“And it can’t wait until morning?” Chloe whined, but she allowed Reid to pull her from the bunk.
“No. I want to talk to you while everyone is asleep. We haven’t had a chance to talk in a long time.” Reid paused for a moment as they sat on the sofa in the upstairs lounge before continuing. “I’ve missed you.”
Warmth bloomed low in Chloe’s stomach and her muscles clenched. A nervous chuckle rose from her throat and she waved her hand in dismissal. “I’ve been here the whole time. Although, if this is your way of telling me that I need to increase our Jedi training lessons, I hear you loud and clear.”
Reid’s shoulders relaxed, and for the first time in weeks, he seemed like he didn’t have a care in the world. “I have good news. I was going to wait to tell you, but I couldn’t.”
Chloe perked up a bit. “Oh? What news?”
Reid pulled out his phone and opened his email. He scooted next to Chloe until their bodies touched from shoulder to knee and handed her the phone. “Look.”
Chloe scrolled through nearly a dozen emails, all with the same subject line: Chloe Bennett. “What is this?” she whispered, already knowing but needing to hear it anyway.
“Gigs.”
“All of them?”
Reid nodded and pulled the phone from her hand. “All of them. Musicians, scouts, agents. You come to LA, and you’ll never have to worry about the fucking symphony again.”
Chloe threw her arms around Reid’s neck and crushed him to her. She wanted to thank him, she wanted to say it over and over, yell it at the top of her voice, but the air had been sucked from her lungs and her airway constricted with emotion. Reid wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped his face to her neck.
“I told you,” he whispered. “Never give up. Never let go. Things have a way of working out.”
Chloe choked out a laugh, her chest burning. “When did you become the optimistic one?”
Reid’s shoulders shook as he laughed silently. Pulling back, he looked her in the eye and shrugged. “It’s only hard to be optimistic when it’s about me.”
“Then we’ll be each other’s glass half full. I’ll take care of you and you take care of me.”
Reid swiped his thumb across her cheek, catching a fresh tear. “I like the sound of that.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice earnest. “I can’t say that enough. In a matter of months, you’ve done more for me than I could ever repay you for. Hell, since you brought me on the tour. I can’t tell you what it means to me.”
“So you’ll come to LA?”
Chloe smiled so wide that her cheeks ached. “Yeah. Yes. Hell yes.”
Reid pulled her into his embrace and squeezed. “You won’t regret it. This is just the beginning.”
Holding her for a moment longer, he untangled their bodies and pulled her to her feet. “Go get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay. Thank you again.”
Reid turned to leave but stopped. “Oh, hey, Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we keep this between us for right now? You know how these guys are. They’ll turn this into something it isn’t.”
“Of course,” Chloe answered, unsurprised. She knew how the others would see it. The same as the fans and media saw it, even though they knew better. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
A million thoughts were floating around in her head as she crawled back into her bunk, but the exhaustion of the day finally took over, and within minutes, Chloe was fast asleep.
The sound of a cabinet door slamming jolted Chloe awake in what felt like no time at all. Curious, Chloe rolled out of her bunk and tiptoed to the stairs.
“Calm down, Jess. Everything will be okay,” Tom soothed.
Chloe’s heart hammered as she stood frozen in place. Did Jess know? Did Reid tell her?
“What if she dies?” Jess cried. “I need to get home.”
Chloe’s face paled, and without thinking, she darted down the stairs. “Is everything okay?”
Tom and Jess looked up in surprise. It was Tom who spoke. “Jess needs to get back to Memphis. One of her pregnant mares is having complications. It doesn’t look good.”
“Oh no,” Chloe whispered, lowering herself into the chair next to Tom. Reid had explained that Jess worked as a veterinarian for an equestrian farm that bred high-profile racing horses. If Jess was worried enough to fly back to Memphis, the situation must be bleak. Chewing the edge of her thumb, she watched Jess frantically search the lounge area of the bus for her things. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Jess flashed her a strained smile. “No, thanks. I can’t believe this is happening. I shouldn’t have left.”
“Everything is going to be fine, Jess,” Tom reassured her again, his eyes focused on the screen in front of him. “Okay, I found a flight leaving Rome at six tonight. We should get there around noon. You’ll have plenty of time.”