Page 104 of In This Together

‘Hey! You stop that, right now,’ Hannah chided. ‘This is awful, Andi. So, so sad. But it isnotyour fault.’

Andrea’s chin quivered. She didn’t bother to argue but she knew it was her fault. It was her penance for sleeping with a married man, for causing her sister to hate her, for firing her best friend, who, despite everything, had rushed straight to her bedside.

‘What kind of baby would have chosen me?’

Hannah ran her thumbs under Andrea’s eyes for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour. ‘Andi, one day, you are going to be an incredible mommy. I promise you that.’

Andrea turned her head on her pillow and looked at her friend, whose honest, good eyes told her she meant those words. But Andrea had nothing to say in return.

Behind Hannah, the pastel-pink-coloured door to the room was gently pushed open. Tommy saw her and was instantly at her side, lifting her to him and cradling her head against his stomach, where Andrea was happy to be held.

‘I’m going to get a coffee,’ Hannah said.

When Andrea heard the door close, her heart broke a little bit more and she wept in Tommy’s hold. He shuffled her over on the bed and climbed on top of the white cotton sheets next to her. With her head cradled against his chest, she heard his heartbeat rise and him sniffing back his own tears.

They had decided to be a family, no matter what. And they’d only had four days to enjoy that together.

‘I’m sorry,’ she told him over and over again. ‘I’m so sorry.’

He pressed his lips to her head. ‘You’re killing me, Andi. What can I do? I need you to tell me how to make this better, baby. We’ll try again. We’ll try again. I love you so much.’

‘I’ve messed up everything, Tommy. Sofia hates me. Shehatesme. I don’t want to be at Stellar any more. I’ve screwed up so badly with Rosalie. It’s a miracle Hannah will even speak to me.’

He held her tighter against him. ‘Nobody hates you, Andi. We all love you. You’ve made some mistakes. That’s life. Losing the baby…’ His voice broke. Once he had gathered himself, he continued. ‘It’s nothing to do with anything else except really shitty luck. It just wasn’t your time. But it will be. It’ll be our time.’

She wasn’t sure how long they lay like that but in Tommy’s arms, she finally felt like she could drift to sleep. ‘I just want it to be like it used to be,’ she murmured, before everything went dark.

27

HANNAH

Sofia had been at the studio when Hannah called her on the way to the hospital. As Hannah knew she would, despite everything going on between them, Sofia had dropped whatever she was doing and rushed straight away to be at Andrea’s side.

So now she, Sofia and Seth, who had driven Sofia to the hospital, were sitting in the waiting room, for Hannah and Sofia’s parts waiting for Tommy to come out of Andrea’s room so that they could visit their best friend and sister.

Hannah was sitting in a leather chair next to Sofia, nursing what was now a cold coffee, staring out of the window at the stillness of the blue sky beyond. It seemed strange that it would be such a nice day outside. Even with her first pregnancy, as surprised as she was, Hannah had loved her baby before it was even a foetus. She just couldn’t imagine the pain Andrea would be going through.

‘I can’t believe I never even got around to congratulating her on being pregnant, and now this,’ Sofia said. ‘I told her I hated her. I was evil.’

Hannah broke from her own thoughts, reaching out a hand to take Sofia’s.

‘She knows you don’t hate her, Sofia. You love her. She knows that. I’m sure it hasn’t always felt like it and I know she’s gone the wrong way about some of the things she’s done but Andi has always,alwayshad your best interests at heart, Soph.

‘She screwed up with Hunter and she knows that. Believe me, she’s punishing herself more than anyone else could about it. But the stuff with XM Music Group and Jay, those things she truly thought she was doing in your best interests. Now, I’m not saying there weren’t some perks for her along the way but just hear me out.’

Sofia looked to Hannah and nodded.

‘Andi despised Jay, you know that. She never thought he was right for you. But when you decided to marry him, she realised you’d made your decision and, whether she liked it or not, it was not her choice to make. She didn’t want to become embroiled in admin and finance tasks when she went to Stellar, Soph, but it was a good opportunity and she thought that the only way she could let you live your life with Jay and not fall out with her would be if she left Sanfia Records.’

Sofia’s brows furrowed as she seemed to process Hannah’s words. ‘She left Sanfia so that Jay and I could run it together?’

Hannah nodded. ‘Don’t get me wrong, the lure of Stellar was big for her, but she only considered taking a meeting with them about the move in the first place because she knew something had to change at Sanfia.’

‘She never told me that,’ Sofia admitted.

Hannah gave her a sad smile. ‘That’s not Andrea’s style. She’s always tried to play the silent angel.’

‘It doesn’t excuse what she did with Jay. She tried to poach Sanfia.’

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