When I walk into the bar, I spot Mel and Max and head over. The other bartenders have everything under control, so I take a seat next to Max to catch up since he took the past week off.

“Good to see you back up here,” I tell him. “How was your Christmas?”

“I got to meet all of Traci’s family.”

“Yeah? How’d that go?”

“Cut the small talk and just tell him,” Mel pipes in as she leans her elbows on the bar.

“Tell me what?” I ask.

“She’s pregnant,” he says to me with a straight face, and I can’t tell if he’s happy about this or not.

“Is this good news or bad news?” I ask him.

Setting his drink down, he admits, “I don’t know. It’s shocking news.”

“How does she feel about it?”

“Scared. It wasn’t something we had even talked about, and now here we are, not sure what this means for us.”

“You two just need to talk and be honest with each other,” Mel tells him.

“Like you talk to Zane?” he responds with a chuckle.

She smiles and holds her hands up, surrendering, “Hey, I never take my own advice, I just dish it out.”

“Have you heard from him?” I ask her.

“He came home for a couple of days, but it was awkward. All he can talk about is how happy he is in L.A. How happy he is to finally be recording an album. He’s my husband, and I’m clueless to what his life is like out there.”

“You’re choosing to be clueless,” Max tells her. “You could easily pack your shit up and be with him.”

“He doesn’t want me to be. He told me that before he moved there.”

Max looks over to me, surprised about that little fact that Mel had told me about when it happened. I haven’t talked to Zane since he left, so I don’t have any idea what’s going on with him.

“Enough of our shit. How did everything with Candace go?” Max asks and immediately Mel’s eyes widen. I’ve never mentioned anything about this to her.

“Who’s Candace?”

“A friend,” I cautiously tell her, but my words are deceived when I see the look Max is giving me.

“You lie,” she says to me. “I’m your only female friend. Have been for the past four years.”

I keep a straight face, not sure what to say about Candace, and she picks up on my seriousness when she says, “I knew something was going on.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just been noticing your moods these past few months. You’re quiet. Well, more than usual,” she laughs softly. “Your distance with Gavin, girls . . .” she shrugs her shoulders and adds, “Everything really. So who is this chick?”

“A friend of Jase and Mark’s,” I tell her and then turn to Max to answer his original question. He knew I was taking her home with me for Christmas, so I tell him, “It went better than expected.”

“It wasn’t too awkward?”

“What are we talking about?” Mel questions.

“I took her to Oregon.”

“What the hell have I missed? You took her to meet your family?” she nearly squeals.

“And no,” I say as I turn back to Max. “It wasn’t awkward.”

“So things are good with you two?” he asks.

“Yeah, man. Things are perfect.”

Laughing, Mel says, “How ironic, out of the three of us, Ryan is the one without any hang-ups.” She turns to grab a bottle of beer and then says, “I need a drink,” before walking away.

I spend most of the night in my office going over supply orders and inventory, double-checking Michael’s work to make sure he’s handling his shit. I’m not seeing anything out of place, so I call it a night around ten o’clock and head over to Jase’s.

When he opens the door, I see Candace lying on his couch.

“She’s passed out,” Jase tells me. “She’s been tired all night.”

“What did you guys do?”

“Mark came over for a while and we had dinner. Just hung out though,” he says as I walk around the couch to see her sleeping under a blanket.

Sitting down next to her, I lift her head into my lap and run my hand through her hair, telling Jase, “I haven’t seen him since you guys got back from Ohio.”

He sits down in the chair and watches my hand in her hair before shifting his eyes to me, explaining, “He’s been working on some new songs, so he’s been busy. Why don’t you meet up with us tomorrow before we head up to the bar?”

“I can’t. I’ve got to be there early, but I’ll catch up with you guys later,” I say as Candace begins to stir and wake up.

Her eyes open as she rolls her head to look up at me. “What’s going on?” she mumbles as she sits up.

“Nothing. Just got here.”

She lets out a yawn and lazily leans into me, asking Jase, “What’re you guys talking about?”

“Mark’s gig at the bar tomorrow.”

Giving her arm a soft squeeze, I suggest, “You should come.”

“Umm . . .”

Jase laughs at her and says, “Just come. You still have never heard Mark play. It’ll be fun.”

“I don’t know.”

“We’ll all be there,” he says, trying to convince her.

She keeps her eyes on Jase, and when he gives her a nod and says, “Come on. One night,” she gives in to him.

“Okay. Fine,” she sighs, and I watch as Jase gets an almost victorious smile on his face, not understanding why it’s such a big deal for her to go out.

“Wipe that smile off your face, Jase,” she scolds with humor. “You’re embarrassing me.”

Before their banter can continue, I say, “Come on, babe. Let’s go. It’s getting late,” as I stand up and take her hand.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Jase tells her and she walks over to hug him goodbye. “I’ll call you.”

“Night, Jase,” she says.

“Bye, guys.”

We take the elevator down and she asks, “Why is Jase picking me up and not you?”

“I have to be there early to get some work done so I can take the night off and not have to worry about going in too much this next week. But I’ll be there when you and Jase get there.”

When the elevator opens, we step out to go back to my place for the night.

“Ryan, how’ve you been?” Mark says when he walks in with Chasten, the drummer of the band.

“Good, man. How was Ohio?”

“Great. We got a ton of snow, so we were stuck at the house for a couple of days, but we survived,” he chuckles.

“Survived?”

“If you knew the women in my family, you’d be scared to be cooped up with them during a snow storm. Luckily, my sisters are like a fresh new toy for Jase, so he just sits back and laughs at their shit while I try and find a way to escape it.”

“So I take it you’re glad to be back then,” I tease.

“Yeah. Oh, hey, Jase said Candace was coming up here tonight. Is that true?”

“Is there something I should know about Candace that I’m not getting?” I ask as I follow him over to the stage so he can start setting up with the guys.

“What do you mean?”

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re so surprised by the fact that she’s coming here?” I question. Maybe I shouldn’t, but curiosity gets me.

He sets his guitar down and then turns to me. “Candace likes to avoid crowded places.”

“I get that. I just can’t figure out why,” I tell him, hoping he’ll throw me a clue, but he doesn’t.

“She’s slow to open up, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that,” he says.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Just be patient with her.” He leaves it at that, and I accept the advice because that’s all I can do. I wanna get into my girl’s head and unfold everything inside. Patience isn’t my strong suit, but it’s the only hand I have to play with her.

I go upstairs to get a few files from Michael’s desk, and when I walk in, I look out his large window that overlooks the back lot and see Jase’s SUV as he turns in. I find the files I need and then watch as Candace steps out of the car. God, I’m falling for this girl. I’m wound up just thinking about getting to spend time with her tonight.