Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)(59)

“Impressive.” My eyes took in the scale of the foyer and what appeared to be a dining area to the left.

Bo flashed a quick smile, “Yea, not bad for a lonely bachelor.” He winked and led me up the stairs.

“How many bedrooms do you have?” I asked, noting several doorways down the straight hallway.

“Six. And three bathrooms upstairs,” he said over his shoulder.

“Does Rachel stay here when she’s on break from school?” I asked.

“Actually, she lives here all the time, Durham’s only about an hour away. She’s staying on campus this weekend with some friends, though. She might be by sometime tonight to pick up some stuff.”

“Will I get to meet her?” It was clear how much Bo loved his sister; I was jealous I didn’t have a sibling with whom to share such a bond.

“Of course. And, if we miss her tonight, she’ll be at the DROP meeting Monday. That’s why she’s staying on campus this weekend - trying to get ahead since she’ll miss classes for our meeting.” Bo stopped in front of a door half-way down the hall on the left, and cracked it open.

“This is my room. Well, our room for the weekend.” He beamed.

I entered the room and felt instantly at home, it screamed Bo. A large well-made bed with dark navy bedding was positioned in the center of the wall opposite the door. The walls were sparsely adorned with family photos and a couple of autographed and framed posters of musicians.

My eyes found a family portrait on the wall adjacent to the bed and I approached it slowly. All four Cavanaugh’s were smiling the trademark mega-watt smile. His parents were young, and Bo was the spitting image of his father. Rachel was pale with dark hair, just like Bo, but her eyes were darker. Vivian, their mother, was breathtakingly beautiful. While Bo looked slightly younger, maybe more carefree, this looked to be only a few years old.

“This is the last portrait of my family before my parents died.” Bo startled me away from my thoughts.

“Oh, when was it taken?” I didn’t break my gaze from the picture that held the gorgeous family.

“A month before they died. The pictures came in the mail a couple of weeks after their funeral.” I could feel him staring at me.

“Holy shit, are you serious?” I turned and looked at him wide-eyed.

“Yeah, they saw the proofs, but never these. This was the best one; Rae and I each have one in our rooms.”

“Rae?”

“Yea, Rachel’s nickname.”

“Cute.” I smiled.

“Want a tour of the rest of the place?”

“You bet your ass I do.” I slapped his butt and headed for the door. He tugged my arm and pulled me in for a deep, soft kiss.

“Well, up here is just bedrooms; Rae’s is across the hall and all the way at the end is my parents’ room. It just stays . . . well…”

“I get it.” I squeezed his hand in reassurance as he led me back down the large staircase.

Bo took me through the foyer and showed me the living room, expansive gourmet kitchen, office, and den before opening a door leading downstairs.

“Want to see the studio?” He asked with an impish grin.

“Yes!” I squealed like a little girl before I pushed past him and flew down the stairs to the full-height basement.

Bo opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and flicked on the light. Just like in the movies, there was a window looking into the expansive room. I could see the studio space itself and to the back was the control room, also with a large window. This was no DIY project; this was some state-of-the-art recording shit. I reminded myself to close my mouth as I walked in, lest I look the fool.

“Rae and Ash would love this.” I stated out loud.

“What?” Bo asked, thoroughly confused.

“Ha. Sorry. My mom’s nickname is also Rae, it’s short for Raven. My dad’s name is Ashby, but I call him Ash most of the time. ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ were out of the question for them when I was growing up.” I shrugged as I entered the control room, grazing my fingers across all of the slides and dials.

“Wait a minute.” Bo said, entering the control room behind me.

“I know, I know, it’s weird to call your parents by their first names - it’s just what it is.” I smiled.

“No, that I get.” He chuckled, “Your parents are Raven and Ashby Harris?” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me square in the face.

“Yes, my name is November, their names are Ashby and Raven, and we all share the same last name,” I swallowed hard, thinking it was impossible that he was going where I hoped he wasn’t.

“Cute, Ember. Let’s try it this way; are your parents the Raven and Ashby Harris?”

I stood in shocked silence as he reached to a shelf of albums above my head, thumbing through them. When I realized what he was doing, I finally spoke.

“Shit. Are you f*cking kidding me?” I whispered. My eyes widened as blood raced to my face.

Bo pulled out a straight-up old school vinyl record. The cover read, “Earth Mama by The San Diego Six” and graced the pictures of my parents and four of their closest friends. I made no facial expression as he held the record up next to his face and smiled.

“How the f*ck . . . you know what? Never mind. I can’t believe this.” I said all at once as I plunked in the chair behind me, burying my face in my hands.