Gypsy Hearts (8 page)

Old wounds were always hard to close, but Josie
tried as she took her first step up the stairs of the bus.
As soon as she did, she immediately wanted to turn
around and run back out to the sidewalk.

Today was the day for confrontations. Raised voices in the back of the bus spelled trouble. But Dexter was
also back there. He didn't like confrontations and usually hid with loud noise. She couldn't leave him alone
in the middle of an argument with people he hardly
knew.

Miles and Roy were arguing where Josie and Brock
had been earlier. Where they'd both been standing
when Brock had kissed her. What they'd shared was
heated, but not the same as what was happening now.

"I turned my back for a second to pay the check and
you moved in to score," Roy was saying, pointing a
burly finger at Miles' chest.

"She was interested in me, anyway."

Roy huffed. "No way. You're a pity date."

"Oh, give it a rest, guys," Josie said wryly, reaching
down to retrieve Dex, who'd curled up in a ball at the
end of her bunk. She nuzzled the cat to her face. "Don't
tell me you're already fighting over a girl."

"Stay out of this, Josie," Miles warned.

"This is going to be an agonizingly long trip if we're
going to have to hear you two go at it every time you
see a pretty face. Trust me, there'll be plenty more at
the next stop."

For all of them. Including Brock, she thought, a sinking feeling dragging her mood even lower than it had
been in the store.

"He's just sore, is all."

"Your cat got hair all over my black jacket," Roy
said, ignoring his argument and Miles' comment. He
picked up the jacket and thrust it at Josie.

"I'm sorry. I should have kept him in the crate while I was in the store," she said, heat creeping up her
cheeks. "Dexter doesn't know his boundaries yet."

Roy laughed wryly. "Yeah, I guess none of us do."
He started toward the front of the bus and Josie called
after him.

"I'll take care of the cat hair, Roy. I promise it won't
happen again."

Roy waved a hand back at her. "Yeah, whatever."

She eyed Dexter, pulling up his face gently with her
hand so she could look at him. "You're going to get us
both thrown off this bus. You know better than to nap
on someone else's bunk," she crooned. "I don't want to
have to keep you kenneled in Nashville for the whole
month until we can find someplace permanent."

Since the tailor finished Brock's new clothes faster
than expected, they all ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. The rest of the band climbed aboard the bus and
even though Will insisted they were ahead of schedule,
he still wanted to get on the road. Unlike the first leg of
their trip, the atmosphere on the bus had become
strained while they dished out their food.

"What's chewing them?" Brock asked quietly, taking
the seat opposite her at the dining table.

Josie took a sip of her soda. "Girl troubles."

Brock laughed. "That didn't take long."

Josie stared at him. Maybe she didn't find it as amusing as Brock because she herself felt some turmoil about
what was happening between them. And she didn't
really want anything to be happening between them that
didn't have to do with her job as a sound engineer.

But it was undeniably there. Like right now as
Brock's eyes lifted to hers from across the table. In his
eyes, she saw the kiss, and Lord help her, she could feel
it all over again.

The brief kiss they'd shared earlier had started
something. No doubt about that. But if she was going to
be honest with herself, then she had to at least admit
there'd been something brewing right from the start,
from the moment Brock had walked through the DB
Sound Studio doors.

But it had to end here and now.

"Listen," she started, glancing around to make sure
no one was focusing his attention on the two of them.
She took his hand from across the table. "About what
happened earlier today."

Brock's smile was immediate and the light in his
eyes burst to life, making her heart flutter.

"It was really nice."

Josie couldn't deny that. Brock Gentry certainly
wasn't the first man she'd ever kissed, but there was
something about kissing him, his strength, and the way
he made her head spin that had made her think it would
be just fine if he were the last man she ever kissed.

"I could get used to having you in my arms like that."
She could get used to being held in his arms, feeling
things she hadn't allowed herself to feel for any man in
a long time. Closing her eyes to the images flooding her
mind, she sighed.

"I hope you don't take this personally, but I meant
what I said earlier. I don't want us to get involved with
each other."

Some of the sparkle vanished from his eyes. "I
thought we went through that already."

She nodded, pulled her hand away and picked up her
fork, poking at her fried rice. "We're working together
and things could get really complicated. I don't want
anything to get in the way of us working together. You
know what I mean?"

"Lots of musicians work together and have happy
relationships. Look at Paul and Linda McCartney."

"Good try. But they were married before they began
performing together and had a family they took on the
road with them. Being around everyone while trying to
start a relationship isn't my idea of romance."

"It could be. We could get out of here," he said, the
smile on his face breaking her heart.

"Yeah-you, me, and the rest of the guys. I think I'll
pass."

His brow crinkled. "Why do you do that?"

"I'm not doing anything but declining your offer."

"You're pushing me away."

"Is that a crime?"

"If you do it for the wrong reason, yes. I enjoy your
company. I think you feel the same, but every time we
get the tiniest bit close to each other and start to move
to a new level, you either hightail in the opposite direction or push me away."

Sighing, she dropped her fork on the table again. She
wasn't all that hungry anymore. "It isn't personal."

Brock laughed sarcastically. "So you say."

"It's just..." she said, trying to think of the right
words to explain and coming up empty.

"You're still looking for a blue suit. Maybe I should
have that tailor find one instead of that flashy, God
awful red thing Will insisted on having me buy."

She chuckled and felt some of the tension ease.
"Christmas tree bulb, huh?"

"Shoot, I'm going to blind everyone in the front row
at tonight's show." Brock shifted in his seat, clearly
uncomfortable.

"Seriously," she said, clearing her throat.

He filled in the blanks she'd left with her silence.
"You and I can have some time to ourselves. It doesn't
have to be us and the band all the time. There's a whole
lot more to me than just this."

"That's just it. When we're together, all we do is talk
about the band and that's fine, except..."

"There's more to you. I understand that. And that's a
part of you I want to get to know."

"Outside of this, I don't know how to be. What are
we going to do, sneak off and then come home?"

"Are you afraid of what they'll say?"

"No, not really. I just don't relish the idea of being
under a microscope. And we will be, you know."

"I have to admit I'm not all that fond of having eyes
on me all the time-except yours, of course."

He laughed at the look she threw him. "You can do
better than that, cowboy."

"Don't push me away and I'll try better. I like you,
Josie. A lot."

"I like it when you say things like that better than
when you're trying to impress me with your words or
your songs."

He tilted an eyebrow. "Hey, you don't like my
songs?"

She laughed. "That's not the point."

"I'll leave you alone, if that's what you want. I won't
push you to do anything you don't want to do. The last
thing I want is to make you uncomfortable."

She looked at Brock a long time, looked into the
depths of his magnificent eyes and wondered how she
could have ever thought he was too young for her. In
years, maybe. But that was just a play of numbers. He
had a wise soul and it showed in what he did. And in his
beautiful eyes. It didn't seem strange to refer to them
that way. She didn't think she'd ever met a man who
didn't push his way on her. Brock was different.

But Brock was different from the kind of man she'd
convinced herself she needed. She couldn't imagine
him sitting behind a desk and filling out paperwork all
day. Growing up on a ranch had given him a different
perspective on life than she had. But she couldn't see
him lasting forever on a ranch, herding cattle and
stringing barbed wire fences, either.

"You don't make me uncomfortable," she said. "In
fact, it's just the opposite."

"That's good."

"It's this situation that bothers me. But that's the way
it is. It's not something we can change."

"Brock?" Will called from the front of the bus. Will
gave a strong look to Josie and she knew he was thinking about their conversation at the department store.
She wouldn't let Will or anyone else intimidate her.
She'd done that before and crawled home to regret it.

Before Brock turned his attention to Will, he reached
across the table and squeezed her hand. "We can if we
try. I want to try, Josie."

She watched as he got up from the table and walked
down the aisle toward Will. When she'd packed her
bags for this road trip, she'd promised herself there'd
be no regrets this time around. She didn't want to think
that she'd ever regret her decision to come on the road
with Brock or anything at all about the man.

But she had to stay true to her goal. The end of the
road for her was Nashville. She had a lot of catching up
to do. Looking at Brock, she knew they both hoped for
wonderful things in Nashville, but their roads were sure
to turn in different directions once they arrived. She
was going to have to be careful not to take the wrong
path again.

he first week on the road had been met with a series
of mishaps that were quickly fixed so that the audience
was left unaware to enjoy the show. Unloading and setting up quickly and not getting in each other's way
while doing their jobs was getting easier after their
tenth show, Josie discovered.

All of the early shows had been small, held in local
clubs and large dancehalls that drew a regular crowd no
matter who the headlining band was on the sign outside. It was a good way to bring in new fans and get
exposure for Brock on the local radio stations. The new
CD was starting to get airplay and that set everyone's
spirits a little higher.

The sound check had become a routine for Josie.
They'd all fallen into a groove, having spent so much
time in close quarters on the bus. Such is life on the
road, but it wasn't without a downside. Tensions flared
and then dissipated, usually by Will, who, being on the phone a good deal of the time, would scold whoever
was making the ruckus.

But despite the little spats that went on backstage and
on the bus, the band had become tight, not unlike a
married couple who'd grown through their first year as
newlyweds. They'd done well and survived the first leg
of the tour, but the big test would come when they
reached the coast.

The mood had change as the anticipation of their
first big show in Galveston approached. Josie could
almost hear it like a hum getting louder by the moment
until it became a roar.

Will had high hopes for Galveston. He'd said that
everything they'd done so far was solely leading up to
this one gig. From then on, every gig they had would
build on the last.

They pulled into the fairgrounds, located on one of
Galveston's thirty-two miles of beach.

"Hey, this is us," Miles said, reaching over to the
stereo sitting in the overhead compartment. He turned
up the volume. Brock's voice filtered over the speakers.