Haley
Three months later
“I can’t get it right,” I murmur to no one.
My fingers fly over the keyboard, making adjustments. I play the chorus again, closing my eyes and focusing on what’s streaming from the headphones.
Nope. DRE had it right the first time. I change it back.
Jax was right. Big Leap is a self-contained studio, and it took me two months to realize it. What’s amazing is that starting this fall, we can take it to a school or a library—anywhere really. But it’s still a tour bus. Which means spending too long on it can drive you crazy.
The tapping on my shoulder makes me jump.
“Sorry to scare you,” Annie says, her golden eyes lightening in surprise. “My dad’s looking for you.”
“Oh.” I set the headphones around my neck. “And he didn’t come himself?”
She has a strange expression on her face. “He’s on his way. Just… be nice, okay?”
I’m completely confused as she wanders toward the front of the bus and drops into a seat with her cell phone in her hands. She sneaks a covert look at me.
I shake my head. I love working with kids, but they still stump me sometimes. “Hey, your mom’s coming up tomorrow, right?”
She nods. “For the weekend.”
Annie still calls Grace her mom and now calls Jax her dad. Is it weird? Sure. Aren’t all families?
Grace’s been visiting. She and Jax have issues, but they’re working through them.
We’ve been running a test of a summer program here. Forty kids get time each week in the bus.
The plan is to go back to Dallas in the fall and spend the school year there. We can take the bus to schools across the region, and I can continue to work on projects with Carter, remotely.
Annie’s made Jax swear to come back to Philly next summer.
Because in Annie’s words: Tyler.
In the past two months, Big Leap’s benefited from some news coverage after the single Jax helped produce went gold. That hit is paying for the costs of running the bus, and we worked with the legal team to make sure the kids get compensated through an education fund they can cash in at eighteen if they decide not to pursue school.
It helps that we’ve put out two more singles, both based on recordings I bought from Wicked, that have been remixed and mastered with the help of my program and Jax’s ear. One of them Lita even came in on.
When I told her what happened at Wicked, she dropped an interesting tidbit.
Apparently Todd hit on her when she recorded her last album.
And texted her constantly with some seriously inappropriate propositions after she told him to stop.
Now Wicked’s looking for a new head of production.
Motion in the corner of my eye snags my attention and has my stomach flipping as the sexiest guy on the planet climbs the steps.
“You texting Tyler again, squirt?” Jax murmurs to his kid.
“No.”
Which means yes.
In two weeks, Annie will be back to school. At least Jax’s concern about her finding friends in Philly seems to be ill-founded. Most nights he has to drag her home from hanging out with kids from school and from the studio. Like Tyler.
For all my insistence that he’s completely well-intentioned, I see how he looks at her when he’s teaching her to play guitar.
Jax thinks Annie will forget him three months after we’re back in Dallas.
I say we’ll be paying for him to fly in and visit by then.
“Hales?”
I set the headphones on the desk in front of me, leaning back to take him in. I don’t even notice what’s tucked under his arm, because he’s as beautiful as the first time I saw him. His body’s hard, lean. Amber eyes that convey way more than they should. A face sculpted from marble, with a mouth made for whispering secrets that make you wet.
He pulls the plexiglass door closed so it’s just us here in the studio. “How’s the track?”
“It’s driving me crazy,” I confess. “But I almost have it.”
He holds out the hoodie and the frustration melts away.
“You found it!” I gush. “I thought it got lost in the move.”
We’ve been back together for three months, and it’s better than I could’ve imagined. I love working with him. Even if he makes me want to tear my hair out sometimes. He’s beyond talented, and any arguments we have are always compensated for by the making up that happens after.
Jax drops onto an amp across from me, shoving the hair back from his face. “Maybe you should put it on.”
I take the hoodie, blinking at him.
That’s when I realize something’s tucked in the front pocket.
I go to pull it out when I notice Jax isn’t over me.
He’s at eye level.
On one knee.
My throat dries as I pull the box out of the pocket. “Jax…”
He takes it from me, holding it between us. “I never thought I’d find someone who makes me feel like you do. Someone who helped me believe I had a choice again. It doesn’t take a crowd to make me feel like a king. All it takes is you.”
“Jax…”
He shakes his head, but it’s the emotion on his face, the conviction on it, that shuts me up. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you. But I’m not questioning it anymore.”
His gaze drops to the sweatshirt but I can’t tear mine from him.
“Hales?”
“Yeah.”
“Read the sweatshirt.”
“It’s been three years,” I manage. “I think we’ve established I have no idea what you put on the damned sweatshirt.” But I force my gaze down to it and realize it’s embroidered. Black-on-black, nearly invisible, in script that matches his handwriting.
Marry me, Hales.
A gasp from behind me makes us both turn. The plexiglass door is wide open, and two sets of eyes are on us.
Tyler’s are amused, poking out from under his hair—which today is green.
Annie’s amber eyes are horrified. “You weren’t supposed to propose on the bus!”
“Why not?” Jax demands.
“It’s not every girl’s dream!”
“You have dreams of getting proposed to?” Tyler asks. Annie flushes, but Jax misses it. His attention is back on me.
“Hales, I’ll ask you anywhere you want. Every day for the rest of our lives. We need to have more kids. Cuz Annie’s old enough to babysit, so it’s cheap from here on in.”
“I heard that!” Annie gushes, then gasps. “Dad, she still didn’t answer.”
“Good point.” Jax shifts back on his heels, eyes intent on mine. He opens the box and lifts the ring.
It’s simple. One diamond in the center, blinking in the light from the window.
“Your move, Hales.”
I bite the side of my cheek as emotions rush through me.
Annie sighs. “Come on, Haley, don’t do this to him.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
He’s starting to look uncomfortable. “Yes would be a start.”
I pretend to consider it. “Well. I guess I’d better.” I lower my voice so only he can hear. “I mean, you’re Jax fucking Jamieson.”
Jax’s grin splits his face, and even before he slips the ring on my finger, I know I’ve done something right.