Page 66 of Hard Rock Temptation
“All right, out with it.”
I turned around to see my mom standing in the kitchen doorway, watching as I stirred the pot of vegetable soup. She hadn’t had much of an appetite the last few days, but she could keep down soup at least.
“Out with what?” I asked.
“Lord knows I’ve seen you all mopey and angsty before,” she started with roll of her eyes. “But I have a feeling this is different. You’ve never been this down.” She left the doorway to sit at the kitchen table, lowering herself into the chair gingerly. “Did something happen with you and Kaylee?”
I hesitated, not knowing how much to tell her. I didn’t want to add stress on top of her illness.
“It’s nothing you should worry about,” I told her. “Just band stuff.”
“I don’t think ‘just band stuff’ would have you looking like the world is coming to an end,” she said sympathetically. “Honey, you know you can tell me anything.”
I stopped stirring the soup and turned the burner on low to keep it from boiling over. I turned around and braced myself against the counter.
“We had a fight,” I confessed.
“You and Kaylee?” my mom asked, her expression dropping.
“The band,” I clarified. “We all had a big fight over a disagreement. More than a disagreement, really. Kay said it was a fundamental difference in values.”
“That sounds serious.” She gave me a concerned look. “What kind of difference?”
I didn’t want to outline the whole argument for my mom. For one, I didn’t know if she would even be interested in that kind of debate, and for another, I dreaded knowing which side she might be on.
“Just music stuff,” I told her vaguely. “We can’t all agree on something. The band is split in two. Anya and Finn agree with me. Zain and Chris agree with Kay.”
“You and Kaylee are on opposite sides?” my mom asked carefully.
“We promised each other we would work through this together,” I told her. “And I really want to. I don’t want to lose her.” I sighed and sat down at the kitchen table next to her, slumping in the chair. “But during the fight we all said some pretty awful things to each other. This isn’t just a situation of agreeing to disagree. This is affecting our careersandour personal relationships.”
“I’m not going to try and give you advice on the career part because I’m not qualified for that, but I do have experience with relationships,” my mom said with a soft smile. “It can be hard to forgive and forget when things are said in anger. Your father and I slung some terrible insults at each other over the years.”
“Really?” I asked, sitting up in my chair. “But you and Dad were great together. You really loved each other.”
“We did,” she agreed. “That’s why it hurt so much whenever we fought. That’s why making up was hard. We knew what to say to cause the most damage.”
“How did you get past those fights?” I asked, rethinking everything I thought I’d known about my parent’s blissful marriage. “How can we?”
“You just have to remember how much you love each other,” she said with a fond smile. “You have to remember that the bond you share is stronger than a few mean, off-the-cuff remarks.”
Was it really as easy as that? The thought of going up to Zain and telling the guy how much I loved him made something inside me cringe in horror. I loved the guy like a brother, but I wasn’t going to announce it like some romantic declaration in a movie.
“You know what I think the next step is?” my mom said. “You and Kaylee need to have a talk about what you’re going to do moving forward. If the two of you can find a way, then the rest of the band should be able to as well. You two can be the example for the rest of them.”
“You think so?” I asked my mom hopefully.
“If anyone can figure out a way to make it work, it’s you and Kay,” my mom said. “I’ve never met someone as tenacious as her.”
Unfortunately, that was part of the problem.
“And if the worst case scenario happens,” my mom continued, taking my hand in hers, “if you two can’t work it out, if the band breaks up for good, you won’t be alone. You’ll always have me.”
Her hand was comforting against mine, but it was also small and shaky with paper-thin skin. My mom had always been here for me, had always taken care of me. Now it was my turn to be there for her, to take care of her.
Which meant I needed to have a conversation I’d been putting off for too long.
I took my mom’s frail hand in both of mine and squeezed gently.
