Fletcher
Have you really loved her forever?
Two days later, it was Emery’s last music lesson and was doing final inventory for the year. It was also his last night as Santa and he was ready to spend the rest of the month wrapped around Micah. Because the George women weren’t traveling for the holidays, Emery was the only one of her friends still in town. But that also meant she got to damage his eardrums a little more. knew that she wasn’t bad , she was just not the best. Emery enjoyed music and he had caught her dancing and head banging to everything playing through her earphones. But loving music and knowing how to play it were two very different things. And yet, she never gave up.
After his phone call with Micah, the two of them had sat down and talked about it further. Both their families had clearly tried to curb them from doing things they loved, and yet they made it work. His parents didn’t understand his fascination or interest in being a musician and even after The Rescuers went platinum, won Grammys and traveled around the world; they still thought he was going through a phase. He knew that Micah’s parents belittled her life decisions too. And in that vein, he never wanted to make anybody feel like their hopes and dreams were not worth it. Even when they weren’t good at something.
He was going to give Emery one more shot, teach her as much as he could and then if it still felt like she wasn’t able to play music, he’d ask her to give it up. It would hurt like hell, but he knew that lying to the kid wasn’t a good idea. Same way, discouraging her was also pretty harmful.
“I don’t want other kids to tease her about it,” Micah had said as they sat on the couch in her living room the night before.
“Nobody else knows about this.”
“Yet. I know how awful teenagers can be, my poor baby doesn’t need to suffer that.”
He kissed the side of her head and smiled. “Okay, how about this. We’ve got one more lesson tomorrow and then I’ll talk to her.”
“Are you sure that I shouldn’t be the one talking to her?”
“You can, but as her music teacher maybe I should do it first.”
Micah nodded and tilted her head back to smile at him. “You know you’re not only her music teacher, right?”
“I know, Mick.” He tightened his arm around her, lips brushing against her hair. “But seriously, your kid is a badass and won’t let anyone take her down.”
That morning, she had very politely reminded him about their conversation before she left to go read with Mrs. Hershey. Safe to say, he was nervous about having that conversation with Emery. His whole career as a musician, someone else had done the ‘serious talks’ with people who were fired or otherwise. He’d never had to deal with confrontation or tears. And while he believed that Emery would be understanding, he was still pretty worried.
Until she walked into the store, twirling her drumsticks like she was ready to take on the world. was glad Benson and Nico were off on their respective holidays, because he definitely didn’t want Emery to feel embarrassed later. Not that she’d been embarrassed the last month of lessons, but there was a first time for everything.
“So…what do you want me to do today?”
Setting his clipboard aside, he gestured to the second drum kit he’d set up for himself and smiled. “We’re going to play together.”
“For real?” Her eyes were wide in shock or awe, he couldn’t tell.
“I’ll be honest with you, Em,” he started and pulled his hair out of his face. “You’ve been working really hard, but you still have a long way to go.”
Emery’s mouth dipped and she nodded, shuffling on her feet. “I know.”
“Hey—” he squeezed her shoulder and smiled when their eyes met “—you’ve got this. Come on, settle in. Pick a song and let’s do this.”
She nodded, a small smile on her lips. He settled behind his drum kit, sticks twirling between his fingers. She stopped at the music player plugged into the store speakers and went through the list. Once she had a song selected, she rushed to her seat and tied her hair back as well. Glancing at him, her face brightened and she hit play on the remote. The open beat started and smiled at the choice—“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson—and nodded at her to hop in when she was ready. It was mostly kick drum, toms and hi-hats, but he could see Emery struggle to match the beats.
“Deep breath, Em. Go with me,” he told her and then joined in. It took her a few more fumbles before she was able to match his beat. He kept it steady, eyes on her so that she knew he wasn’t going to leave her behind. For most drummers, this was an easy song to play, but it was also a really good starting point for new drummers.
When the backing track ended, she groaned and waved her sticks in the air. “Why do I suck at this?”
“Will it help if I say that I was terrible at it too?”
“Nobody will believe that,” she mumbled, setting her sticks down.
He smiled and gently tapped a stick against the snare. “The reason I taught myself the drums is because every instructor I met told me I sucked. Yeah, they used that word. It was hard for me to hear it and I refused to let them be right.”
“Are you saying I suck?”
“No, but you’re also not very good.”
She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Rude.”
“Em.” sighed and pushed back from the kit, moving to stand in front of her. “Do you want the truth or do you want me to sugarcoat it?”
“Which will make me cry less?”
He laughed and picked up her sticks, holding them out to her. “I guess we’ll find out. Okay, let’s play this without the track. You know the basic progression, play it, but follow the beat I set. Got it?”
She hesitated, but took the sticks and snapped his fingers at a much slower pace than the backing track. She took a few minutes to start playing, but once she did, she was going at his beat. Gradually, he increased the speed and she matched him. But then when the snare came in, she fumbled. This time, Emery let out a cry and threw her sticks to the side before burying her face in her hands.
came around the drums and kneeled beside her. “Hey, hey, come here,” he whispered and Emery collapsed into his arms. He wrapped both arms around her as the teenager dissolved into quiet sobs. Leaning against the wall, he held her, letting Emery go through the motions. Maybe Micah was right, telling her upfront would have cut back a lot of this pain. But he also didn’t want her to give up because someone else told her she couldn’t do it. Besides, Emery had the drive and passion, the interest and determination. She lacked the musical ability.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled and slid out of his lap, sitting beside . “That was embarrassing.”
“I happen to think crying is good for the soul.”
A laugh escaped her as she wiped her face and then she turned to him. “I suck.”
“You don’t suck.”
“Yeah yeah, I’m not very good,” she echoed his words from before, putting quotes around them. “Does that mean I should give up?”
“I’ll answer that question, but I want to know what you think you should do.”
Emery pursed her lips, pulling her knees up to her chest and shrugged. “Give up.”
“Why?”
“Because drums are clearly not my thing.”
“Okay.” He leaned back, head resting against the wall. “I agree with that assessment. I’m glad you were excited about the drums and wanted to make it your thing. I love that you were raised on my music and maybe it inspired you. But I’m also proud of you for powering through even when it wasn’t working. And admitting that maybe it’s not your thing.”
“When I was a kid, Mom told me I could be anything. So I tried everything and some of it felt weird, some of it felt really good. Being a drummer sounded good. You know that when I was growing up, she talked about you a lot? How The Rescuers made some of the best music of her generation.”
He smiled as he glanced at Emery, his heart racing at the knowledge that Micah talked about him and his band to her kid when she was little. “That made you want to become a drummer.”
“Mom loves me more than anything in the world, so I wanted to do something else she loved and I hoped that I’d be good enough.”
His heart ached for Emery and bumped her shoulder with his. “You know that you didn’t have to do that, right? You are your mom’s whole world and she will support you no matter what you do.”
“She said that too,” she whispered, picking at invisible lint on her pants. “Maybe I’ll focus on Drama Club instead. Could be fun.”
“Oh, you would be perfect in Drama Club.” laughed when Emery whacked him with the back of her hand. “What else do you like?”
She shrugged, a slight blush rising up her neck and cheeks. had seen some of the longing looks Emery shot at her best friend, but he didn’t want to ask about it. It was none of his business after all.
“Maybe instead of playing music, you and I can talk about it?”
smiled at her effectively changing the subject and nodded. “Absolutely. Micah and I have this long-standing discussion about who the best female rockstar is. Do you have any opinions?”
“Alanis, duh.”
He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Your mom said the same thing.”
“Have you really loved her forever?”
His breath caught at the question and he looked away from Emery, eyes focused on the ceiling. “We met in the early 2000’s, when I was on tour. I wasn’t expecting her, but she changed my life,” he said softly, not wanting to share too much. “She inspired our greatest hit.”
“Whoa, “Mermaid” is about Mom ?”
Nodding, he smirked at Emery’s shocked expression. “I have loved her for a long time, even when I didn’t realize it. I think on some level, everything in my life always came back to Micah.”
After a long moment, Emery said, “You’re not going to vanish on us, right?”
“What?”
She sighed and he watched as she untied her hair, fingers working through the tangles in the dark blonde locks. Emery seemed to be considering what to say and nudged her gently with a nod.
“My dad, Geoffrey , was an asshole. He didn’t love us enough. He didn’t even want me,” she spoke softly, but given that they were sitting close together, he heard the hitch in her voice. “He hurt Mom by being the worst person on the planet and I know that not everyone is like him. But he was awful. He wasn’t worthy of Mom and I’m glad she left him.
“She’s also been really weird about dating. Like, I know she’s gone out with a few people, but she’s never introduced any of them to me. Whenever Sadie and Tatum come over, they gossip and they’re not as quiet as they think. So I’ve heard them talk about their…dates,” Emery said, shuddering on the last word. “And Mom hasn’t been this happy, like ever. So clearly that’s your doing. And I’m glad. She deserves someone who loves her the way you do.”
His heart clenched at how open and emotional she was being. He never imagined that this would be how they’d spend their last music lesson.
“That’s why…I want to make sure you won’t hurt or leave her.”
“I won’t. I don’t want to make promises, but I intend to be right here for as long as your mom wants me.”
Emery nodded, sniffling loudly as she said, “What if I want you to stay forever?”
The world stopped and he sucked in a sharp breath as he replayed the question. What if I want you to stay forever? This kid wanted him to stay forever. He looked at her and found Emery staring up at him, worrying her bottom lip. Nodding slowly, he smiled, not wanting her to take his silence as anything but a promise that he would stay forever.
“I’ll stay forever, if that’s what you want.”
She released her bottom lip and smiled, turning quickly to hug him. The awkward way they were seated made it hard for him to hug her back, but he rested his cheek against the top of her head the whole time she held him.
“Thank you, Fletch. For showing up in our lives. For loving my mom. For being there for me.”
He forced back the tears that were blurring his vision and he smiled as Emery pulled away. “Easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he whispered, bumping shoulders with her. “I’ll always be here for you. Okay?”
Emery nodded and quickly swiped at her fresh tears. Then with a soft laugh, she pushed herself to her feet. “So, since music is not my future, maybe we should wrap up today?”
He got up as well and took a moment to catch his breath as she put everything away, humming softly under her breath. How had they gone from talking about Emery’s music skills—or lack thereof—to diving into the emotional aspect of him being in their lives? was glad that they’d talked about it, because he knew that the only way he and Micah were going to have a solid relationship was if Emery was also on board.
Once everything was straightened up, Emery climbed into his truck and drove them home. Home . He was still living in Uncle Hank’s house, but every night of the last week had been spent at the George house. They hadn’t talked about the future in big terms or said anything more than what they were right then, but after this conversation with Emery, it was clear they needed to have a more serious discussion. He pulled into the driveway and Emery was out of the truck before he’d even parked fully. Smiling, checked to make sure his Santa gear was in the back, then followed the teenager into the house.
Emery was hugging Micah so tight, she was staring at him with wide eyes. When she pulled away, Emery kissed her mother and mumbled something before rushing off. Micah turned to him as he closed the door and arched an eyebrow.
“What the hell happened?”
“Hi, love bug,” he said and kissed her softly, wrapping both arms around her. “Your offspring and I had a heart-to-heart today.”
“About what?”
He pulled back and walked into the kitchen to fill a glass of water. Leaning against the counter as he sipped, he smiled at her staring at him, arms crossed over her chest. All she was missing was the tapping of her feet.
“We discussed how maybe music wasn’t for her. Had a bit of a breakthrough.”
“Oh god, how did she take it?”
“Pretty well. There was crying, but we talked it out.” He pushed off the counter and moved to stand in front of her, hands framing Micah’s face. “We also talked about you and me.”
“Fletch…”
“She was making sure I wasn’t going to up and leave one day.”
“What?”
He smiled at her wide eyes and brushed her hair back. “She wants you to be happy and she also wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
“Did she bring up her dad?”
“Yeah. The guy really pulled a number on her, didn’t he?”
Micah groaned and pressed her forehead against his chest. “He broke her heart over and over again, so now she’s obviously scarred for life.”
“She told me. If I ever meet him, I might stab him with a drumstick.” Micah laughed softly, arms winding around his waist. He took a minute to gather himself before saying, “She also asked if I would stay forever.”
She pulled back to stare at him. “What?”
“Yup. So I guess you’re stuck with me forever.”
Her eyes searched his and smiled, thumb stroking back and forth across her jaw. “You promise?”
“Well, I told your kid I wouldn’t make promises…”
“.”
He saw the tears well in her eyes, so he nodded, dropping his forehead to hers. “I promise, Mick. For as long as you want me, if that’s forever, then yes.”
“Forever, Fletch. You and me.”
“You, me and Emery,” he added before her mouth crashed into his, her arms winding around his neck. He tightened his grip on her sides and sank into the kiss, letting her know how much he wanted forever with her.
“I love you, Fletch.”
“Love you too, Mick.”