So I do.
I climb on with the runners up, and I take gold.
After, I’m hustled offstage and onto a tour bus.
And that’s it.I get swallowed by the promise of fame and the future I’ve always wanted.
My brand new manager shakes my hand, already talking numbers, brand strategy, next steps—things I don’t really get but pretend I do.
I barely notice the door closing.
Barely notice the engine rumble to life.
Barely notice the one thing I should’ve never missed.
Adrianna.
Standing in the cold.
Hands wrapped around her stomach like she’s holding herself together.
Tears in her eyes like the kind you don’t come back from.
I raise a hand too late.
She lowers hers too soon.
And just like that, I’m on the road, riding the high of victory, chasing a dream that suddenly feels nothing like the one I started with.
I don’t realize what I’ve left behind.
Not yet.
But I will.
God, I will.
It takes sixteen years, but when the music dies, when the world stops cheering, when all I have left is the echo of a song I wrote for her?That’s when I’ll finally understand what really happened tonight.
Because this was the moment.
The moment I became a star.
And the moment I lost the woman who made me one.
ChapterOne
Adrianna
Sixteen YearsLater
Taking over Bosco’s Baked Goods when Mom retired wasn’t just tradition—it was practical.
Someone had to run the place, and I’d practically grown up behind this counter, anyway.
Besides, Mom is better off focusing on the house and helping with Bella.
Junior high is rough, and my niece needs all the support she can get.
