It takes me a few seconds to remember my name. “She’s doing well. The cough is getting better, and she plans on baking me a pineapple cake when she’s better to repay my services.”
“Are you going to share?” he asks, grabbing my hand.
“I’ll think about it. Where are you going?” I say, reclaiming said hand and fixing my hair.
“We were invited to the farm to hang out and have dinner. I know you’re going to say it’s too early, but time will fly. You’ll see. I was coming to pick you up so we could walk over there.”
I look around his body. “Without a diaper bag and at least a swing where we can place him while we’re having dinner?”
He gives me a woman-I-am-ahead-of-the-game look. “San already took everything we need to the main house.”
“Efficient.” I peek between the wrap and find Keaghan sleeping peacefully. “You always seem to have everything under control. Unless we’re talking about this precious baby.”
He winks at me. “I’m starting to learn how to do that too.”
“You and your friends are…different.” I can’t define them, but they’re certainly not what I expected when I first listened to their music. Not that I ever thought about how they’d be outside the recording studio or a venue.
“You’ll get used to our methods.” He grabs my hand, and we walk west toward the lavender farm. “I’m hoping that Grace or Beacon will be willing to babysit him tomorrow night.”
“What’s happening tomorrow night?”
He lifts my hand and kisses it. “I’m taking you out on a date.”
“Are you, now?”
“Don’t mock me. I’m new at this.”
I glance at him. “New at what?”
“Dating. I’ve never done it before. Outside of a few dates that my PR and Lang set up to do for some image control and those don’t count. I didn’t even organize them.”
“You needed image control?”
“It happens when my father does something stupid, and the public starts comparing us.”
“How close are you to your family?” I don’t know much about his family. Well, other than what’s published on the internet about his parents.
He looks up to the sky and then back at me before he continues walking.
“We don’t need to talk about it.”
“I barely speak to them. When I was four, we moved from Los Angeles to Seattle. It was a way to reset and start again. It didn’t work as they planned. A few months later, Dad got a part in a movie. Mom’s recurrent character in a soap opera became permanent, and she left too. A couple of years later, they divorced.”
After a long pause, he says, “I’m pretty sure they divorced from me before they did from each other.”
I squeeze his hand. “It sucks to be left behind, doesn’t it?”
“That’s an understatement. It’s okay, though. I have my other family. It doesn’t matter where they are or where I go. We’re close.”
I recall what happened earlier. The pang of jealousy because he really has a family in them. Then, it hits me. They are for him what my besties are for me. Family. We’re inseparable, even when we have different opinions, or we can’t see each other every day.
“That’s what I have with my friends.”
“The three of you are close?”
“Four. We’re four.”
“Amber, Tracy, and…” He frowns as if trying to solve some quantum physics problem.
“Christina. Her parents are thespian geeks. She’s a screenwriter and helps her dad with the production of his plays.”
“Do they know about me? Hot, tattooed, delicious, edible…what else did you say that I am?” he asks in that slight teasing tone that I’m starting to dig.
“I never said that, but they know I might be with someone. I don’t want to tell them who you are yet. They’ll barge into Luna Harbor to fangirl. I doubt Nydia would like to have Tracy all over Manelik.”
“Isn’t she married?”
“Yes, but it’s the Manelik. He’s on the list of dudes she can bang.”
He laughs. “Those lists are stupid.”
“Has anyone approached you telling you that you’re on their list?”
“One time, some couple stopped me to ask for my autograph.” He scratches his chin. “It was hilarious. I always flirt with guys to throw them off their game. It’s fun. Anyhow, she comes to me and says that I’m on her list. I looked at her husband, winked, and asked, ‘how about you, am I on your list?’”
“I can see you doing that. What did he do?”
“They walked away. We love our fans and try to be good to them, but there’s a line. I doubt you’d want anyone to approach me and hit on me.”
I glance at him. “Probably not. I would hate it. My friends are harmless, but they’re hardcore TFFG fans.”
“And you’re not?”
“I like your music, but I don’t want to have sex with you.”
“Well, I’ll make sure to change that.”
I laugh. “I meant…never mind,” I say as we arrive at the farm.
“What did you mean?”
Before I make something up, Myka comes running toward us. “I want to hold the baby.”
“Hello to you too,” Fisher says.
She looks at me. “Hey, Nathalie, how are you?”
“What am I? Chopped liver?”
“I’m still not speaking to you.”
“It was a joke,” he claims.
“I don’t care what the five of you do to each other but keep me out of your pranks.”
“Pranks?” I ask.
Myka rolls her eyes. “They’re like little children punking each other like it’s the early two thousands. You don’t want to be around when they’re doing it.” She stretches her arms. “So, baby?”
“Let’s get in the house, and you can have him,” Fisher says.
When we enter, I’m overwhelmed by the noise, the people, and the lights. I hate to be in social situations when I don’t know anyone. Fish puts his arm around me and says, “It’s okay. They’re all friends.”
“I should go home.”
“I’ll be next to you the whole time. Plus, you should give them a chance. They’re not that bad once you get to know them.”
But will they give me a chance? “Okay,” I sigh.
I meet Manelik’s brothers. Efren, Fernando, and Iskander. Siobhan, the manager of the brewery and Iskander’s close friend, introduces herself. Almost everyone is in the house, even the tightass manager, who seems to have forgotten that I’m an outsider. According to Fish, the only ones missing are Manelik and Nydia, who should be back next week.
The baby goes from one set of arms to the next. Fisher reminds them to wash their hands. After dinner, we head back home.
“Thank you for giving them a chance,” Fish says.
“Everyone is really nice. Why don’t you live with them?”
When we get home, he tells me all about their pranks. After the last one, he was booted off the farm, but everyone will find new accommodations soon. Nydia wants to move back to the main house with Manelik.