Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Drew was aware of the necklace beneath his T-shirt all day long…and all day long he’d wanted to grab Ashley in front of his crew and kiss her breathless. He was beyond touched that she’d had it made for him, a perfect little replica of the guitar his mother had given him.
Yet again, he thought about how much his mom would have loved Ashley. Just as much as he knew his siblings and his father were going to love her.
As if he’d conjured them into being, when he stepped out of his last interview for the day, his youngest sister, Maddie, came running toward him.
“Drew!”
He opened his arms and caught her. “What did you do with my baby sister?” Maddie was one of his favorite people on the planet, but he wasn’t sure he liked the short length of her skirt or the makeup she was wearing.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to look like a nun tonight compared to the rest of your fans.”
He wasn’t sure about that, but scowling at her when he hadn’t seen her for way too long was out of the question. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Mads. You excited about starting college soon?”
She nodded, but the light he’d hoped to see in her eyes wasn’t completely there. “I’ve been emailing with my new roommate, and she seems really nice.”
“That’s great,” he said in a gentle voice, “but you could have applied to one of the cooking schools you really wanted to go to. You don’t have to go to Stanford, you know.”
She shook her head. “Dad would have freaked if I’d gone to the Cordon Bleu, even if I could have gotten in. He likes knowing I’m going to be safe and sound at Stanford, just down the road from our house, with his fellow professors watching over me.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Drew promised her. “I’ll make him understand.”
But her frown only deepened as their father walked in. “It’s okay, Drew,” she said in a low voice. “It’s only four years. I’m sure I’ll have fun at Stanford like the rest of you did, and then he won’t have to be any more stressed-out than he already is.”
While Drew was growing up, their father had been easygoing about things that other parents freaked out about, like grades or staying out late.
Even when their mom got sick, he’d still held it together pretty well.
But then at the end, he’d lost it on all fronts.
Work. Sleep. Fun. None of those things happened anymore for Michael Morrison.
All of them tried to pick up the slack as much as they could, but the truth was that you couldn’t make a person laugh if they didn’t feel like it.
You couldn’t order a person to fall asleep if all they did was have nightmares whenever they closed their eyes.
And there was no point in their dad staring blankly at a computer screen all day either.
Drew wished he could help his father—they all did—and it killed him that he hadn’t figured out how to do that yet.
“Happy birthday, son.”
As his father hugged him close, Drew was upset to feel his ribs protruding slightly. His father was a great cook, and so was Maddie, who was still living in the house with him. But his appetite clearly hadn’t yet returned.
“Thanks for coming all the way to New Orleans, Dad. It means a lot to me that you travel to wherever I am on my birthday.” Except for last year, when their mom hadn’t been well enough to fly or drive long distance.
“We don’t see you nearly enough. It looks like the road is agreeing with you on this tour, Drew. I’m glad to see it.”
It’s Ashley. She’s the reason everything is better.
“Everyone else should be here shortly,” his father continued. “We’ve all been looking forward to tonight.”
Drew couldn’t wait to see the rest of his siblings.
But this time, his happiness came from more than simply knowing he was going to spend time with his family.
He really wanted all of them to meet Ashley, too.
And though he wasn’t yet able to tell them what she meant to him, he wouldn’t be surprised if they all saw it as clear as day, even without him saying, She’s my girlfriend.
“There’s someone I really want you guys to meet.
” He craned his neck to see where Ashley was and found her chatting with one of the radio station staff members.
She obviously intended to give him time to greet his family alone.
Unlike pretty much everyone else in his world, she never wanted to invade his space.
Didn’t she know she was the number one person he wanted by his side?
He told his sister and father, “I’ll be right back. ”
When he moved beside Ashley, it was nearly impossible not to put his arm around her or even take her hand. Just hours ago, they’d been as close as two people could be. Now, it felt unnatural not to be able to touch her. To kiss her.
“Ash, I’d like to introduce you to my family. Come over and join us.”
“I’d love to. But I know your time with them is limited, so maybe I shouldn’t—”
He moved another step closer, close enough to inhale her fresh, clean scent. “You definitely should.”
“Okay.” She made an adorable face. “I don’t know why I’m being so weird about this. Especially since your sister and father look so nice.”
“You don’t have any reason to be nervous. They’re going to love you.”
He put his hand in the small of her back and led her over to where his father and sister were standing. “Maddie, Dad, this is Ashley Emmit. She joined the tour last week as part of a research project she’s doing on the music industry for her Stanford Business School application.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Ashley,” his father said as he shook her hand.
“It’s so nice to meet you, too, Mr. Morrison.”
Maddie’s smile was huge. “Wow, you’re really pretty.
Are you having fun on tour? Isn’t Drew great?
All of my friends are in love with him. I swear at least a dozen of them begged me to bring them with me today.
I can’t believe you’ve been in Palo Alto all these years and we’ve never met before.
Have you met Olivia or Sean or Justin or Grant at Stanford? ”
Drew laughed out loud as he watched Ashley try to process everything Maddie was throwing at her.
Luckily for her, before she had to figure out which question to answer first, his brother Sean walked in hand in hand with Serena, his supermodel girlfriend.
Ex-supermodel, actually, since she’d recently given it up to study English at Stanford.
“This is Ashley, guys,” Maddie said before Drew could introduce her.
“Her dad is Drew’s former professor, and she’s on tour with him to learn about the music business.
Ashley, Sean is one of my older brothers.
His twin, Justin, will be here soon. And Serena is Sean’s girlfriend.
They met at Stanford, and she’s not modeling anymore because she’s super into books. ”
Drew loved his little sister, but she was a handful. Someday she was going to make some guy really happy…and drive him crazy all at the same time. Just as crazy as she drove all of them.
Fortunately, Sean, Serena, and Ashley were all laughing as they shook hands. “I’ve heard so much about all of you,” Ashley said. “It’s really nice to meet you in person.”
“It’s great to meet you, too,” Sean said, before turning to give Drew a look that he easily read. If she’s heard all about us, then why haven’t we heard about her?
Drew sent back a silent message: It’s complicated, but hopefully it won’t be for long, because she’s special. Really, really special.
If anyone knew about things being complicated, it was Sean and Serena.
They’d had a heck of a time when they’d first started dating.
Being a new couple wasn’t easy for anyone, but due to Serena’s fame, they’d had to deal with paparazzi—and a crazy, lecherous professor, too.
Thankfully, the two of them had come out on the right side of it all, and he could see that they were more in love than ever.
Sean’s twin, Justin, was laughing with someone Drew couldn’t see as he walked in, but Drew would bet his savings account that it was Taylor, his brother’s closest friend. A moment later, when his father shifted to one side, Drew confirmed it.
Justin and Taylor had been friends ever since their first day at Stanford.
And yet, for some reason none of them could understand, given that Taylor was cute, fun, and as brilliant as Justin, they’d never dated.
Drew had hardly been able to wait a week to kiss Ashley.
How the hell his brother had already waited three years was beyond him.
Drew pulled his brother in for a big bear hug, but he was much gentler with Taylor. Before Maddie could beat him to it with Justin’s and Taylor’s full histories, Drew said, “Ashley, this is my brother Justin and his friend Taylor.”
“Are you having a good time on tour?” Taylor asked.
“The best. The most I had hoped for was to be on the fringes of the crew and observe from a distance. But Drew includes me in absolutely everything.”
When she turned to smile at Drew, he was this close to chucking his promise to keep their relationship private. He wanted to hold her hand the way Sean was holding Serena’s. But even more than that, he’d never held back something so important from his family before.
As if she could read his thoughts—and felt guilty about withholding this final piece of herself from him—her smile fell slightly.
Life, he’d learned the hard way, could be far too short for holding back.
But at the same time, pushing her right now would be akin to trying to bend her to his will.
Ashley was one of the strongest people he’d ever met.
And the smartest, too. Surely it wouldn’t be long before she took in all the data she needed and made the same decision he had: That they belonged together for the whole world to see.
“I’m really lucky,” she told his whole family.
But he needed everyone to know, “I’m the lucky one.”