Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Laney
When I wake up the next morning, I’ve forgotten everything that happened the night before. But the moment I reach for my phone to turn off my alarm, it all comes rushing back.
Adam is Deke. Adam kissed me last night. And Freddie Ridgefield FaceTimed me so I could hear them play together.
Of all the impossible, unbelievable things I could imagine, I’m not sure I would have put this one on the list.
A wave of trembly nervous energy washes over me as I drop back onto my pillow.
I pull out my phone and open my browser, typing in words I haven’t searched in a very long time. Years, probably.
Midnight Rush—where are they now?
Freddie is the first one every site mentions, which makes sense because he has the biggest career. Leo and Jace come up with about the same frequency, usually with links to Leo’s recording studio—he’s producing now—and Jace’s latest album. Though, it seems like Jace gets more attention via his wife’s Instagram than he does through his music.
What I don’t find at all are any mentions of Deke. Lots of speculation. One Reddit post written by someone claiming she attended his funeral after he was killed in a dirt bike accident. A second by someone who said they’d gone to high school together and last she heard, he was in rehab for drug addiction. But nothing that sounds like his current life in Lawson Cove.
I find plenty of pictures of the other band members, but the only ones of Adam go all the way back to their last tour. There’s nothing of him in the past eight years. The man really did just go dark and disappear.
It’s honestly pretty impressive that he managed to do it. The transformation with the muscles and the beard definitely didn’t hurt. He’s lucky in that regard.
Freddie never would have been able to hide so easily.
I pull up a press photo from the last Midnight Rush tour and zoom in on Adam’s face.
I’ve kissed this man.
The thought is so completely ridiculous, I start to laugh.
I have kissed a member of Midnight Rush.
I grab my pillow and squeeze it over my face, squealing as I pick up my feet and bounce them on the bed. In two minutes, I will get up and shower and put on my scrubs and go to work like a responsible adult woman.
But right now, I can’t help it. I kissed my teenage crush. My teenage fantasy.
If there is ever a moment I should get to squeal, it’s this one .
I text Percy over breakfast and tell him I have big news, and he’d better brace himself.
Instead of responding, he shows up on my doorstep ten minutes later.
“What are you doing here?” I ask around a bite of cereal.
“What do you mean what am I doing here? You said you had big news.”
“That I can tell you at work. You didn’t have to drive all the way over.”
He moves into my kitchen and helps himself to a mug of coffee. “You live five minutes down the road, and you’re on my way to work. Plus, you make better coffee than what we have at the office.” He holds up his mug to demonstrate. “Don’t feel special, just spill the tea.”
I prop my hands on my hips. “Okay, but I think you might need to sit down first.”
His eyes widen. “Laney, are you pregnant?” He lets out a little gasp. “Are you moving? I swear, if you’re moving, I will never forgive you.”
“I say big news, and these are the possibilities you come up with? I’m either pregnant or moving?”
He takes a long sip of coffee, like he is fully justified in his assumptions. “What else could it be? Your life isn’t exactly a hotbed of excitement.”
I sigh. He’s right. I hate that he’s right, but he’s right.
But not anymore.
“You’re going to eat those words in about thirty seconds,” I say. “Now sit.”
He complies, but he rolls his eyes with extra emphasis as he does so, like he thinks I’m totally ridiculous for making him do it.
I sit down across from him, fighting a smile only because I don’t want to give away too much too soon. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something else first, and it’s very exciting, but it’s not the big news, it’s just something else you need to know. For context.”
He nods and motions for me to continue.
I press both palms flat against the table. “Adam kissed me last night.”
“Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere. How was it? Was there tongue?”
“Percy.”
“What? Mimi will want to know.”
“And you’re comfortable discussing my kissing habits with your eighty-eight-year-old grandmother?”
He shrugs. “If you can't beat them, join them?”
I wave a dismissive hand. “We’re getting off topic. Just keep that in your mind when I tell you this next part?”
“Okay. It’s in there. Laney. Kissing. Lots of tongue.”
“Percy!”
He presses his lips together and lifts his hand, sliding his fingers across his lips like he’s zipping them closed.
“Are you ready to take me seriously?”
He nods but doesn’t say anything, which I take as the gesture of support I am sure it is meant to be.
I take a deep breath, realizing on the exhale that I’m actually trembling a little.
Percy must notice too, because his eyes narrow, and he immediately breaks his self-imposed silence. “Are you for real freaking out over there? Girl, what is going on?”
I let out a shaky laugh. “Percy, Adam’s full name is Adam Deacon Driscoll.”
He frowns. “I don’t get it.”
“As in…Adam Deke Driscoll. ”
“Adam Deke…” he repeats. Then he gasps. “No.”
“Yes.”
“Your Adam—he’s…and you kissed…” He stands up. “Laney! Are you for real right now?” He leans toward me, hands pushed into the table, and I quickly slide his coffee mug out of the way. “Are you telling me that Deke Driscoll of Midnight Rush lives in our tiny town? And that you kissed him?”
“That is exactly what I’m telling you.”
“But he looks so different. How? I mean, I guess with the beard, but no. Are you sure? Maybe he just looks like him.”
“I’m sure. Because last night, Freddie Ridgefield showed up at Adam’s house.”
Percy lifts his hands in the air. “Oh, no. Now you’ve gone too far. You cannot tell me lies like this.”
“I’m not lying, Percy. I swear. Adam does look different with a beard, but now that I know, I can totally see it. And Freddie is…Freddie. All the tattoos. The big green eyes. There was no mistaking him.”
“Oh my word,” Percy says, pressing a hand to his stomach. He starts to laugh, head tilted back. “Oh my word!” He pulls me up off my chair and wraps me in an enormous hug. “I am so happy for you,” he says. “It’s not a wonder he knows so much about music.”
“I know. And you should see his record collection. He has a signed Elvis Christmas album. The red 7-inch LP. Do you know how much those things are worth?”
“I did not understand a word you just said, but I’m sure it’s amazing.” He turns and retrieves his coffee, then glances at his watch.
We’re both going to be late if we don’t leave soon, so I carry my abandoned cereal bowl over to the sink and rinse it out.
Freddie follows me to my entryway, where I pull on my shoes and grab my purse. “Last night, on FaceTime, he and Freddie sang ‘Never Say Never’ for me. Like, just the two of them, singing just for me.”
“I would have literally peed my pants,” Percy says.
“I know. I almost did.”
When we get outside, Percy moves to the passenger side of my car. “What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m riding to work with you. There are too many details you haven’t given me yet.”
It’s only a ten-minute drive to the office, but Percy takes advantage of every minute. He asks question after question, and I end up telling him almost everything, minus the possibility of a reunion concert, only because that doesn’t feel like my news to tell. As far as I explain it, Adam and Freddie remained friends, and Freddie has simply come into town to visit.
Which is true enough. I won’t betray Adam’s privacy to share more.
Our conversation stops short when we get to work and find Dad crouched in front of the main entrance, working on untying a dog leash from the door handle.
Percy sighs. “I guess it was about time. It’s been a while.”
It happens a few times a year that one of us will show up to work only to find a cat or dog abandoned on the office’s doorstep. Dad had security cameras installed because it’s illegal to dump your pets at a vet’s office or anywhere else, and that helped cut down on how frequently it happens. But some people either don’t care or they’re desperate enough to take the risk anyway .
I hate it when anyone dumps an animal. But I like to think the people who dump them here at least want to do the right thing for their pet.
Dad finally frees the leash, and the chocolate lab on the other end of it looks at him with big brown eyes and an expression that makes me think she’s been through something.
“Poor thing,” Dad says. He hands the leash over to me. “Want to take her inside and check for a microchip? I’ll pull up the security cameras.”
Unfortunately, whoever dumped the dog did so wearing dark clothing and a ski mask, so there isn’t much we can do to discover who it was, but Dad sends the footage over to the Lawson Cove police station anyway. The dog isn’t microchipped, and she hasn’t been spayed, but otherwise, she seems to be in good health.
“I just called the county,” Percy says. “They don’t have room for her.”
“I’m not surprised. They were slam full last week.” I pull my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll just text Adam and see if he can take her.”
“You’ll just text Adam,” Percy says. “Aren’t we fancy.”
“What are you talking about? We communicate with Hope Acres all the time.”
He grins. “No, I used to communicate with Hope Acres all the time by calling the business number and talking to Adam as a representative of this office. Now you’re shooting DMs right into his pocket. It’s not the same thing.”
I send the message then put my phone face-down on the counter and cross my arms. “Are you done teasing me?”
“Yes,” Percy says. “But please tell Adam if he comes by today, he should absolutely bring Freddie with him. ”
“You want me to just casually slip that in there, huh?”
Percy shrugs. “Maybe Freddie would be interested in seeing the kind of work Adam does.”
I chuckle. “I see straight through you, Percy Hamilton.”
He leaves me with the chocolate lab to check in our first patient. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he calls over his shoulder.
Adam responds almost immediately, saying he’d love to meet the dog, and he’ll try to stop by this afternoon.
I send him a thumbs up, then throw myself into work, doing my best to ignore my growing anticipation at the thought of seeing him again.
I don’t do a very good job.
After I forget patient names twice and completely zone out while a pet owner is walking me through the admittedly very long history of her cat’s urinary health, I find my dad and beg him to take over for the morning. He isn’t seeing patients today, just working on business accounts, so he’s more than happy for a reason to abandon his desk and cover my last two appointments before lunch.
I know my brain will eventually get used to this.
To Adam being someone I can text. Kiss. While also being the Deke Driscoll. But right now, I can’t even think about it without wanting to laugh. Or possibly cry? Probably both, honestly. It feels like there’s a magic eight ball lodged right between my ribs, shaking itself up every few minutes to give me a new emotion. Disbelief, joy, excitement, fear, happiness. It’s all there, and I never know what I’m going to get next.
Just after lunch, Percy comes flying into the backroom, one hand pressed to his chest as he waves a hand in the general direction of the lobby .
“He’s out there!” Percy whispers. “Adam is in the parking lot, and he has Freddie with him!”
I take a steadying breath. “Perfect. Go out and say hello, and I’ll bring out the dog in just a second.” I pat myself on the back for sounding so remarkably calm.
Am I thrilled that Adam decided to stop by? Yes.
Am I going to lose my cool and freak out like I’m still in middle school?
Okay, also yes. But only on the inside.