Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

actually moving towards a real friendship. Yesterday at her house had been relaxed and fun, and they’d played music for hours. They’d moved on from the blues to Elvis and Johnny Cash and Sam Cooke, and then onto the Beatles. He’d recognized a lot of that music but it was different listening to it with Jenna and Claire, the two of them bopping around and singing along at the top of their lungs. They’d gone past the Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix and into early punk by the time they’d finished stripping the wallpaper and eating dinner—pizza, Jenna’s treat.
    Every hour he spent with her was like a gift. She’d brought him and Claire closer, helped them have fun together. She made him think about the world differently, see himself differently. She made ordinary things seem extraordinary.
    And she’d brought music into his life. When he’d realized he was singing California Girls in the shower that morning, he started to grin and couldn’t stop, thinking of Jenna and how he wanted to tell her.
    He wanted to keep her in his life any way he could. He wanted them to stay friends after she left town.
    So why was he fixating on Derek? Obsessing over past lovers wasn’t something a friend did.
    Jenna was a big girl, she could take care of herself. She didn’t need him worrying about her and she sure as hell wouldn’t want him to. Whatever happened with Derek was none of his business.
    He told himself that at least a hundred more times while the hours crawled by and he waited for Claire to come back.
    “Dad!”
    He’d managed to sink himself in professional reading as a distraction, so successfully that he didn’t hear Claire come in. Now he looked up to see her standing in the doorway of his study with her friend beside her.
    “Can Ellie sleep over tonight?”
    “Sure. If it’s all right with your parents, Ellie.”
    “They’re still on vacation, but it’s okay with my grandmother.”
    “Well, then, it’s fine with me. How was the rehearsal?”
    “Awesome!” “Unbelievable!”
    The two girls spoke at the same time, then looked at each other and giggled.
    “Jenna’s incredible, Dad. You wouldn’t even believe what an amazing musician she is.”
    “Sure I would. I’ve heard her play.”
    Claire shook her head. “Not like this. Not her own music, plugged in, with the whole band there.”
    He pounced on that. “The whole band, huh? Tell me about them.”
    “There’s Molly Smith, of course. She’s the lead singer.”
     “Jenna’s lead guitar, and she does vocals on some songs.”
    “Thao Li plays rhythm guitar.”
    “Honey DeLuca is on drums.”
    “Their regular bass player is away so Derek Masterson is filling in. His band was even bigger than the Mollies until they broke up a couple years ago. We got his autograph. We got all their autographs. They were so cool to us, Dad.”
    Ellie nodded solemnly.
    Michael slid his hands into his pockets. “Derek Masterson. That’s his name?”
    “Uh huh.”
    “What was he like?”
    “Cool, like I said. Focused on the music. They were all pretty focused, because it was the first time they’ve all practiced together in a long time.”
    He took a deep breath. “How was Jenna with him?”
    Claire looked confused. “What do you mean?”
    There was no way he could ask what he really wanted to ask. “Well, this guy Derek wasn’t one of the original band members. I was just wondering if Jenna was...okay with him.”
    “Oh. I think so. I mean, you could tell they had real chemistry going.”
    He froze. “Chemistry?”
    “Sure. Everyone sounded amazing, and they were really clicking, you know? You could tell they were really happy with the music.”
    “Oh. I guess that’s good, then.”
    Claire and Ellie went upstairs, where the sound of giggling would no doubt continue long into the night.
    He went into the living room to look through the window facing Jenna’s house. He could see a group of people sitting on her back patio, talking and laughing.
    Jenna and the band. Including, of course, Derek. He stood there for a long time, just watching.
    “Dad?”
    He turned his head and saw Claire coming out of the kitchen with a box of cookies in her hand. “Hey, sweetie.”
    “Hey.” Claire paused in the middle of the room. “You look like Mr. Rochester. Is everything okay?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Rochester?”
    “Well, yeah. The lights are off and you’re standing by the window, staring out into the night. You know, all dark and