Once Upon a Sure Thing (Page 38)

Chapter 35

Miller

It’s happened. Science fiction has warped with reality, and I’ve entered an alternate universe.

One where my brother Campbell is jamming onstage with me.

Not in front of the kids at Christmas, but before a motherfucking audience. What the hell is happening?

He flashes me a grin. I have no clue what’s going on. But I go with it, because that’s what you do when you perform. We do it in style, belting out “Love Me Like Crazy.”

The audience hollers, and their energy is bigger and brighter than it was when I was here with Ally minutes ago. This is an epic cry of excitement. Of pure glee.

I have no idea why Campbell’s here, but I’m having a blast singing the tune we wrote when we were sixteen and seventeen, jamming in our garage at our home in Jersey after convincing our parents they should let us be a band.

We don’t sing it to each other, all sexy and hot like Ally and I do. Please.

We sing it to the crowd, like we’ve always done. That’s what they want. That’s what I want too. There’s something special in the air. When I play with Campbell, the magic isn’t in how we look at each other. It’s in the music, and how we make the music together. It’s coming home.

This is what I’ve longed for, and even if this is all I get—one song with Campbell—I’m going to savor every single second of it.

Because of how I feel. Overjoyed.

I pour all that joy into the song, and the crowd can feel it. I can feel their joy, like we’re trading off, sharing the most epic emotion.

I’m pretty sure Ally can feel it, because she’s right there at the edge of the stage, singing along. Singing all the words we sang to each other in bed.

But this time, we finish the lines.

“Don’t you love me like crazy?”

This wasn’t how I planned it. I was going to tell her onstage how I felt. I wasn’t going to do it through this song. But plans change, and I can’t wait.

I switch it up. I change a word as I gaze into her eyes. “I love you like crazy.”

“I love you like crazy,” she mouths to me, a wild grin stretching across her face. That grin makes my heart jet to the stratosphere.

When we finish, I’m made of nothing but adrenaline and the wish to have this woman for the rest of my days. I grab her hand and pull her up. The crowd is chanting and cheering, but I have blinders on, and eyes only for her. “Ally Zimmerman, I love you like crazy.”

Chapter 36

Ally

“I love you too. So much,” I say as tears streak down my face. A dam bursts. I’ve been holding so much in, and I can finally say it all.

He cups my cheeks. “I love you, and I love Chloe, and I love the package deal, and I want it all. I want all in with you. Will you have me?”

I gasp, and I try to speak, but my throat is clogged with emotions. They’re overflowing in me. I didn’t expect he’d tell me he loved me tonight. I wasn’t sure he felt the same at all.

“Say yes!” someone from the audience shouts.

“What do you say?” he asks again, a smile on his face, his hands on my cheeks, his forehead touching mine.

I’d say I’m floating. I’d say I’m falling. I’d say this feels so unreal.

“I want to be your man. Do you want me?” he asks.

“I do,” I blurt out through tears of joy. “I want that so much.”

My skin is buzzing, my heart is galloping, and the entire world is singing love songs tonight. “I love you, and that’s why I wanted to give you this gift for Christmas.”

“What gift?”

Campbell plays another note, the start of another song. “Coming Together.” It’s the one Miller wrote for us, but it sounds so much better when he sings it with his brother.

I grab his mic and turn to the audience, collecting myself. “Ladies and gentlemen, what would you think of the Heartbreakers getting back together?”

A momentary hush falls over the crowd, and seconds later, the silence spins into a roar.

Jackson captures every second on video, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s nabbed an even better story than before.

As Campbell plucks out the chords, I whisper to Miller, “I knew this was what you wanted more than anything. I want you to be happy. I want you to play with your brother. So I asked him, and he said yes.”

He stares at me with mad love in his eyes. “I love you so fucking much.”

Chapter 37

Campbell

For the record, I’ve been thinking about getting the band back together for a while.

How could I not? Miller’s been asking me for a long time. He’s been wanting to reunite since we broke up. I didn’t want to then. I didn’t even want to a few months ago.

But it took a certain woman. Or really, two women. Wait, make that three women.

Mackenzie, my daughter, and Ally.

They didn’t convince me, per se. Instead, they showed me the way. Yesterday, when Ally, Mackenzie, and Sam sat me down, they played me the video from the coffee shop, and Ally asked, “How did you feel then?”

As I watched, I remembered having an absolute blast with our impromptu song. It felt right and good to sing with Miller. I couldn’t contain my smile when I answered her question. “Happy. I felt happy.”

Mackenzie squeezed my hand. “And how about when you sang with your brothers in front of the Christmas tree?”

I’d pictured the three of us around the tree, rocking out to holiday tunes, and my heart somersaulted. “I loved it.”

“And you guys both have notes from the same song tattooed on your body,” Ally added. “From your first hit song.”

“Are you saying that’s a sign?”

Mackenzie laughed as she shrugged. “You told me you had the tattoo done ten years ago. That was after the band broke up. Miller had his done afterward too. Maybe you’ve both been missing it. Maybe it was meant to happen again.”

The more she’d shared, the more spot-on her observations felt. They’d resonated inside me.

Then my daughter had played the clip of us singing “Coming Together” in the studio.

That was the final lightbulb moment. In that clip, I looked like I was having the time of my life. Fact is, I’ve always loved playing with Miller, and with Miles too.

Even years after we’d split, I’d savored the little moments when we had a chance to sing together again.

But it wasn’t till I saw those moments reflected back that I realized there was an ache inside me too. A longing to have that once more, but to have it be different this time around.

“What if you could have that again?” Mackenzie suggested.

I looked to Sam, swallowing hard. “I don’t want that crazy life.”

“Dad,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be crazy. You guys can do it on your terms, like Ally and Miller were doing it on their terms. Be local and do online videos. The internet is where the action is, anyway.”

I keyed in on one word. “Were? You and Miller were doing it on your terms? Does that mean you’re done, Ally?”

She shrugged, but it was a mostly happy one, with only a hint of sadness. A lone tear rolled down her cheek. “You guys were meant to play together.”

I scrubbed my jaw, considering her suggestion. Could I still play with the guys in the Righteous Surfboards? Sure. Why not do both? Could I still teach? Of course. It’s my life, and my schedule. And could I play with my brother again, making videos for the Web and playing shows in New York City?