Chapter 23 #2
‘Do I need to give you a biology lesson, here? Academia isn’t my strong point but I do know about the birds and the bees.’ She laughed. ‘It takes two people to make a baby, Andi. Talk to me.’
‘Well, it turns out the dates mean that the baby could be Hunter’s or yours.
’ She shook her head and looked down to her lap.
‘At first, I was adamant I didn’t want it but the obstetrician told me I needed to decide for myself whether I want a baby, no matter who the father is and, Tommy, I do want him or her.
I’m frightened but I can’t get rid of my baby. ’
He held her chin and encouraged her to look at him. ‘And I want you. So how about you stop being your usual self and let me take care of you?’
‘I…’ Her tears fell again, as if she had an endless supply. ‘What if it isn’t yours?’
‘Then I’ll love it because I love you and I want you to be my family. We’ll all be a family.’
Her stool screeched against the floor as she stood and took his face in her hands, pressing her lips to his. ‘I so want it to be yours.’
He kissed her again, more fiercely. ‘It will be.’
* * *
Andrea woke on Monday morning wrapped in Tommy’s arms. She had no idea what the future held, how she would deal with it or how to prepare for it.
But she also knew that Tommy was going to be by her side.
For the first time in her life, she wasn’t alone.
She was going to have a family of her own, to love and be loved by.
She would have a partner she admired and respected and who would test her and push every one of her buttons – she would expect no less of a man like Tommy.
There was every chance she could end up hurt one day but the risk would be worth it.
As she lay peacefully, trailing her fingers up and down the strong arm across her chest, she wondered what Sofia was doing. For the first time, she understood that she didn’t have all the answers, nor did Sofia, and she couldn’t plan Sofia’s life for her.
Not everything had to be perfect. That was a revelation to Andrea.
And she knew, in that moment, how wrong she was to have meddled in her sister’s life.
She had to tell her, before Jay got out of rehab and told Sofia himself, that she had offered to buy out Jay’s share of Sanfia Records if he agreed to file for a divorce.
In doing so, she would find out whether news of her affair with Hunter had made its way to her sister yet.
Then she needed to speak to Rosalie. Who would probably refuse to ever speak to her again.
‘Stop. Over. Thinking,’ Tommy mumbled, pulling Andrea tighter against him and nuzzling her neck.
She desperately hoped her baby was Tommy’s.
* * *
Andrea’s heart was pounding and her legs felt unsteady as she neared Sanfia Records. She played over and over in her head how she was going to tell Sofia what she had done. The deal she had offered Jay to walk away from Sofia and Sanfia Records.
She came to an abrupt stop as she rounded a corner and turned on the sidewalk outside of the terrace house that her own father had once transformed into a recording studio. Outside, Billy, Frankie and Seth looked deep in conversation, pausing to look up when they saw her.
‘Andi, it’s been a while,’ Frankie said.
‘Hi, guys,’ she said, loosely holding up a hand in greeting as she neared them. ‘Is Sofia around?’
‘Probably best to hold off for now, Andi,’ Billy said.
‘Jay’s here,’ Seth added.
‘Jay? I thought he was in rehab for another week?’ she asked. But the evidence spoke for itself as Jay broke from the building, storming past Andi and deliberately crashing his shoulder into hers, almost knocking her from her feet.
Then there was an almighty bang from inside the building.
‘What happened?’ Andrea asked Seth, who was the closest person to her, and the first to reach out a hand to her elbow to steady her on her feet.
Before he could answer, the door of the studio was flung open again and in the open doorway stood Sofia – red-faced, mascara-stained eyes and undeniably livid.
‘Isn’t it enough that you tried to steal my label?’ Sofia yelled, dragging all eyes to her as she strode towards her sister. ‘That plan failed and so you go after my best artist. You are fucking unbelievable, Andrea!’
‘Wow, Soph, we were?—’
Sofia cut Seth off with a scowl. ‘This isn’t your business. It’s between her and me.’
‘Sofia, calm down,’ Andrea said. ‘I came here to talk to you. I wanted to tell you about Jay.’
‘So it’s true?’ Sofia yelled, face-to-face with her sister. ‘How could you? How could you try to take over the label? Wasn’t it enough that you left us? Why, Andi? Why try to take this from me?’
Andrea held up her hands. ‘Please, let’s just go inside and you can hear me out. I don’t know what Jay told you but let me explain, please.’
‘Jay told me the truth!’ Sofia dragged her hands roughly across her face. ‘God, you’ve always resented me, haven’t you? Mom died and you had to take care of me and you hate me for it.’
Now it was Andrea’s turn to get mad. ‘I could never hate you, Sofia,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘Everything I have ever done has always been with your best interests at heart. That I swear to you.’
‘Bullshit! Did you leave Sanfia for XM for my benefit?’
Andrea felt her nostrils flare as she inhaled, straightening her back, becoming taller on instinct.
Her voice rose as she spoke. ‘Yes, I goddamn did. I knew you were never over that. I left Sanfia because I couldn’t stand that ass of a husband you chose for yourself and if I had stayed, you would have chosen him over me when it came down to it.
I gave you a chance to keep both of us.’
‘That is such crap ! You left because you thought you were better than Sanfia. And now you realise that I could manage just fine without you and you want to steal the label from under my nose.’
‘Grow up, Sofia. I told Jay I would buy him out on the condition he filed for a divorce.’
‘You did what ?’
Andrea scoffed. ‘Right, so he left out that part, huh? I tried to let you sort things out for yourself but he was dragging you down and you were the only person who couldn’t see it! You would never have told him to go, so I did it for you.’
Sofia lunged for Andrea but she was grabbed around the waist by Billy, and she struggled against him as she shouted, ‘You need to leave, right now!’
Andrea shook her head. Like every time Sofia took a tantrum, she needed a day to take the edge off her stubbornness.
It had been a near constant battle for Andrea when they were younger and some things never changed.
‘When you’ve come to your senses, let me know, Soph. We can have an adult conversation.’
Sofia visibly fumed, inhaling and exhaling fast and deep as Billy held her by the waist. ‘I never want to speak to you again, Andi. Ever .’
The words tore through Andrea’s chest and pierced her heart, but she would not let that show. As the two women stared at one another, as if they were strangers at war, the space around them fell silent. Until the click of heels against the sidewalk came quicker and louder.