Chapter 20
Then—Ellery
“Everything’s going great.” Ellery pulled a hair from between her teeth. “I wish we could do a cover for America Sings! But that’s not exactly the idea of the show.”
Her mom tsked over the phone. “Why don’t you believe in your own songs, El? You’re a wonderful writer. That song you wrote in Florida is going to be in a movie! And you’ve got Dante and Selene and Lorraine right there with you. You don’t need anything else.”
Ellery scrunched up her face and scratched behind one ear with her pencil. The notes floated on the page, dancing and rearranging themselves in midair. It still wasn’t right. Caught in the spin of you… She hummed an eight-count under her breath.
“Honey? Did I lose you?” Dishes clattered over the phone, bringing Ellery back to the planet where she existed in Los Angeles and her family all lived in quaint, isolated Hermosa Key, Florida.
“I’m still here, Mom.” Even if her brain was somewhere on planet Need-to-Write-this-Damned-Song-or-Logan-Will-Drop-Us. She needed inspiration.
Her mom’s voice hushed. “How’s Dante?”
Ellery flushed as a rush of conflicting emotions worked through her. “Good. He’s good. I think.”
“You think?”
“I don’t know.” She chewed on her bottom lip and slipped the pencil over the curl of her ear.
She wasn’t sure how to tell her mom that it was like a black cloud had started growing over Dante’s head ever since they’d gotten back from Florida, only ever getting larger.
“It’s weird. We can’t really talk as much as I’d like. ”
“Sneaking around is sexy until it isn’t.”
“Mom!”
“What? I was young once too. Will you finally let your dad review that contract and see if there’s a way out of it?”
Ellery sighed. On one hand, Logan’s rules were stifling.
On the other, Logan’s rules had gotten them a mini tour and a spot on a national TV show.
A show on which she had to perform an original song for thousands of strangers.
Strangers who would judge her words, her music. “What if everyone hates it?”
“Hates what?” Another dish clattered, followed by the sound of a faucet running.
“Hates my song.” Her voice was so soft she wasn’t sure it carried over the magical cellular waves. “They’re changing all of the stuff in ‘Black Moan Rising.’ It’s barely our song any more. What if no one likes this one?”
“Honey.” She could hear her mother as she moved through the tiny kitchen and slid open the screen door onto their back patio. If Ellery closed her eyes, she and Dante were back there, laughing in the spray of the ocean. Dante hadn’t laughed like that in months.
“Okay, I’m outside now.” Her mom flopped onto one of the sun loungers.
“Honey. Real talk. You can’t hide behind your fear.
Right? Will people love your song? Yes. Will people feel your song speaks to them?
Yes. Are there going to be haters who want to rip you to shreds for some petty reason of their own?
Hell yes. You have to take the good with the bad, El.
Life isn’t easy. But when you trust yourself, great things can happen.
And trust your friends. They’re right there with you. Be strong for them.”
A smile tugged at Ellery’s lips. “Thanks, Mom. I wish you could be there.”
“We will be.” Her mom’s voice went soft and sad and wispy. “We will move heaven and earth to be there. And even if we’re not, we’ll be with you in spirit.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, El Bell.”
* * *
Dante
“So, Casper’s doing great at his new job. They’re going to promote him to manager next week.”
“That’s great, Mom.” Dante strummed aimlessly on his bass, the strings so taut they pressed into his flesh.
Of course his brother was rocking life. Of course Dante was the one running around in secret with the girl of his dreams, the one girl who was off limits. He was both elated and felt like shit.
It sucked.
“Honey? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Everything. He hated how much Logan had changed the Vendetta.
He hated how the studio kept changing “Black Moan Rising,” so it was now some barely recognizable version of the song he and Ellery had written, that Selene and Lorraine had improved.
Every one of them had put their stamp on it, and now it was all gone.
He hated how Ellery was pouring her heart and soul into a new song for a TV show, how Selene and Lorraine had put their own romantic wishes on hold.
He hated how there was all this pressure on one night, one song, one show.
His stomach churned. This wasn’t him. “It was easier on the cruise ship.”
His mom scoffed, and he heard her sip her tea. “Easier? You mean safer.”
Safe wasn’t a bad thing. “So what? Casper’s the brave twin.”
His mom’s voice softened. “Stop it. That is not true. You are filled with courage. You’ve just had to use a lot of it too early in your life. But it’s still there.”
Was it? Dante hadn’t felt it in a long, long time.