Chapter 12
Mason
Taking the bow Mom offered, Sutton played a few notes, testing them before making adjustments. Once she was satisfied, she lifted her gaze to Mom. “Any requests?”
“Surprise us,” she said, her violet eyes alive with excitement as she retook her seat. Behind her, Lucy was snapping pictures, while Dad filmed with his phone.
Nervously, Sutton’s gaze landed on him. “Why is this more intimidating than an auditorium full of people?”
“Relax, sweetheart. Don’t let all my Grammys scare ya,” he teased.
“Fuck. Okay,” she whispered. Then, like the superstar I knew she was, she straightened her spine, took a deep breath, and started to play.
As soon as the music began to fill the room, everyone stilled. Lucy stopped taking pictures. Dad stood with his hand frozen in air, practically holding his breath as he listened. It wasn’t a Zeppelin song, like I’d anticipated, or even a classical masterpiece from another era.
When the last haunting notes of “The Sounds of Silence” floated through the room, I fell in love with her yet again.
Like the night of the competition, I was helpless to look away from her.
It wasn’t just the music she created, not even her utterly ethereal beauty.
It was her passion, her focus, and how she became part of the music.
As if it lived inside her.
“Holy fuck,” Dad wheezed when she lifted her head.
Pink flooded her cheeks. “Sorry. It was a little rusty. I haven’t played that one in a while.”
“Are you kidding me? That was beautiful. I wouldn’t change a single moment of it. Sutton, you’re amazing. Phenomenal.”
“It was just a song I kinda like.” She dismissed his praise, ducking her head bashfully.
“Fuck that noise. We’re not doing that. You do not downplay your brilliance.
” He gave her that narrow-eyed look that I remembered well from my childhood, the same look he still shot Violet or me when he was frustrated with us.
It was his perfected dad-look, the kind that told you to stop what you were doing and listen.
“I work with talented people every day of the year, and most of them don’t have even a tenth of the passion I just witnessed from you.
Fucking playing a song you ‘kinda like.’ Gods! ”
“Um…” Uncertainty flickered across her face, but Dad stopped her.
“Sutton, sweetheart, there is a reason you won that competition.” He softened his tone, although his face was still set in that half glare he used when he was trying to stress his point.
“That talent show has been going on for more than ten years for many reasons. One being that I have invested my own time and money into it to give students who excel in the arts a fighting chance without the world screaming nepotism at them. Harper does the same thing by spotlighting the winners. We want you and them to succeed. Those judges aren’t bought off.
They don’t play favorites. I’ve personally ensured that they are neutral in every possible way.
And you won. Because. You. Are. Amazing. ”
“Thank you,” she said, so quietly I almost didn’t hear her. I crouched down beside her again, placing one hand on her knee, playing with the end of her braid with the other. She melted into my touch without taking her eyes off Dad.
“Do you want to make music a career?” he asked.
She hesitated before shaking her head, her caramel eyes shining with suppressed tears.
“I never allowed myself to think about it. Maybe before my mom got sick, sure, it was something I daydreamed about. But that was nothing more than a fantasy. And then she got sick, and I…” Sutton stopped, closed her eyes, and swallowed hard.
“I lost her, and I was only trying to win the competition to pay my rent. If I hadn’t won, I’d have been homeless in a month.
Maybe less than that because my landlord is such a creep. ”
Unconsciously, I gripped her knee hard, and I felt her flinch.
Relaxing my hand, I stroked my thumb over her soft skin and reminded myself that her landlord was already meeting his karma.
That morning, a convoy of building inspectors and fire marshals had arrived on the apartment building’s front steps.
By the end of the day, he would be facing hefty fines and jail time for anything the investigators found him liable for.
“That son of a bitch isn’t going to be a problem for you anymore,” Dad assured her, his tone dropping lower.
He was aware of what was going on back at Sutton’s apartment because he had been the one to suggest it once Aunt Emmie had provided the initial report on the scumbag landlord.
“You’re never going to have to worry about that kind of thing again, honey. ”
“But—”
“Sign with ASM,” he insisted, cutting her off before she could protest. “You will have an entire team dedicated to your success. A manager who will guide you, social media content creators, and a long-term record deal, with me personally producing for you. You will never have to worry about money again.”
“Wait. Pause!” she cried, lifting an unsteady hand to stop him from saying more. “My head is starting to spin. You’re doing too much. It’s all…too much.”
“It’s really not,” Dad said with a shrug. “This isn’t the first time I’ve made an offer like this to a first-place winner. I doubt it will be the last. There’s a reason I have so many Grammys.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You don’t understand.
This is insane. Things like this don’t simply happen to normal people.
All I was trying to do was survive. And now, you’re standing there, with your rough yet somehow sweet dad-voice that I’ve never been on the receiving end of and a once-in-a-lifetime offer, and I can’t freaking think straight. This is a dream. It has to be.”
Sutton shifted her gaze to me, and her tears spilled over. “It has to be.”
“Why does it have to be, baby?” I asked, wiping away one of her tears with my thumb.
“Because I’m not the girl who gets the happily-ever-after.”
Mom sniffled and cleared her throat before speaking. “I think we’ve overwhelmed her. Today has been a lot, and Sutton is still recovering.”
She stood and came to stand beside Sutton, squeezing her shoulder and giving her that reassuring mom-smile that promised everything was going to be okay.
“I was once a girl who thought she would never have a happy ending. It’s funny how fate keeps giving me more and more happiness with each passing year, after all the heartbreak I was once faced with. ”
“This is all very surreal,” Sutton murmured.
“I still struggle to believe this is my reality as well, sweetheart. Yet I have proof that dreams come true. I have my husband, my career, and best of all, two amazing children I was once told would never be mine.” She tucked a lock of hair behind Sutton’s ear.
“Just promise to think about Shane’s offer, okay? ”
“O-okay.”