Hold Me (Fool's Gold #16)(44)

Starr clutched her arm. “I have to start practicing more. I have to get better before she comes here. What if she asks me to play? I can’t embarrass myself.”

“Deep breath. You won’t. Lacey doesn’t judge. And to be honest, she prefers to be the best musician in the room.”

“But Dad plays.”

Destiny sighed. “I know. It was a source of friction between them. They would have friends over and both play and then ask them to say who was better. That rarely ended well.” She pointed. “Let’s get elephant ears.”

“Sure.”

They headed to the booth and waited in line.

“It must have been so great, having all that music in the house,” Starr said. “Being able to listen to them and their music friends play.”

“I learned a lot,” Destiny admitted. “But it wasn’t one giant jam session. They traveled all the time. I’d go on tour sometimes, but often I was left behind. I missed school a lot. It was hard to make friends because I was gone and then back and then gone again.”

She wondered if that was where it had started—her not having friends. Back when she’d been younger than Starr. She remembered having a best friend when she was seven or eight—Mandy, a girl from down the street. Only something had happened, something with her parents. She’d never been sure if Jimmy Don had come on to Mandy’s mom or if Lacey had flirted with the husband. Either way, there had been a big fight, and she and Mandy had never been allowed to play together again.

There had been a couple more incidents like that, and then she’d simply stopped trying. It was too hard to get close, to confide in someone, to believe they would always be there, and then have it ripped away.

After she’d gone to live with Grandma Nell, there hadn’t been any girls her age close by. By the time she’d gotten to college, she’d forgotten the art of making friends. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was hanging out with other women and enjoying their company. She would miss them all when she left.

“Ladies.”

Destiny turned and saw Kipling walking toward them. As he approached, she felt an odd tightness in her chest, followed by a ridiculous urge to flip her hair and giggle.

“Hi, Kipling,” Starr said. “We’re getting elephant ears. You want one?”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

No one was in line behind them, so he stepped next to them.

“How’s summer camp?” he asked Starr.

“Good. I like the different classes. A couple of us are talking about forming an a capella group. You know, just girls singing, but it could be fun.”

Destiny did her best not to stomp her foot as she listened to Starr’s easy conversation with Kipling. How did he do it? He asked one or two simple questions, and Starr wouldn’t stop talking. An a capella group? She shared all kinds of things she didn’t tell Destiny.

While they were making progress toward getting to know each other, there was always something in the way, and Destiny had no idea what it was. For reasons she couldn’t explain, her sister held back with her.

“No musical instruments?” Kipling asked. “That’s ambitious.”

“It’s harder than it sounds,” Starr admitted. “Just singing without music isn’t bad, but when you try to make the other sounds, like percussion, it can get silly pretty fast. But we’re going to try it.”

A couple of families got in line behind them. Kipling moved closer. Destiny found herself wanting to lean against him, to ask him to help her with her sister, because she was obviously not doing as good a job as she thought.

“Making friends?” Kipling asked.

“Oh, yeah. A lot. Some of my friends are from LA, but a few are from here in town.”

“That’s nice,” he said. “You can see them on the weekends.”

“Sure!” Destiny jumped in. “Anytime. Or if you wanted to invite some of them over for dinner or something, I’d be happy to cook or just order pizzas.”

Starr glanced from Kipling to her. “Seriously? You wouldn’t mind if I had friends over?”

“Of course not. I want you to have fun this summer.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

They moved up in line. Starr turned her attention to the menu. Destiny looked at Kipling and mouthed “thank you.” He grinned and shrugged, as if saying it was nothing. Which, to him, it probably was. He had an easy way with people. One she would like to share.

She told herself to be grateful for the improvement in her relationship with her sister and to take her small victories where she could. Having Starr enjoy the summer was one that would make both of them very happy.

* * *

DESTINY FOLLOWED THE COURSE laid out on the tablet screen which, she thought as she circled yet another downed tree, was easier said than done. She and Aidan Mitchell were about thirty miles northeast of Fool’s Gold in a rugged area just past the small valley where wind turbines spun in the constant canyon breeze.

They’d left all signs of civilization behind several miles ago, and the noise of the turbines had long faded. Out here there was only the hum of nature.

“I was thinking up here,” Aidan said, pointing.

She looked up from her screen and studied the relatively flat ledge where he had indicated. The area looked big enough, and the location was good.