Page 11 of Sweet Music (Sugarville Grove #7)

BELLA

B ella paced her tiny living room while she waited for Cody to put his stuff away and come back out to talk to her.

All day long she had been practicing various ways to tell him Cash was in town, but none of them really felt right.

“Hey,” Cody finally said from the threshold of his room.

“Come on out and sit with me,” Bella said, moving to the sofa.

Cody moved to the chair and lowered himself into it. The expression on his face was guarded, like maybe he thought he’d done something wrong.

“First off,” Bella said. “I have to congratulate you. Everyone at the library was watching your video and telling me how incredibly talented you are.”

Cody smiled and looked down at his hands. He was such a humble kid.

“And it seems like someone else was impressed too,” she said, forcing herself to continue. “He dropped what he was doing and came all the way out here to see you. But I’m not going to let him, unless it’s what you want.”

“My dad,” Cody guessed softly, his eyes rising to meet hers.

“Yes,” Bella said. “Now, before you make any decisions, I have to give you a warning.”

“Okay?” Cody said.

“You know that Cash is a celebrity,” Bella said.

“And it seems like your video has become a bit of a scandal for him because everyone is saying that he’s your father.

That’s not your fault, obviously. But it’s possible that his publicity people sent him out here to write you a check, take a photo for his socials, and then disappear again. ”

“Oh,” Cody said flatly.

“And if you choose to meet him, and that’s what happens,” Bella went on, “I know it will hurt. But you have to remember that he doesn’t know you. So it won’t be personal.”

Cody sighed.

“Now, I know you didn’t ask for my advice,” she said. “But if you want it, here you go. I don’t think you should meet with him. I think you’ve had a hard enough year with enough disruption. If I were you, I’d send him packing. But this is your decision.”

“The kids at school said he wasn’t really my dad,” Cody said.

Bella somehow kept her mouth shut instead of storming about the kids at school, knowing that if she could get him talking, she needed to let him keep going .

“I guess it would be good for me to get a picture too,” he said after a moment.

She couldn’t help smiling at that.

“So, you want to meet with him for publicity reasons?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“Okay, that’s fair,” she said. “You can keep thinking about it though. And one thing you won’t have a choice on—I’m going to be here the whole time.”

“That’s fine,” Cody said. “And I want to meet him. I don’t have to think about it.”

“Okay,” Bella said, her heart already breaking for him even as she felt good that he had made the decision so easily.

Maybe if I’m hurting I can somehow take the pain away from him.

“Hey,” Cody said.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Do we have any more of those pretzels?” he asked.

“Yes, I think we do,” she told him, smiling. “Let me check the freezer.”

However much she might rightfully worry about him, at the end of the day, Cody was a normal teenage boy, with an enormous appetite. If heating up a tray of frozen soft pretzels helped him feel better in any way, then she was on the job.

She slipped into the kitchen and got the pretzels into the oven before grabbing her cell phone from her pocket and tapping off a message.

Cody says yes. He would like to meet you

You can come by anytime.

Three dots appeared instantly.

Cash

be right there

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then another one, trying to get a grip on herself as she thought about having Cash here in her home. But this was for Cody, and there was nothing she wouldn’t do for him.

There was a knock at the front door before she even made it the two steps it took to get back into the living room. Cash’s family home was in the farmland outside of town, so it would be a bit before he got here. She wondered who it could be.

“Should I get it?” Cody asked her, looking nervous.

“It’s too soon to be him,” she warned him as she approached the door.

But when she pulled it open, there was Cash Lawrence. He looked larger than life somehow, just standing in her doorway, and every bit as carelessly handsome as he had on the cover of Rolling Stone , except for the nervous look in his eyes.

“That was fast,” she said, wishing she didn’t have to look at him.

“I was kind of hoping you’d text,” he said, his voice gruff. “I’ve been down at the diner for about an hour, just in case.”

He was carrying a wooden milk crate in his hands that was full of what appeared to be random stuff. But he was alone—no publicist or camera crew. That was promising.

“Well, come on in,” she said, stepping backward.

Cash moved inside, dark eyes scanning the small room and landing on Cody.

“Hey,” Cash said, his deep voice softer. The naked hope in his eyes went right to her heart.

“Hey,” Cody replied, nodding his head like a cool teenager, even though Bella could see the flicker of fear in his eyes.

You’re good enough for him, for anyone, she screamed inwardly.

The two of them studied each other for another breathless moment. Then Cash seemed to remember himself, and he slightly lifted the crate he was carrying.

“I brought you some stuff,” Cash said. “Can I sit?”

“Yeah,” Cody said, scooting over on the sofa.

Cash joined him, placing the crate on the coffee table.

“First off, my mom made you some lemon squares,” Cash said, lifting out a foil-wrapped plate and setting it on the table. “Those are my favorite, so she’s hoping you’ll like them too.”

“Wow,” Cody said.

Bella felt another tug on her heartstrings.

If his family was involved, then maybe this wasn’t just about Cash coming over here to try and put a Band-Aid on a situation .

And it sounded like he even had their approval, which was saying a lot in a small town where a scandal could follow a family for generations.

“And I thought you might like this,” Cash went on, pulling out a black sweatshirt with New Year’s Eve - Battle of the Bands in faded white letters on the back.

“It’s from the first time I performed live, back when I was just a couple of years older than you are. So, you know, it’s vintage, I guess.”

“Thanks,” Cody said, taking it.

Bella noticed that although his response wasn’t exactly jolly, Cody actually looked at the shirt, and instead of setting it down beside him on the sofa or the table, he kept it in his hands.

She wasn’t sure if he was holding on because of nerves, or because the shirt was important to him. But something about it made her want to cry.

“Last thing,” Cash said, scooping a worn notebook out of the bottom of the crate. “This was my song book. I wrote all the lyrics to my first album in there. You can see all the versions of them, I guess. If you want it, that is.”

Cody gazed in awe at the notebook, making no move to take it from him.

Bella knew that an item like that from a star like Cash Law, was… well, priceless. Just a single page with original lyrics from other stars in the past had fetched small fortunes at auctions. But for Cody, she suspected that it would be more valuable than any amount of money.

“I never thought I would be giving this to anyone,” Cash said, sounding awkward suddenly. “But we have a lot of lost time to make up for. And if you want to get to know me, I thought maybe this would help.”

Bella held her breath, wondering how Cody would handle such a big gesture.