Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
JACKSON
The night after the show is pure revelry. The bulk of the festival-goers are shooed off the premises by security, and a select group of friends, including my bandmates, stay to celebrate with us. My arm stays slung around Bella’s shoulders, keeping her tucked tight against me, though I don’t think we’re able to exchange more than four words between us with how much conversation is firing around us. Eventually, Sam starts a bonfire. Gran brings out marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers, and my acoustic guitar joins the scene. Baabara is let out of the pen, and she swiftly joins me, standing staunchly at my defense as I begin playing some music.
Lia has been calculating the sales and revenue from the festival, a number we’ve been eagerly awaiting for months now. We know it has to be good, but how good?. She’s working on her laptop, comparing numbers from her calculator, and exporting the sales figures from Alex and Molly’s point of sale system.
When she gasps mid-song, I stop strumming.
“Holy shit,” she whispers.
“How’d we do?” Ethan asks, bumping her with his shoulder.
“Between the profit allotted from the ticket sales, the merch and products sold, and the donations, we’ll be just three thousand dollars short of having everything paid off.”
Everyone gasps. Colleen is the first to speak. “Are you serious?” she squeaks.
We all cheer and take turns hugging and clapping each other on the back. I go to Gran when I notice she’s crying quietly, wrapping my arms around her. When she calms down, she croaks,
“I have the rest.”
All eyes turn to her. “You do?” Alex asks.
Gran sniffs, nodding as she wipes at her eyes. “I started getting payments from the socials.”
“The socials…?” Ethan asks.
“Social media,” Colleen translates. “All the sheep videos she’s been posting.”
“They’re very good,” Bella adds.
“I have an extra five thousand in my bank account right now because of the payments,” Gran says, looking out at us with watery eyes. “So it’s done. We’re done. The debt is gone, and we can breathe easy.”
There’s a stunned silence. Jaws have dropped around the bonfire. Finally, there’s a whoop. Then another. One by one we all leap to our feet, shouting and cheering. Bella disappears and returns a bit later with champagne and flutes.
Once the cork is popped and drinks are passed out, we all lift our glasses.
“To Bedd Fellows Farm,” Ethan says, “and its continued, healthy future.”
We all toast to that.
I’ve barely seen or spoken to Bella all day. There’s just been too much going on. By the time our post-festival celebration is dying down, I’m eager to escape with her to my bedroom. We have some post-show celebrations of our own to do. I’m buzzed and feeling great, still humming some of my new songs to myself when I realize I don’t know where she is. She was at my side at the bonfire a moment ago…or was it an hour ago? I groan and stand, feeling the familiar post-performance aches. I usually opt for a jacuzzi or massage after a show, but no such luck in Fork Lick.
I spot Bella near the house, deep in conversation with Colleen. They’re both nodding, and I head that way, eager to steal my woman and get on to the encore of tonight’s show. Baabara accompanies me, my ever-present guard sheep.
“Hey ladies.” I sling my arm around Bella’s waist. Baabara bleats angrily. “Mind if I steal Bella, Colleen?”
Bella laughs nervously, and a strange tension snaps in the air.
Colleen glances between us, then says, “I need to get the babies packed up in the car. I’ll see you tomorrow Jackson!”
Colleen heads for her car, leaving just Bella and me illuminated in the light spilling out from the house. Baabara sinks onto the ground with a grumble, keeping an eye on me.
“Ready to go up?” I ask her, snaking my fingers through hers.
She looks down at our hands. Not saying a word.
“Hey. Everything okay?” I nudge her, unnerved by how quiet she’s been.
Her throat bobs and finally she pulls her gaze up to meet mine. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Her words don’t make sense at first. It’s a concept I can’t wrap my head around, much less accept on the spot like this, after such a blissed-out day of success. “What?”
“The ticket was purchased for me,” she says. “I’m leaving tomorrow. And I…” She nibbles on her lip, her gaze stuck on the ground. “I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”
“Wait. Why ?” I still can’t force myself to understand. “You can’t be leaving tomorrow. What about breaking all this stuff down? Or basking in our accomplishments? Or, I don’t know, taking a little getaway or something, just you and me? I think we have some celebrating to do, you know? I mean?—”
“Jackson, this is how it’s happening. I’ve taken care of all the details, so you don’t need to worry. Break-down and clean-up crews will be arriving tomorrow. They’ll take good care of everything.”
“But we need more time together,” I tell her. “Let me talk to your boss. Or whoever scheduled this. We have to be able to figure out some alternate plan. If I know when you need to be in Australia, maybe I can get you on a private charter. A friend of mine occasionally goes out that way. I can see if the dates line up?—”
“No.” Her voice is firm, and she starts to back away from me. “I think it’s best if we just let today be the last moment. We had an amazing festival today. Let’s end it on this high note.”
I dip my chin, unsure if I’m understanding her correctly. “What are you saying?”
“I don’t want this to get messy. I don’t want this to hurt . Please, Jackson, let’s just cut this off now and go our separate ways. A clean break.”
Her words feel like a knife. And what hurts the worst is that I never saw this coming. I never thought she’d just pull away like this. “A clean break? Bella, I’m fucking head over heels for you. There’s no breaking away from that. I sang you a song in front of three thousand people. Three thousand two hundred, if you count the illegal onlookers and the cops who showed up. Come on, let’s go up and talk about this. I don’t want Baabara to overhear.”
Bella shakes her head, backing further away from me. “I’m going, Jackson.”
I scoff. “Where?”
“To Colleen’s. She and Bacon have agreed to let me spend the last night at their place. I’ve already got my things packed and moved out of here. I just was waiting to tell you.”
Part of me is desperate to get her to admit this is a joke. A bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. I don’t even have the words to respond other than, “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”
“I don’t know what we’d be accomplishing by stringing this along.” Her voice comes out pinched, and it breaks my heart. I can tell she’s scared, but instead of coming to me, she’s pulling away . “I’m moving twenty hours away from you, by plane. You said it’s just a different country, but it might as well be a different planet. I mean, have you seen their wildlife?”
“The spiders are scary,” I admit, “but it’s not a dealbreaker.”
“I think we’re deluding ourselves,” she says. “Long distance doesn’t work.”
“Not with that attitude,” I shoot back.
“Let’s not make this hurt longer than it has to,” she pleads. “Please.”
“We can still make things work somehow,” I tell her. “We can be in each other’s lives. It will just be…from a distance.”
“That’s not going to work for me,” she whispers. “I’ve loved every single moment we’ve shared. But this train was set in motion before you showed up. Now it’s time for me to go.”
She turns and bolts for her car without another word.
And all I can do is watch her go.