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her, then it had been all worth it.
    The concert lasted an hour and a half, and when she ended on the soft melody of a country lullaby, his baby girl fell asleep in his arms. Not even the thunderous standing ovation the crowd gave Riley could wake Zoey. He sat there while Riley did an encore, not wanting to miss a moment of the last song she sang. When she came off the stage, she stopped, paused and stared, and tears sparkled in her eyes as she stared down at Zoey.
    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful,” she said, her gaze meeting his.
    He was about to say the same thing to her about her music.
    “Do you need to go home?”
    “Probably.”
    “Okay.”
    He sensed her hesitation, that she wanted to talk. What he really wanted to do was get the hell out of here. His head and his heart were filled with her and her music and the memories of the two of them. Big mistake to linger. He needed to shake the dust off the past and get his mind firmly in the present, where Riley didn’t exist.
    “Stay. Please.”
    Damn. “Okay. I just need to lay Zoey down.”
    She nodded. “Bring her on back to my dressing room.”
    Ethan lifted Zoey, followed Riley and laid her down on the sofa in the makeshift dressing room they’d set up for her in the high school drama department’s changing room. He covered Zoey with his jacket and took the bottle of water one of Riley’s staffers offered him, then sat on the arm of the sofa while Riley shooed everyone who wanted to crowd in out of the room. She shut the door behind her and turned to him.
    “That was a beautiful performance tonight.”
    She grinned. “You think so? Thanks.”
    “I always loved your singing. Your voice is amazing.”
    Her lashes tilted closed as she turned away. He couldn’t believe she was unaccustomed to praise. She probably got it all the time.
    “I’m glad you came tonight.”
    “Me, too. Zoey loved it, too. She fell asleep on the last song.”
    Riley pulled up a chair next to the sofa. “Late night for her.”
    “Long day for her. She was excited about this. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the invitation.”
    She crooked a smile. “For Zoey, of course.”
    “For both of us. I enjoyed the concert, too.”
    ***
    It hovered on the tip of her tongue, the why not me question she wanted to ask. But Zoey lay sleeping like an angel on the sofa a foot away from Ethan. Now wasn’t the time.
    It would never be the right time to ask a question for which there wasn’t ever going to be a good enough answer.
    Because he’d preferred Amanda, and she’d never seen it coming. She’d spent years going over it in her head—all the times the three of them had been together. Why hadn’t she seen it?
    Enough. She wasn’t eighteen years old anymore. Amanda was dead, and there was no point in rehashing old hurts.
    But the question still burned inside of her, desperate to be asked.
    She hoped she could get out of this town and soon before the question spilled out.
    “Great crowd tonight,” he finally said, no doubt to fill the silence in the room.
    “Yeah, it was. Who knew everyone would come?”
    He tilted his head to the side. “Riley, everyone here is proud of you.”
    “I didn’t think anyone here liked me anymore. I hadn’t been back since I left.”
    “People don’t hold grudges like that. You know how this town is.”
    “I guess I forgot how forgiving folks could be.” She’d forgotten a lot of things. Like how to be forgiving.
    She lifted her gaze to Ethan, remembered the past, only this time the good parts instead of the bad.
    He looked good tonight in his dark jeans and long-sleeved dark blue button-down shirt, his muscles filling out every square inch. He used to be on the skinny side, but strong. Judging from the way he fit the shirt, she could only imagine the muscles now.
    He studied her and she wondered what he saw.
    Country diva who couldn’t be bothered to come home once she’d left.
    Ex-girlfriend who’d run