Page 37 of One More Song

“So what? You were a rebellious teenager? Got caught smoking weed once or twice?”

“Yes, and yes,” she says. “God, I look back at the decisions I made, and I wish I could take them back, but then...”

“Then what?”

“I wouldn’t have Cadence.” Her eyes go misty for a moment. “I met Mitch when I was seventeen. I’d already started to rebel by then. Nothing big, just sneaking out of the house, drinking...” She shrugs. “Mitch was older. He’d just turned twenty-one, and he owned a Harley and played in a band—”

“You’re kidding.”

She laughs. “You wouldn’t think it now, but he was a bad boy.”

I grunt. “So what, you fell in love with him and rode off into the sunset.”

“It wasn’t that romantic.” Her whole body tenses. “But yeah, he made me feel things, and for a time I thought I loved him. Until I realized who he really was. But by that time, it was too late, I was pregnant with Cadence and too ashamed to go home to my parents. They hated Mitch.”

“He’s not really a likable guy.”

“He can be…charming when he wants.” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and chews on it. “I fell for it. And I’ll admit there was a time when I would have done anything for him...when…” Her voice is barely a whisper. “When I did. And he’ll use that against me now. If he really wants Cadence, then...” A small cry comes from her chest.

I stroke her hair back, then rest my palm on her cheek. “Tell me everything, Em. I can help—”

“You don’t know who he is. What he’s capable of.”

“Did he hurt you?” My teeth grind together as I wait for her answer, but she doesn’t need to say anything because I see the truth in her eyes.

“The thought of him taking Cadence away is worse than anything he ever did.”

“He won’t win. You’re an incredible mom, and—”

“And a convicted drug dealer.”

I pull back, frowning at her, not believing it for a second. Sure, there’s a wildness inside her, a rebellious streak that still itches to get out, but there’s no way she was ever into that kind of shit.

“I told you, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Tears stream down her cheek and when she pulls away this time, I let her. She starts to pace, and her words flow out of her from some dark place where I know they’ve been contained, unspoken for far too long. “Mitch wasn’t making any money with his music, so he started dealing on the side.”

She stops for a second and takes a deep breath.

“I didn’t know at first. I mean I guess I suspected, but I just thought it was marijuana, not the heavy stuff. We were living out in a run-down motel when the cops raided the place.” She closes her eyes and a shiver wracks her body. “I didn’t know what was going on. Mitch begged me to take the blame—”

“Fucker,” I growl out, trying my best to contain my anger, but unable to.

“He said that they wouldn’t prosecute me, because I was a minor, and if they did, I’d only get a slap on the wrist because I’d never been in trouble before.” She rubs her bare arms.

“So you took the fall?”

She nods. “I spent a few months in jail. That’s when I found out I was pregnant—”

“Shit, Ember.”

“When they released me, all I wanted to do was go home. Beg my parents to take me back. I know they would have. But...” She looks away. “Mitch convinced me to stay with him. God, I was such an idiot.”

I stand and wrap my arms around her. “You were young.”

She looks up at me and blinks. “So what’s my excuse now?”

I know what she’s referring to me. And it hurts thinking she’s comparing me to that asshole. “I’d never put you in that situation.”

“I know,” she says, but she’s still frowning, and I know there’s a part of her that doesn’t trust me.

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