Page 2 of Mine

Nope. It was annoyance.

This is why he’d left me, right? Because I didn’t want kids. I didn’t want the white-picket-fence life he’d suddenly decided was right for him. It wasn’t like it was too late for me…that’s a lie.I was thirty-seven and unless a hot, intelligent man plopped on my high-rise apartment doorstep, children were out of the picture.

Ellen hurried back into the room quickly with supplies. It took fifteen minutes and a collective effort to get Paisleigh’s tears dried, coffee cleaned up, and everyone resettled.

“Pepper,” Scott said, leaning over. “I have another meeting soon with the lawyers. The Jenna Hart situation…”

Deep breath, deep breath.That was a media nightmare we were trying to smooth over. “Okay. You can go, we’ll send an email recap. I want updates on that situation, Scott. Make sure she’s protected.”

Scott nodded and jumped up, giving everyone a wave. “I will. Sorry, everyone, legal duties and all that jazz.”

He left swiftly and Tommy held up his hand. I raised a brow at him. Aside from Jeff, he’d also helped found our company. We’d been friends since I was nineteen. He knew better than to raise his hand like a preschooler.

“What?” I asked him.

Tommy cleared his throat. “We have a list of artists we’ve been keeping an eye on. There’s one in particular who’s gathering a lot of attention, especially online. He has a great social media presence. People are feral for him.”

Lee snorted. “Is this the one I think it is? Masked guy?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“He goes by Salt. He writes his own songs, plays guitar, and has a damn good voice,” Tommy said.

“We don’t need another singer-songwriter,” I quipped. “We already have some of the best songwriters in the world.”

Kendra shook her head, a smirk spreading across her face as if she knew a secret. “No, he’s not just that. He has an appealing stage presence and a band now, too. The sound is like… hmm.”

“It’s indie rock with R&B, blues, and synthwave undertones. His songs are veryintimate,” Tommy explained, adjusting in his seat.

Lee nodded seriously. “Yeah, my wife sends videos to me all the time. She’s definitely a fan, although I don’t know if it's his music or appearance.”

Kendra laughed. “Well, he’s very attractive.”

“Agreed,” Tommy said with a sly smile. He refocused on me. “His band is playing tomorrow night at a bar downtown if we want to scout them out. You could come with me. I think it would be a good idea.”

“Pepper in a bar on a Friday night?” Jeff made a face. “Unlikely.”

“Jeff,” Lee scolded, giving him a dirty look. “Really?”

“What?” He looked up from Paisleigh, his brows shooting up. “Was that offensive? It’s the truth. You hate going to bars.”

“I don’t hate going to bars. I used to go to all of them,” I argued.

That was how Rosethorn started. Me, Jeff, and Tommy going to bars and finding songwriters and musicians with potential. I’d always had a knack for finding the next big thing, and we’d been lucky. Music was one of the reasons I was still alive, and getting good music into the hands of other people was what led me to imagine a record label like Rosethorn. One that was fair to its artists with a broad reach, too.

“Well that was back when you were a fun person,” Jeff said lightly. The silence in the room thickened and he looked up from his daughter. “I’m joking, I’m joking.”

“Right,” I said, biting the inside of my mouth so hard I tasted blood. The pain soothed me, kept me grounded. “Well, let’s dive into it. I’ll keep this short.”

Our group spent the next forty minutes going over our current artists, what we had coming down the pipeline for the rest of the quarter, and then circled back around to who we were currently scouting.

“I want new material,” I said. “Find mesomeone. That’s your job and why you still work here, why we still have a record label, and why I pay all of you. Got it?”

Everyone nodded curtly.

Paisleigh was smiling again, apple cheeks rosy.Fuck, I’m gonna lose my mind.Every day, I thought I was going to lose it.

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