“No! I am leaving. Period. I wasn’t asking for permission. I was telling you a fact.” His eyes narrowed, and I sighed again. “I’m going to lose her, Matt. I can feel it.” My eyes and my voice grew pleading as I shrugged. “If it were Rachel, what would you do?”

He looked away as he thought, then finally, he sighed and nodded as he returned his eyes to mine. “Okay. One night, then we need you back.”

I smiled at him, grateful that he wasn’t going to turn this into a huge fight. “I know. Thank you.”

Matt frowned, and when he spoke his voice was thick with sullenness. “No need to thank me, you were leaving anyway, remember?”

The look on his face made my smile grow. “I know. But still, thank you.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “It’s a little easier to leave knowing you understand. Somewhat.”

He smirked at me, then nodded. “When are you leaving?”

I thought about that for a second. We were on our way to New Orleans—Griffin was all excited about exploring the French Quarter. Well, more accurately, he was excited to get trashed in the French Quarter. We had two shows in the city, but at different venues. Because of commitment issues with the venues, there was a day off between the two shows. I could leave after the show tonight, then come back in the morning and have plenty of time to work out a song with Matt. Maybe even record it for Lana if all went well with selecting a song. This was actually a really great time for me to leave. “I’ll take a late flight back home tonight, then return in the morning…so we can work on our night off.”

Matt beamed at me, finally pleased. Grinning back, I handed him my phone. “Help me buy my ticket?”

The smile immediately fell off him and he slowly shook his head. I laughed while he muttered, “A hundred and five…”

I was more energized than I’d been in a while that night, and the show was particularly good. I think Matt noticed. After the show, he smiled and nodded at me. I took that to mean, Yeah, you’re right, you need a break. The second we were done, I left. I didn’t grab a bag, didn’t change my clothes…I just left. Kiera had everything I needed, and sadly, my visit wasn’t going to be a long one.