Page 98 of Fire

“Like what?”

She nibbles on her bottom lip. “I don’t think he meant any of it. But your sister did seem embarrassed.”

“What did he say, Mom?”

“Some stuff about the band,” she states. “How he wouldn’t have bothered coming if he knew none of you were going to show up.”

“What the fuck?” I’m pacing now. Five steps to the left. Pivot. Five steps to the right. Pivot. “Why would he even care? He’s supposed to be there to spend time with Presley and get to know the family. Why would any of the band members—aside from me—be at our family dinner?”

“I guess he heard that Asher came to the last one before you all left, and he was under the impression that it would be a regular thing.”

“So he’s just using Pres to meet celebrities? Is that it? Another opportunist asshole?” We’ve had our fair share of those throughout the years.

She sighs. “I don’t know. But your father was not pleased. He hates that guy.”

“Join the fucking club,” I mutter. “Anything else I missed?”

“Um…” She puts her finger to her lips, and her eyes brighten. “Oh! Hollis called while we were all here. Presley put him on speaker, and everyone got to say hello. I was bummed you missed it.”

Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. “No shit? Hollis Beck? I haven’t spoken to him in a long time. How’s he doing?”

“Good.” My mom smiles warmly. “He’s really good. Living in Nashville. I guess that’s what made him think of us. He knew Manic was in town and heard you joined the band?—”

“Temporarily,” I remind her, trying not to let the ache in my chest show on my face. I don’t know how, in such a short time, these guys have become like brothers to me. Even Darius, who drives me kind of crazy. How am I going to move on to another band in a few months?

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, temporarily. And since he still had Presley’s contact info saved on his phone, he reached out to her, and we all just happened to be there when he did.”

“That’s great,” I tell her, suddenly flooded with a dozen or more memories of my longtime friend. I had a lot of friends throughout the years, but he was one of the special ones, one of those honorary siblings I told Zara about. “I’m glad he did. I know you and Dad have missed him. I certainly have.”

“We have,” she agrees. “It was nice to hear his voice. Almost as nice as hearing yours, even if it sounds a bit groggy.”

I laugh. “Well, you did text me at six in the morning.”

“Funny thing about text messages, Hen. You don’t have to answer them if you’re not awake.”

I sigh. “I was awake. I was watching Zara sleep.”

“Oh, my sweet boy. You have it bad, don’t you?”

“Yeah, Mom. I do, which is why I’m gonna need you to do better with your advice.Just don’tisn’t enough.”

She chuckles before taking a long sip of her coffee. It’s kind of making me a little jealous, but there’s no way I’m going to risk making myself a cup if it means waking up my girl. Not after the day she had.

My girl.The thought of that makes my throat feel thick.

“Okay, you want the long version? Here it is. Your father and I haven’t made it this far just because we love each other, Hen. Loving each other is honestly the easy part of the equation. If it were hard, there wouldn’t be a multi-billion dollar industry profiting from it.”

I raise an eyebrow in doubt. “I think you might be confused on why people use dating apps nowadays, Mom.”

She shakes her head andtsksat me. “Oh, stop. I know exactly why. But for every person on an app just to hook up, another one hopes to find something lasting.”

“Okay, I guess I can see your point.” I don’t really know any of thoseotherpeople, but I’ve heard of them.

“Falling for someone is the easy part. It’s what happens afterward that is the hard part. Those are the days when you find out if the foundation of your relationship was built on sand or stone.”

Now I’m really jealous of her coffee. I rub my temples and sink into one of the lounge chairs. “Can we not talk in metaphorsright now? My brain usually runs on caffeine at this hour, and I’m currently on empty.”

“Am I going to have to do this much hand-holding with all of you to get my grandbabies?”