Page 116 of Sing Your Secrets

“So, tell him not to do it.”

“I can’t,” I whisper. “I don’t want to deter him from his dreams. He’ll end up hating me for it.”

Petey covers his face with his large hand. He groans miserably. “What if you’re his dream, Reese?”

“What?”

“What if you’re his dream, and he doesn’t know you feel the same way? There are more important things than a fat record deal and being a household name. Trust me. I have it all, and yet here I am wishing it was years ago when I had nothing except you and a dream. Making music shouldn’t have meant selling my soul.”

“You really feel that way?”

The corners of his lips turn down as he nods. “Yeah, I do.”

“If you could go back—”

“Yes.” Using his finger, he trails over my forehead and traces down the side of my cheek, before grazing my chin. “If I could go back,I would’ve done it differently. I would’ve chosen you over everything else.” His eyes look desperate and pleading, like a Hail Mary of a request. “If I had treated you better, would you’ve stayed? Would you have kept that ring?”

I ponder his words, thinking hard before answering. Would I go back to the girl I was with Petey—before things turned sour? There wasn’t anything wrong with that girl. But she built a house on a sinking foundation. Fast forward a decade, and now, I’m the girl who doesn’t cancel girls’ night for a man. I’m a woman who makes careful choices. I chose not to lead Eli on. I chose to forgive Petey. And I chose to fall in love with Miles. I’m now the woman who believes her happiness should be independent of a relationship. I chose…

Me.

“No.” I shake my head and collect Petey’s hand. I hold it in my own for a moment before I place it gently on the concrete. I know the way he’s looking at me right now would cause some speculation, but the way we’re savoring this moment doesn’t feel like betrayal. It feels like…closure. “I needed to grow up too.”

Petey nods his head. “Then if what you have with Miles is grown love, don’t let him go, Reese. Ask him what you never asked of me.”

“Hmm,” I mumble pensively, “and what’s that?”

“To stay. To choose you too.”

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