Page 119 of How to Love a Rockstar

“Ms. Mitchell,” Ginny greets.

“It’s Emma. None of this Ms. Stuff,” Mom says and gathers Ginny into her arms. She rocks her back and forth. “Welcome to the family, Virginia.”

I set the luggage in the foyer before rescuing Ginny from my mom. “You’re scaring her.”

“How could I be scaring her? Who’s afraid of a hug?”

“Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Elijah chuckles at his own joke.

Ginny rolls her eyes. “Not very original.”

“Too bad Uncle Dylan’s last name isn’t Woolf. Then, when you get married, you’ll really be Virginia Woolf.”

“M-m-married,” Ginny stutters.

“Duh. You have to be married to be my aunt,” Elijah claims.

Janis squeezes his shoulder. “No, they don’t.”

“But what about—” Janis slaps a hand over her youngest son’s mouth.

“Way to keep a secret,” she mutters before ushering him inside. “Let’s go find our bedroom.”

Ginny follows them. “Let me show you.”

“Let’s all go,” Joni says as she herds Linda and Stevie in front of her.

“But I want to watch this,” Stevie protests.

Joni and Linda each grab one arm and drag her away. It’s a scene I’ve witnessed a million times. It never fails to make me smile.

Mom threads her arm through mine. “Are you happy?”

“It’s good to see you guys here in person.”

“We would have come sooner but someone wanted to finish the house first.”

I shake my head. “The place was a construction zone until last week. Trust me. You should be glad you weren’t here.”

“At least we had our Zoom calls.”

She raises an eyebrow and now it’s my turn to be nervous considering what I asked her for during our last talk.

“Shall we discuss this in my office?” I ask but don’t wait for an answer before leading her down the hallway to the music room.

Mom walks around the room touching my guitars. “I should have known your office would be a music room. You always were playing on that dang guitar your dad gave you for your tenth birthday.”

I shrug. “I think it paid off.”

“As long as you’re happy.”

“I am. I never thought I could be this happy.”

She removes a small box from her pocket and hands it to me. “This belongs to you.”

I flip it open to reveal the diamond ring inside. “I can’t believe you kept it.”

“It was your grandmother’s engagement ring. Of course, I kept it.”

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