“Hold on. Let me look. Paige got me some apps so I could keep up with your tour.” He pauses. “You said Rory posted these?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because the captions make it seem like you and Marlowe are together.” Shit. “The first one says, ‘Love singing with my favorite girl.’ The second one is, ‘So good teaming up with the gorgeous Marlowe Miller again.’ Hmm. The last one is the worst. ‘They say art imitates life. I’ll let you decide which is which.’”
Fuck. I scrub my face. “I don’t know how to make this better. Today Rory said she wanted a divorce.”
“The best thing you can do is talk it out with her. And then you gotta make sure you spend time with her every day. With your schedule, that’s gonna be tough, but for all she knows, you’re fucking Marlowe in between recording sessions.”
My jaw tightens. “I’d never do that.”
“I know that, and you know that, but does Rory?”
As I stare at my sleeping wife, who’s cuddling my daughter, my heart kicks in my chest.Get your shit together, Jace, and make this right.
But how do I juggle my responsibility to my family with my career? One of the reasons I never tried to seriously date anyone is because I didn’t want anything to pull me away from music. I know life on the road is hard. I’d never deliberately drag Rory and Layla into this if I had a choice.
I sit on the edge of the bed and stare at the two most important women in my life. Rory’s swollen eyes crack open, and she winces. “My arm’s asleep.” Fuck, she’s been crying.
“Let me take her.” I carefully pick up Layla, who’s thankfully down for the count. I lay her on the other bed, cover her with her baby blanket, and surround her with pillows before I return to Rory. “Can we talk? I know I told you I’d get you up this morning, but you were out, and I don’t know if we’re gonna get any more chances before we get back on the bus on Friday. Assuming you’re not gonna ditch me.”
Her lips purse. “I don’t bail on my commitments.” Thank God. I try to grab her hand, and she shrugs me off. “Don’t touch me, Jace.”
I hold up my hands. “Fine. But can we talk?”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Then can you listen and let me talk?” When she doesn’t hit me over the head with a heavy object, I take that as my cue to continue. “I tried to keep some space with Marlowe, but then Niles showed up and reamed me out in front of both of our bands. Said if I didn’t sell this, Wayward Sons was off the tour, and he’d fill the spot with someone else.”
She sighs and sits up. “When did you decide to record ‘Red Light’ with her? Because that would’ve been nice to know.”
“Frank handed me a contract yesterday. Said Niles was interested. That he could promote it on the radio and get us a lot of airtime. But the caveat was I had to record it with Marlowe. The guys wanted to do the deal. I had no time to think about it. One minute Frank was giving me the offer, and the next Marlowe was there to rehearse. I didn’t have my phone to call you. I just got it back tonight.”
She rubs her eyes. “So you signed on the spot?”
“I didn’t feel like I had a choice.”
“That’s illegal. It’s called signing under duress and invalidates the contract.”
I love how smart she is. “Babe, I seriously doubt I can make a case against one of the biggest labels in the country.”
“It’s still illegal.”
“I think it’s just the music industry. That’s how shit works. I didn’t make the rules. I’m merely trying not to get trampled by them.”
Her head tilts as she stares at me. “Let me make sure I understand this correctly. You signed over all the rights to ‘Red Light’ to Bandit Records without consulting an attorney?”
She has a point. I blow out a breath. “Frank explained the major points of the deal. I didn’t go into it totally blind.”
“But that’s your bestselling song.”
“I know that. Do you think I wanted to hand it over to Niles? But we’ve never gotten radio play or this kind of exposure, and Niles wants to use that to sell more tickets.”
Her expression flattens. “You mean for the extended fall dates.”
I drop my head. “That’s something I wanted to discuss with you. I haven’t signed off on that yet.”
“‘Yet’ is the operative word here, Jace. Everyone knows you’re going to do it. But here’s the thing. If you go, it won’t be with me. You’re going to have to find someone else to be your nanny.”
