Page 154 of The Prodigal Son

“And Lola started dating a new guy. He’s Italian and very handsome, but he lives in New York, so she has to do the long-distance thing for a while.”

“Well, now that the tour is over, she can go there.”

“Psh. She won’t travel anywhere alone. She’s going to make that man come to her.”

“Good for her,” I reply.

He scrolls his app, but instead of telling me another thing from the list, he sets it down and looks at me. I can feel the intensity of his gaze on my face, and I know by that look that he wants to talk about something serious.

I pull my feet from his lap and turn to face him. It’s not like Isaac to want to talk about anything heavy.

“That was the worst day of my life, Jensen.”

My heart splinters down the middle, and the pain of it is sharp and intense.

“I’m so sorry, Isaac.” I reach for his hand and press my lips to the back.

“I don’t want you to feel bad,” he whispers in response. “I just…want to make sure I’m there for you the next time…”

Lifting my head, I stare into his eyes to make sure he grasps the weight of my words. “It’s not up to you, babe. It’s up to me. And I hope you trust that I’m going to take care of myself now. I’m going to see a therapist. I never want to feel that way again.”

“It’s not fucking fair,” he says with disdain on his face. “You never should have…”

“It doesn’t matter now,” I say, wanting to ease his worries.

“Yes, it does.”

Pulling his face toward me, I look into his eyes as I stroke his cheek. “All that matters right now is everything in this room. I’m alive. You’re alive. No one can hurt us. Not your dad. Not that pastor.”

He nods before resting his forehead on my shoulder. “I love you.”

I gather him closer, feeling his breath on the pulse in my neck. The cadence echoes,I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive. And while Isaac is right, it’s not fair. None of this is, but where they attack us with hate, we will fight back with love. Because we are stronger and more resilient, and even against the strongest storms of injustice, we will prevail.

Love always does.

Forty-Seven

Isaac

Six months later

“Let’s run that last verse again. I want to try something,” I say into the mic. The producer in the booth gives me a thumbs-up and signals for me to run the chorus again.

On the second round, I give the lines a bit more grit and texture in my voice. I want to really charge the words with more power.

This new album needs to be strong,reallystrong. On the one hand, I believe my name will sell records as it is, but this is my sophomore album, which means the pressure can either be crippling or motivating. So far, I’m somewhere in between.

“That sounded great,” the producer says through the speaker. “We can add a bass track to that to really make it hit harder.”

“Cool,” I reply distractedly as I pull my phone from my back pocket. It’s ringing with a call from Jensen, who never calls. Worry fills my veins like a rising tide.

“I gotta take this,” I say as I stand from the stool and swipe the call. “Hey, you okay?”

“Hey,” he replies. Immediately, I hear the tension in his voice. “I’m sorry to bug you while you’re in the studio, but your mom just called.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah…it’s your dad. He had a heart attack.”

---