He chuckled and massaged his forehead with splayed fingertips. “You’ve got that right. Why do we put up with them?”
Melanie shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”
“I should probably try to get ahold of one of the guys. Let them know my little chat with Jacob was a waste of time.”
“So you did talk to him?”
“I didn’t mention that?”
Melanie shook her head. On the phone he’d told her about his many attempts to call Jacob, which had all gone unanswered. Well, he’d ranted about it, actually. “Last I heard he still wasn’t taking your calls.”
“He never did. I saw him in pers
on at his ex-wife’s house. Though I guess he’s living there now.”
Melanie blinked and cocked her head to one side. Surely she was hearing wrong. “What? When did that happen?”
“When Jacob makes life-altering decisions, he doesn’t hold back on completely altering his life.”
“I guess not.”
Melanie couldn’t believe her ears when Gabe told her about Jacob’s interview on the local news and how he’d basically given up everything so he could be with his daughter.
“His ex-wife’s using their daughter to get what she wants?” Melanie shook her head. She hated bitches who did that. Tina should be glad that Jacob wanted to be involved in their daughter’s life. There were plenty of dads who didn’t give two shits about the kids they created.
“I hope those two don’t scar that poor little girl for life. It can’t be easy to be stuck between them.”
“She’s probably too young to understand she’s being used as a pawn,” Melanie said.
“What I can’t believe is that Jacob is stupid enough to let Tina get away with it. What is he thinking?”
Gabe’s eyes drifted out of focus as he stared into space over Melanie’s shoulder.
“Earth to Gabriel,” Melanie said when he didn’t acknowledge her existence for several moments.
He started and then grinned sheepishly. “I was thinking maybe he isn’t that stupid. Maybe Tina’s the stupid one for letting him get close to her again.”
Gabe apparently had a huge blind spot when it came to Jacob, always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Melanie figured the jerk was getting exactly what he wanted at the expense of his friends and fans.
“You know I can’t stand the guy, right?” Melanie asked. “He’s the biggest egomaniac I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”
“Once you get to know him—”
“You realize he’s a user. Don’t you see that?”
“If this is about his hooking up with Nikki . . .”
Melanie closed her eyes and shook her head. Jacob had annoyed her the first time she’d met him, pissed her off by using her friend for sex and promptly discarding her, and the ass hadn’t earned himself a single brownie point by destroying Gabe’s career. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about Jacob anymore. If you want to talk about Adam or Owen or Kellen or anyone else on the entire planet, I’m happy to listen, but I came here to talk about you, to see you.” She probably should have realized that by being Gabe’s sounding board, she’d be hearing a lot about Jacob, but she could only tolerate so much.
“I need to talk about Jacob,” Gabe said, scratching his upper lip, which was covered with a sexy length of stubble. “With someone not close to him.”
Well, she definitely fit that description. And she wanted to be someone Gabe could depend on. She supposed she could suck it up a little longer for his benefit.
Gabe added, “I can’t think rationally if I can’t distance myself from all the emotional garbage everyone’s feeling at the moment, and if I can’t think rationally, I can’t find a solution.”
She ducked her head to hide a grin. She’d assumed he always tried to outthink his problems. She wondered if that ever worked out for him.
“I made some lemonade just before you pulled up,” she said, slipping her arms around his waist and pressing her belly against his. “Let’s sit out on the porch and enjoy the evening air while you torture me with tirades about Jacob Silverton.”
“No tirades.”
His hands slid up her back and drew her against his chest. She pressed her face into his neck and inhaled his mesmerizing scent. This was more like what she’d had in mind when she’d hurried down from Topeka.
“But I am going to talk about him.”
“And I’ll listen.” And try to offer sound advice. But more than likely she’d also seethe.
Gabe gifted her with a lingering kiss that made her heart pound and her skin flush with heat, and then he released her. He filled two glasses with ice, and she poured the lemonade. She carried both glasses, as Gabe decided Lady would like to hobble around the yard for a while. The happy dog seemed to get around pretty well as long as she didn’t have to navigate any steps.
Once Lady was safely sniffing around the yard, Beau beside her, Gabe took the seat beside Melanie on the log porch swing, and she handed him his lemonade before taking a sip of her own. One of her eyes squeezed shut as her taste buds registered the tartness—exactly how she liked it.
“Have you thought about getting a different singer?” She hoped the question didn’t upset Gabe, but it had been her idea of a solution from the moment he’d dropped the bombshell of Sole Regret’s unexpected breakup.
“And guitarist?”
“Why would you need a new guitarist? Adam doesn’t want to continue with the band either?”
Gabe sipped his lemonade, squeezed his eyes shut, and shook his head. “Wow, that’s sour.”
“You don’t like it?”
After he pried his eyes open, he swallowed a gulp. “Love it.”
She smiled. This could become a tradition for them—drinking sour-as-hell lemonade on the porch and talking while the sun disappeared behind the surrounding trees. Before she’d come to Gabe’s house, she’d assumed Texas was all flat and desert-like, but his little slice of wilderness was rocky and wooded, and the nearby lake they’d visited the week before had been vast and pristine—all so unlike what she was used to in flat and farmy Kansas.
Gabe scratched at his jaw. “I don’t know what Adam will want to do. I just assumed . . .”
“You know what happens when you assume.”
“I don’t think Adam can function without Jacob, to be honest.”
“Has he ever been given the opportunity to try?”
Gabe chuckled. “I suppose not. Jacob rides his ass like he’s trying to scale the Grand Canyon.”
Melanie snorted at the visual of Jacob riding an Adam-faced donkey up the Grand Canyon. Her lemonade burned the back of her throat as it tried to escape through her nose. “Don’t make me laugh when I’m trying to swallow.”
“No promises there.” He grinned at her. “I love that you swallow.”
She snorted again and slapped playfully at his thigh. “So getting a new singer is a possibility?”
“Maybe as a last resort,” he said, “but Jacob’s voice is so unique, we could never find a true replacement. The band could find a hundred drummers to replace me—”
“I honestly doubt that.”
“—but not one vocalist that can fill Jacob’s shoes.”
“Lots of bands get new singers.”
“And they’re never as good as the original. Never.”
“What about AC/DC?” She did pay attention to Nikki’s nonstop blathering about rock music on occasion. “Van Halen?”
“Depends on who you ask.”
“So maybe you’ll find someone better than Jacob. You never know until you try.”
“Last resort,” he said, making it clear that it was not a solution he wanted to entertain.
“So what you really want is advice on how to win him back?” Melanie said, sucking an ice cube into her mouth since her lemonade was already gone.
Gabe chuckled. “You make it sound like I’m some high school girl who can’t get over my crush.”
She lifted her shoulders and shook her head. That sounded about right to her, but then she hadn’t known any of these guys for long. Their bond must be strong to have gotten them through the challenges of becoming a successful rock band. That would be a bond worth saving. At least it was for Gabe, and if saving this band was important to Gabe, it was important to her too.
“Do you think Jacob will come back if Adam apologizes?” It had