Page 69 of Mending Hearts

I saw some of the other ugly bits—the social media comments, the magazine articles, the people who didn’t know her ranting about things they didn’t understand, couldn’t comprehend. A few times, I wastempted to respond, but I always understood my interference wouldn’t make the hate better. Tonight, I didn’t care. The reporter’s comment had hurt her, and while I might not know all the details, I understood enough. I had no patience for cruelty, especially when anyone directed it at her.

When we entered the art museum, I was still fuming, so caught up in my anger, I didn’t notice the woman approaching us until she was there, too close to avoid.

“Mia!” Laura snatched her daughter from me and enveloped her into a loose hug. “I was so happy to hear from you.”

Happy to hear from you?She’d been in touch with her mother? Laura ignored me while she rattled off things she’d been doing and oohed and awed about Mia’s dress.

“Who’d you pick in the end?” Laura asked.

“Tyler designed it, actually.” Mia tipped her head in my direction, at my spot just behind them where Laura had not so subtly pulled her away.

Her lips pursed, and she glanced in my direction. After making such a fuss over the dress, backpedaling now would make her look petty, and we all knew it.

“You did a nice job.” Her lips barely moved.

“Thanks.” I pushed my hands into my suit pockets. My outfit was the other half of her solar system. The two pieces didn’t make sense separately, but flowed seamlessly together. Had Laura bothered to look at me for even an instant before tugging Mia away, she would have seen it herself.

A giant TV in the entryway was tuned to one of the more reputable celebrity-gossip shows covering the event. There, almost life-size, was my rant at that reporter.

Laura coughed and raised her eyebrows at Mia. “He needs better training. That’s not going to help you or the situation.”

“I asked you here so we could work things out, andthat’swhat you say? He’s not a dog, Mother. He’s my boyfriend, my partner tonight.” Tears pooled in her eyes, and she shot me a helpless look.

She was crying again, angry tears, but tears, nonetheless. The last week or so, as soon as her emotions overloaded, she cried. Last night, she cried over the last slice of cheese in the fridge. Right now, it was obvious she didn’t want to be in tears. She wanted to be pissed off.

“I said what I said. No one gets to speak to her like that when I’m around.” My pointed comment was probably lost on Laura—that should have been the rule when she was with her daughter, too.

Laura’s eyes flickered with annoyance, as though I was a pest she needed to tolerate for now. When she focused on Mia again, a frown marred her face. “Are you…crying?” Laura stepped closer and stared into her daughter’s eyes. “Our fight has been that hard on you?”

Mia slid a bewildered glance to me before dipping her head. When she made eye contact with her mother, she said, “Yeah, Mom. Of course. We’ve never gone this long without talking.”

“Oh, honey.” Laura gripped her daughter’s hand and smiled. “I thought it was just me who was miserable. Look, I can set up some things for you. Nothing big. Just a few appearances. Honestly, with all this Kenny drama, it’s probably good you’ve been lying low.”

Very slowly, Mia took her hand out of Laura’s grasp and reached for me behind her. “I’m not ready to go back. I need some more time. You’re right, with everything hitting the fan with Kenny, it’s better if I keep a low profile. Stay out of the spotlight.”

“I have people calling me all the time, so whenever you’re ready. Whenever you’re ready.” Laura’s attention drifted to me and then away.

She hadn’t asked about her birthday, about her songwriting, about her life in Little Falls, about anything that meant something to Mia. Instead, she shifted into business mode, pushing her daughter to sink into their uneasy alliance. My temper had flared with the reporter, and it simmered now. I couldn’t believe Mia had contacted Laura without discussing it or at the very least telling me she’d done it. Laura’s complete obliviousness to her daughter’s needs made the meeting even worse.

“There are some people we need to talk to.” Mia tipped her head in the direction of a small crowd gathered around a large art piece at the end of the spacious room. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Yes.” Laura nodded. “I’m glad you called.”

That was it? No lingering hugs or offers to visit? Not that either of those would be good for our secret. When we wandered away, Mia leaned toward me, eyes cast down, her hands wrapped around my bicep. “I feel so different since I left the tour, you know? I just—I wanted her to be different, too.”

I brought her hand up to my lips, and most of my anger dissipated. At her core, she was a daughter who wanted her mother’s love. How could Laura not see that, not want to fill the void, not wish for Mia’s happiness above everything else?

“Why didn’t you tell me you were talking to her?”

With a shrug, she focused on the people wandering past, offering smiles and saying hello. In front was another art piece, but I didn’t know if she was taking it in; I wasn’t.

“Calling her seemed like the easiest way to keep our secret. I contact her first. She sees me here.” She touched a hand to her hair, to thecomplicated pattern I helped her do in our bedroom instead of trusting a stylist. With a deep breath, she said, “That’s not really why. It’s just that if I asked her to come, and I told you and she didn’t show up, what would that mean?” Her voice cracked.

Laura would be a shitty mom. No surprise there. Turning up today didn’t change my mind. She was Mia’s manager first when what Mia really needed, had probably needed for a few years now, was a mother.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and leaned into her ear. “It says nothing about you andeverythingabout her. You deserve to be loved.”

When she looked up with her big, gorgeous eyes, glassy with tears, I was a goner. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. In that moment, we were back in our Little Falls bubble, and I couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else. With her, always with her, that was where I wanted to be. Our connection pulsed, alive, electrifying.

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