“How’s Riley?” I asked after he handed me a mug of steaming coffee. Garrett sat down across from me, stretching out his legs.
“She’s great. She was called into to cover a story at four this morning. Some fire over at the government offices. So I just got up and headed to the airport. I waited around for a few hours before my flight. She’ll be down this weekend for the show.” Garrett smiled at the mention of his girlfriend.
“So you won’t have to wait too long to see her again,” I said, drinking my coffee. Garrett could make one hell of a cup of java, that’s for sure.
“It gets harder and harder to leave her,” he said softly. He looked up at me, his blue eyes tired but happy. “I’m moving up there. To Boston,” he announced and I blinked in shock.
“To Boston. You’re moving to Boston,” I repeated, not sure that I heard him correctly.
Garrett downed the rest of his coffee and nodded. “Yeah. I can’t be away from her anymore. I just can’t do it. And neither can she. She’s got a good gig with the paper. I would never ask her to move back here. There’s nothing for her in Bakersville as far as her career goes.”
“But the band—” I started to say.
“I don’t think that’s in the equation anymore,” he said, sounding a mixture of sad and relieved.
“What are you talking about?” I asked aghast. No Generation Rejects? I couldn’t imagine them not playing together. “I know you guys are worried about the label dropping you, but Mitch’s cousin was getting you guys some gigs right? You don’t need a label to still play music,” I argued.
Garrett got up and refilled his mug. “You know, the band has been the biggest part of my life for so damn long. After my parents died, it’s what kept me from losing my fucking mind. Mitch, Cole, and Jordan are more than my friends, they’re my brothers. We’ve traveled down this road together and it’s been amazing. It really has. But things change. Life heads off into another direction and you have to go with it. Generation Rejects will always be a part of my life. But Riley Walker is my life, G. I want to build my life with her. I want to put down roots with her.”
He stopped for a minute and then he smiled and it made my breath catch in my throat. At one time I had thought myself in love with Garrett. It was easy to see why when he looked like that. When he was talking about the woman he adored above everything else.
“I don’t want to spend all my time on the road, thinking about her. I want to wake up in the morning beside her and I want to go to bed at night holding her. That’s all I want. I’m a simple guy like that. Everything else will fall into place.” He sat back down again and I didn’t quite know what to say.
“What will the guys think?” I had to ask.
“They’ve got their own stuff going on. Jordan’s going to be a dad—”
“You know!” I gasped and Garrett chuckled.
“Riley told me.”
“You’re right, he won’t want to leave Maysie and the baby now. I guess it’s the end of an era.” I said.
Garrett tapped his fingers on the table in a slow, steady rhythm. Much like his personality. Slow and steady. Unhurried. “It’s time though. Don’t you think we’re all ready for a change?”
I thought about that and yeah, we all were ready. More than ready.
“What are you going to do with the house when you move to Boston?” I asked.
Garrett looked around the tiny, yet homey kitchen. A hundred memories had been made in this room. Thousands for him. It would be strange for this house to stand without him living in it.
“I’ll keep it of course. This was my parents’ house. I would never sell it. I guess I’ll see if Mitch wants to keep living here. If not, then maybe I’ll rent it out. I’ve got some time before I have to worry about all that.”