"Thank you!" the Jameses yelled. Randy had a mist of sweat that was clinging to her before the show. Now it had started to run down her face. 

A stage hand gave her a towel and she proceeded to dab off her face. Jordan placed a hand on her shoulder and she smiled as he ensued take off his shirt, causing a few near by girls' jaws to drop.

"I think they love you, babe," Randy said, "One flip of the hair or flex of the pecks and they're melting for you,"

Jordan shook his head and lit a cigarette.  They were soon swarmed by a group of girls who pounded him with a million questions as second. Randy took this as an opportunity to escape.  She figured if she had to listen to that chatter one more second longer, she'd hit someone.

She went out to Jordan's black Dodge truck with the Florida plates.  She kicked the tire, causing the alarm to go off and her brother's head jerk up.  She giggled and entered the code into the key pad above the door handle, causing the truck to go silent.

Twitty saw her and dropped what he was doing and darted to her. She was digging in the back seat and pulled out a rectangular black box with a handle on it.  Twitty came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her at the dip where her neck met her shoulder. That always gave her chills.

"You are incredible," he said in her ear.

"You think?" Randy laughed, "They why does J.J. have all the groupies?"

She watched her brother form a 'help me' face.

"J.J.?" Twitty asked "Oh, Jordan James. Right, sorry,"

"Yeah, J.J., Joe Jim, and so on," Randy said.

"And what are your names?"

She just smiled and handed the box to him.  His face became riddled with question as he placed it on the ground, knelt beside it, and opened the snaps. Within this box was Randy's acoustic bass.

"What is this?" he asked.

"A promise," she answered, "you keep this while I'm gone. That way I'll have to come get it one day. To do that, I'll have to come back to you,"

Again, Twitty made that face. He felt the tears welling up and he swallowed hard against them. He cast his eyes down and shook his head as his hair poured into his face.

Randy sat down beside him and took his face in her hands, rubbing his cheek with her thumb.  She planted kisses all over his face and lastly, his mouth.  She looked at him and started singing softly:

"Remember yesterday. We're walking hand and hand. Love letters in the sand, "I remember you," Through all the sleepless nights. Through all the endless days, I wanna hear you say I remember you,"

"Please, Randy, don't go. We can run away or something. I don't care, just as long as we're together," he pleaded.

Randy smiled sideways and sighed. Jordan was edging their way. Randy hoped he could take heed to leave them in peace.

"Twitty, you're fifteen. This all seems perfection in your mind. I'd like to do what you're asking, but think about it. What would we do for money, food, and a place to live?"

"You've got family in Long Beach," Twitty offered.

"Jesse James met me when I was six.  I don't think he'd welcome me with open arms," Randy said, " Just promise to believe me when I say I'm going to write and call and e-mail you so much you'll get sic of hearing from me,"

"Never," Twitty said.

"You'll see," Randy replied.