Dear April (Sunshine & Shadow Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

after. Darius Rucker even brought a girl on stage
with him last year! It was unbelievable. I was so jealous.”
    April smiled. “This’ll be
my first ever music festival.”
    “You’ll love it!” Charlotte
said.
    “Do you know who’s
performing this year?”
    She shook her head. “I’ve
heard rumors but none have been confirmed on the website. Guess it’ll be a
surprise.”
    As they approached the
festival, they could hear music and screaming. The crowd was obviously very
excited. April’s heart started to beat faster. Meagan parked the car as close
to the noise as she could get and the girls walked the rest of the way, until
they reached huge metal gates.
    They showed their tickets
and hurried towards the crowd. April struggled to keep up with Charlotte’s pace.
    The crowd was bigger than
April expected. She could see colors everywhere, from people with hot pink
hair, to a man running around in a green spandex suit, spraying people with
silly string. The majority of the girls in the crowd were clad in denim shorts
and tops that showed their bellies. Some were even wearing cowboy boots, but
April could tell fakes when she saw them.
    The crowd jumped in time to
Dallas Smith singing on stage, screaming and waving for a bit of attention from
the star. April laughed along with her friends and danced, letting her hair
fall out of its clip and cascade around her shoulders in soft waves. She let
her body sway along to the rhythmic beat of the bass guitar and watched as the
singer reached to the crowd and touched fingers with some of the girls in the
front row, earning several ear-splitting screeches.
    Meagan leaned towards
April and shouted in her ear.
    “Drink?”
    April nodded, and allowed
herself to be tugged between the grinding bodies and sweaty fans. They emerged
on one side of the mass of people and laughed, nearly falling over in giggles.
    “Are you having fun?”
Meagan asked.
    April said, “This is
awesome!”
    The girls made their way
to the bar area. A long wooden saloon sign hung between trees, surrounded by
thousands of lanterns that shined different colors in the late afternoon sun
and high tables covered in red and white cloth and adorned with jars of
wildflowers. They ordered their drinks from the man in a cowboy hat behind the
bar and waited on stools at one end.
    When her drink came,
April took a sip. “Mm, this is perfect.”
    Meagan finished hers in
one long gulp. She screwed up her nose when the sharp taste hit her taste buds,
then held up her empty glass again. The bartender nodded. April raised her
eyebrows.
    “Come on! We’re here to
have a good time!”
    April picked up the
laminated drink menu in front of her. She scanned the different cowboy
concoctions the bartenders had invented for the event.
    “Here, gimme,” Meagan
said, “There’s a list of performers.”
    Meagan’s eyes travelled
down the page.
    “Let’s hear then,” April
said.
    “In order, we have Paul
Brandt, Faith Hill, Lee Brice ... oh no! Those were yesterday, so we missed
them.”
    April laughed. “Who’s
today?”
    “Umm ... Dallas Smith,
Justin Moore, and Eric Church – yes, I love him! Then tonight, Lex Mitchell,
and Jess Moskaluke.”
    “What?” April’s heart
stopped.
    “I know it’s a difficult
name. I’m pretty sure I’m saying it wrong. Mosk ... Moskal ...”
    “No, no, before that.”
    “Lex Mitchell? April,
what is it?”
    April’s mind reeled and
her heart felt dead. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know what to do. She
turned her back on Meagan and hurried out of the saloon.
    “April! April, where are
you going? April!”
    April didn’t stop.
    She shoved past the
excited fans using the break between performers to get a drink in the saloon
and hurried to find some room to breathe. She had to get out. She kept her head
down to avoid being spotted by the rest of her friends, or worse, by Meagan. As
soon as there was a break in the crowd, she started to run.
    She hurried down the