Chapter Two
Jonathan
I hit the button to accept the video call on my laptop, turning to set aside my guitar as I answer. “Hey, little diva. How’re the ‘rents? Get them to change their mind yet?”
Instead of Gabby’s light alto, a deep baritone answers me. “Well, now. That depends on quite a few things.”
Freezing with my fingers still around the neck of my guitar, I close my eyes, silently cursing myself for not looking at the screen before saying anything when I knew that I’d be talking to Gabby’s parents today. Pasting on my most charming smile, I turn to face the screen. “Hi, Mr. Kane. You’re looking well today.”
One dark eyebrow arches above his steely blue eyes. He and Gabby don’t resemble each other at all, with his hard, craggy face, his salt and pepper hair, and blue eyes. But the disdainful disbelief dripping from that one look is so Gabby, no one could ever deny that she’s his daughter.
I clear my throat and run my hands on my thighs, grateful that I’m thousands of miles away right now. I could definitely see this guy deciding to punch my teeth in if I say the wrong thing. And since I’m sleeping with his baby girl, there are a lot of ways I could say the wrong thing. “I, uh, expected to talk to Gabby first. I didn’t realize …”
“I gathered.” There’s dry amusement in his voice. I’m sure he can tell I’m uncomfortable, and he’s enjoying that fact.
A hand from off-camera slaps his shoulder lightly, and a female voice that sounds like an older version of Gabby says, “Be nice. We’re trying to get to know him better and figure out a way to make your little girl happy. You promised you wouldn’t be this way.”
His chiseled face softens, and he moves back from the camera, making room in the frame for his wife to sit next to him. She gives me a smile, her brown eyes warm, her chin-length brown hair the same color as Gabby’s, except where it’s shot through with streaks of silver. “Hi, Jonathan. How are you today?”
“Good.” I return her smile. “How are you, Mrs. Kane?”
A light laugh escapes her. “I’m well. Please, call me Elizabeth.”
Relaxing ever so slightly, my smile becomes more genuine. “Elizabeth, then.”
“You can keep calling me Mr. Kane.” Gabby’s dad gives me a hard look, straight into the camera, so there’s no mistaking that he intends the menace behind his words.
Elizabeth gives him a quelling look before turning back to me. “You’ll have to excuse my husband. He has a difficult time with change. And sending Gabby out to California this summer is definitely a change of plans for us.”
I clear my throat. This isn’t news to me. Apparently they hoped we’d break up again once we were apart like at Thanksgiving. They don’t realize how committed to this relationship we both are.
“I understand,” I say, trying to be diplomatic. “But I’m sure you can understand the difficulty of a long-distance relationship. Since she doesn’t have any real obligations over the summer, it makes more sense for her to come here than for me to come there. And I’ll have an easier time keeping her out of unwanted press here than if I were to come to Dallas.”
Elizabeth smiles at me, then gives her husband another one of those looks while he mutters something under his breath. “Yes, we understand all that. But she is our youngest daughter, and she’s still only nineteen. We’ve missed having her home and have been looking forward to spending the summer with her.”
“Especially since she wasn’t even supposed to go to school that far away,” interjects Mr. Kane. “She should’ve stayed in Texas like we’d planned for years. Plenty of good music schools here.”
“Um …” I’m not sure what to say to that.
“Honey, it’s time to let it go. She made her choice already. And she’s your daughter, which means she’s as stubborn as a mule. You know that if we don’t work with her that she’ll just find a way to make it happen without us. She’s legally an adult, so there’s nothing we could do to stop her.”
He crosses his arms, sitting back in his chair and grumbling to himself. I’m a little confused, but cautiously hopeful as I turn my attention back to Elizabeth.
“So you’re okay with Gabby coming to visit? Where is Gabby anyway? I thought she’d be part of this conversation.”
Elizabeth looks to her left, and Gabby’s head pops into view. “Hey. Sorry. I’m here, don’t worry. There’s just not anywhere for me to sit where you can see me. My sister, Marissa, is here too. All we’re missing is my brother and his wife, and it’d be a regular family conference.” She gives me a cheeky grin, but I recognize the nerves running underneath her humor.
In the background, her dad stands and motions for her to take his chair, then a minute later he comes back with another chair. Now I can only see part of his shoulder and arm when he sits on his wife’s other side. But at least I don’t feel like I’m discussing Gabby without her around.
Elizabeth takes over the conversation. “Now. Are we okay with Gabby coming to visit?” She purses her lips. “That depends. We’re okay with her coming for a limited period of time—say two weeks—before she comes back here for the remainder of the summer. And we need to discuss where she’ll be staying while she’s there. She mentioned something about staying in your apartment?”
“Yeah, I have a two-bedroom in a nice complex. There’s good security here. She’ll be safe.”
“Good. So if she’s in your apartment, where will you be staying?”
Gabby’s dad’s head pushes into view. “That’s my wife’s subtle way of telling you that there’s no way in hell she’s coming if you two are staying together.”
I swallow, trying to come up with a solution on the spur of the moment. I should’ve seen this coming, but I didn’t. I thought assuring them that Gabby could have her own room would be enough—not that I ever had any intention of her staying there instead of in my bed, but I figured what they don’t know can’t hurt them. Clearly that’s not enough.
My eyes flick to Gabby, who mouths, “Sorry.”
“Um, well, I could probably stay with my parents while Gabby’s in town.”
Elizabeth gives me a satisfied smile. “That sounds like it’ll work fine. Okay. We’ll book Gabby a ticket for the Fourth of July week. She might end up having to travel on the holiday to keep costs down.”
“Oh, um.” That’s almost three weeks away. I really don’t want to wait that long. “I was hoping she could come sooner.” I swallow. My eyes checking on Gabby again before going back to Elizabeth. “What if I buy her a ticket for next week?”
“Now hold on a minute,” comes from Mr. Kane, but Elizabeth lays her hand on his arm, and he settles back into his chair.
Elizabeth looks at Gabby, and some silent communication passes between them before Elizabeth turns to me again. “Okay. We can do next week. If you buy Gabby’s ticket, we’ll buy Marissa’s, since she’ll be coming out to keep Gabby company so she’s not there all alone while you’re working.”
“Oh. Uh. Okay. Marissa’s coming too.” I glance at Gabby again, who’s giving me another apologetic look. “I’ll look forward to meeting her.”
I get another satisfied smile from Elizabeth. “Good. Then it’s settled. We’ll be in touch about organizing the flights.”
“Okay,” I respond, shell-shocked by how easily Gabby’s mom just handled me. I feel like my manager or my attorney should’ve been here for this negotiation. But I don’t have time to say anything else before Gabby’s parents stand and move off camera, and Gabby comes closer.
“I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t have time to warn you what they were planning ahead of time. I just found out about the Marissa twist right before my dad called you.” She glances over her shoulder. “I’ll call you later, okay? Our usual time?”
“Okay.”
She gives me a bright smile. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
And then she’s gone, the video chat screen turning black as she cuts off the call.
I sit blinking at the screen for a minute before closing the window. That didn’t go at all like I expected. But at least I get to see Gabby soon. Even if it’s only for two weeks. Which won’t be anywhere near enough time for me.