Chapter 17
FINN
Friday, the third day of the festival
After I got Drake’s text that he was on his way, I tossed my tablet onto the coffee table and stood up. But before I could even get my scrub top over my head, he opened the door and walked in.
“Dammit, I was going to be naked for you!”
He smiled. “It’s not too late.” He set his guitar down at the end of the couch, then came over to me. He seemed happier, less stressed than he’d been at the end of the days the rest of this week.
He kissed me, then pulled back. “Did you get dinner?”
“I did. You?”
“Yeah. I was in Poppy’s cabin. She helped me work out the issues I was having with the melody on a new song.
” He was almost glowing with satisfaction.
Was this what he looked like when he was pleased with his work?
I’d seen glimpses of it when he’d told me about some of the festival stuff, but this was sexy as hell.
“Yeah? The friends one you played for us on D this is a private space for her so she can relax.”
“Oh. Yeah, sorry.” Charlie nodded in understanding.
Del smiled at him then looked at me. “You’re Finn Hunnicutt, yes?”
“Yes. I—we—have permission to be here.”
“I’m aware. Your car was here overnight.”
My face turned red, and Charlie and Kirk hooted and laughed.
“What’s going on, Del?”
The boys shut their mouths and practically stood at attention at the woman’s voice. I turned to see Poppy herself walking toward us, trailed by a thirty-ish dark-haired man. She didn’t have any makeup on, her hair was in a ponytail, and she wore an old Jake Lord t-shirt and joggers.
Del gestured at me. “This is Finn Hunnicutt, Mr. Derryberry’s... friend.” He looked at the boys. “I didn’t catch your names.”
“I’m Kirk Barbour. And I’m a big fan, Poppy, but we didn’t mean to bother you.”
“That’s okay, Kirk.” She walked closer to stand next to Del. “And what’s your name?”
“I’m Charlie Hapwell. It’s so cool to meet you.”
She glanced between me and the boys, obviously waiting for an explanation, but I stayed silent.
It wasn’t any of her business how we were related.
Still, she was being nice to us, so I broke the silence.
“Drake has been letting us park here and go to the festival through the gate.” I pointed in the direction of the festival grounds.
She nodded. “This is my husband, Mac.” She put her hand around her husband’s arm, then she looked between me and the boys again.
Oh. Got it.
“Hey, boys, you want to go ahead to the festival? If you see Drake, tell him I’ll be there in a few.”
Poppy smiled. “We’ll put your names on the list to go backstage tonight, if you like.”
Charlie and Kirk puffed up like they’d won the lottery, but they kept a lid on the fanboying. A minute later they’d run off toward the gate to the festival grounds.
After they were out of sight, Poppy disengaged from her husband’s arm and put her hands on her hips. Her expression turned hard. “You’re Mr. Friends with Benefits.”
I reared back. Shit. “Um, we’re boyfriends now.” Had Drake not told her about us? I’d thought they were close.
She gave me an unimpressed stare. “So he said.”
I frowned back. “What’s the problem?” She might be an uber-talented multi-millionaire, but I was Drake’s boyfriend, dammit.
Her lips twitched, then she burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. I was trying to do the shovel talk, but I can’t.”
I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked between Del and Mac for help. They were staring at Poppy as if she’d lost her mind.
“Poppy, honey, why don’t you let Del handle any intimidating that needs to be done.” He grimaced and turned to me. “Not that you need intimidating.”
“Noted.”
Poppy rubbed her face. “Finn, really, I’m sorry I tried that. Drake will probably kill me.”
“No need to apologize. I’m glad Drake has such a good friend.” I stepped away from the car and shut the door. “Speaking of Drake, I’m supposed to meet him at the festival. I imagine I’ll see you later tonight. Good luck with the show.”
I nodded to Del and Mac as I walked past them, heading for the gate. I was almost at the bend in the path when I heard Mac say, “I hope Drake won’t be too pissed when he finds out what you did, or else you’ll be writing all your own songs from now on.”
I chuckled. Drake wouldn’t hear about Poppy’s awkward little attempt at protectiveness from me, but I was betting Mac would rat her out.
I was still grinning as I entered the festival grounds.
Drake was easy to spot, even with the size of the crowd.
He’d taken to wearing his straw cowboy hat each day to help the vendors find him more quickly.
But right now he was talking to a twenty-something girl who looked less like a vendor or band member and more like a festival-goer.
As I got closer, she showed him something on her phone. “I’m so happy I ran into you!”
Drake leaned in, then he clapped his hand over his mouth. “Oh, my god!”
“Right?” She glanced at me briefly as I neared, dismissing me as unimportant.
“Hey.” I wanted to put my arm possessively around Drake, but he hadn’t seen me approach and I didn’t want to freak him out that some rando was hugging him.
He glanced up. “Hey!” He smiled, putting his arm out to pull me in for a kiss.
The girl’s eyes widened. Drake gestured.
“This is Katie. She has a photo of me and her backstage at one of my first concerts with Melodious Moon.” He smiled at her.
“Would you please show Finn here how cute I was back then?”
Her face told me exactly how cute she thought he was now, but she obediently held her phone out for me to look at.
“Holy crap! How old were you?” Both of them had to be maybe eleven or twelve years old at most. Drake was dressed in some sort of sequined jumpsuit and stage makeup.
Katie looked much more wholesome in a Melodious Moon t-shirt over a denim skirt.
They had their arms around each other, and both were holding their free hands up in the classic rock and roll gesture, with pinky and forefingers extended.
He frowned. “Ten or eleven, maybe?”
“And you know this is you and not Dirk?”
“Yeah. My dad always made all of us twins have different hair so the fans could tell us apart.”
No matter what the kids wanted. Got it.
Drake looked wistfully at Katie’s phone.
“Hey, Katie. Um, Drake can’t exactly give out his phone number, but if I gave you mine would you text me the photo?”
“Oh, sure!” She set the photo up to be sent and then handed me her phone to enter my phone number.
“Thanks so much, Katie. It really means a lot.” Drake patted his pockets. “Do you want me to sign something for you since you’re here? Take a selfie?”
I slapped my hand on my forehead. “We need to get Alex over here so you two can recreate the photo! He can do a cute then-and-now thing with it.”
Katie looked confused so Drake explained who Alex was while I called him. He said he’d be right over.
Drake entertained Katie with tales of what his siblings were currently up to, though I was mostly sure he completely fabricated the story about Hunter and Heath being on a wellness retreat in the Indonesian jungle.
When Alex arrived, I showed him the photo Katie had texted me.
He instantly understood what I wanted. “Yes! That’ll be fantastic.
” He took down Katie’s name and contact information so he could send her a copy of the new picture.
Then he positioned Katie and Drake in front of a huge sign advertising Poppy’s concert and he had them take the same pose they’d been in for the original photo.
Drake also took a selfie with Katie, and he gave her a big hug as she left.
He was smiling when he turned back to me and Alex.
“That was fun.” He glanced in the direction Katie had gone.
“It’s weird because I don’t really have a ton of great memories from the Melodious Moon years, but I looked happy in that picture. ”
I texted it to him, then gave him a half-hug with a kiss on the temple. “I’m glad she found you.”
I heard the unmistakable click of Alex’s camera. I glared at him for interrupting a nice moment, but he shrugged, smiling. “I was documenting a new great memory for Drake.”
Drake beamed at him. “Thanks, Alex.”
I sighed and hugged Drake again. “Thanks, Alex.”
Poppy’s concert was incredible. It was also packed to the brim with festival-goers, and I was more than grateful for the backstage passes.
Charlie, Kirk, and I stood in the wings and got an insider’s view of what went into putting on a concert.
This wasn’t even a tenth of her full arena show, but there were still costume changes, pyrotechnics, lasers, and choreography.
Drake stopped in to check on us about halfway through, but there was some issue with the plumbing in one of the restrooms, so he couldn’t stay.
After the concert was over and Poppy had kindly taken selfies with the boys and autographed their backstage passes, I texted Drake.
Me:
We’re ready to head back to the car. Are you still working?
Drake:
Yeah. I’ll be here for another hour, maybe more. Go on home.
Me:
Okay. But that means I won’t get to see you until the competition tomorrow. I’ll have to spend the morning listening to Charlie practice and making sure he’s not panicking.
Drake:
He’ll do great, and I understand. I’ll miss sleeping next to you though.
Me:
Tomorrow night.
Drake:
I can’t wait.
I was exhausted when I finally got to bed around 1:00 a.m., but every time I closed my eyes, I found myself reaching out for Drake.
My bed was familiar and definitely more comfortable than the one in Drake’s cabin, but he wasn’t in it.
It’d taken me less than a week to get addicted to sleeping next to him.
It wasn’t even sex I was craving. I needed Drake within touching distance.
Fuck. He’d said he’d stay after the festival, but for how long? I couldn’t leave Maplewood, not with my clinic and Charlie. If Drake wanted a future with me, he’d have to move here. Would he even be open to considering it?
Addy’s cryptic text that “someone” was already working on keeping Drake here floated through my brain. But I couldn’t rely on rumors about nameless people. I had to find the balls to ask Drake to stay, to give our relationship a real chance.
I hoped Charlie didn’t mind leaving early for the festival tomorrow.