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Jake beams. “I knew I’d grow on you.”

“You have, actually,” I say. “I hated you at first, and just last night, I handed you that popcorn bowl, and I didn’t even want to spit in it first.”

“You know, right after you started dating, I tried to break you up.”

I did not expect him to say that.

“Bea’s the smartest person I know. She just laughed, and she told me something I was too dumb to have realized. She told me that I’m her family, and that Iwasn’t ever in love with her—I just didn’t want to lose her.”

That’s a lot of information to process.

“She was right, as always, and I just wanted to mention that I’m not going anywhere. Ever. Bea and me, we’re a package deal.”

“I know the entire Fansee family’s pretty close.”

Jake shakes his head. “I mean, yeah, they are, but no. It’s not the same. Bea and me, she’s probably my onlyrealfamily in the whole world. I’d murder for her. I’d die for her. And what’s more, I will live for her—anything she needs, I’ll do it.”

“Did she tell you that the label offered her a deal?”

Jake frowns. “What? Why would she turn it down?”

“They offeredhera deal—not Octavia.”

Jake’s entire face darkens. “You’re kidding.”

I shake my head. “It wasn’t a good moment, and for almost a week, Octavia wouldn’t answer Bea’s calls, because she heard them make the offer.”

Jake swears under his breath. “That’s messed up.”

He’s right. It is. “The two of them are talking again at least, and I think they even wrote a new song last week.”

“That’s good for me,” Jake says. “Look, I have to go out of town again tomorrow, but I’m going to send you some paperwork for the movie. Investment stuff. Is that alright?”

“Whatever you need,” I say. “But I am curious. I thought you might be upset she turned the offer down. That’s why she didn’t tell you. She thought you’d yell.”

Jake’s shoulders droop. “I’ve known Bea for a long time, and she’s been a musical genius that entire time. But I have never, notever, seen her this excited or this passionate. They may have just met, but she loves thatOctavia woman, and she’s good for Bea. She reallysawBea that night, at the jingle thing. It made me angry at the time, but maybe we miss the things the people close to us really need. Nothing else would have fired her up to actually write the songs that consume her. Believe me—I’ve tried everything since that first song she wrote launched my career.”

“You think she did the right thing, turning the label down?”

“I think she did the only thing Bea could ever have done.” Jake shrugs. “It’s who she is—she’s just like her mother.”

“How so?” I ask.

Jake frowns.

“I’ve never met her mother, so I don’t really know what you mean, but I’d like to understand.”

“You’ve met Seren,” Jake says. “Above all else, she’s loyal, and Bea got that from her.”

I’m such an idiot. I was thinking her real mom, but Serenisher real mom, the mom of her heart, anyway. I see it now, what he means. They’re both fierce, and they’re both happier surrounded by loved ones but not in the spotlight themselves.

I think about the story with the knife. When push comes to shove, Bea pushes back. Always.

“You didn’t say ‘our’ mom,” I finally realize. “I thought you meant her birth mom, because you said Bea is likehermom.”

“I don’t have a mom.” Jake’s words are simple. Unemotional, like he really believes it.

“No?” I think he’s wrong, but he’s the only one who can come to grips with that.

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