Page 61 of A Country Kind Of Love

“Me too.”

“And what aboutthesong?” He lowers his voice.

The elephant in the room. “I’m not going to do it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to do it. I want Cleo to have the song.”

“But... it’s not as easy as that, you know that, right?” Jesse leans over the edge ofthe counter.

“Why not?”

“You signed a contract, Peyton.”

“Yes, but we have an agreement. Marvin said he would hold off until I’m ready. I never said I would be ready.”

Jesse raises his eyebrow; his lips press tightly together. She’s done the wrong thing. The realisation hits her.

“Oh.”

Shit.

“He’ll send the demo out whether I like it or not, won’t he?”

Jesse nods.

“But why? He’s your friend.”

“Yes, but he’s a businessman, Peyton. The music industry is brutal. He won’t sit on that song for long.”

“Then what happens?” She knows the answer to her question.

“If you don’t want to go ahead and record it. He’ll give it to the next highest bidder. And that won’t be Cleo.”

She buries her head in her hands. “What have I done?”

“I think you need time to think this through.” Jesse says. “I put my neck on the line, Peyton. I said you were the right person for the job when Marvin said he needed songsfor Avery.”

“Yes, but that hasn’ttranspired.”

“I know, but I trusted you with the opportunity. This could be huge for you.”

“You’re disappointed.” Peyton sighs. Jesse lowers his head. He can’t hide his half-hearted smile.

That’s a yes.

“I’m sorry.”

How could she have been so stupid?

“Don’t worry about it. You just need to figure it out, and soon. Marvin will do what he needs to do.” Jesse says. The statement concerns Peyton.

There’s a loud crash as Cleo rounds the corner to the kitchen. Her hair resembles a devil horn on one side. She has no bra on, so her nipples poke through the almost see-through pyjama top she borrowed from Peyton’s collection. She holds two gold drum symbols in her hands with aguilty face.

“Sorry, I kicked these.”

“Don’t worry.” Jesse rushes to reinstate his random Pinterest inspired art piece. He has roughly twenty drum symbols lined up side by side along the bottom of the wall for no reason other than he thought theylooked cool.