The Rocker's Muse

Page 45



She shrugged.

“I can’t tell you how nice it’s been having your daughter on tour with us, Terry. She’s conscientious and hard-working and honestly, a breath of fresh air.”

Terry smiled over at Emily proudly. “I’m grateful that she’s having this experience. She hasn’t had it easy in life.” Her mother pursed her lips, stopping short of saying anything further.

“She’s told me some things…” I said as I looked over at Emily, unsure how much to divulge.

“I told him about Henry,” Emily clarified.

Henry Acadia. The guy she’d killed defending her mother. I’d never forget his name.

Her mother’s eyes widened. “You did…” She exhaled. “I’m surprised. You don’t tell anyone about…what happened.”

Emily looked over at me. “There was something about Tristan when I first met him. I felt like I could trust him.”

Hearing that twisted me up inside. It touched me that she trusted me, but then again, should she?

“I would never tell anyone,” I told Terry. “I suggested to Emily that she see our band’s therapist, actually. She’s really great. And I think she could help her with some of the trauma.”

Terry nodded. “I’ve been telling her she should do that for years. Maybe she’ll listen to you before she listens to me.” She looked down into her coffee cup for a moment. “There’s a lot I wish I could take back about Emily’s childhood. I owe her so much. I owe her my life. I just want her to be happy and find something she loves doing. Perhaps find a good partner. As long as she’s happy. It kills me that I can’t make that happen for her.” She reached over to her daughter. “She deserves the world.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said.

Terry smiled, lightening the mood. “I still can’t believe Tristan Daltrey is sitting in my kitchen.”

I felt my face burning. I really wanted her mother to like me. Because I liked Emily. But once again, I reminded myself that messing around with Emily wasn’t an option. She deserved stability, and that wasn’t something I’d ever be able to give her.

I stood and took my plate over to the dishwasher, then returned to retrieve Emily’s. “I don’t want to intrude on your mother-daughter time. I saw you have a nice yard. It looks like a beautiful day out, and I brought a notebook with me. I’m gonna head out back and write some lyrics.” I looked over at Emily. “I trust you approve since that doesn’t include talking?”

Grinning, she nodded. “You’ve already far exceeded your speaking limit today.”

That afternoon, Emily and her mom went to get their nails done together.

While they were gone, I sat in the yard to clear my mind, unfortunately not feeling creative today. Not much songwriting got done, but it was still nice to sit in peace, ignoring the phone calls and texts that came in from the guys. I’d owe them a massive explanation when I got back to the bus tonight, but I needed this mental break, and that meant putting my phone on mute and silencing all notifications. I’d never realized how healthy unplugging was for the soul. The stress felt like it was melting away with each second I stayed away from my phone.

Later, I was back inside on the living room couch when Emily returned. I was surprised to find she was alone.

“Hey.” I stood. “Where’s your mom?”

“She had to go straight to her job.”

“Where does she work?”

“She works the dinner shift at a local diner, three to eleven. She wasn’t able to get tonight off.”

“Ah, I see.”

“We have a few hours, though. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I could eat.”

Emily and I ended up ordering food to be delivered and had a relaxing meal outside on the back deck. After we ate, we went back inside and hung out in the living room. We had about an hour before we needed to call a car to return to the tour.

“I’m sure your mother gave you the third degree today,” I said, hoping I sounded casual.

“What makes you think that?”

“She had to have asked what the hell you were doing hanging out with me…”


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