Playing Autumn (Breathe Rockstar Romance Book 1) (22 page)

Maybe he could take credit for that too. Even though it had been her idea to have him take her from behind.

But anyway.

To his mother, he replied that he indeed visited Mama, that she was awesome as usual, and that they should visit during the holidays. He skipped over some friends asking about him with varying levels of concern.

Tomorrow’s Talent
producers, three of them, tried to contact him, but all said the same thing. “
’Did you talk to Trey? What did he say?’
”

He read that aloud to Haley, and she laughed into the pillows.

The most recent message from Chris was interesting. “Hmm.”

“Hmm?”

“
'New Jersey didn't book, but Arnie Bolton’s people called about a New Orleans show. Or would you rather wrestle pirates now?'
“

“Arnie Bolton? The producer who’s here, too?”

He hadn’t spent nearly enough time with the guy. “Yeah. He and my folks go way back. He didn’t mention anything about this to me.”

“You’ve been busy running around too much. Too busy spending time with me. You should have been shaking hands and making deals.”

Oliver shook his head. “I don’t do that anyway.”

“But you made an impression. New Orleans sounds good.”

“I think I'll actually reply to this one.”

“When is that going to be?”

He checked the rest of the message from Chris. “A month or so.”

“Awesome,” Haley said, pulling herself higher up on the pillow and closing her eyes. “Too bad I'll miss it.”

“It's not that far.”

“It's not that,” she said. “I'm not seeing you again after tomorrow.”

“Not even at a show?”

“Especially not at a show.”

So this was how it was going to be. Still overall a good day.

“So what's wrong with
Hollow Couple
?” he said instead.

Chapter 28

Truth be told, Haley’s very first time at Breathe Music wasn’t all that outstanding. She wasn’t the best singer there, she tanked an attempt at songwriting, and her song choices during performances were weak at best. But then the last day happened, the concert featuring the students and mentors, and it was a turning point in her life. Or more succinctly, “Awesome!” Because she was a poet that way, back then.

Despite the larger audience at the Sunday concert, the pressure was considerably lifted for the students. They were merely an opening act to a dozen more seasoned performers, and that kind of thing put whatever talent you thought you had in perspective. No matter how good a student was, someone with even a year more of experience sounded
better
for some reason, and someone with a lifetime’s worth was a joy to witness. That first “last day” for Haley left her hopeful, that the work had only begun, and a weekend of so-so was not going to signal failure. That feeling sustained her enough to keep her coming back to volunteer.

Oliver talked about specific times in his life, dates he knew were responsible for the what, when, how, and why of his life right now. If Haley were to begin tracking her life the same way, her last day at Breathe Music, that first time, at age fourteen, would be one of those moments.

Haley knew that she had to give that same feeling to Mia somehow. Had to let her know that it could get better, that she shouldn’t quit.

She started with donuts.

“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, ignoring Mia’s obviously nervous mood. Haley had snatched a couple of fresh donuts from Victoria’s personal stash and had no qualms turning them over to someone else. Her student deserved the sugar boost more. “This is my own personal Breathe Music tradition—heavy, carby breakfast, because today’s going to be big.”

“I don’t eat donuts,” Mia declared, hugging her mug of hot cocoa as if to protect it from the intruder.

“These are special donuts,” Haley said. “Have you decided on your song for the concert?”

She knew what mood the girl was in.
What’s the point? Why bother. I want to go home right now before I humiliate myself further.
Mia had done well enough last night, but not enough to change her overall mood. Mia and that mood, they were old friends.

“If you haven’t,” Haley continued, “I think you should do
Dreams
. Fleetwood Mac.” Haley had a good feeling about it for her.

Mia’s eyebrow turned up. “What?”

“Do you know it?” Haley suspected she did. “I think you do.”

“Of course I do.”

“I think you should try it. Can you do it on guitar?”

“I…” Mia looked down at her cocoa. “Yes, I can. But it’s old. None of these kids know it, I’m sure.”

“Do you need me to explain why I want you to do it?”

Haley also suspected that for all Mia’s self-scrutiny, she had absolutely no clue what she actually wanted to be and was looking for someone to tell her. Haley resisted doing that, as a rule, because no one wanted to be told what to do here, and it wasn’t her place. But maybe when you were sixteen you wouldn’t mind hearing it.

“Please,” Mia said.

Haley smiled. “I think you should do it because it’s a great song. A great song is never old. And I don’t mean you should go around choosing old songs because they’ll automatically be better.
Better
means better. It fits your voice, you know it, and you shouldn’t care what it’s supposed to mean for you as an artist. What you do as an artist is what you
are
as an artist. Does that make sense?”

Mia poked at one of the donuts. “You’re telling me to shut up and sing?”

Haley almost hugged her. “Yes.”

***

Haley didn't mean to make it sound like her parents were so against her music. That was one thing she would get from the Breathe Music people sometimes, especially the hardcore ones who did breathe their art and had no other life apart from it. They would be overly sympathetic, wishing that she could free herself from those who “suffocated her muse.”

It wasn't like that. Her parents didn't get it. Music was something other people did. The Reese family and their kind got up each morning, had breakfast, and clocked in somewhere.

This was one time though that she wished they did get it, that they understood what she was feeling and told her what to do. Haley wasn't daring enough to be the family pioneer at things. She briefly envied Oliver's family of artists, with at least three generations of people who could tell each other what to do when
this
happened.

At Sunday lunch, Haley's family talked about the weather, her brother at college, the Lee daughters, the hospitals, and not much else.

While squeezing the lime wedge into her pho, her finger started to sting like crazy, as if from a paper cut she didn't know she had, and Haley cursed under her breath. It sounded like a whimper, because it became a whimper, and she wanted to cry and confess everything.

I'm unemployed! I rejected Logan for good! I'm having sex with a broke rock star!

And then she started laughing.

“You seem happy,” Haley's mom said. “Is it because of Logan?”

“What? No. God no. What do you—did he tell you?”

Her parents exchanged looks, and yeah, they seemed to know something. “He came over,” her dad said, “and said he intended to ask you to move in with him.”

“That’s what he said?”

Her mom cracked a smile. “And that he’d marry you eventually.”

“Oh my
god
. I’m so sorry.” Haley was still laughing, and kept laughing, despite herself. “That’s… that must have been really awkward.”

“Only because we hadn’t seen him in months and then he surprises us with
that,”
her mom said. “And…we actually didn’t know if that was something you wanted. You haven’t even talked about him.”

“I said no,” Haley told her. “I said definitely no.”

She said that without thinking, because she was still a little loopy from the giggles, and wasn’t expecting her parents to look relieved.

Mrs. Reese admitted it first. “I think you’re too young. And you just started a job, and moved. It sounded like Logan was looking to keep you around.”

Right, they didn’t know that she had lost that same job. She wasn’t ready to talk about it yet, but Logan was not a part of that deal anyway.

“It does sound that way.” Haley nodded. “But that’s not how I want to do this. I mean, we’re over. We really are. Me being in Florida or not won’t change that. I’m still…figuring out what I want to do.”

“And you seem to look happier, even though you’re ‘figuring’ it out still.”

“I do?” Haley said, genuinely shocked. “I'm okay, I guess.”

Her dad was smiling. “Your shoulders are actually relaxed. Do you still get back spasms?”

That got her wanting to sit up straight, only to discover that her posture was perfect. And her back did feel better. “I don't think so.”

“Are you getting enough sleep? It's probably the sleep,” her mom said. “I thought your job was giving you stress, but maybe you're used to it now?”

“I don't know.”

There was a quick rundown of signs of physical well-being: better muscle tone, no dark circles under her eyes, eyes that were bright and not glazed over. Was she maybe not playing the piano with a horribly hunched back anymore? Was she getting enough exercise?

No, not really, not at all, and what?

“You didn't tell me that I looked like a zombie, like, by default,” Haley complained.

Her dad shrugged. “People look tired when they work. I thought you were tired. And maybe it was the webcam.”

“No, it looked like you were tired a lot,” her mom said. “But you're doing something right. I think it's the sleep.”

That, or she was actually free from certain things that gave her stress.

Maybe her parents “got it,” more than she gave them credit for.

Chapter 29

Oliver did not see Haley all day, which was a good thing, because he was practicing
Hollow Couple
and didn't want to hear snark about it. It was a solid song, damn it. It hit platinum in twenty countries. And all these kids who didn't remember what he was famous for, well, he'd show them.

When he got to his practice room first thing that morning, everyone was there—the siblings, Trey, and his student Ash. Trey, from the looks of it, didn’t quit. He and Ash were huddled together, working, and they seemed to have worked out any feelings of betrayal from yesterday.

Kari and John were at the keyboard, which was thankfully still in one piece, and working.

“So what’s it going to be today?” he asked them.

“It actually might be Aerosmith,” Kari said, her smile sly and not at all like she was deciding against her will. “What do you think?”

He thought it was an excellent idea. “Don’t be afraid of growling a little,” he told Kari. And then to John, “Don’t do it at all.”

At breakfast, he found out from Victoria that he didn’t need to stay with his students today. Mentors had to perform too, and could use the day to practice if needed. He had brought Cornelia down with him, intending to check in on Kari and John and then go his own way and practice somewhere. Not his hotel room, in case Haley stopped by hers and heard him.

So yes, he had settled on performing the song that Haley was ambivalent about. He had a tried-and-tested acoustic arrangement of it up his sleeve. Trey was probably going to do his hit, and this would be miles apart from it in the direction of awesome. In his humble opinion.

“Hey, Oliver.”

Because Trey sounded nice and sweet whether he was being an ass or not, Oliver wasn’t sure how to react.

“Hey,” Trey said. “So, what went down yesterday. Sorry about that.”

Oliver searched the kid’s face for signs of mockery. Sorry for what?
Sorry I said something we both know is true?
But he didn’t see it, at least right then.

“I know you don’t want any advice from me,” Oliver said, “but best to watch that temper. It’s not fun, when this happens often.”

Trey had his hands in his pockets, and he nodded. “I know, I know. I…I’m not usually like that. I did want to be friends. I actually wanted to talk about…stuff. What it’s like. I know I need to talk to people who’ve been here.”