Page 84 of Whisper Of Attraction (Whisper Lake 3)

“So did Ryder!” Ali enthused.

“I love my son,” Brynn smiled. “But the only reason he was on that stage was because of Fiona and it showed. Ricky owned it.”

Ali’s grin reached from ear to ear. “He is really good, huh?”

“Are we talking about Ricky? Because that boy was on fire tonight,” Jess said, as she joined Brynn and Ali.

“Yes!” Brynn exclaimed. “We are. I just can’t get over it!”

“I know! He had me crying and it’s not like I didn’t already know the ending.”

They were all laughing when Ricky and Izzy turned the corner to the small area they were hiding in.

“There’s the man of the hour!” Jess yelled when both teens looked up.

“What’s wrong?” Brynn, Ali, and Jess all asked in unison when they saw tears pouring down Izzy’s face.

“My…mom…” She was gasping for air between sobs “…is…here…and…” Her sobs grew more violent.

“It’s okay,” Ali assured her. “It’s okay.”

“Breathe.” Brynn instructed, scared she was going to hyperventilate. She stepped in front of her and demonstrated breathing slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth. “Good. In and out.”

“I’ll get some water.” Ali offered.

When she started to calm down, she looked at Ricky and the tears started again. She tilted her head. “You tell them.”

“Axel told her today that they could stay here. For good.”

Brynn’s heart slammed into her chest. She hadn’t yet talked to him, and she realized then that a big part of the reason for that was because she thought he was leaving.

“And then tonight,” Ryder continued, “their mom showed up and said that she’s taking Izzy back to California.”

Izzy cried harder at this as Ali showed up with the water. “Here you go, sweetie, drink this.”

After a few sips, Izzy took a deep breath and looked at everyone and apologized. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” the women chorused.

She looked at Ricky. “I didn’t mean to ruin your night. You were so good.”

He pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the top of her head. “You could never ruin any night that we’re together.”

His sentiment was so sweet that Izzy started crying again.

Thankfully, the four of them were able to calm her down fairly quickly. When she was able to talk again, she looked at Brynn. “He went to talk to her out back. Will you go find out what he’s saying?”

“Oh, sweetie,” Brynn shook her head no. “I don’t think that’s a good—”

“Of course we will!” Jess volunteered. “We’ll be right back.”

She then pulled both Brynn and Ali out of there so fast that Brynn tripped over her own feet.

“What are you doing?” She tried to tug her arm away, but Jess had a death grip on it.

“Axel and Izzy are staying.” Jess said definitively, speaking loudly so her friends could hear her over the rumble of the crowd. “Did you see how upset that girl was? Her mother is not going to take her anywhere.”

Brynn wasn’t exactly sure what Jess thought they could do about it, but before she could offer an objection to barging in on Axel and his mom, Jess had the backstage door open and had pushed her and Ali out. As soon as the door shut behind them they heard a woman yelling from around the corner in the senior quad area directly behind the theater. All three ladies froze.

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