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“Spit it out, whatever it is,” Lauren said when Cole didn’t continue.
“About you and my Uncle Danny—”
“Cole!”Maggie sounded mortified.
“No, it’s okay, Maggie.” Lauren could hear the tightness in her own voice.
“I just, well, I mean…” Cole struggled to get her words out.
Lauren assessed the expression on Cole’s face: the furrowed brow, the pinched lips, and she took a stab in the dark. “You’re angry with me. I’ve disappointed you.”
Cole still looked conflicted. “A little. But I’m kinda mad at Uncle Danny, too. Maybe I’m too young to understand how you feel, but I am old enough to know that people aren’t perfect. And sometimes love makes you do dumb stuff.”
Lauren exhaled hard.Love makes you do dumb stuff.That was a colossal understatement if she’d ever heard one, but it was the complete unvarnished truth as well.
“Yeah. Yeah, it really does,” she said. “You make decisions in the moment that—under any other circumstance—would never cross your mind.” She paused, looked at Cole, and remembered how starstruck the teen had looked when they first met. “I’m sorry if I disappointed you.”
Cole pursed her lips and looked thoughtful. “Everyone makes mistakes. Father Rob says it’s all about forgiveness.”
“Father Rob seems like he’s a smart guy.” After a moment’s silence, Lauren screwed up the courage to ask, “Maggie, I know I probably don’t have any right to ask, but how’s Danny?”
“He’s getting by, but he’s hurting. He and Heather are having their ups and downs.”
“You might not believe me, but I do want him to be happy.”
“I know you do. He wants the same for you.”
“Dude,” Augie said from behind her. “We need to get back to it. Hey, Mags. Looking good!”
“Hi, Augie. Nice to see you.”
“I do have to go.” Lauren gestured back towards the recording room.
“Us, too,” Maggie said. She looked at Cole. “And we need to have a mother-daughter discussion. Privately.”
“I know.”
Lauren admired that there was no regret in Cole’s voice.
ChapterForty-Six
The Kingmakers continued making significant progress on Lauren’s songs, and she pumped out new ideas at an unrelenting pace. The successful work kept Lauren more focused, but it was hard for her to come back to the apartment at night, alone. Although the worst of her depression had lifted, the emptiness and solitude still gave her ample time to brood about Danny.
Tonight, it was harder than usual. It was already well after eight o’clock. The studio session had gone later than expected, and Lauren was excited about the progress they’d made. She was feeling more and more optimistic about the album. What frustrated her was that she had no one to share her excitement with. Earlier in the week, she’d nearly talked both Steph and Carolyn’s ears off and didn’t want to subject them to that again. The same for her parents. And she still wasn’t speaking to Jackie.
She considered going out, but clubbing wasn’t going to help. She’d end up having a drink, which opened the door to too many stupid choices. Despite her confession to Augie and the rest of the band, none of them truly understood how close she’d been to relapsing that awful night.
The staccato vibration of her phone distracted her, sending Lauren on a short chase until she found it on the kitchen counter.
The message was a text from Danny:
Lauren pulled her hand away from the phone as if it would burn her. She and Danny hadn’t spoken since the night he ended their affair. Had something happened?
She picked up her phone and replied: .She hit send before her better judgment—which was screaming at her, sounding distinctly like Augie—could do anything about it. The “swoosh” told her the text was loose in the wild. Meeting up with Danny was probably a worse idea than going out clubbing, but at least this addiction wouldn’t kill her.
Lauren got to the café a few minutes before ten. She went to the counter and browsed the menu. One of the baristas recognized her and asked for an autograph. Lauren was happy to oblige. She pondered her choices and finally ordered a decaf coffee and a cinnamon roll. When the server brought it over to her, Lauren laughed. The cinnamon roll was the size of a dinner plate and looked as if it had a full pound of icing on it. It was sticky, sweet, and utterly delicious.
She cleaned off her hands, took a photo of herself and the half-eaten bun with her phone, and texted it off to Augie with a note that said, She knew he’d be happy she’d eaten something that decadent.
