Standing in the shower, the morning’s events crowded Jacinda’s head, small snippets of blissful moments drowned out by the ones that followed. Liam’s face as he saw his mom…his mom’s face as she saw Jacinda. The overheard conversation that made his allegiance clear. Could she blame him, really? If it came down to family, or her, what choice did he have? Between the two of them, they had enough guilt to sink a ship…and if he didn’t want to sink his own family all over again, she could hardly condemn him for that.
Even though it hurt.
She groaned and got out, wishing only for the oblivion of sleep as she gave her hair a quick rub, squeezing the excess water out, then wrapped the towel around herself. Then she heard her phone ringing down the hall in her bedroom. She opened the bathroom door and went along to grab it.
Hannah. Thank God. “I’m so glad you called,” she said, in place of ‘hello’.
“Oh,” Hannah said. “Hi.”
“I mean, I’m always glad to talk to you, you know that.” She shut the door and sat on the edge of her bed. “But especially now.”
“Really? Why?”
She groaned. “You won’t believe what happened.”
“Is it something bad? Tell me.”
“So…” A cold drip ran down her back. “Liam’s mom walked in on us in bed this morning.”
“Wait—you’re sleeping with Liam?”
“I was. Not anymore.” She sketched out what had happened over the last couple of weeks, finishing with the conversation she’d overheard between Liam and his mom.
“Well, that stinks,” Hannah said. “But last I heard, you guys were arguing, and you were avoiding him, not sleeping together. Is it serious?”
She hesitated. Was it serious? “It seemed like it was heading that way. Maybe.” She let out a frustrated groan. “I don’t know…what do you think?”
“I think sometimes love is just right, no matter how long it’s been. And sometimes it’s shit.”
Alarm bells went off in Jacinda’s head. Hannah almost never swore, especially with such violence in her tone.
“What’s happened?” she asked. “Is everything alright?”
“Depends on your definition of alright.” Then she laughed, a harsh sound that sent a spike of worry into Jacinda’s chest.
“You don’t sound alright at all. What’s going on?”
“Remember how I said Todd was Austin a while ago, checking out new talent?”
“Yes.”
“He was checking it out really closely. Checking her out. And then he had to check her out again in Palm Springs.”
The hard, bitter edge to her voice was something Jacinda had never heard before. “Do you mean…?”
“Yeah. He’s been screwing around.”
She sat up, suddenly knocked out of her own pity party. “Oh God, Han. I’m so sorry. Here I was going on and on about my drama…”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. I want to kill him.” This was what she’d always worried about—that having fallen for Hannah, Todd wouldn’t see it through. Immersed in an ego-driven, unforgiving business, always looking for the next big thing, surrounded by people who’d do anything to succeed…his scrappy, risk-taking personality was his ticket to professional success, but made him a shitty husband. “How did you find out?”
“The woman called and told me. Said I should know what kind of man I’m married to. She was pissed because he ditched her when none of the labels showed any interest in her. Nice, huh? And he didn’t deny it, so…” She fell silent.
“Jesus. I’m so sorry. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I do know one thing—I’m not staying with him.” She sighed. “At least we don’t have kids to complicate things.”
Jacinda bit her lip. “There is one complication though. Me.”
“Yeah, I did think of that.” She managed a laugh. “Who’s going to get custody?”
“Well, I can’t stay with him either. If it comes down to choosing between my best friend and my manager, it’s no choice at all. We’ll just have to figure something out.”
“Thank you. But…just don’t make any decisions now, okay?” Hannah replied, assuming a businesslike tone that wasn’t completely convincing. “He’s getting this tour sorted for you. Eli has a one-off show at the Greek coming up, and he’s going to announce the tour then. If you’re on board, he’ll want you to play a couple of songs.”
“Okay.”
“Okay what? About staying with Todd or doing the tour? Because I want you to do the tour. And I want you to do it the way you want to.”
Jacinda thought about it. If Danielle had found a job, she didn’t need anyone to watch Sam while she went for interviews. The kittens were taken care of, and Sam had friends his own age to play with. No one here needed her anymore. Not even the guy next door. It was time to get on with her real life. And Hannah was right—she’d do it her own way from here on, like she’d planned. Whatever she decided her own way would be.
“Both,” she said to Hannah. “And I’ll come back now. You’ve always been in my corner, all the way through. Now it’s my turn to be there for you. Come and stay with me for a while.”
Hannah made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “That would be really good.”
“Okay. I’ll check out the flights and let you know when I’m arriving.”
“Don’t rush,” Hannah said. “I’m fine.” But the quaver in her words said otherwise.
“You will be. We’ll make sure of it.” She switched to her best menacing voice. “Todd, on the other hand…”
This time, it was definitely a laugh. Jacinda smiled, but her heart was breaking for her friend. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Hannah replied.
When they hung up, Jacinda pulled her damp hair into a ponytail, and tugged on yoga pants and an old Green Day t-shirt. She and Hannah went back a long way, and had so much in common, they were like sisters. The kind that didn’t fight. No way was she staying with Todd after he did that to her best friend. Some men didn’t know what they had until it was gone. And some women didn’t need those men anyway.
Downstairs, she found Sam out on the deck, herding kittens.
“Look!” he said. “They’re outside!” He laughed as he diverted one away from the edge.
Jacinda bent down to stroke Velvet, who was keeping a close eye on her little family. “They’re growing up.” Then curiosity got the better of her. “Are you…going to see Liam today?”
“I went over already, but there was just a lady there. She said he was out.” He trailed a long piece of twine along the deck, trying to get the kittens to chase it, but they were still too little. “I’ll go back later. I can’t miss a lesson. Liam says we’re doing A minor next. He’s good at that one.”
“Sounds good,” she told him. Even though he had his own friends now, he was obviously still dedicated to his guitar lessons, and to Liam. “Where’s your mom?”
He shrugged, engrossed in teasing Suede with the twine. “I don’t know.”
She left him there and went back inside to look for Danielle, to talk to her about going back to LA. She found her in the kitchen, rolling dough into little balls.
“What are you making?”
“Snickerdoodles. Sam loves them.” She scooped another chunk of dough out of the bowl. “I thought you were going to bed.”
“I was, but Hannah phoned. She’s got some…stuff going on too.”
“Oh, is she okay?”
But before Jacinda could reply, someone knocked at the door. She looked over her shoulder, anxiety suddenly stirring behind her ribs. Surely he wouldn’t leave his mom to come and see her, after the morning’s trauma.
Danielle blew a strand of hair off her face. “Could you see who it is? My hands are all sticky and snickerdoodley.” She held them up.
“Uh…okay.”
“It’s probably the grocery delivery,” she added, seeing Jacinda’s hesitant face. “Totally worth paying extra to have it come to your door.”
She breathed out. “Definitely. I hate going to the grocery store.”
She straightened her slightly crumpled t-shirt, and went through to the entranceway. At this point, the world could take her as it found her. And the delivery guy had probably seen worse anyway.
She opened the door, wondering if Danielle had ordered ice cream.
Lainey Kingsley was standing on the porch.