“I’ve got something else I want to ask you, too,” he said.
“The answer is yes to everything and anything with you.”
“Good, because I want you to come work for me as my assistant. When you’re not working at the café, I mean.” His hand rubbed down my back. “’Cause I know you wanna do that.”
“David …”
“Or you could just let me pay the college money back to your parents so that’s not hanging over your head.”
“No,” I said, my voice determined. “Thank you. But I need to do that. And I think my parents are going to need to see me doing that.”
“That’s what I figured you’d say. But that’s a lot of money for you to make, baby. If you take a second job we’re never going to see each other.”
“You’re right. But do you think that’s a wise idea, us working together?”
“Yeah,” he told me, blue eyes serious. “You like organizing and that’s what I need. It’s a real job and I want you for it. If we find it starts to interfere with us then we’ll make a new plan. But I think mostly it’ll just mean we spend more time together and have sex at work.”
I laughed. “You promising to sexually harass me, Mr Ferris?”
“Absolutely.”
I kissed him soundly on the cheek. “Thank you for thinking of it. I’d love to work for you.”
“If you decide to go back to college, then I’ll get Adrian to find me a replacement. Not a big deal.” He pulled me in against his chest. “But in the meantime, we’re good.”
“Best plan ever.”
“Why, thank you. Coming from you, that means a lot.”
David’s gaze wandered over to the bar where Mal, Jimmy and Ben were hanging out, keeping a low profile. I hadn’t known they were joining us tonight. Jimmy had been steering clear of clubs and bars. “About time they got here,” he murmured.
Next David turned to the band, rocking out in the corner. They were just in the process of winding up a solid rendition of a Pearl Jam classic.
“Wait here.” David rose, taking me with him. He placed me back on the chair and signaled to his bandmates. Then he made his way toward the stage. His tall figure moved through the crowd with ease and the guys fell in behind him. En masse, they were pretty damn impressive. No matter how low-key there were trying to be. But I got the distinct feeling they were about to make their presence known. Once the band finished the song, David called the singer over. Holy shit. This was it. I bounced in my chair from excitement.
They talked for a moment, then the singer brought the guitarist into it. Sure enough, the man gave his six string over to David’s waiting hands. I could see the look of surprise on both their faces as David’s identity finally sunk in. Jimmy gave the singer a nod and stepped up onto the platform. Behind him, Mal was already high-fiving the drummer and stealing his sticks. Even grim Ben smiled as he accepted the bass guitar from its original owner. The Divers took to the stage. Few in the bar seemed to realize quite what was going on yet.
“Hi. Sorry to interrupt, folks. My name’s David Ferris and I’d like to play a song for my wife, Evelyn. Hope you don’t mind.”
Stunned silence broke out into thunderous applause. David stared at me across the sea of people as everyone swamped the dance floor to get closer.
“She’s a Portland girl. So I guess that makes us in-laws. Be gentle with me, yeah?”
The crowd went batshit crazy in response. His hands moved over the strings, making the sweetest mix of rock and country music possible. Then he started to sing. Jimmy joined him for the chorus, their voices melding beautifully.
I thought I could let you go
I thought that you could leave and know
The time we took would fade
But I’m colder than the bed where we lay
You let go if you like, I’ll hold on
Say no all you want, I’m not done
Baby, I promise you
Did you think I’d let you go?
That’s never happening and now you know
Take your time, I’ll wait
Regretting every last thing I said
The song was simple, sweet, and perfect. And the noise when they finished was deafening. People shouted and stamped their feet. It sounded like the roof was coming down on us. Security helped David and the guys move through the crush of people. More had arrived as they performed, alerted to the show by texts and calls and each and every sort of social media. A tidal wave of fans swamped them as they pressed through. A hand wrapped around my arm. I looked up to find Sam beside me with a grin on his face. We got our asses out of there pronto.
Sam and the security men cleared a path for us to the door and the waiting limousine outside. They were well prepared. We all bundled into the back of the limo. Immediately, David pulled me onto his lap. “Sam’s going to make sure your friends are okay.”