Chloe laughed and Reid shrugged. “You might want to stick with the other bus when we make our drive across the country.”
“Reid,” Chloe shushed with a smile. Before she could say anything else, her phone buzzed in her back pocket. When she peeked at the screen, she laughed. “Uh-oh. I think I’m in trouble,” she said to Reid as he walked over and looked at her phone.
“I think so too,” he agreed. “Maybe you should give her a call.”
Chloe shook her head, taking one more look at the picture Josie had sent of her and Reid with the caption, “EXPLAIN.” She understood why. It was a picture of the two of them walking down the sidewalk with his arm draped over her shoulders and hers around his waist as they looked at each other smiling. The last time she’d talked to Josie, she was going to keep her distance. There was nothing distant about that picture.
“We’ve got to finish up here. I’ll call her later.”
Reid looked at Greer and Drew, a meaningful expression on his face. Well, meaningful to Drew and Greer since both nodded. “We’ll take care of this. Go ahead. I’ll come find you later.”
Chloe narrowed her eyes, her gaze drifting between their too casual faces. “On a scale of one to nonchalant, you guys are like negative one hundred.”
“What?” Reid asked with an amused smile.
“You guys are clearly up to something. I saw that silent bro-communication going on.”
Reid laughed. “It’s not like that. I’m working on something for the new album that I wanted to go over with them.”
Chloe managed to keep her flinch internal. Since Reid found his words, she knew a new album was inevitable. She just hadn’t expected to be excluded quite so fast. “Okay. Just come find me when you’re done.” She tried to keep her tone even, but apparently she was no better at nonchalance than the guys.
“What’s wrong?” Reid asked, his voice low as he moved closer.
Chloe smiled. “Nothing.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be in your dressing room.” Scraping her nails over his skin, she stepped back. “Come find me when you’re done.” The glint in her eye completely distracted Reid from his question, which was exactly what she wanted. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of anything, not when she knew she was being silly.
Turning away, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Josie’s number. It only rang twice before Josie’s voice came through the speaker.
“Chloe! I’m so glad you didn’t make me track you down. Maddie has been checking your mail, by the way. She’s hanging on to it for you. Now, spill.”
Chloe laughed, letting go of the lingering traces of hurt. “Well, hello to you too.”
“Yeah, yeah. Formalities, blah, blah, blah. God, now I understand why Maddie was always so eager to hear all the dirty details about me and Anders. Watching someone’s relationship unfold in front of you is really entertaining.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Chloe said, her voice flat, monotone. It took everything she had to keep from laughing when Josie huffed into the phone.
“Fine. Maddie has been wanting to take a road trip. Where are you heading next? Atlanta? I bet your bandmate Greer would totally be cool with us hitching a ride.”
Chloe laughed and moved into the dressing room. “Jesus, you win. As much as I’d love to see you both, Greer would drive all of us crazy. Not to mention the shitstorm when Anders and Holden eventually showed up.”
“Exactly,” Josie answered, her tone smug.
Deciding not to beat around the bush anymore, Chloe got right to the point. “He ended things with Jess. And then he told me he was in love with me.”
For several moments, the line was completely silent. Chloe pulled the phone away from her ear to make sure the call hadn’t disconnected. When she realized it hadn’t, she cleared her throat. “Josie? Are you there?”
Chloe heard Josie pull in a deep breath before she spoke. “I’m going to grab a glass of wine, then I want to hear everything because, holy shit, Chloe.”
“I know. I still can’t believe it.” Chloe waited as Josie poured a glass of wine then gave her a blow-by-blow of everything that happened since they’d left LA. Saying it out loud caused Chloe’s chest to tighten and her eyes to burn with unshed tears. She couldn’t believe that somehow she’d ended up one of the lucky ones. That after everything she’d been through, being ripped away from her best friend, moving across the country, losing her father, disappointing her mother, and struggling to keep her dream alive that she’d somehow found her happily ever after.
“I’m so happy for you,” Josie sniffled, her words broken. “I have something I want to tell you as well, but not tonight. I do want to let you know that Anders got tickets to the final show here in LA for the two of us and Maddie and Holden. We can’t wait until you’re here for good. We have so much to catch up on.”