Page 66 of A Love Song for Dreamers

I think of my conversation with Tyler on the plane about loving people, and how we show our love in different ways. Dad definitely has the protective kinddown.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go findsnacks.”

We head for the vendingmachines.

“Remember when we used to get BBQ Pringles for road trips?” I say, pulling out a bill and feeding it into the machine. “I haven’t had them inyears.”

I punch the button and watch the silver spiral thingy turn. It stops with the chips hanging from the edge. “Crap.”

My dad shakes the machine, and I laugh as I feed it anotherbill.

He grunts. “It’ll eat your moneytwice.”

“It mightnot.”

We both watch as if this is the most important thing in the world. The gear turns, dropping the firstchips.

Thesecond…

Nope.Stuck.

I drop into a chair, and he takes the one next tome.

I grab the tin and open the lid. “You do thehonors.”

He pops it and takes the first chip. “How was NewYork?”

The question is forced out, as if it takes an unusual amount of energy for him to expel thewords.

“I had a minor setback with work,” I say carefully, knowing my career hasn’t been something we could talk about in the past. “A personal contact was going to invest in the new show. It got messy, and he’s not the right fitanymore.”

“It’s a big deal, producing ashow.”

“Iknow.”

I reach for a chip and crunch into it. He sits in silence next tome.

“Tyler kicked my kid out of the studio and wants to put Shay in his place,” he goes on after a moment. “I didn’t bring him on to scout talent. I brought him on to rein it in. He was always sensible at that age. Mostly sensible,” he amends. “I put a lot into this label. My reputation. Mymoney.”

I cock my head. “If you lose everything, Haley has her business. She can supportyou.”

He shoots me side-eye, and I can’t helpsmiling.

“Everyone thinks dating musicians is awesome,” I say. “But itsucks.”

My dad follows my gaze down the hall to where Tyler’s playing withSophie.

“Am I the reason you’re not withTyler?”

The words are so quiet I almost missthem.

“No. We’re...I don’t know what we are,” I admit. “But after he got hurt, we needed space. I told myself he needed something I couldn’t give him. But I wanted my dreams too. I wanted to prove I could makeit.”

“Andnow?”

I exhale hard. “I don’t know,Dad.“

“He cares about you.” He looks over at me. “Haley will be the first to say I’m not patient. Loving someone doesn’t mean you’re a different person every day. But it means you’re willing to try to bebetter.”

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