Page 223 of Perfect Pitch

When she came to see me at the hospital.

Whether happy or sad, my mother’s always loved me.

I silently send a message to the part of my heart she won’t be able to heal, as much as she wants to try. I love you, Columbia. I’ll always love you. Every day, for the rest of my life. Even when I smile, when I laugh, especially when I love, know I’m wishing you were with us.

Just as I finish, Mitch is there. He holds out a hand. I let my mother go and take it. “I thought you had to work.”

He slips his arm around me as my mother moves into my father’s arms. “I’ll always be where you need me, Austyn.”

I bury my face into his chest. Other than the swoosh swoosh once made by our first child, what I’m listening to is the best rhythm ever—the pounding of Mitch’s heart.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TEN

FIVE MONTHS LATER—FEBRUARY

Rumors are swirling around Grammy Award-winning artist Beckett Miller. How long has he known that a composition he wrote long ago resulted in a melody of a different sort—the nine-month variety that wore adorable booties? And what does his new woman have to say about it?

—StellaNova

“Aren’t you glad your commute is so short,” Austyn teases. We’ve spent the morning wrapped in each other’s arms.

After a whirlwind fall where I followed Austyn pillar to post as she promoted her first album, then down to Texas for Christmas with Beckett, Paige, her uncles, grandfather, and Charlie, it feels like we haven’t had a chance to just be us.

This morning, we’re taking time to do that.

I lean over and capture her lips again. “Mmm. If your father behaves, maybe I won’t have to leave this very spot all day.”

When it’s done, her eyes are a darker hue, love, lust, and more than a touch of amusement is evident on her beautiful face. Her voice is all-knowing when she drawls, “Christmas has long past. Haven’t you caught on? He’s only good long enough to get his presents and then he’s back to his old tricks.”

“You speak from experience.” I ghost my hand over her ribs upward toward my intended goal, the globe of her breast.

“Of course I do. I am his child.” As her lips curve upward, I memorize her expression.

In eighteen months, all our lives have been drastically altered—for good, for bad. Still nothing will ever be the same.

We’ve found love. We’ve lost parts of our souls. And in the end, we still have each other.

It’s the last that has me ignoring Beckett’s bat signal because I’m too busy kissing Austyn when it rings the first time. But after the fourth time he disconnects and calls back, right as I am getting ready to slip inside Austyn again, I curse as I say, “Your father’s timing is awful.”

Austyn stretches beneath me provocatively. “Didn’t I tell you he had Kane put cameras in here?”

I still. “Tell me you’re fucking with me.”

“Totally.”

I take a quick nip of her lips even as I’m pressing the button to call Beckett back. “You’re a menace.”

Her expression softens. “Your menace.”

I’m about to respond when Beckett answers. I don’t even have the chance to reply before he tells me exactly why he was urgently trying to reach me. Sliding from the warm cocoon of Austyn’s embrace, I growl, “Give me fifteen and I’ll pull the car around.”

Dropping my phone on the bedside table with a clatter, I storm into our en suite.

Austyn follows. “What’s wrong?”

I’m already in the shower lathering up. Quickly, I tell her what StellaNova printed. Her scream bounces off the walls of our bathroom. If anything could make my worry less, it would be my woman’s reaction to this news. Rinsing quickly, I step from the shower where Austyn hands me a towel. “I have to take your mother and Beckett to LLF to meet with Carys.”

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