It Must Be Your Love (The Sullivans #11)(77)

Her parents had arrived not long after she’d emerged from his dressing room. Her mother gave Ford a hug and her father’s handshake was warm and totally welcoming. Dylan had arrived next, looking like he’d come straight from one of his boats again. But where, Mia wondered, was Adam?

Reading her mind, her mother put a reassuring arm around Mia’s shoulders. “He’ll be here. Don’t worry.”

As though those were the magic words, Adam suddenly appeared. He was trying to act cool about their special boxed-off seats right at the front of the stage, but Mia knew it was his rock ’n roll dream come true.

Tempted to punch him again for making her worry that he was still upset about her dating Ford, Mia handed him her Slushie instead. If their positions had been reversed and her brother was falling for a woman whom she wasn’t sure would stick around through thick and thin, Mia knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut, either. They loved each other too much to stand by quietly while someone hurt them.

Adam took the peacemaking drink from her and after a long sip where he demolished half of it, the lights on stage and throughout the stadium went completely black. The hooting and hollering began in earnest alongside the chanting of Ford’s name.

And then there he was, her beautiful rock star, standing in the middle of the spotlight, effortlessly commanding the attention of the massive crowd.

From the first note he played on the same electric guitar that she’d held in his dressing room while he made love to her, Mia was utterly spellbound. His songs, his musicianship, his humor, his intensity—every single aspect of Ford’s show was simply mind blowing. Add in the fact that he singled her out in the huge crowd and sang all of his love songs straight to her, and Mia ended up so lost in the music that ninety minutes later she was more than a little surprised when the lights suddenly went up for intermission.

After her parents and Dylan told her how great they thought Ford was, then left to go pick up some T-shirts for everyone before he came out to play his second set, she knew Adam had stayed behind because he wanted to say something to her.

“You were right,” he grudgingly admitted. “Ford’s a good guy. “

She grinned, thanking God that her brother didn’t have the faintest clue what Ford had done to her in his backstage dressing room two hours earlier. “I know. And I want you to know that you shouldn’t feel too bad about the way you behaved through most of dinner, because I’m planning on being just as tough when you finally fall in love.”

Clearly intent on ignoring her sisterly threat, Adam gestured toward the massive crowd behind them. “I don’t know many people who would give all this up the way Ford said he’s going to. He really does love you, Mia.”

She knew her brother was only trying to finally say the right thing and let her know that he approved of her relationship, but instead of relaxing her, the reminder that Ford intended to give up shows like this for her made her chest clench tight.

Adam was leaving their box just as Natasha stepped into it. “I’ve never seen Ford perform like this. Honestly, it’s one of the best rock concerts I’ve seen in my entire life. I knew you’d be good for him, Mia, but I had no idea that the change would be this big. He was amazing before, but now...” The filmmaker grinned. “Well, I don’t need to tell you. You were here. You saw it for yourself.”

And she had. She’d seen how happy he made people. How deeply he inspired them.

She’d told herself that she needed to see for herself whether he was truly giving up touring because of her, or if he was ready to retire from shows anyway. Now she knew the truth.

Ford should be nowhere close to retiring.

Right when she had finally admitted to both herself and Ford that she loved him with every last piece of her heart, Mia had to face the painful truth: He didn’t belong stuck in a waterfront house in Seattle with her trying to keep himself busy with projects while she ran her real estate business.

He belonged to this.

Natasha pressed her finger to her earpiece and listened carefully for a moment before nodding her head and saying, “Sure, I’ll let her know.” She looked at Mia. “Ford would like you to come backstage before he goes back on.” Natasha laughed and rolled her eyes. “Typical rock star stuff, right?”

Mia made herself laugh along with the other woman, even though she could no longer ignore the twisting of her gut. And the snippets of conversation she heard from Ford’s fans as she walked past them to get to the side of the stage only reinforced what she now knew she’d need to do.

“I’ve been sober for five years, ever since I saw Ford play live and I told myself all I needed to do was make it from one show to the next.”

“I never would have picked up a guitar if I hadn’t wanted to play along to his songs and now I teach music in schools.”

“I was having the worst day before I got here tonight, and now it’s one of my all-time best.”

Natasha disappeared to join her film crew as soon as they found Ford. He was talking with his drummer, but when he saw Mia, he quickly closed the distance between them and picked her up to swing her in a circle.

“I love having you here tonight.”

Her throat felt tight as she said, “Your show is amazing, Ford. I didn’t forget how good you were, but seeing you on stage again is just mind blowing.”