Where Love Grows

I Won't Let You Go

I pulled up to Jake's house, and Sutton jumped out as soon as the car stopped. "I'll wait here." I smiled and she gave me a nervous half smile as she walked up to the front door.

"Sutton?" Jake said, "You're here? You're home."

"I have fifteen minutes. Can we talk?"

"Yeah." He closed his door and they sat on the porch.

"I am sorry for what I said, or didn't say. I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"I know. It's not your fault and you shouldn't be sorry. I should say sorry for not seeing it from your point of view. It would kind of suck having a girlfriend that I wouldn't see all summer." She nodded, "I still really like you."

"I like you too." She sighed, "But I don't have a normal life. Well, to me it's normal. But it's not fair to you." Her blue eyes averted his gaze.

"You don't get it. It doesn't bother me. Your parents have such cool jobs. They're really good at what they do and they share that with the world." He lifted up her chin to see her eyes, "I like you enough that if I don't see you I won't be mad. I understand you need to go with your family."

"Can we keep being friends?" The words fell from her lips, "Like, I miss talking to you. And when I get back and school starts, we can talk again and see where we're at?"

"I can do that." He smiled, "I missed talking to you too."

"I gotta go," she stood up and opened her arms for a hug, "it was good to talk to you." He hugged her, sneaking a kiss on her cheek.

"Where you headed?"

"Wisconsin." she waved and headed back into the car. "Thanks mom."

"No worries sweetie." I waved to Jake as he watched us drive off. We headed home for some downtime before heading to the plane. Sutton plugged into her iPod while Hunter and I spoke.

"Just fifteen minutes, eh?" Hunter smiled, looking past me to where Sutton was sitting.

"She's much happier. She just needed to talk to him."

"I understand." We relaxed for the flight, I scribbled in my note book as the events from this morning inspired me to write.

"I don't know if you're ready to go
Where I'm willing to take you there
I will feel every inch of your skin
And you know I can rock your world
I won't be the calm in the storm
you're looking for
I'll be the shipwreck that takes you down
I don't mind if you lie in my bed
We can stay here forever now."

After we performed in Wisconsin, we bussed eastbound, performing in Indiana and Michigan before reaching Ontario in time for Boots and Hearts.

"Hey you guys!" I greeted Ali and Cade up toward the bus. "Come on in, we are just having some downtime."

"After all these years, I don't think I've ever been on your bus. Do you share?"

"Well, this is technically Hunter's. Mine is the bandwagon. Literally, that's the one the bands take since we have the kids."

"Cade! So good to see you," Hunter embraced Cade and Ali, welcoming them to the festival grounds, "it's busy but I think you will have a lot of fun." Hunter volunteered to take all the boys for a walk around the grounds while Sutton stayed in her bunk.

Ali and I caught up, talking about dad, Alex and what else Hunter and I have going on. "The album you guys did together. It's so raw and delicate. Did you really write every song?"

"Yeah, I proposed the idea to Hunter middle of last year and we did everything together. He edited all the written work, did the demos in the basement, and we produced it with a little help from the outside. But yeah, pretty much all us."

"That's amazing." She smiled, telling me all about how they went on a family road trip with Alex to New York City a few weeks back and how much fun they had.

"We were in New York," Sutton said, emerging from her bunk, "How are you? It's good to see you." She hugged Ali.

"Is that where you were for your birthday?" Sutton nodded, "no way - we were there from the tenth to the fourteenth. That is so weird!" We laughed about it for a moment, thinking that we must have really been in different parts of the city to not even come near each other. "What about you miss Sutton? Any big performances coming up?"

She shook her head, "We did a thing a few weeks ago for the military families in Virginia, and I was Belle in the school play. I am also learning bass guitar."

"Good for you sweetie." Sutton smiled and excused herself to retreat back to her bunk. "So, she's busy. What about you, new album coming up?"

I shook my head, "I'm just writing. Hopefully get into some sessions, get myself some credits that way. I just want to relax, be with the kids. She's going into grade eight, soon she will be driving and getting married and I'll be old and dead."

Ali interjected, "Relax," laughing, "you're not old. Do you even dye your hair? You look like you're thirty."

"Thank you, yes and I take good care of my skin." I shrugged, "honestly I've been dying my hair since two weeks after Becks was born. Like regularly getting it coloured." Ali nodded, saying she started when she was twenty eight.

The kids returned from their walk, all smiles. We enjoyed dinner before watching the concert together from one of the vip lounges. "When do you play?" Cade asked us.

"We are doing everything tomorrow in three sets." I explained to him what else we had planned. "It's super awesome you could be here." Seeing his smile, watching the performers meant the world to me.