When he spoke again, he looked just the tiniest bit shy. “I hope that I’m a hero to some. I try to write music that means something to people. I guess we sort of have something in common in that way.”
“Yeah. But it takes me eighty-thousand-word novels to pull that off. You do it with a few lyrics.”
Ryland shrugged. “I have the music to help me out. But books create whole worlds and you get to live outside yourself for a while, and at the same time better understand yourself. Who wouldn’t want that to last as long as possible?”
“So you read?”
“Oh yeah. Especially on the road. It’s a great way to pass the long hours. I just read one of your books for the first time. I figured I should since I was meeting you.”
Julie couldn’t believe it. She would not, would not, ask him if he liked it. “Really? That’s cool. You aren’t exactly in my target audience.”
Ryland laughed and the sound of it was as rich and intoxicating as his music. “What? Don’t many men like to read about angels falling in love with human girls?”
Whoa, not only was Ryland miraculously not jumping off this call as quickly as he could, he was actually teasing her. “Surprisingly, no. And it’s too bad really. They could probably learn a lot about what women want in a romance.”
Raising his eyebrows, Ryland asked. “Oh yeah? And does your boyfriend inspire all the perfection in your romantic hero? Your husband maybe?”
Julie bit her lip and stared back at Ryland. He waited quietly for her answer, but surely, he wasn’t interested for that reason. “No, I’m single.”
“Really?” He didn’t smile now, but the right corner of his lips tugged upward.
She didn’t know why, but she took the conversation a step further. “Yes. By choice.”
“Well, that’s intriguing.”
The moment stretched out between them as Julie tried to decide whether to tell him about her anxiety. But she didn’t want to chance having him turn away from her because of it.
Someone called Ryland’s name, and he turned. “Coming.”
Julie took a deep breath. This was the moment she’d been dreading. “You’ve got to go,” she said.
He frowned as his brows pinched together. “Yeah. I do, unfortunately. So listen, we’re touring again in November. If we’re coming somewhere close to you I can send you tickets.”
“I live in Wichita. I doubt you’re coming here.”
“Our schedule isn’t set in stone yet. I’ll see if I can figure something out. That is, if you’d like to go.”
Julie thought of it. The travel, the crowds, the noise. Any of it was enough to send her into a panic attack. But she did want to see him live. “I wish it was possible.”
He smiled then, that sideways twist of his lips again. “I can make it possible. Goodbye, Julie.”
She didn’t tell him that he couldn’t. “Goodbye. Ryland.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Julie forced herself to end the call. And that too was a victory. She sat for a moment going over their conversation in her mind. Crazy.
Her doorbell rang, interrupting her. She closed her laptop and went to open it. It was Heath, of course, with dinner. She stepped aside and let him in. All of her annoyance with him had gone away. How could she not be on cloud nine after such a cool experience.
“You look happy,” he said.
She laughed. “Well, don’t sound disappointed.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go eat.” Heath moved around her to go to the kitchen, but Julie’s phone pinged with a notification, so she stopped to check it. It was another email from Ryland. She opened it up and smiled. He’d sent her his cell-phone number.
Chapter Four
Ryland stood looking out over Blue Moon Lake at the end of his dock. Usually, he couldn’t get enough of the view of dense woodlands across the narrow inlet and the green foliage reflected on the silver water, but today he was too perplexed to appreciate it.
Why couldn’t he stop thinking about Julie? Ever since he’d given her his number, the fact that she hadn’t called him was all he could focus on. It had been twenty-four hours and he hadn’t even gotten a text back.
“Clearly she’s not interested.”
And now he was talking to himself. Apparently, he was so arrogant that he thought every woman he met would be interested in him. What was wrong with him?
As he turned and walked back down the dock and across the yard to the house, he scuffed his feet and kicked at small rocks in the path. No, it wasn’t pride. He didn’t care about all the women who threw themselves at him. He simply knew there was something about this woman that made him want to know her better. What should he do if she never responded?
He checked his phone one more time. Nothing, again. But when he saw the time, he picked up his pace. The band had a meeting with Mike and he was going to be late—even though the meeting was in his private studio downstairs. He went up the steps to the back deck and inside, stopping in the kitchen to grab an energy drink from the fridge.
When he got to the studio, his brothers and Mike were already there, gathered in the sitting area near the door. They looked up as he came in.
“There you are,” Tate said. “Where have you been?”
“I went down to the lake and lost track of time. Sorry. Where are we at?”
As Mike caught him up, Ryland sat down on the couch next to Elijah and set his phone on the coffee table where he could see if a call came through. He always kept his phone on silent to avoid having a call disrupt something like a recording session or meetings like this, but he wanted to keep an eye on it today. Then he popped open his energy drink and started chugging.
Half-way through the meeting, Tate gave him a curious stare from across the table.
“What?” Ryland asked.
“Nothing. Are you expecting a call or something?”
Ryland kept his face impassive. “No.”
But at that moment, his phone lit up, drawing everyone’s attention. Before he could pick it up, Elijah grabbed it. “Unknown number?”
Ryland narrowed his eyes. “Unless you want a few broken fingers, you’d better put my phone down.”
Since they all threatened each other with bodily harm constantly, he wasn’t surprised that Elijah just laughed. “Someone’s leaving a text. This gets interesting.”
Holding out his hand for the phone, Ryland tried to remember if Elijah knew his passcode. When he started hitting numbers on the screen, Ryland groaned softly. Apparently, he did. Well, this would be fun. Too bad punching his brother would be highly unprofessional.
Elijah read the message in his imitation of a girly voice. “Hi, Ryland. This is Julie. I enjoyed talking to you yesterday.”
His brothers looked at him with almost identical expressions of amazement, then Elijah whooped and hollered like Ryland had just scored a touchdown. Tate, however, stared across at him with raised eyebrows.
“You gave her your number?” he asked.
“Yeah. So?”
Elijah grinned at Tate, but Tate didn’t look amused at all. “We have two music videos lined up in the next few weeks, rehearsals, and then the tour starts again. Why are you getting involved with someone?”
Ryland had been leaning back on the couch, resigned to having his business laid out in the open, but at the note of anger in Tate’s voice, he sat up. He took his phone away from Elijah and put it in his pocket. “Who said I’m getting involved? We’ve talked one time. So, what do you say we discuss the tour and not my personal life?”
Tate nodded and folded his arms. “That would be great. You’ve barely said anything this whole time.”
“What is there to say?”
Tate clenched his jaw then pointed at the list of cities he’d been writing down. “How about one, just one, idea about where to do another concert on our route.”
“Wichita.”
“What the…?”
&
nbsp; Elijah folded his arms against his chest and chuckled. “That’s where she lives, isn’t it?”
Ryland nodded and Tate stood up. As his brother paced angrily around the room, Ryland pulled the paper towards him and wrote Wichita at the top of the list.
“No,” Tate said.
“It would actually be a good one to consider,” Mike said.
Ryland smiled at Tate and leaned back again. “Good. Let’s do it.”
Tate glared at him. “So we’re scheduling a tour stop around some woman?”
Ryland resented Tate’s reaction to his suggestion, but he kept his voice flat. “Yes.”
“Sure it is.”
Ryland stood, unable to sit any longer. “Where do you get off talking to me like this? We make a lot of concessions as a band for you and Cassie.”
Tate rolled his eyes. “Because we’re married.”
“Don’t you think Elijah and I deserve to have personal lives? Maybe I want what you have. Did you ever think of that?”
Elijah raised a finger. “Just for the record, I don’t want to be married.”
Ryland barely spared him a glance. “Look, I don’t know what this is going to be. I’m just talking to someone and I have no clue where it’s going. But the minute the band gets in the way of my happiness, that’s the minute I’m out.”
His words detonated a tension bomb in the room. Tate and Elijah stared at him, shocked and silent. Mike was the first to move. “I think I’ve got all I need.”
Ryland turned to face him. “Sorry, Mike. Thanks for coming and working this out with us.”
Mike nodded but looked uncomfortable. “I’ll be in touch.” Then he made his escape.
Ryland turned back to look between his brothers who remained silent. But he didn’t think there was any more to be said right then so he left.
When he walked out of the studio, he closed the door behind him, vaguely wondering what Tate and Elijah would say when he was gone.
The master bedroom was on the third floor of the house, so he had an incredible view of the lake from the enormous windows. From the deck outside, he could see the whole panorama of forest and lake. He gripped the rail of the deck and watched wind stir the branches of the trees and ruffle the surface of the lake. He worked to calm his angry, labored breathing, but for once, the view didn’t bring peace.
Maybe he should just call Julie. If this was just some minor attraction that wasn’t going somewhere, it wasn’t worth the tension with his brothers. More than likely that was the case. Not that he would go back on anything he’d said to them. Someday soon, he did want to find someone. Life was proving too empty and lonely as it was.
As he sat on his bed and pulled out his phone, his heartbeat intensified again, but for another reason. Usually he only dealt with nerves like this before a performance. This was as daunting as the first time he’d called a girl he liked in junior high. Maybe worse.
The phone rang a few times before Julie answered. “Hello?” Her voice was perfect, musical and soothing.
He cleared his throat, even though he knew how bad it was for his voice. It didn’t seem to matter at the moment. “Hi. It’s Ryland.”
“I know,” she said softly with a tremor of teasing warmth in her voice.
He grinned. “Yeah, I guess you do. Sorry. I’m a bit stressed at the moment.”
“I’m sorry. Want to vent?”
Ryland wished he could. But this was definitely not something to vent to her about. “No. But you can distract me for a while.”
“I’d be happy to, but how? I don’t have much to talk to you about except my work, and that’s even boring to me at the moment.”
He smiled and laid back on the bed. “Boring sounds amazing. Tell me about it.”
“Are you sure? It’s all fixing plot holes and deadlines.”
“Yeah. I want to hear about something—anything—but my life right now.”
Julie was silent for a moment, then she started talking. He had to ask a few questions to encourage her to keep going and give more detail, but soon she talked readily and their conversation roved over things besides her work. Her family, her childhood, her favorite movies.
“Hey, Alissa told me they’re making a movie from one of your books. That’s really cool.”
“Yeah. It’s every author’s dream. But I’m not looking forward to promoting it. I’ll have to deal with…people.”
Ryland laughed. “You don’t like people?”
“Individually, yes. In crowds? No.”
“Good thing I don’t feel that way. I wouldn’t have a career.”
“Yeah. We live completely different lives, don’t we?” Her voice sounded… different.
“So? It doesn’t bother me. Does it bother you?” He could feel that something significant lurked behind their words, something too new to talk about yet, and hoped she felt it too.
“No.” But her voice said otherwise.
He wished he knew what was worrying her. “Good. So, we can talk again.”
“I’d like that. But I should probably let you go for now. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“We both are, right? Same time tomorrow?”
She laughed. “Like I would say no. I love your singing, but your speaking voice is almost as beautiful.”
“Almost?”
“Yeah. Almost.”
From her teasing, happy tone, he knew she was smiling again, and that was exactly what he wanted. He wished they were video chatting so he could see it. “There is a reason people pay to hear me sing instead of talk, you know?”
“Next time you call, you should sing the whole time.”
“That sounds like a challenge.”
“Oh, it was definitely a challenge.”
“Well, I’ve never backed down from one in my life, so prepare yourself.”
“I’ll look forward to it. Sure you can call tomorrow?”
Ryland smiled. No, he flat-out grinned as he lay on his bed staring up at his ceiling. “There is nothing on this earth more certain.”
Her low, rich laughter flowed over him. “Except that I will be waiting till you do. Bye.”
“Bye,” he murmured softly, regretfully.
Ryland dropped his phone on the bed and stood up restlessly. He paced back and forth around the room, not sure what to do with himself, but too full of energy to sit down. His eyes caught on the acoustic guitar he kept in his room. He grabbed it off the stand and took it out onto his private deck.
Leaning back in a comfortable chair, he lazily adjusted the tuning and strummed a few chords. This was why he’d picked up the guitar as a teenager. His mom had put him in piano lessons when he was young because he’d struggled with math and someone told her it would help. He didn’t know if it had helped him with math or not, but it had opened up a new world to him—an outlet for all his energy and creativity. But pianos weren’t very portable, so he’d started skipping lunch and saving the money to buy a guitar. Ever since, it had been his saving grace. He’d even taught Tate to play.
His fingers danced through chords and strumming patterns, almost with a mind of their own. There were a million things he needed to be doing besides this, but somehow, without realizing it, he’d decided to write Julie a song. Nothing sappy or deep—something funny and personal. After all, she’d challenged him to sing during their next phone call. He could easily do that.
He smiled. Their next phone call. Tomorrow.
He wasn’t sure what this was, but it was something. Maybe friendship. Maybe something more. Whatever it was, it would need more time and attention than he’d be able to devote to her right now. It didn’t matter though. Even if it wasn’t smart, even if it was selfish, he wanted it.
Chapter Five
Julie was trying desperately to work the next day, but again, she kept watching the clock. And Gracie definitely noticed.
“Got another call today?” she asked.
Trying to fight off a smile, Julie said, “I do, as a matter of fact.�
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“Uh huh. Girl, he likes you.”
“No, he doesn’t. Not like that. And anyway, even if by some bizarre, crazy twist of fate he did, it would be impossible.”
“Are you going to start talking nonsense again?” Gracie got up from the desk where she was working and walked over to Julie’s.
Julie looked up at her. “It takes me a whole morning to build myself up to go through a car wash. How could I ever be part of any man’s life as broken as I am? And especially someone like him?”
“Then why are you talking to him?”
She didn’t have an answer, so she looked back at her computer. “It doesn’t hurt anything to talk.”
Gracie raised her eyebrow and didn’t look convinced. And then Julie’s phone rang twenty minutes early.
She picked up the phone, hoping her rapid pulse wouldn’t make her voice sound breathless. “Hello?”
Ryland answered by singing the word hello. Julie laughed as she realized he was actually going to sing. But he didn’t stop for her to answer; he just kept going. An actual song. Julie’s eyes widened as the lyrics poured over her. She was in such shock he’d written a song for her that it was hard to catch it all.
“Is he singing?” Gracie asked in a loud whisper.
When Julie nodded, Gracie squealed, then slapped her hands over her mouth.
The song ended all too soon with the words, “Call me later. I’ll be waiting.” And then he hung up. It was too funny and sweet and perfect for words. And words were her thing.
Julie put her phone down and stared across at Gracie who still had her hands clapped over her mouth.
“Wow,” Julie said.
Gracie put her hands down. “Still think he doesn’t like you?”
Julie’s heart felt as if it might flutter right out of her chest. “That sure seemed like a little more than casual online acquaintances.”
“Or even online friends,” Gracie agreed. “That was like…the best pick-up line ever.”
“What do I do?” Julie asked. Because she was scared now. She hadn’t expected anything like this, but even as she realized how desperately she wanted Gracie to be right, she knew how impossible it would be to try and fail at love again. She could write about it a million ways twice over again, but she knew it was too dangerous to hope for it for herself.
Saved by the Rockstar (Rich and Famous Romance Book 1) Page 3
