By the time I'd started my second beer, Buck had finished his fourth. River came out of the shower, so Buck stumbled back for his turn. Gabe was off getting dressed, which left just me and River at the table. Exactly how I liked it.
Yes, the most gorgeous man on Earth was sitting next to me wearing nothing but a towel and a grin. I leaned away from him and feasted my eyes for a few seconds. River Sticks was as phenomenally sexy as ever. "I had such a crush on you when I was sixteen."
River chuckled. "Seems like you still do." He had me there.
I decided to find out where I stood with him. "Is it true that you have a secret lover?"
"Afraid so. And I don't wander when I'm out on the road. As I said, we were just playing out there."
"Oh." I straightened up. "So what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?" Maybe wedding plans weren't as likely as I'd hoped.
"Right!" He got up. "I was going to offer to let you play drums on 'Fiery Life.'"
"What! I can't play drums."
"Not all of them, of course. I was going to teach you the cymbal part and let you play it in the chorus. It's easy. Want to give it a try?"
"Absolutely!" I didn't need a marriage proposal anymore. River's offer, combined with the way Buck had the audience chanting my name, made this a day I'd never forget.
"Then let me get dressed, and we'll go backstage and play with some drums." He wandered back to his cubicle and soon returned in jeans, a brown shirt, and a tan hoodie, his usual casual attire. We went back to the stage.
His drums were still assembled, but most of the other gear had already been hauled off by busy roadies. He pointed to one of the cymbals, a big one at the edge of the kit. "When we play 'Fiery Life,' this one only gets used during the chorus. It's easy-just keep beating along with the song. Watch. . ." He pounded out the turnaround between the verse and the chorus, then started to sing the chorus while he played the drum part.
"Living by a precipice,
Dancing on the blade of a knife,
Liberty means so much more,
You owe it, you owe yourself a fiery life."
As he played it, I watched him rhythmically pound the cymbal. Then he handed the drumstick to me. "You try it."
I could keep a beat as well as most people, so I did a fine job with my tiny part of the song. We rehearsed it a few times before retreating to the bus. The Fiery Boys tour was turning out to be everything I wanted it to be.