Chapter 24

24

Silas

I’m sitting at the fire station when my phone dings with an incoming message. I pick it up to see Kara sent me a text. I swipe it open and see a flier announcing County Line, Luke Dickson, Sweetwater, and her performing at Ascend Amphitheater.

I jump up from where I’m sitting and call her instantly.

“Whoa,” Myles yells out. “There’s not a fire or anything,” he says, making the other guys around me laugh.

“Kara just sent over the flier announcing she’ll be playing with Sweetwater and Luke Dickson,” I respond as the phone rings knowing they’ll realize how big of a deal this is by those names.

“What do you think?” she asks as her greeting, her voice sounding as excited as ever.

“Besides how gorgeous you look in this photo?”

She giggles, and it makes me smile much more than I thought possible.

“This is crazy. You’re so amazing.”

“You’re so amazing,” Brax mocks me from the living room, so I flip him off and go back to my conversation, walking away from the guys this time.

“Thanks,” she says with a sigh. “I just can’t believe this is all happening so fast.”

“Believe it! You deserve to be up on that stage. Obviously, they see your talent too. I need to get my tickets before they sell out.”

“I hoped you’d be backstage with me. I talked to my parents, and they’re coming out to watch, so they’ll be back there too. And Nikki as well.”

“So, I get to meet your parents?”

“Yeah … is that okay?”

I laugh. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You know. Some people get all weird about meeting the parents,” she says timidly.

“Not me. I can’t wait to meet them. We can plan a dinner at my house when they arrive.”

“You’d do that?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

She pauses. “It’s just pretty cool that you would want them to come over like that.”

“Well, I think you’re pretty cool, and I can’t wait to meet your parents and hear all the funny stories that I’m sure they have to share.”

She laughs out loud. “Oh, yeah, they have plenty, I’m sure. Thanks for being so supportive of me and my music.”

“Your music is what brought me to you. Without your performance that night, we never would have met, so, yeah, I’ll be forever grateful that you were up on that stage that night, giving it all you got.”

“I will be too. I’m going to call my mom now and send her the flier. Have a safe rest of your shift. Call me when you’re awake tomorrow.”

I chuckle at her choice of words. She knows if we have a late night, I come home and crash, and I love that she doesn’t give me shit about it.

“Will do. And, Kara?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you. Talk soon!”

“Okay, bye.”

“Bye.”

I hang up as Myles comes up behind me.

“What, no I love you ?”

“We’ve only been seeing each other for a few weeks,” I respond as I slip my phone back into my pocket.

“Yeah, but those few weeks have been pretty intense. You guys seem like you’re moving fast.”

I shrug. “Maybe we are. I don’t mind one bit. I like her.”

He levels with me. “Have you told her?”

I’d like to pretend that he’s talking about something else, but I know with him, he’s only talking about the kid thing.

“I will,” I respond, walking past him to get to our bedroom, hoping he doesn’t follow me. No such luck.

“Why are you afraid to tell her you don’t want kids?” he asks while we walk.

“I’m not afraid.”

“Then, why haven’t you said anything?”

I sit down and reach for my bag, pretending I’m looking for something when, really, I’m just busying myself so I don’t have to have this conversation with him.

“It just hasn’t come up. Get off my back.”

He lets out a breath, shaking his head while he crosses his arms over his body, looking like a disappointed father rather than my best friend.

“You’re going to get sucked into this. Mark my words.”

“Sucked into this?” I ask, lowering my head, making sure he knows how ridiculous he sounds.

“You’d better be careful, bro. Everything you want out of life is being sucked out of you and placed into her world.”

I set my bag down and stand to walk toward him, putting my hand on his shoulder. “Her world doesn’t seem so bad.”

“She’s a nanny. She watches kids. You know she wants some of her own.”

I raise my eyebrows as a thought hits me. “Maybe that’s why she nannies. She gets to play with them and then give them back. Did you ever think of that?” I push past him and head back to the living room, where we were all hanging out before Kara called.

“Keep telling yourself that,” he shouts over his shoulder, but thankfully, he doesn’t follow me.

Kara

“Oh, sweetie!” my mom says with glee as she answers the phone, obviously looking at the flier I just texted her.

“Can you believe it?” My eyes fill with tears that I blink away. I’ve been able to keep my composure, but something about talking to my mom makes me want to break down and cry for joy that this is actually happening.

“Of course I can believe it. I always knew you would be successful out there.” She yells for my dad, “John! Come check out the flier, announcing Kara performing at Ascend Amphitheater.”

“Let me see!” he says as he enters the room.

“Hi, Dad!” I say.

“Hey, baby girl.”

Hearing him say baby girl makes the tears flow down my cheeks, which I can’t stop even if I tried.

When I started singing, he would play for me the song “Baby Girl” by Sugarland and said that would be me one day. The song is about a girl who goes off to become a singer and the struggles she encounters until, one day, she calls her parents, saying she’ll take care of them and talking about how successful she’s become. At the end of the song, she sings, “ Love, your baby girl. ”

That’s always been my dream—to be able to pay off their debt and make sure they can live the life they want without fear of bills or work. Knowing I’m on my way to making that dream become a reality makes more tears fall from my eyes.

“Look at this!” he announces as his voice cracks. “I’m so proud of you, baby girl.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“We already planned the trip and will be driving down the day before. We’ll leave early, so we can get there in time to have dinner with you,” Mom says.

“Yeah, Silas wanted to invite you guys over to his place while you’re here, so maybe we can set it up for that day. I’ll have to see what his work schedule is.”

“So, we get to meet this guy?” Mom singsongs her question.

I laugh at her antics. “Yes, you’ll get to meet him. Even if dinner doesn’t work out the day before, he’ll be at the show for sure.”

“Well, we can’t wait to meet him. We’re so proud of you, Kara.”

“Thanks, you guys. Can’t wait to see you!”

“We’ll be there soon!”

We say our goodbyes, and I hang up to call Nikki, making the rounds to share the good news with everyone in my life.