Wild Horses

NINE

"Don't let me start wishin' I was with him now..."

- Julie Roberts; Break Down Here

"Amber. Guys. This is Malcolm Goodwin," Jeff gestured to the tall man next to him who immediately offered his hand.

"Please, call me Mally," he smiled. "Or just Mal is fine, too."

"Hi..." Amber began before clearing her throat. "How do you do?"

"Very well, thanks," he replied with a wink as they shook hands before moving on to shake Brendan and Johnny's. Feeling awkward as it was, Amber blushed as she wiped her damp hand on the hip of her jeans, hoping Malcolm hadn't noticed.

"Mally here is both a session drummer and a touring drummer. He's played with everyone from Gavin DeGraw to Sheryl Crow to Kenny Loggins to...who else?" Jeff laughed.

"Uh...Maddie and Tae. Darius Rucker. Alicia Keys. Keith Urban..." Mally added.

"Wow," Amber mouthed, astonished.

"Oh yeah, man, I think I saw you with Urban a few years ago. Were you playing with him in...2013? 2014?" asked Johnny.

Mally gave a wide grin as he puffed his chest with pride. "That was me."

"Aw man. Guys," Johnny turned to his bandmates. "This dude's phenomenal."

Mally and Jeff both chuckled as they eyed each other.

"Well, I'm a bit modest," the drummer commented. "But I appreciate the compliment."

"Well..." Amber muttered, "I'm...impressed to say the least."

"As you should be," confirmed Jeffrey as he gave Mally a pat on the back. "But most importantly, he's so generously agreed to save our asses, to put it bluntly."

Amber bit her lip as she tucked her fingers inside her pockets.

"I've heard all your songs," Mally further explained. "I don't think it's going to be any problem getting up to speed for tonight."

"Tonight," Amber echoed, her voice coming from her lips quiet while the one inside her head was screaming.

Since leaving Pittsburgh early that morning, her mind had been in a whirlwind. She'd known there was a show that night in Cleveland, and she'd very much been aware that she was one band member short. But only just now had the truth really started to shine its light.

"Guys, Mal is here to help you out for now. It's temporary to start with, okay? You can...try him out for size so to speak. If things don't work out...no hard feelings. We'll just find someone else. Alright?"

"Dude, I'm in," Brendan lifted his hand which Mally instantly gave a high five.

"Same here," echoed Johnny, joining in on the bro slaps.

The room fell silent as the men all stared at Amber. Suddenly she was back in fifth grade in the school spelling bee, all eyes upon her as she willed her brain to come up with the correct order of letters.

"Amber," Jeffrey looked at her with raised brows, arms out and palms up. "This is your band. It's your call."

Biting her lip again, her head slowly began to move until she gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yes. Okay. Let's give it a shot."

The sound of clapping hands and whistles erupted from the front row. Harry caught the tiny grin on Amber's face as she held the microphone, having just done a complete run-through with her band and new sit-in drummer.