Page 86 of After Care

“You have my support. I give you everything you ne—” She tugged her face from his grip.

“Are you listening to yourself?” I snapped, knowing it wasn’t my place but suddenly protective of Ivy’s dream. “She’s telling you what she needs is this school. What she wants to do is give kindness and help others. It doesn’t involve you other than to love her.”

“Darlin’,” Tommy warned.

“It doesn’t involve you either,” Gage snapped. “Or so you say.”

“Actually, it will include Edie. She’s thinking of becoming the school’s manager.” A chill rippled through the room as if a threatening breeze before a thunder storm. Tommy’s mouth hung open before he swiped his fingers around his lips and closed them.

“Darlin’,” Tommy questioned. “You moving to California?” I was afraid to look at him, afraid to see his eyes. Fear slithered through me, and when I glanced over at him, my assumptions became reality. He didn’t want me here.

“I don’t think so.” The low tone forced Ivy to spin toward me, her back to her husband.

“You said you’d think about it. Edie, please. I can’t do this without you.” Her fingers reached for mine, curling into them and holding onto me like a lifeline.

“How long have you known about this, Edie?” Tommy’s tone hardened around my name.

“Since she got the idea.”

“Which was when?” Gage growled.

“In January,” Ivy answered, lowering her eyes, knowing a truth that omitted all the details could be just as powerfully wrong as a lie.

“You didn’t say anything,” Tommy returned to me, the irritation in his voice growing. Then he spoke to his niece. “Ivy, girl, are you sure this is the time for something like this? With the concert tour? The baby coming?”

“It’s the perfect time, Uncle Tommy.”

“I disagree,” Gage said.

“Well, you don’t have a say, as it’s already purchased and under construction,” Ivy snapped, the further admission startling both men. Tommy’s eyes narrowed at me, realizing I knew a lot more about this project than the idea of a school. The shock on Gage’s face was like a slap to his scruff-covered cheeks. Ivy had never been so direct with him in my presence. His head shook as he looked up at me.

“And just what do you get out of this?” Gage snorted, his nostrils flaring in anger.

“Gage, you’re out of line,” Ivy warned, her voice low.

“What is it you want from her, Edie? Notoriety? Money?”

Too stunned to answer, I stared at him. My eyes would have filled with tears if I wasn’t so angry at the accusation.

“I don’t know why you’re involved,” Gage continued, despite his wife’s second warning. “Who do you think you are? Giving her ideas that she needs something more. Encouraging her to take this risk and in her condition. You aren’t her mother.”

The words hung in the air like the crack of a whip. Sharp. Pointed. The sting resonated through me, but I was more concerned for Ivy, who took an audible gasp. My poor friend, who’d made this decision because she’d lost her mother. Because she felt distanced from the band’s life. Because she didn’t want to lose herself. I’d encouraged her, and I’d assured her, had her mother been alive, she’d support her. But I never, ever assumed a role of replacing her mother. I’d actually fought against any misconception of that thought. In that moment, Ivy’s pain was as palpable as Gage’s words.

“You’ve gone too far,” Ivy muttered to her husband, her voice eerily low. She brushed past him and headed for the sliding glass doors to the deck. Not bothering to close them behind her, she raced for the stairs and the beach below. Gage followed after her and I spun for the counter, bracing my hands on the surface.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tommy asked.

“It didn’t seem my place to share her secret.” I exhaled, my shoulders shuddering.

“She’s my niece. Practically like a child to me. I think you should have said something.”

“That’s the thing. She’s a woman, and she wants to be treated as such,” I said, looking up at him, hoping he’d understand.

“Are you telling me how to treat my family?” He blinked, surprised.

“No, I’m telling you, as a woman, that she wants things for herself that revolve around her, not just her children, or her marriage.”

“You should have told me, Edie,” his voice lowered to a tone I couldn’t decipher.