Page 5 of Love Song, Take Two

Geoffrey only proposed when they found out she was pregnant.

That entire relationship had been such a mess and every time she looked back on it, she winced. Fresh out of college, Micah and Geoffrey met at a friend’s birthday party. He was a little punk rock and a whole lot boring, but he’d indulged her need to mix ridiculous drinks, humored her when she cracked bad jokes and listened intently when she talked about her ‘life list’. She hadn’t crossed a single thing off it since her night with Fletcher, but she kept it with her at all times. Geoffrey—never Geoff—had offered to help with a few of the items, but she politely declined. Instead, she slept with him that night and found out she was pregnant a few weeks later.

Her South Indian parents were less than pleased about the development, reminding her that was exactly why they’d been hesitant about sending her to another state for college. She moved home to Sirena Beach, California during her pregnancy, Geoffrey followed and insisted they get married. Three months later, with both sets of parents and her two best friends present, they were pronounced husband and wife at city hall in San Diego.

Emery Asha Mathis was born a few months later.

Three years into the marriage, Geoffrey drunkenly confessed that he hated being a father and husband. Then promptly forgot about those damning words when she filed for divorce.

Unfortunately for Geoffrey, he had to pay child support and alimony because she didn’t have a job since he’d all but demanded that he be the primary breadwinner of their family.

In the ten years since then, Micah and Emery had made a life for themselves. She used her savings and borrowed money from her parents, plus money from Geoffrey, to find the perfect home. She put all of her attention and love into raising her daughter, ensuring that Emery never once felt like Micah did when she was young—which was proving harder than she realized. Especially since her very opinionated mother always had something to say.

“Tie or no tie?”

She looked up at the staircase where her daughter was dressed like a punk rocker from the early 2000’s—think Avril Lavigne’s classic look—in a crisp white shirt tucked into baggy black pants, with black and red suspenders. Her once light blonde hair had dark tips and her eyes were drawn with the blackest eyeliner she could find. If Micah herself hadn’t dressed the same at some point in her life, she would have been horrified by the sight.

Emery had gone through millions of phases in her short fourteen years. Starting at eight, she got Micah into a lot of trouble with the other parents at school. Instead of curbing her daughter’s creativity and confidence, she did her best to keep it a little less in people’s faces. She’d been raised with strict rules in place for what she could wear, what she could say and how she was meant to present herself. Micah didn’t want that for her daughter, she wanted Emery to make mistakes and learn from them.

She’d gone through the expected princess and Disney phases, both were the shortest lived for a few months each. Then there was a Vikings phase, which had been hard for Micah to understand when her daughter insisted on wearing leather in the California heat. It was safe to say Emery came home a sweaty mess almost every day and crying most of the time too. The superhero phase was the longest and Micah was glad when she refused to wear spandex. She’d also settled into her Lord of the Rings phase where she spoke like Legolas while dressed like Aragorn and it was a whole complicated mess.

For the last six months, she’d been obsessed with punk rock from the 2000’s—“these classics are epic bangers, Mom, how did this not change your life?”—and Micah was having daily flashbacks. But she was glad that Emery was obsessed with finding her passion instead of aiming to become popular or getting into trouble. In so many ways, Emery took after her and she was glad for it. Because all Geoffrey brought to the table were good looks and the sad ability to talk about only five things—money, cars, golf, Cancun, and cigars.

What Emery did get from her father made Micah grateful, because growing up Brown, fat and sassy hadn’t done her any favors in the world. At fourteen, she stood at five feet six inches with an athlete’s body, blonde hair and beautiful brown eyes. Micah sometimes wondered if they’d switched babies in the hospital, because there was no way she had given birth to this kid.

Not to even mention how often people thought she was the nanny when Emery was growing up. Ah, casual racism, how I love you.

“Black one, stick to the darker tones with your outfit,” Micah said.

“Can you help?”

Nodding, she tapped into years of helping her ex with his tie and looped it around Emery’s neck. Making sure not to strangle her daughter, she pushed the knot up and then stepped back. “Perfection.”

Emery shoved the second tie into her bag as she said, “You remember that we’re going to Big Waves after school, right?”

Right, Hank Scott’s music store.

A month ago, Emery had come home with her best friend and both of them proceeded to talk at her about how Hank’s music store was under new management and they were offering lessons. Growing up in Sirena Beach, the store had been a staple and when Emery first showed interest in music, she would drop her daughter off with Uncle Hank—no relation, just the friendliest old man their hometown had to offer—to get a solid musical education.

When Hank died four years ago, something shifted in her daughter. Having grown up with the older gentleman, Emery was attached to him. He functioned like a pseudo grandfather, one who celebrated all of her quirks. She was hesitant about visiting the store after that and more importantly, struggled to spend Christmas at Santa’s Village. For as long as Emery had been alive, Hank had been Santa every year. After he passed, the newspaper announced a new Santa would be taking over and Emery couldn’t come to terms with it.

The fact that she was ready to go back to the store now was a huge deal and Micah wasn’t going to question it.

“I remember.” She filled their water bottles before handing one to Emery. “Do you want me to pick you up?”

“Nope. Nico wants to go as well, so we’ll ride our bikes over.”

“You have all your questions ready?”

“Mom. Please don’t bring that up when you get there. I don’t want Mr. Kelley to think I’m some kind of dweeb.”

“Is that the new owner?” Even as she asked the question, her mind wandered to the Mr. Kelley she did know. The very same one who had delivered the most number of orgasms she’d had in a single night. The man who was a beast behind the drums, but soft and gentle in bed. She’d had more chemistry with Fletcher Kelley in one night than she’d had with her ex in the three years they were married. A part of Micah wondered if her marriage had failed because she held onto those memories of Fletcher.

“Don’t be weird, okay? Benson said Mr. Kelley is like super cool for an old dude and I don’t need you being…you.”

“Watch it, kid.” Micah frowned, but her tone was all humor. “I’m still plenty cool.”

Emery groaned, head tipped back. “I’m already regretting this.”

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