Page 35 of Part of Forever
“Wait,” I say, staring at her. “You knew the whole time?”
Tucker’s head snaps up at this.
Murphy gives a little shrug. “Of course I knew, and of course he’s the reason you got this gig. Peyton Matthews is a big name. Touring with her doesn’t just happen because she came across your video.”
“I don’t need his help,” he spits.
“Doesn’t matter.” Murphy shrugs again. “You got it and now you’re going on tour.”
“No,” he says. “Ugh.” He stands and throws his fist up in the air, like he’s trying to punch something but only comes up with air. “There has to be another way, a different tour.”
Murphy shakes her head, then smiles. “There’s not, but your dad wasn’t here today. I’ve had interactions with Peyton before, and she’s not all that friendly. She genuinely likes you. You should be grateful.”
“I am,” he says, rubbing his hands behind his neck. “I’m just pissed, too. I wanted to do this on my own. I didn’t want his help.”
Murphy looks at him as if she doesn’t believe him.
“I just want to prove that I can do this without having his push or pull. Almost no one knows he’s my dad.”
“He’s a big name, Tucker. Sometimes getting your foot in the door is all about who you know. You should be glad he put your name out there.”
“He’s not getting a thank you card,” he mutters. Then he shakes his head. “I’m beat, let’s get out of here.”
Grace finally moves from the corner, grabbing her bag and walking out without a word.
“Why is she acting so weird?” I ask Tucker as we follow her out into the bright sun.
“No idea,” he says. “But if I had to guess, it’d be that she hates my dad almost as much as I do.”
“Why?” Even though he told me about his dad and what happened, Grace has never mentioned it. We’ve never talked about it together, and until this moment, I didn’t know she had any feelings on the topic.
“He’s not really a person people like, you know that much. And she’s fiercely loyal, so if someone hurts the people she loves, she doesn’t play nice after that.”
I nod, knowing this is true. I know this about my best friend, but I’ve been trying not to think about all the good things Grace is lately, because it’ll break her when she finds out I have a tumor and didn’t tell her.
But it will be gone in a week, and everything will be fine.I nod in agreement with my own silent thought. This will all be over soon.
“I should have known he had something to do with this.” He hits the side of his truck. “I mean, I should have guessed why this was happening, why it seemed too good to be true that Peyton Matthews wants me to open for her.”
“You’re good, anyone can see that,” I try.
He just shakes his head. “He’ll just hold this over me forever,that he was good enough to make it on his own when he was seventeen, but that I needed his help to get going at eighteen.”
“That’s not true,” I say. “And you know it. You moved out here about to close on a record deal. It didn’t work out, and that’s okay. You got here because of whoyouare, not because of anything he did.”
“I mean, he’s sort of the reason you’re here,” Grace says and we both look at her. “I mean, on Earth, not at the studio. He’s your dad. But he wasn’t around, he’s always been a jerk to pretty much every single person. So yeah, maybe he’s the biggest jerk on the planet, but he still put your name out there.”
He smiles slightly at this.
“He’s such a jerk,” he says. “And he’s still not getting a thank you card, but I am opening for Peyton Matthews.” His mood shifts so suddenly, I’m not sure how or what changed. One second he was mad that his dad played a role in this, but now he’s back to being in awe about this twist of fate. He’s finally going on tour. Opening for one of the biggest country singers. It is a big deal.
“Yeah, you are!” I reach over and squeeze his hand, and he squeezes back.
“You’ll come to the first show, before you leave for Paris?” he asks tentatively.
I can’t help but grin. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
He presses a kiss against my forehead before letting me go.
