Page 5 of Last Chorus

The only reasonable—and gut-wrenching—conclusion I’ve come to is Evangeline must have decided that because I lied about my drug use, I lied about everything else, too.

All this time, I’ve clung to the silver lining that at least she had Lily and Rye. Only now I’m not sure she does.

The remainder of the walk to the kitchen is spent naming three things I can see, three things I can hear, and three things I can feel.

It barely takes the edge off.

Rounding the island, I hand a squirming Emma to her mom. Lily gives her a smooch on the head before swapping the teething toy for a sippy cup of milk. As Rye opens the fridge to hunt for his favorite Kombucha, I head to a couch and flop down to wait for them.

They eventually settle in the same spot Sophie and Matt occupied earlier. Emma curls into her mom, drinking lazily from her cup and blinking slowly. In spite of my tension, I smile.

“She’s gonna pass out.”

Lily nods, smiling softly as she smooths dark hair off Emma’s forehead. Her mom’s touch pushes her over the edge into dreamland. Rye extracts the sippy cup from small, twitching fingers and puts it on the coffee table, then turns his attention to me.

“All right, tell us what they said.”

It doesn’t take long to recount the conversation. When I’m finished, Lily blows out a heavy breath.

“That’s kind of messed up.” She looks down at Emma. “On the other hand, I can understand their desperation.”

Rye studies my face, correctly interpreting my expression—namely, how close I am to losing my shit. “It’s not fair that they put this on you. Eva is different,sure, but she hasn’t been body-snatched or whatever. She’s still the same person, just…” He shrugs.

“Meaner,” mutters Lily.

Rye counters, “She’s under constant scrutiny and pressure.”

From the looks on their faces, it’s obvious they’ve had this argument before. I’ve never been privy to it because of the unspoken rule that they don’t talk about Evangeline in front of me. I’ve also never pried, respecting their choice and, frankly, my own mental health. Plus, I’ve always assumed the rule came from Eva herself.

Lily’s dark eyes throw sparks. “And I’m not under scrutiny or pressure? Really?”

“Babe, that’s not?—”

She cuts him off. “Last time I checked, there are two members in Glow, but only one of us is making huge decisions about thefuture without speaking to the other.”

I frown. “What does that mean?”

Rye winces. “The Indigo contract expired a few months ago and Eva turned down a new one. Lily found out after the fact. It’s been kept on the down-low so far.”

My eyes widen. “What the hell?”

Lily’s laugh is humorless. “My thoughts exactly. Aftereverything Indigo has done for us? I got my hands on the new contract they offered, too. She turned down an obscene amount of money, not to mention ownership of all masters and publishing rights. It makes zero sense. And you know what she said when I confronted her? That I was being small-minded. She basically called me an idiot.”

“I don’t think—” Rye starts.

“Stop defending her! You weren’t there.”

Emma stirs with a mewl of protest. Lily visibly struggles, then relaxes with a dejected shake of her head, whispering, “It was horrible.”

Rye’s expression falls. I look away as he wraps an arm around her. “I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. It’s not okay that she went to the meeting without you or said that to you. None of this is okay.”

Lily sniffs and whispers, “Thank you,” then returns her focus to me. “Obviously I’m not done being angry with her. I’ve also started to consider this might be the end of Glow.”

More shock reverberates through me. “Seriously?”

She shrugs. “Our tour at the beginning of the year was challenging, to say the least. If Rye hadn’t been able to come with Emma, I don’t know how I would’ve managed. Our parents are getting older, too, and we want more kids. It would be nice to focus on family formore than a few months at a time, you know? Maybe even finally plan a wedding.”

She and Rye share a wistful smile before she continues, “If Eva does want to call it quits, I’d be fine with it. I just wish she’d come out and say it instead of giving me some avoidant bullshit about ‘waiting and seeing’ and ‘weighing our options.’”

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