“She is.” He pointed toward the door Liv had just walked through.
While the guys were still tuning guitars and testing sound equipment, she came over and sat next to Tristan.
“I was just saying to Bullet that you should be here.”
“Dottie agreed. She informed me Sutter was just as much her grandson as mine, and she’d be the first to get to watch him overnight since she was the oldest.”
“Really?” Tristan laughed.
“She was teasing, of course. Although she is the oldest,” smiled Liv. “Dottie is like a second mother to me and has always been like a grandmother to Renie. And now here we are…in-laws.”
The guys started to play their first song, “Mountain Harmony.” Their sound was so different from what Tristan had expected. Their voices blended beautifully. She supposed that most heavy metal rock songs started out this way. Simple voices, unplugged, melodic.
Lyric got up and went to the front door. King West walked in, guitar in hand.
“Did you know he played guitar?” whispered Bullet.
“Lyric mentioned something about it.”
“I have a feeling he’s gonna be way out of his league with these guys.”
Before they started the next song, Ben invited King to join them. And proved Bullet wrong.
“Where’re you stayin’ tonight?” Bullet asked Tristan, but was looking over at her father.
“Lyric was gracious enough to offer to let us stay at her place tonight when she heard we had booked a hotel in Colorado Springs.”
“I guess sneakin’ in your window would be out of the question.”
“My daddy and Gramps have concealed carry, so I wouldn’t recommend you trying.”
Bullet pulled her close and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Damn. I want to be alone with you, Tristan. I missed you so much.”
“I know.”
“Think we can make it happen one day this week?”
Tristan shook her head. “I don’t see how, Bullet.”
Shit. That was bad news.
“I’m sorry.”
Bullet leaned down and covered her lips with his. “There you go, sayin’ you’re sorry all the time.” He kissed her again and again. He could kiss her all night long, and through the next day too.
“Hey, the chaps. They’re amazing. Before I forget to ask, what’s the ‘d’ stand for?”
“You saw it?” She smiled so sweetly. God, he loved this woman. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to tell her so.
“I did.”
“Daughtry. It was my mama’s maiden name.”
“It’s beautiful.” Bullet pulled Tristan over to the Adirondack chairs. He sat, and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her.
“Tell me about her.”
Under the starlit sky, Tristan told Bullet everything she remembered about her mother. At first she wasn’t sure she could. She never talked to anyone about the woman who loved her more than anything, and vice versa.