me on a tour?”
Staci sounded like a little kid excited for Christmas and it made Reese laugh. They were face-timing while the tour bus headed toward Houston. She was lounging in her tiny bunk and could hear voices in the front room. Sterling and a few of the guys were playing some sports video game, which is what sent her back to the bunk area. She hadn’t seen Morgan in a bit, which probably meant she was in the back lounge.
“You want a tour of the tour bus?”
“Yes, please. When else am I going to get a chance to see one? I need to see how it compares to our apartment.”
