AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why would anybody want to walk without going anywhere?” Hank protested. “It’s just stupid.” He folded his arms across his chest in defiance, but I could see his point.
I wasn’t particularly in the mood this morning, either. “Tell you what… why don’t you guys tell me what you’d like to do instead.”
“Play my harmonica,” Hank said.
“Practice my fiddle,” Annie said.
“Learn a new song,” Emily offered.
That was the problem. Ever since the band signed with Marcia, and we’d temporarily moved to Vegas, all the kids wanted to do, for the most part, was play music. I thought they should get out more, but apparently, I was fighting a losing battle.
Now that I was officially a part of the band, and a member of this different kind of family, I got to call most of the shots with the kids. My nanny title had more or less gone in the trashcan. I was more like a mom now, which on a certain level scared me, but on another, made me feel loved.
I’d been trying to get them to do other fun stuff. Their dads kept telling me that I should just go with it, but when I looked back at my childhood and all that I’d missed due to my own music obsession, I wanted something different for these kiddos.
But with their help, I was beginning to see how wrongheaded my thinking might be.
“Ya know what? Emily’s right. Let’s go home.”
“Do you mean home-home?” Hank asked.
“Not yet. We still have a few months left on our contract, but we can go back to the house.”
“Can we go for a swim in the pool later?” Hank asked.
“Sure,” I said. Thinking that at least they’d get some physical exercise with a swim.
He shrugged. “That’s better than walking to nowhere.” And he led us back to the car all on his own. He had once explained his ability to know the way back in almost any situation was because of the dragon in him. “A dragon always knows his way home. “
Our performance residential contract provided our housing, and it was a fabulous estate, on one of the many man-made lakes in Vegas. The dads had negotiated a real house instead of an elaborate condo. They wanted a yard for the kids, with a pool, which this one had.
As soon as we walked in the house, I knew something was up from the silence.
The kids ran to find their dads, while I headed to my bedroom, thinking I’d go for a swim, as well. We would be playing our first show tonight, and I couldn’t shake the nerves. I thought the hike would help, and perhaps it would have, if I hadn’t taken the kids with me.
When I walked into my bedroom, Austin followed me in. “Everything okay?”
“Just a little nervous about tonight.”
“You’re going to do great,” he said, taking me in his arms. “We’ve practiced enough so that we know the music backwards and forwards.”
“Everything okay?” Kasey asked as he walked into the room. “You guys came back way too early from your hike.”
“Hank reminded us that walking to nowhere was stupid,” I said.
“He has a point,” Boone said. “Why don’t we get out of here for a while? Austin’s parents are here and want to take the kids to that Discovery Children’s Museum.”
“They love that place,” I said. “I don’t think they’ll fight that one.”
“And it gives us some time for ourselves. We have a few hours before the show. Let’s get out of here,” Austin said.
I quickly changed into something a little less outdoorsy, and before I could say another word, we were on our way to one of my favorite restaurants in Vegas, Time Zone, an upscale small gourmet restaurant with a view of the entire strip.
The pretty hostess, dressed in a tight, black dress, wearing some of the highest red heels I’d ever seen, escorted us to possibly the best table in the place. It was already set up with a bottle of Dom chilling in a bucket, and four champagne flutes had been placed on the private table.
“What’s all this?” I asked. “Did you guys have this planned?”
“We might’ve,” Austin teased.
