Page 133 of You Found Me
“These days? Almost never.” The proud twinkle in her eyes faded. “If I go to someone else’s show, I tend to draw too much attention. It’s not fair to them.”
There was a faraway, almost sad note in her voice that didn’t sit well with him. He was used to her being aggressively cheerful.
“Nobody’s looking at you now.” He wasn’t sure what made him say it. No celebrity liked to hear that they weren’t the center of attention. They craved it like oxygen. But somehow he instinctively knew it was what Della needed in this moment.
An impish grin lifted the sadness off her face. “I know. That’s what’s so great about this. Lucy gets to go to concerts and bars and sunflower fields and apple festivals. She’s a lucky girl.” She looked down at the crowd. “I’m going to miss her.”
Ward felt an uncomfortable chill. He was going to miss this…her…too. He ripped his attention from her and put it back on the crowd where it belonged.
When the song ended, the crowd erupted like Mason had just scored the winning touchdown.
Della cupped her hands over her mouth and let out a whoop. “That new lift in the chorus was perfect. He nailed it.”
“Newlift?” There was something about the way she said it that caught Ward’s attention. “You’ve heard this song before?”
Della avoided his gaze. “I’m still hungry. Is there another sausage dog?”
“You heard this song.” Ward nudged her arm. “When?”
Della moved away from the rail and picked up the bag of apple treats in what he suspected was an effort to appear casual. “He played it for me a couple of times at work. Just a few minutes here and there. What’s this pointy thing with sugar?”
“He played and sang, and you didn’t?”
She pulled the tart out of the bag, took a bite, and groaned. “So good. I want to send some of these to Chef Carrie so she can duplicate them.”
He took the bag from her. “Answer the question.”
“I cheered him on, Warden. That’s all. He was so adorably nervous and he’s sogood.”
“You cheered…how?”
“Bylistening.”
He could hear the impliedDuh!
“And…”
“And?” She took another bite of the tart. “Your aunt is a genius.”
He leaned close to her. “Lucy.”
She put the half-eaten tart down on a napkin. “Relax. I clapped and nodded my head to the beat. I might have given him a word change or two, but he didn’t really need it.”
He stared at her while he waited for her to fill the silence.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that. We gave him the guitar. If I’d refused to help it would have looked strange. Besides, that song’s all him, and it’s fantastic.”
He considered that. She had a minor point. Not that it mattered. A nagging detail still dangled out there, unanswered. “Did you sing?”
“I’m hurt, Warden.” She put a hand to her chest. “You told me no singing. Speaking of which, where does the no singing rule fall on your list? Number seven? Eight?”
“It doesn’t.” Instinct flared in his gut. It was probably nothing, but it could be something. Was it enough to relocate? Was her cover blown?
No. There’d been no alert from Spence. If she was trending online, he’d know about it.
Della pointed at the stage. “Look. It worked. He got the girl.”
He glanced down to see Mason pull his childhood sweetheart up on stage for a kiss. “Good for him.”