The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(75)

“At least two weeks. That’s what’s lined up as of now. But it could be longer.”

Two weeks wasn’t that long, but somehow I knew it would feel like forever.

Holden must have sensed my inner panic as I stood there speechless.

“You know what? Come here,” he said as he brought me into his arms. “I hadn’t even hugged you yet before I sprung this on you.” He breathed into my neck. “If this amazing thing wasn’t happening between us, I would be happy about leaving, but everything’s different now. I want nothing but to soak up every minute with you while you’re in New York.”

When Holden let me go, I gazed at the streetlights outside his window for a moment, unable to meet his eyes. “How is it even possible for your manager to spring something like this on you with so little notice?”

Holden scratched his chin. “Well, that’s the thing about the music business. You’re sort of expected to drop everything and take opportunities when they come. I’m fortunate that the guys and I have an understanding about that in terms of my job around here. They know the music comes first.”

Right. The music comes first. Don’t forget that, Lala. “What about the other band members?” I asked. “They have day jobs they can just drop?”

“They all do jobs similar to mine, and they have deals with their bosses. If an opportunity comes up, the music takes priority. Obviously, with all that I handle around here, we’ll have to hire a temporary service to do the maintenance, which we have in our budget. The guys have always known this could happen and I would need to be gone. So we’ve planned for it.”

I was sure I’d be the only one not okay with him leaving. But it wasn’t because I didn’t want him to have the opportunity. I wanted all the success in the world for him. I just didn’t want to be apart when things were just starting between us.

I stared back out the window in a daze.

Holden placed his hand gently on my chin and brought my face up to meet his eyes. “Talk to me, Lala.”

“Well, obviously I’m completely bummed about this, but I would never in a million years try to stand in your way. It is what it is, and I’m so proud of you, Holden.” I reached up and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

“Thank you, sweetheart. It’s a pretty big deal, since there are a lot of music execs out there. The goal is to try to get a few of them to our shows.”

“Yeah. That makes sense.” My gaze drifted to the ground.

Holden again lifted my chin to meet his eyes. “The last thing I want to do right now is leave. The thought of it is killing me.”

I ran my hand along his stubble. “It’s only two weeks, right? And I’ll still be here when you get back.”

“Two weeks will feel like two fucking years. We both know it.”

I exhaled. “Any person in your life has to expect this kind of thing. I would never want to hinder your musical aspirations or tie you down.”

“Well, you can always tie me down in a literal sense. We haven’t tried that one yet,” he joked, forcing a smile. “And if this is really upsetting you, I want you to be honest with me, even if I still have to go. I want to know what you’re thinking right now.”

I sighed. “It’s only upsetting because I won’t get to be with you. But just because I’m sad doesn’t mean I’m not also incredibly happy that you have this opportunity.”

He took me in his arms and scooped me up off the ground, spinning me around as he groaned. Wrapping his hands around my ass, he said, “How about this? We have a week together before I have to leave.” He put me down. “Let’s just vow to make it the best fucking week ever—not let anything stand in the way of fully enjoying each other.”

“Okay.” I grinned, trying my best to hide my feeling of impending doom.

I had not seen this coming, but I should have. That’s the thing. This news was a slap in the face from reality about what being a musician’s girl was like. Maybe it was better that I experienced this now rather than later. I needed to understand what I was getting my heart into.

***

That evening, Holden made his best efforts to take my mind off of his leaving. He took me out to a nice Italian restaurant called Vincente’s Trattoria that I had been wanting to try. I vowed to relax and enjoy my time with him—especially now that I knew how precious that time was.

Under the dim lights, with distant Italian music playing, I had just about managed to forget the bad stuff when our beautiful waitress appeared.

Rather than greeting us in a normal fashion, the attractive brunette simply looked toward Holden and said, “Oh.”

It didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on.

“I didn’t know you worked here,” he finally said.

“Well, I just started a few weeks ago.” She turned to me. “Uh, hi, I’m Sasha...a friend of Holden’s.”

A friend. Sure.

Seeming flustered, she shook her head. “Anyway, what can I get you guys to drink?”

The table fell silent for a few seconds before Holden said, “I’ll take a glass of cabernet.” He turned to me. “Lala?”

I swallowed. “I’ll have a glass of chardonnay.”

Sasha cleared her throat. “I’ll be right back with those.”