Page 46 of Cougar

I smile into the phone, picturing Andrew’s crooked grin. “Humid,” I reply with a soft laugh.

“How’s the tour going?”

“So far so good. The boys are behaving, surprisingly.”

Andrew insisted on managing LAW’s tour, and I truly believe it’s because he’s afraid the same thing will happen to Lucas or one of his bandmates.

Speaking of….

“Hey, are you somewhere you can talk for a minute?”

“Uh, yeah. Hold one sec.” Andrew excuses himself from whoever is nearby. “What’s up?”

“I was just checking my emails, and there’s one here sent to me but addressed to Lucas.”

“Who from?”

“Molly.”

Andrew is silent for a moment, and then he says, “Read it to me.”

“Dear Lucas, my name is Molly Fields. Your father knows me as just Molly, the woman who abandoned her son. This isn’t me making an excuse for why I abandoned you, because honestly, I don’t have one. Not a good one anyway.

“I want to say I’m sorry. I know sorry isn’t good enough, but I was young and selfish, so I left you to your father in the care of that pretty dark-haired woman, Emerson. It seems I made the right decision.” I roll my eyes. Nowshe knows my name.

“I’m married to a really nice man. His name is Tom, and he’s a doctor. We’ve been married for eighteen years now, and we have two sons, Tommy and Daniel. I’ve told my family all about you. We even went to your show here in California. I’ve been tracking your career, and I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of you. Your brothers would like to meet you someday. I don’t expect your forgiveness or even for you to reach out to me. I just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you. I always think about you. If you ever decide you’d like to meet, you can email me at [email protected]. I really hope to hear from you. Best regards, Molly.” I roll my eyes even harder this time.She still sounds like an idiot.

I clear my throat. “Andrew?”

“Fuck! He’s in the middle of a goddamn tour. The last thing he needs is that bitch fucking with his head. Do me a favor and don’t mention this to him. Let me think on it for a bit.”

“I won’t say a word.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“Will do. Talk later.”

“Okay. Bye.” I open my mental box of secrets and add another.

Emerson

“Hi, honey. How was your first day?”

“Interesting.” Jay drops her bag on the counter and heads straight for the refrigerator. She pulls out a large bowl of fruit and turns toward the counter, kicking the door shut with her foot.

“What’s all that?” She gestures to the papers scattered across the counter.

“Work stuff,” I say, gathering the papers together to putting them in one neat stack before picking up a small envelope and holding it out to her. “I was told to wait and give this to you after your first day of school.” I offer her an apologetic smile.

She eyes me skeptically as she reaches for the envelope and carefully opens it. Her face is void of any emotion as she scans the letter from Marcus.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” Sniffling, she slides the card back into the envelope and slips it into her bag. “The performing arts building is beautiful, and I really like my teacher,” she deflects, steering the conversation in a whole other direction. I get it.

“Alex was very excited about that job. He wanted to surprise you. I think it’s great. And look at it this way, you’ll get in some additional practice for the tour next year. It’s a win-win.”

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