Page 105 of In This Together

Hannah shook her head. ‘I was hoping that you and Andi might have talked through this at some point and, again, Andi knows that she shouldn’t have stepped in when she did. That was why she was coming to speak to you the other day at the studio. She’s sorry for the way she went about things and she wanted to explain that. Of course, no one expected that Jay would sign himself out of rehab before his thirty days were up.’

‘But Jay said?—’

‘I don’t know exactly what Jay told you but here’s the truth. Andrea and your dad were worried about you. You were exhausted, Soph, and when you got that black eye… Andi went out to New Jersey to see your dad.’

‘She did?’

Sofia was right to be surprised, since Andrea never made the trip out to visit their dad. Hannah nodded. ‘They talked and they both knew, in their hearts, that even if you were unhappy, you would never leave Jay.’ Hannah smiled and gripped Sofia’s hand tighter. ‘You’re too loyal for your own good sometimes. You always have been.’

‘Funnily enough, I’m not feeling loyal at all today.’

‘Andi asked Jimmy to try to convince Jay to go to rehab. She offered to pay anything that insurance wouldn’t cover.’

‘I didn’t realise that.’

Hannah shrugged, as if to say,Well, that’s Andi for you.‘Jimmy stuck to his end of the deal and, though he didn’t know exactly what she had planned, Andi figured her role was to give you the chance to break free of Jay and have a chance at something, someone, better.’

At that moment, Tommy Dawson stepped into the waiting area, dragging a hand roughly through his hair. His eyes were red and Hannah knew in that moment that she had never misunderstood how much Andrea and Tommy had felt for each other in the times they’d briefly been dating in the past.

Hannah stood. ‘How is she?’

Tommy tried to speak but his face contorted with pain and he shrugged. Hannah wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek, trying to convey her thanks that he was there for her best friend and that she was sorry for their loss.

Tommy brought his hands around her waist and as he held on to her, he said, ‘She loves you, Hannah.’ Then he pulled back and looked to Sofia. ‘Sofia, she loves you so much. Please go to speak to her.’

Sofia stood and inhaled deeply, nodding. ‘I will.’

‘She’s sleeping now but they’ll let her out tonight. Maybe you could speak to her before then.’

‘I will,’ Sofia repeated.

Tommy seemed to notice Seth in the room then. He dragged in a breath, composing himself, and moved to him, holding out his hand. ‘Hey, I’m Tommy.’

Seth stood and smiled sombrely. ‘I know. Seth. I’m sorry, Tommy. I don’t know what else to say.’

Tommy patted Seth on the arm. ‘Listen, I was hoping you and I could talk?’

The look of confusion on Seth’s face was a match for Hannah’s and Sofia’s but in that moment, it seemed neither of them had the energy to ask questions or worry about anything other than Andrea.

‘Ah, sure,’ Seth said.

The men left Sofia and Hannah, who went back to their seats next to each other. ‘You were going to tell me about Andi visiting Jay,’ Sofia said.

‘Right. Well, Andi wanted to buy Jay out of Sanfia. What she actually wanted was to buy him out herself but she couldn’t because she’s contracted to Stellar and has restrictive covenants. So the only way she figured she could make it happen would be to have Stellar buy out Jay’s share of the business.’

‘So it was never about her taking Sanfia over to XM Music Group?’

Hannah shook her head. ‘No. Obviously, it wouldn’t have hurt Andi’s reputation at Stellar and that’s partly why she wanted to explain everything to you before you found out from someone else. But I saw the deal she had drawn up, Soph. If Stellar had bought out Jay’s share, she was going to make sure that you were still able to run Sanfia as you wanted to do. But the part Jay didn’t tell you was that Andi made the deal conditional on Jay filing for divorce.’

Sofia stood from her seat. ‘She told me. I was…amfurious.’

Hannah stood too. ‘I know. She shouldn’t have meddled and Andi knows that too. She was going to call it all off after she’d confessed to you.’

‘She was trying to play Creator with my life,’ Sofia scolded.

‘She made a mistake. But she also thought it would be a test. See, in Andi’s mind, if Jay didn’t take the deal and he got sober, she would have left you to it and accepted that you had to be left alone to work things out between you. If he took the deal, it meant…’

‘He didn’t love me,’ Sofia said sadly. ‘As it happens, he didn’t take the deal, so maybe he loved me enough not to sell me out to Stellar. Or maybe he just despised Andi enough not to want her to win but for him to still get cash. Either way, he still left.’

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