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“I don’t know. I have some things to work out.”

“Your research?”

“No, just some stuff.” Megan began to get irritated. “Look Kathy, tell Tony I really appreciate what he’s done, but I’ve got some other stuff to deal with that’s far more important to me than my job.”

Her sister’s voice rose. “You’ve only been gone a few days and like Tony said your research will mean nothing if you don’t have a job. It’s your whole career, Megan. If you want to save your skin, you’ll have to come home to the meeting. What’s happened over there that’s more important?”

It was as though Kathy was now the mouthpiece for Tony, and Megan decided it would just be easier to agree.

“Yes, okay, whatever Tony thinks. I’ll come home then. I’ll let you know when I’m coming. And now I have to go. Good-bye.”

Megan terminated the call before her sister could object, and she turned the phone off before throwing it back in her bag. It surprised her that there was any battery life left on the phone, anyway.

But then she thought about it. It had only been a couple of days since she’d charged it.

So much had happened to her in the last forty-eight hours.

Her whole life had changed, and she had a lot of things to work out before she flew back home for any hearing. She wasn’t sure what she wanted yet, but before she made any decisions, she had a festival to go to.

And a man to consider.

Time would tell. That’s what she needed…time to get her head around everything.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Fuck, man. We thought you weren’t coming.” Bear was behind the drums at the back of the stage and he watched David as he hurried to the amplifiers and plugged in his guitar, with only seconds to spare.

He turned and grinned at the drummer. “I wouldn’t have missed tonight. I know how important this concert is. Tonight’s our big night.” Pulling the guitar strap over his shoulder, he nodded to the announcer, who’d been waiting at the microphone to announce the band.

Energy flowed through David’s body and his nerves were jumping. As hard as it had been to leave Megan and come back through the time slip, his fingers were itching to play tonight. The music was flowing through him and he knew this was going to be the performance of his life. He could thank Megan for that.

Maybe it was all part of a bigger plan. Meeting Megan, getting inspiration for his performance, meeting the agent after the concert. Even without being forearmed with the knowledge of the performance tonight, he would have known that they were going to pull off a top-class performance.

It was a shame Megan couldn’t be here to watch them, but the journey through the stones seemed to take so much out of her. He wasn’t going to risk her travelling again.

Ever.

As soon as he was finished here, he was going straight back to her.

David launched into the first riff, the mellow music introducing the first words of his signature song, and the crowd cheered as they recognised the tune. A familiar face caught his attention and he frowned. Alice stood at the end of the front row in the middle of a group of young girls. She was dressed in a bright-red dress and her hair was braided beneath her red hat. Smiling up at him, she swayed with the music and David shook his head. He hadn’t expected to see her here tonight.

Three songs later, the perspiration was dripping from him and when he pulled his shirt off, the crowd went wild. The number of people watching them had grown as they’d played and the word must have spread across the festival site. Music lovers had left the other stages and had come to listen to the Davy Morgan Band. He caught Slim’s eye and the bass guitarist grinned at him and gave him a thumbs-up.

Looking down at the crowd as he sang, David detached himself from the words and just let it flow. He wondered which one of the onlookers was Mick Rothman, the agent who would come and see them after the concert and get them an amazing record deal. Knowing what was going to happen before it did was bizarre, but he’d read about the deal that happened tonight in his biography and now that he had come through the time slip, he was creating the present.

There was no way he was going to jeopardise what was about to happen. His future depended on it.

Past, present, and future all ran together as David put everything he had into the last song. The final chord crashed down and when he dropped his guitar and bowed to the crowd, they screamed and whistled. A flurry of movement at the front caught his attention. Two first aid workers leaned over someone lying on the ground and as the crowd stepped back to give them room, he saw Alice’s bright-red dress spread out on the ground around her as the men worked on her.

“Shit.”

As he turned and ran for the stairs at the back of the pyramid stage, a small man in a suit with a thin black mustache held his hand out to David.

“Davy Morgan? I’m Mick Rothman and I’d like to talk to you.”

“Bear? Slim?” He called to the two band members who were unplugging their equipment before the next band came onto the stage. “Come and talk to Mr. Rothman here. I’ll be back up as soon as I can.”

The agent frowned as David ignored his outstretched hand and he ran down the stairs as quickly as he could. Pushing through the crowd, he ignored the girls whose hands slipped off his sweaty, bare chest as they grabbed at him. When he reached the first aid men on the ground next to Alice, he dropped to his knees next to her.