Chapter 11

Skyla brought Kirsten to the studio with her.

Lucie was so not going to be able to play, and her engineer was threatening to go fishing with her bus driver and her dog. So, she needed to get into the studio and do some damn recording.

The rest of the band was going to have to fucking deal.

"Hey, guys. Kirsten has some time off before her shift tomorrow, so she's going to sit in with us."

No one so much as peeped. They just nodded and said, "Yes, boss."

Kirsten's lips twisted, but she just unpacked her guitar and got set up to play, which was a good deal.

Skyla wanted that song down as a demo. The one she and Kirsten had written. She wanted to shop it out to some of the angry girl singers she knew.

They'd have written more if they hadn't been incredibly busy fucking and lazing around in that amazing claw foot bathtub and playing with kittens. She'd never had such a good day off in her entire life.

Mich nodded to Kirsten finally. "Hey. Thanks for sitting in. Lucie's arm is really messed up."

Kirsten nodded back. "No problem. It'll be good to jam."

"I already got to sit in with Kirsten's friends," Skyla said, setting the tone.

"Did you?" Brenda grinned at both of them. "Was it fun?"

"It was so fun." Skyla laughed out loud. "There was all this food and hot chocolate and music… And the snow was rad!"

"We stayed inside and hid for the rest of the evening, but the leftover meatballs were good." Andi grinned. "We all just needed to decompress. Sorry if we were asses, Kirsten."

Kirsten just shrugged. "I'm not mad."

"Good deal. Okay, guys, I noted down this song, and we need to fiddle with it. You up for it?" She would see what her guys were able to do with it.

"Sure. Sure, what is it?" Mich came over to peek over her shoulder. "Oh, not country, more alt-country or angry girl."

"You know it. We wrote it." Skyla beamed at Mich, then at Kirsten. "Kirsten and I wrote it."

"No shit? Cool." That was Greggo, who was setting up his kit.

"It looks good. We should be able to murder this," Mich said.

Kirsten really did have an ear for lyrics, and a decent musicality. And when she sat down and started tuning up, so did everyone else. It was like they had all just decided to go to work.

Hopefully, someone had read them the riot act. Her money was on Brenda, but who knew?

It didn't matter as long as they were polite. Once the music started, she knew it would be all right. Music fixed pretty much every damn thing, at least for a little while.

Hell, who was she kidding?

Music fixed everything.

It took them a little bit to gel—her band was tight, and they fought a little to add Kirsten, to fold her in. But Kirsten had the patience of someone who had waited tables for ages, and she just kept on plugging. Plus she knew the song, so eventually everyone fell in line and played follow the leader.

When it gelled, it gelled, and it was pure magic and she loved it.

They caught on, all of the band, and suddenly they were like a freight train. They chugged uphill, but then they were cooking with gas, the song making sense. And it was hot as hell.

Andi nodded as they stopped, and then Blaine from the control room came over the microphone. "Good work, guys. Can you blues it up? Take it down a half step."

"You got it. Guys?"

At the chorus of agreement, she tapped out the time on her guitar. "One, two, one two three four." And they were off again, slower and more…grinding.

Okay, that went from angsty to hot as fuck, and Skyla was totally into it. Best of all was Kirsten, fingers dancing over the strings, and she was having no problem with keeping up with the band. That woman could play, and the respect was growing. She could see Mich nodding, see Andi falling into stank face, which meant she was totally into it.

Skyla held the final note, letting it ring out past the band when they stopped, and yeah. That was the damn sauce.

"Got it. That was money! Money! Take fifteen guys. Rest your fingers and have some sandwiches."

"Thanks, Blaine." She stretched, grinning wide. "Thanks, y'all. That was the sweet spot."

"It was amazing."

Andi glanced up at Kirsten when she spoke. "Oh, girl. You can pick. You did great."

"Thanks." Kirsten shook out her hands. "That's intense. You guys have all my respect for doing this all night, six nights a week, or whatever."

"You do it twice a week, girlfriend," Mich answered. "That's about our schedule too."

"Y'all should hear her set." Skyla loved that Kirsten had held her own. "She has a nice fuzzy voice."

"Pure sex, huh? I love that." Mich winked at Kirsten, and Skyla damn near growled.

"Well, I do my best." Kirsten winked at them all, then grabbed a water bottle to suck down some hydration. The way her throat worked made Skyla stare.

The ink seemed to move and dance with every single swallow, the dark lines keeping her attention. She licked her lips and jumped when Mich kicked her a little.

Ow. She glared at her friend, but Mich just grinned.

Her cheeks went hot, but she hid it by bending down to grab her water bottle. "You should get a sandwich, Kir. There should be turkey, ham, and veggie."

"I'll take a veggie." Kirsten stood and stretched before heading over to the food table.

Greggo gave her a high five, then directed her to the sandwiches she wanted.

Okay.

Okay, that was a win.

"Skyla, come get a turkey sammie!" Brenda called.

"Coming." She hauled her ass up to go grab food, hoping for a cookie somewhere in there.

There were cookies—gluten-free chocolate chip for Geoff, peanut butter, and white chocolate macadamia.

That was just what she needed. A nice input of sugar. So Skyla grabbed one, nibbling as she watched the band wander and jabber and tease.

It didn't take long at all before they were heading back to jam, the tape recording.

Kirsten was right there with them, keeping up as well as any studio musician they'd dropped in. They played well into the afternoon, then the evening, and she was sore by the time Greggo called it.

"Y'all, I need food. Real food," he said.

"You are a spoiled brat!" she teased. "But yes. God, yes. I need something greasy and wonderful."

"Oh, yeah. What's good, Kirsten?" Mich asked.

"There's a bistro, a good steak house, and there's Cherry's. It's got pizza, sandwiches, appetizers—that sort of thing."

"I can vouch for Cherry's," Skyla said.

"I want steak," Greggo groused. "But I can take Blaine while y'all go somewhere else. Veggie people."

"I'm not a vegetarian, dude. I just want a meatball and provolone sub the size of my head." Skyla had expended a ton of energy over the last few days.

"Nonna's. You'll love it. Anyone else up for Italian food?" Kirsten carefully put her guitar away in its case.

"You two should go. We're going to share pizza." Andi didn't seem mad at all.

"You sure?" She didn't want to freeze anyone out.

"We're positive. Go forth." Mich waved them off.

"Eat tiramisu!" Brenda added.

"Do you like tiramisu?" Kirsten asked. "I mean, that's pretty specific."

"I do. I love it. I eat it all over the world, so I know from tiramisu."

Kirsten snorted and arched one eyebrow at Skyla. "I bet you only eat it when you don't have to sing that same night."

"All that milk? You're right," Skyla chuckled. "But man I love it."

"Yeah. I tend to eat after a gig too. I mean, not that mine are anything like yours." Kirsten blushed dark. "I play at Cherry's, and teach little kids."

"Bah. I got lucky. I hit at the right time at the right place, and I have an uncle who's a fiddle player for a lot of studio bands." She shrugged. "It's work, talent, and luck."

"You've got that thing, Sky." Kirsten shrugged. "That star thing. You really do. It's—it's a spark."

She couldn't deny that, that was for sure. She was the luckiest woman alive, and she was well aware of it.

And if she wished she had a little more of a personal life sometimes, well, that was the price she paid, right?

"I'm glad that you are spending time with me, now," Kirsten whispered.

"Me too, honey." She reached for Kirsten's hand, squeezing it.

Kirsten held on, just for a second, then she let go. "I'm doing okay?"

"You're doing amazing. The band is on board, too, you can tell. Talent is a big equalizer around here."

"Good deal. I just don't want to embarrass myself."

Skyla blinked over at her. "Embarrassed? About what? My God, girl, you can pick like an angel. You shouldn't ever be ashamed of that!"

Kirsten's eyes went wide, and she ran her hand through her short-cropped, multicolored hair. "Thanks, lady. I…thanks."

"I swear to god, Mich spends more time in the bathroom…" Andi came wandering back over, coat over her arm, eyes curious. "So where did you learn to play?"

"My grandpa taught me." There was no hesitation in that particular answer, no chance for Skyla to tell Andi to not be nosy. "He used to play at the Kerrville Folk Festival, and I can't hardly remember not knowing how." Kirsten smiled, the expression wistful, sweet. "He taught me all the old songs. He loved Arlo Guthrie, The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, all of those."

Andi blinked. "Kerrville? Seriously?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Brenda's eyes narrowed. "Where are you from, originally?"

"I'm from San Saba. Do you know it?"

"I used to go to Girl Scout camp at Inks Lake. I so know it." Andi hooted like a big owl. "I swear to God, Skyla. You come all the way out here to Colorado to find you a Texan!"

Kirsten shot Andi a wicked grin. "Well, you know if all the Texans would leave, Colorado would gain ten thousand feet in elevation."

Skyla sat there with her teeth in her mouth. How long had Kirsten been out of Texas?

She acted like Colorado. She sounded like Colorado. She looked like Colorado. She drove like Colorado, for fuck's sake.

It seemed a little funny, really. She'd slept with this woman, and she didn't know that she was from Texas.

Of course she knew a bunch of other things, including the fact that Kirsten had a hot spot right above her tailbone.

And that there was a little pink triangle tattooed right on the inside of her left thigh.

That had to count for something.

Brenda tilted her head. "So how did you end up here, kiddo?"

Kristen rolled her eyes. "About the same way than anybody ends up anywhere, I suppose. There was a girl…"

Mich cracked up, appearing behind Andi's shoulder. "Don't all the best stories start with that particular sentence?"

"You know." Kirsten 's cheeks were bright red. "I thought I was in love. I got out here, I got settled, and before you know it she was gone." Kristen opened her hands wide, but there was something in those pretty eyes, something hurt and a bit lost. "I don't have any better answer about why I stayed except there was something about this place. It's friendly. It's…it's in the mountains, and I love it. So here I am." By the time she was done speaking, that hint of sorrow was gone like it had never been there.

Weird.

And as far as why Kirsten stayed? Well, that was as good an answer as any Skylar guessed. She could see it, even. This was a charming little spot.

God didn't make her sound like a twat even, if it stayed in her own head.

Charming little spot. Shit.

Summit Springs wasn't for everyone sure, but it obviously was home for Kirsten and Skyler had to respect that.

Maybe if she was looking for a home she'd even think of the place, but the simple fact was that her life was too big for a town the size of Summit Springs. She wasn't completely convinced her life wasn't too big for a town like Las Vegas.

"You okay honey?" Brenda asked.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking."

Andi arched one eyebrow. "Well, that's dangerous…"

"Oh, smartass!"

The entire band answered her, in unison. "Better than being a dumbass!"

"Lord save me from y'all." God, she loved them, and she was so thankful that she was here, with them.

She had a blessed life and she needed to remember that, and not go chasing dreams that weren't big enough for her. Now.