Mending Hearts

13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Mia

M ia

I heard him fumbling for his clothes in the dark room, and I almost asked him to stay longer. Almost. Then he slipped out my bedroom door back into the main living room, and the moment passed.

Alone in the darkness, I stared into the nothingness. Tyler had agreed to the friends-with-benefits plan, so I didn’t understand why I felt so empty. Getting him to say yes was a triumph, a success, something to be celebrated. He hadn’t seemed like the type for friends with benefits. Instead of elation, I felt robbed, as though I won the lottery only to be blindsided by having to give half of it to the government for taxes. Why was I so unsettled? I couldn’t put my finger on what I was mourning.

My mother’s voice rang through the living room, piercing the morning quiet. “So, you’re the reason Pasha didn’t want to let me in here? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

The hysterical edge in Laura’s voice was a bad sign. I threw back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. If I was going to quit the tour, I needed to make sure I looked awful. No matter how much I wanted to throw myself in the line of fire to spare Tyler her wrath, I had to be prepared for battle .

“You’re fired.” Laura’s voice dripped with venom. “Pack up your stuff and leave.”

Shit.

I scrambled off the bed and rushed into the bathroom. Quickly, I powdered my face with a shade I knew made me look sickly. I stared at myself in the mirror when the last puff settled, pleased with the result. As long as she didn’t get too close, this would work. Carefully applied makeup had worked before.

At the door between the bedroom and the living room, I listened to my mother rage, trying to gauge whether Tyler had lost his temper. It would be surprising, but Mom could drag the worst out of anyone.

“Laura, it’s not what you think. We aren’t having sex.”

Because he’s a saint . I pressed my hand into the door and turned my ear to catch her response.

“Something is going on. I don’t know what it is, but something isn’t right between the two of you. If you’re the real reason she’s so insistent on going to Little Falls for her break, I’ll never let her go. I will throw up every roadblock I can come up with.”

“I told you I won’t even be there. I have another job.”

“It’s funny. I can’t find anyone who knows anything about that job. Who’d you say you were working for again?”

Okay, I’d heard enough. Sliding open the door, I took in Mom’s combative stance and Tyler’s relaxed pose on the couch. He hadn’t even bothered to stand up. The calmness on his face when our gazes connected was immediately soothing, brought my heart rate back down to normal. He was the center of a hurricane, the place where everything went still .

“It’s not about Tyler, Mother. I need a break. I was so sick last night. Tyler was looking after me.”

“Sick?” Laura stepped toward me, concern falling over the anger she’d been directing at Tyler.

“I might be contagious.” I held up a hand and turned my face away, putting my other hand over my mouth as though I might vomit.

“Should I call a doctor?”

“No. It’s starting to pass.” I shook my head and avoided looking at Tyler.

“Get to bed,” Laura said, shooing me into my room and going to the kitchenette to pour a glass of water from the fridge. “You can leave.” Laura eyed Tyler. “But this conversation isn’t over.”

“I want him to stay.” I crossed my arms and considered digging in, even if I was supposed to be sick.

“You should have called me last night.” Laura glanced at Tyler over her shoulder before ushering me back to my room and into the bed. The bathroom light was still on, giving the room a faint glow.

The low lights would make it hard for Laura to suss out the truth about my invented illness. Her wrist brushed against my forehead.

“You looked a little yellow in the living room. You’re warm. Did you have a fever last night?”

“No, just a bad stomach. Maybe something I ate at the club.”

“I’ll call and tell them. That’s ridiculous. They need better health and safety standards if they’re giving you food poisoning.” Laura slipped the full glass of water onto the nightstand and settled next to me on the bed. She tucked the covers around in a way she hadn’t done since I was little. She scanned my face, thoughtful. “You know I love you, right?”

For a beat, I stared back at her and then nodded .

“Tyler’s a lot older than you.”

Every muscle in my body tightened. As though I hadn’t been surrounded by men much older all my life, as though age had mattered so much to her when she’d left me alone with those men. Those terrible men. And there was nothing terrible about Tyler.

“Your point?”

“You need to be careful. You’ve worked hard to get this far in your career. Throwing it away for a man…”

“I never said that. When have I said that?”

“There has to be something behind this insistence on going to Little Falls. He owns a store there, doesn’t he? Some sort of thrift shop?”

The disdain in her voice caused me to bristle for Tyler. “There’s nothing wrong with owning a thrift shop.”

“He’s done a good job on the tour so far, but he can’t stay. If he’s a distraction for you, he can’t stay. I’m sorry.”

“You’re not sorry. You live for this shit.” I sat up and pulled my knees into my chest. “I tell you I’m sick and Tyler helped me, and your response is to fire him? You understand how crazy that is, right? Is this because he wouldn’t sleep with you?”

“It’s because I think he wants to sleep with you.”

“As if you care.” I glared at her. “You’ve made this,” I gestured down my body, “literally and figuratively.” I threw out my hands. “So what if he wants to sleep with me? That’s what you created, Mother. Mia Malone—girls want to be me; guys want to be with me. Wasn’t that what you all agreed in the marketing meeting when I was fourteen? I was fourteen and you were already talking about men wanting to fuck me.”

“You’re only twenty now— ”

“I’ll be twenty-one soon. I don’t know why you think my age matters. I’m legally able to have sex in all fifty states.” I met her gaze, every revelation and secret sitting between us. “We both know I’m no virgin.”

Laura stretched to her full height while still staying perched on her bed. “It’s not about sex. What have I always told you?”

I swallowed, and my hand strayed to the side of my stomach under the covers. “That love makes you do stupid things. That it’s not worth the hassle.”

“You’ve never let another man into your life like this.”

I could feel her focused attention, but I wouldn’t meet it. I didn’t love Tyler, probably wasn’t capable of love, anyway.

“Twenty or twenty-one is too young for forever, so he’s a distraction. Possibly a mistake, a really costly one. I don’t regret having you, Mia. You know that. But I don’t want that life for you.”

“I won’t make the same mistakes as you.” I met her stare head-on, my chin tilted in defiance. When my mind tried to slip toward thoughts of the baby, I slammed the mental door. The baby wasn’t mine. It was Tyler’s, so I wouldn’t ever have my mother’s life of regret. “I want a break from work. A break. I’m not quitting. I’m not running off to get married. I want to go write songs in Little Falls with Grady Castillo, who is a super talented writer.” I took a deep breath and doubled down. “If you fire Tyler, I’ll be taking a break from you, too.”

In the half-light, Laura’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t be an idiot.”

I quit.

I quit.

I quit.

The words sat on my tongue, but I didn’t have the guts to say them, even though seeing the expression on her face would almost be worth it. Laura would talk me out of abandoning everything, convince me to tough it out. Deep down, I wanted this whole situation to go away, and it was easier to pretend the baby didn’t exist. Not that I could do that for much longer.

No, I needed to get Taryn and Rebecca to deliver the blow about the tour.

As much as I wanted to avoid thinking about the baby growing inside me, last night had proven I wasn’t willing to put myself first anymore. Seeing the blood should have been a relief. A miscarriage would solve everything. But that hadn’t been how I’d felt. Tyler would have been really upset if I lost the baby; I didn’t want to disappoint him.

Beyond all that, he didn’t deserve to be painted as a villain in whatever narrative Mom was writing in her head.

“He’s not like the others. He’s not going to hurt me. I won’t let you fire him. Don’t make me choose.”

“Whatever is going on between the two of you is a bad idea. As much as I’d like to believe it’s possible, you can’t control your feelings. None of us can.”

“We’re friends. He’s my friend.” The conviction in my voice wasn’t fake. It felt true. In many ways, he was becoming my best friend, my most trusted person. “I’m not quitting. It’s a break. I need a break. I’m sick, and I need a break.”

Laura eased off the bed, stared at me and then shook her head. “Is the break his idea?”

In a way. “No, it’s mine. I don’t need you to understand it, but I need you to accept it.”

“Getting involved with him is a mistake. If this is about your father— ”

“Tyler is nothing like Dad.” Bile rose in my throat. Laura thought I had a daddy complex. So gross. Tyler didn’t even look his age. “That’s disgusting. Like, really, really awful you’d suggest anything like that.”

“Tell me what guy in the industry you’re interested in, and I’ll get you an introduction. Are you lonely? Is that it? Eighteen months on the road is a long time. Too long, maybe. I…the tour seemed like a good idea. You’ve always loved the live shows, the energy from the crowd…”

“I want to go to Little Falls and write songs. That’s it.” I sighed and stretched out under the covers turning my back on her. “I’m tired.” And that was true, too. I was tired of talking about it, tired of living it, tired of feeling all of it.

A heavy silence filled the room. “I’ll let you get some rest.”

The soft whirl of the door sliding open was a relief. All the tension left my body in a rush, and I let out a deep breath.

“You’re still here.” Laura’s disappointed tone was evident even from the head of the bed.

“I am.” Tyler’s voice was almost too quiet to catch. I strained toward the sound. “The only person who gets to dismiss me is your daughter, and she wants me to stay.”

“She always has things she wants. You give in too much, and everyone loses.”

I thought about getting out of bed to defend myself or Tyler or maybe the two of us. When was the last time I had asked for anything?

At the soft knock on my doorframe, I turned to see Tyler silhouetted against the dim light from the living room.

“Did my mother vanish in a cloud of eau de pissed off?”

“How’d you guess?” A small smile twisted his lips in the dim light .

“She thinks we’re sleeping together.” I rolled my eyes. “And it’s not the sex part or the age gap that worries her.”

“The age gap was certainly her focus with me.” He came further into the room, his hands in his pants pockets.

“She’s worried I’ll give all this up for love.” I thrust my hands wide into the air. Saying it aloud clarified the ridiculousness. Give up this sure thing, the job keeping me afloat on something risky like a feeling. I giggled. “Can you imagine?”

Tyler leaned a shoulder against the doorframe. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

“You can imagine me doing that?” My laughter left in a rush.

“No, I can imagine love seeming more important than other things—material things.”

“Sure, like maybe I give you the last bite of my ice cream cone or something. But give up millions of dollars? Uh, I don’t think so.” I threw back the covers and crossed to the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth from the linen closet. “And I like my job. Sometimes, I can’t believe I get paid so much to do these fun things.” I tilted my chin in the mirror, examining my makeup. “I just don’t always like the extras.” I ran the cloth under the warm water and wiped my face, the powder coming off easily.

Tyler’s arms stretched across the doorway, his gaze traveling my face in the mirror as I washed the powder away. “Like how you have to manipulate your mother to get what you want?”

“She doesn’t want me to throw away my life on something that won’t last.”

“Not all love ends. My dad died still in love with my mother.”

“Well,” I said, wiping my face one last time with the cloth before tossing it into the laundry, “he’s the exception. From what I’ve seen, all love goes away eventually.” I returned his gaze in the mirror and wondered whether my next question was wise. “Name one person you’ve loved in a romantic way.” I turned and pressed my back into the counter, eyebrows raised.

“You want to go down this road?” His look was long and searching.

“Friends, right? This is what friends talk about. Things that matter.”

“Katie. I loved Katie.”

“But you stopped loving her?” A dangerous question.

The frustrated sigh he didn’t bother to suppress was surprising. “It’s not a switch, Mia. It doesn’t just flick off one day. Love left untended withers. It’s a living thing—you gotta water it and care for it and look after it. Neglect it? And it’ll go away. What choice does it have?”

“So, who neglected it? You or Katie?”

He shifted in the doorway and crossed his arms. “Maybe we both did.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he retrieved it. “David just texted. He can meet us at the hospital in an hour.”

I grabbed my phone from the charging station in the bathroom and scrolled through my schedule for the day. Not that it mattered. As soon as I got back from meeting with David, I was canceling everything. With a deep breath, I sent a text to Taryn and Rebecca asking for a meeting.

“What are you thinking?” Tyler’s voice was quiet.

I was tempted to lie, to brush him off. But he rarely did that to me, even when I might deserve it. Meeting his gaze, I shrugged. “That I’m about to blow up my life, and I’m not even that upset about it. Maybe I really do need a break.”

“You work hard. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone work harder than you.”

He rested his hand against the bathroom counter, his body so close I caught another whiff of jasmine. I was starting to love that smell—wanted to bathe in it. When I glanced up, there was a tenderness in his gaze that tugged at my heartstrings. It was a look I could get used to, one that made me feel special, important. Other people looked at me like I mattered, but it always felt like it was my superstardom drawing them in. They had stars in their eyes. He was looking at me , seeing me , caring about me . The real Mia.

On my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to his, set down my phone, and slipped my hands into his hair, drawing him closer. He met my kiss with a hunger I hadn’t expected. He lifted me easily onto the edge of the counter, our lips never breaking contact. He stepped between my legs, his hands sinking into my hair.

“I could kiss you all day,” he murmured, deepening the kiss again.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, tugging him closer. “I like your thinking, Pretty Boy.”

“Doctor first.” His lips broke from mine. “Quit your job second.” His lips found mine again in another searing kiss that made me wish we could stay on this bus all day uninterrupted. “Then more of this.”

I withdrew from him, and we stared at each other, his gaze straying back to my lips, and I ran my thumb along them. “You make it sound so easy.”

“I know it’s not.” He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine again.

“I need to get ready, or we’ll be late.” My phone buzzed beside me. Taryn and Rebecca had agreed to the meeting when I got back from my doctor’s appointment. “One for the road,” I said, giving him a quick kiss before hopping off the counter.

Doctor David liked to talk, and I was having trouble focusing. The baby was fine, so the rest of his words were noise. I understood what I had to do, even if Tyler was asking every question he could think of in support of staying on the tour. Sort of sweet for him to try so hard to give me options. Except I was fine with being done.

Against my will, my attention strayed to the fourth, largely silent, person in the room.

Katie .

Every time I glanced in her direction, the naked longing on the other woman’s face was a neon flashing sign. Embarrassing. She should try to hide her emotions or at least hide them from the woman carrying Tyler’s child, for God’s sake.

The sadness in Katie’s eyes wasn’t for a love that had faded into something else like Tyler claimed, and his rigid posture meant he was keenly aware of her too. Fascinating and frustrating. This room was like being with Taryn and Rebecca when they were engaged in a silent feud over something. Why was there still so much weirdness between them? How did the doctor miss the tension?

I was about to burst from curiosity and something much darker, an emotion I wasn’t keen to name, when one of Tyler’s questions caught my attention.

“Can you summarize what you think she can and can’t do physically? We want to be absolutely clear.”

With a frown, I tilted my head at Tyler and then looked at the doctor. We’d been over this already. “No more aerial stuff, right? Lots of rest. I heard all that. Obviously, I have to quit the tour.” I met Tyler’s soft gaze and basked in his caring for a moment. Then what he was dancing around clicked. “Tyler just wants to know whether we can have sex. Is that off the table or…?” In my peripheral vision, Katie straightened, and Tyler slid me an annoyed glance. Whatever. It was a valid question and what we wanted to know. Baby was fine. Great news for Tyler.

Tyler squeezed my hand, but I had no intention of meeting his gaze. I could tell from the rigid way he was holding himself that he wasn’t happy right now. He’d get over it, especially if his three-step plan from earlier worked out like I hoped.

Doctor David’s uneasy chuckle filled the room. “As far as intercourse goes, there is no medical reason you can’t.”

That was a strange way to phrase it. Perhaps the doctor was aware of his daughter’s lingering feelings. “Good enough for me.” I shifted my butt on the crackling paper until I could get down. Now, I just had to quit the tour. A chill slid down my spine at how awful the next few hours would be. “David, is it possible to get a medical note?”

“You want me to lay all this out on paper?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Not exactly.” I winced. “I was sort of hoping for a diagnosis of exhaustion or depression or mono or something?” I put my hand up in a stopping motion. “Not pregnancy. I’m doing Tyler a favor. It’s no one else’s business.”

David peered at me and seemed to consider the options. “I can write a note for exhaustion. There is a chance you’ll eventually be on bed rest.”

“Once I’m off the tour, I’ll be in Little Falls for a while. So, bed rest won’t be an issue.” I waved him off. “Lots of rest, so no need to be stuck in my bed.” I slid a sly glance toward Tyler. “Well, not one related to the baby, anyway. ”

Tyler’s jaw clenched.

God, what was his problem?

“Right, well, I’ll get that note for you. Katie,” David turned to his daughter, “can you come type it up? You’re faster than me.”

She glanced at Tyler under her lashes, and then she followed her father out the door. A stony silence settled over the room.

“The baby is fine. I don’t understand why you’re in such a pissy mood.” I crossed my arms.

Tyler produced a lollipop from his pocket and ripped the wrapper off in one swift movement. “If you put even one second of thought into it, you’d know why I’m annoyed with you.”

“Clearly, it has something to do with your formerly precious Katie.” I didn’t even try to contain my own frustration. “The tension between the two of you is ridiculous and not in a hot way. All her feelings are lying on the floor at your feet.”

He grunted and crossed his arms. I wanted to reach out and squeeze his bicep. I appreciated whatever was causing him to work out so much. God, he was gorgeous.

“You’re deliberately rubbing our arrangement in her face.”

“Please.” I twisted my features into what I hoped was disbelief. Acting wasn’t my strength. “My excitement at getting to have sex with you has nothing to do with her. Like zero.” I formed a zero with my fingers. “If she doesn’t think we’re sleeping together when you look like that and I look like this and I’m carrying your baby, then she’s not too bright.”

“Mia.” Tyler’s lips barely moved when he said my name. He took the lollipop out of his mouth and pointed it at me.

“Why do you care what she thinks? ”

“I don’t care what she thinks. I care how she feels. You’re making her feel bad on purpose.” His eyes glittered with anger.

“Why do you care? Do you still have feelings for her?” When he opened his mouth and I sensed a lie coming, I jumped back in. “Never to each other, Pretty Boy. Don’t you dare.” My heart dipped low in my chest.

“That’s not an easy question to answer.”

“No, it is. It really is.” I tried to ignore the rush of insecurity.

The door popped open, and Katie entered, her hand extended with a white envelope. Doctor David came behind her, medical file in hand.

“Thanks.” I smiled and tried to make it genuine for the pissed-off Pretty Boy. Had I taken my comments too far? Maybe. But I hated the tension between them, that Tyler wouldn’t just explain why the tension existed, that he still cared about Katie’s feelings. What kind of guy cares about whether his ex-girlfriend’s feelings get hurt? Ridiculous. Half the guys I knew wouldn’t care if their current girlfriend’s feelings were hurt.

“Your manager or whoever is welcome to call me with questions. I would prefer my note didn’t make it into the press since it’s skirting the truth.”

“Sure, of course. It’s not like I want all this public.” I folded the note and slid it into my bulky purse. “Thanks for seeing us again today. I—I might have overreacted.”

“Not to worry. Bleeding can be scary.” He patted my shoulder. “You’re under a lot of stress and physical obligations with your show. Bleeding isn’t uncommon, but as I said earlier, it should always be checked if it’s unusual or excessive or you just need to ease your mind.”

“Thanks for your time.” Tyler stretched out a hand and shook David’s. He hesitated before offering Katie his hand. “I appreciate the help. ”

That last comment was too heartfelt and filled with hidden meaning. Katie’s hand wrapped around his a little too quickly. My smile faltered. I took a deep, steadying breath before I lost my temper.

He could have feelings for Katie. I had no claim over him. None. We were having a baby, but not even together since he’d be raising it alone. In fact, it would be better if the baby never realized I was its mother. I rubbed my stomach, and Tyler slid his fingers down my arm until we were linked. Tears pooled in my eyes, and I had to pretend to look for something in my purse with my free hand to keep them from spilling over. Finally, my fingers hit on a forgotten token from Tyler, and I pulled out a lollipop in triumph, all thoughts of crying gone.

A hint of smile touched his lips when I twirled it in his direction. We slipped out the hospital door with Pasha leading the way to the car, fingers locked together.

“Are you still mad at me?” I whispered.

We slid into the car, and Tyler didn’t respond. I snuck a glance at him, afraid I’d see anger there again. Jealousy burned inside at the thought of Katie and Tyler together. That wasn’t something a friend felt—a friend would behave differently. But I’d never had a guy as a friend, so I wasn’t sure what that looked like either. How was I supposed to feel about him and Katie? Surely not happy.

“I’m sorry.”

His arm slid around my shoulders, and he tugged me into his side. His lips pressed against the top of my head, and he breathed me in. “You’re so mature in so many ways, I forget that you’re young. We need a code word for when you’re feeling insecure and just need reassurance.”

“I wasn’t feeling insecure.” I tried to pull away from him. Insecure? Please. Jealous, maybe .

“Having feelings isn’t a weakness.”

“I know that.” I swallowed down more of a protest. “I don’t hate the idea of a code word. It could be fun, I guess.”

He laughed and kissed my temple. “We can go straight-up ridiculous, or something that could be inserted into a regular conversation?”

I curled into his side and slipped my legs onto his lap, and his free hand cupped my knees. Giving pieces of myself to him felt normal, easy. So different from anything I’d ever experienced before. With other men, they took and took and took. Lost in thought, I picked at his shirt until I said, “Puzzle. That’s the code word. Puzzle. Puzzled. Puzzling.”

“Goes both ways?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if I feel insecure?”

I gave him a light punch to the chest. “Sure, yeah. You’re going to be insecure. About what?”

“We got a bit of road left to travel, Mia. You never know.”

The thought of the road ending or coming to the fork I could see in the distance caused sadness to seep in. “I guess we do.” My internal timer ticked. “Will you sit in on the conversation with Taryn and Rebecca?”

“Are you sure you want quitting to be so closely linked to me?”

I patted my purse. “I have a doctor’s note.”

“From a doctor connected to me and Little Falls.”

“I want you there.” I twisted my finger in his shirt and then released the material.

“Then I’ll be there.” He met my gaze, sincerity in his depths.

Taryn and Rebecca had passed the note back and forth between them several times before eyeing me and then Tyler and circling to Pasha, who I also insisted on having in the bus.

“Why didn’t you go to our team doctor? We could have had her here at a moment’s notice.” Rebecca’s eagle eyes scanned Tyler. “A doctor from Little Falls is declaring you exhausted, and you took yourself to the hospital today.”

“I don’t want this getting out. Or at least getting out uncontrolled.” I’d applied some strategic makeup to make me appear washed out before the meeting. “I thought you’d be proud of me for handling it myself.”

“We’re paid to handle stuff like this.” Taryn frowned. “The costume guy isn’t.”

“He helped me out of a jam last night.” I refused to acknowledge Tyler, hadn’t glanced in his direction since Taryn and Rebecca arrived. He was across the room, far enough not to be a distraction, but close enough to offer comfort. Whenever he was in a room, I felt grounded, safe. He’d never let anything bad happen to the baby, so he’d never let anything bad happen to me.

“It’s not like we didn’t see this coming, Mia.” Rebecca sighed. “We just wish you’d been more up front about where your head was at. Now, we’re going to be scrambling to reschedule.”

“We’re not rescheduling,” I said. “We’re canceling.”

Both Taryn and Rebecca gasped, and the doctor’s note fluttered to the floor between them. “Canceling?” Taryn squeaked out.

“I want to be done.”

“Holy shit,” Rebecca muttered and pressed her fingertips into her forehead. “Laura is going to eat us for breakfast.” Her gaze connected with Taryn. “How do we spin this? The lost money alone will give her a coronary.”

“Laura would be fine with rescheduling,” Taryn said, swooping down to pick up the note. “But canceling outright? There’s no way, Mia.”

“This is why I pay you.” I spread my hands wide and looked between the two women. “Get her to accept it. Get her on board with me spending the next few months in Little Falls.”

“This your idea?” Rebecca eyed Tyler. “You know if the tour ends, you don’t get paid either.”

“It’s my idea.” I rose from my chair and blocked Rebecca’s view of Tyler lounging on the couch. “I don’t know why people find this so hard to believe.”

“You’re a workhorse,” Taryn said. “There is no end to your hard work. You aren’t a quitter. It’s one of my favorite things about you. So, what’s really going on?”

Over my shoulder, my gaze connected with Tyler. We hadn’t talked about how far I might have to go to quit. With a deep breath, I studied Taryn and Rebecca. I rubbed my hands together and pressed them against my lips.

“I’m pregnant.” I dropped my hands as the two women gasped again, and Rebecca fell backward into a chair.

“What?” All the color drained from Taryn’s face. “Does Laura know?” She shook her head. “Of course, she doesn’t know.” Taryn glared at Tyler and then Pasha. “Which one of you is the baby daddy? It’s gotta be one of you.” She whirled on me. “You can’t be very far along. We’ve got options.”

“I’m not telling you because I need your help. I don’t.” I laughed, surprised at how light I felt now that I’d told them. “At least not with the baby part. I need you to manage my mother. Tyler is going to keep the baby. I’m not. I’m not having anything to do with the baby, okay? It’s just—I’m the vessel.”

“You got pregnant on purpose?” Rebecca cocked her head.

“No, no.” I shot Tyler a pleading look.

“I agreed to keep and raise the baby instead of her getting an abortion.” When both women stared at him, Tyler laid out the sequence of events in a way I was sure I couldn’t have done.

“My God.” Taryn rubbed her forehead. “Laura would drive you to a clinic. It wouldn’t matter how far along you were. This is her worst nightmare. She’s always been paranoid you’d get pregnant young like her.”

“I know that,” I said, unable to conceal the tension in my voice. “That’s why she doesn’t know.”

“Are you ever coming back?” Rebecca put her head in her hands and sighed.

“Yes! God, I’m not quitting. Well, I’m quitting right now. But I love performing and singing, it’s not…Tyler told you. I’m really going to make an album with Grady while I’m off with the baby. It’ll be fine. No one needs to know.”

“Why are you telling us?” Taryn took off her glasses and cleaned them.

“You both signed NDAs, and I needed you to understand there’s no talking me into continuing the tour. So, you need to figure out a way to get my mother to agree to all of this.”

“It’s your mother. We need a hammer. If we can’t use the pregnancy, what’s the hammer?” Rebecca met her gaze. “If we absolutely can’t win her around with some sort of deal, how do we get to her? ”

I’d realized this question would come at some point. Sometimes a carrot worked, but other times we needed a stick. A heavy one. “She thinks Tyler and I are together. We’re not. But use that idea. Tell her I’ve said if I have to make a choice, I’ll choose Tyler and freeze her out. Make it clear she needs to let this thing with Tyler run its course. I promise you both I’m coming back. I’ll come back better than ever. But I need out for now.”

Taryn and Rebecca exchanged a long, exhausted look. “She won’t want to lose you,” Taryn admitted. “The threat would work. But you can only use it if you mean it. If you’ll follow through.” Taryn held up her hand. “Even if she agrees, Laura will want to see you at some point over the next few months.”

“I’ll deal with that when she finally decides to visit me. I’m counting on her being too pissed off at me to visit any time soon.” I shrugged. “At some point, she’ll be too late.”

Taryn and Rebecca linked hands and squeezed. With deep breaths, they seemed to find comfort in each other. I glanced at Tyler, and I understood that feeling, finding strength in someone else. It happened all the time with him.

“All right,” Rebecca agreed. “We’ll figure it out. You three should leave tonight. Once she knows—”

“I know. If I’m still here, she’ll steer every guilt trip she has in my direction.” My chest grew tight at the thought. “I’d never leave.”

Tyler’s arm circled my waist, and our gazes met. He ducked his head and nuzzled my neck. My knees almost buckled at his stubble brushing against all the sensitive spots. Alone with him. That’s all I wanted.

“Tonight,” he agreed. “You pack. I’ll book the flights.”

My body lit up .

“Pasha, you’re coming with us?” Tyler tipped his chin in Pasha’s direction.

I hadn’t asked him, but I knew he would. Like Tyler, he’d become someone I counted on.

“I come.” Pasha nodded. “I pack light.”

Taryn’s hand slid along my back and drew me into a hug. In my ear, she whispered, “I love you, kid. We’ll come visit instead of Laura if we can swing it.”

Relief coursed through me. Maybe I should have told them weeks ago, but I’d thought I could handle everything.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You deserve to have happiness. Let yourself be happy for a while.” She squeezed me a little tighter before letting me go.