Buried Notes (Brothers of Rock #4) by Karolyn James, K James

an engagement ring.”
    “What? You two were together for
like a month...”
    Rachael squinted her eyes. “And
you’re married right now.”
    “Fair enough,” Becky said. She
closed her lips and pretended to zip them.
    “I just knew with Paul. He proposed
and I said yes. But we were under agreement that we’d wait for a while after
that. So a few years later when it came time to plan a real wedding, he got me
a better ring.”
    “I guess we just fall in love too
hard and too fast, huh?”
    “Well, I’m married to the same
guy,” Rachael said. “No offense to you. Or Mom. She was married twice and they
both didn’t work out.”
    “She had Jeff for a long time.”
    “But they, well, once she got
diagnosed...”
    “He’s still a good guy.”
    “I’m not saying he’s not. But…
wait, you keeping changing the subject.”
    Becky rolled her eyes. “I know.”
    “Just tell me.”
    “Okay,” Becky said.
    Becky lifted another picture. It
was a picture of their mother holding some kind of blue flower near her face.
She looked away from the camera and the flower and her eyes matched. It was the
perfect picture. She turned it around, nodding.
    “Yes,” Rachael said. “That’s a good
picture.”
    “This is the one.”
    She handed it to Rachael, who would
handle all that background stuff. That’s what big sisters were for, right?
Rachael’s husband, Paul, was home with the kids, giving Rachael the chance to
be there with Becky. Becky had no intentions of leaving. She didn’t want to go
back to her small but very cozy apartment and cry all night.
    It was better to be there, in her
mother’s house, where she could cry with Rachael.
    And tell Rachael about her deepest
secret.
    “I’m going to tell you who it is
and you have to believe me.”
    “Okay, you’re starting to scare
me,” Rachael said.
    “You know who Chasing Cross is,
right?”
    “The band? Yes. I know who they
are. Paul listens to them a lot. He has little Paulie listening to them too. He
dances to the music. It’s adorable.”
    “Well, you tell little Paulie that
his, uh, uncle is the bassist for Chasing Cross...”
    “His uncle is the...”
    Rachael’s face looked way too
confused for Becky not to enjoy. She laughed and it felt good to laugh.
    “The bassist from Chasing Cross,”
Becky said. “Okay?”
    “Wait a second,” Rachael said. She
stood from the table. “You’re telling me that you married the bassist from
Chasing Cross?”
    “Yes,” Becky said.
    “Chasing Cross... the band.”
    “Yes.”
    “Then why aren’t we all rich?”
Rachael asked.
    “Do you not believe me?”
    “I didn’t say that,” Rachael said.
“It’s just... I mean, Rebecca, that’s quite the thing to say, right? And if
he’s your husband and he’s rich...”
    “I don’t want money,” Becky said.
“I never wanted money. If I wanted that I would have stayed put in Texas and
worked my ass off. But I came back here to be with my family and enjoy a simple
life.”
    Rachael walked to the counter and
got two glasses. She poured iced tea and served a glass to Becky and drank one
herself. She shook her head the entire time.
    “What’s wrong?” Becky asked.
    “I’m in shock.”
    “Yeah. Well... I went to go look
for an ex one night and ended up helping him. We kind of had a good night and I
flew to Vegas to see him again. We drank a lot of vodka and I woke up the next
morning...”
    “Married,” Rachael said.
    “Married,” Becky said.
    “Married to a guy from Chasing
Cross.”
    “That’s right.”
    “To a rockstar.”
    Becky smiled. She liked when it was
put that way.
    To
a rockstar...
     
    **
     
    Becky woke before Chris did. She
knew a few minor details of the night before. Working her way backwards, she
knew she was in a hotel. An expensive hotel from what she remembered as Chris
was ushered along as a celebrity through the back of a casino to the hotel
above it. The bed was very comfortable, something much greater than Becky