“Yeah.”
“Is it okay if I hug you?” she asked. It wasn’t a purely selfish request. They were both off and she knew if she could just hold him for a second, it would help them both reset.
“Come here.”
Xeni closed the small distance between them and walked into his open arms. She rested her head against his chest, pressing herself against his soft stomach. Warmth from his strong arms seeped into her as she let out a deep breath. She felt him relax as he lightly rested his chin on the top of her head.
“I love you, you know,” he said quietly. Xeni knew exactly what he meant. He wasn’tinlove with her, not in that way. But in a short time, they’d both come to mean something to each other. Something important. They knew this wasn’t meant to be anything more, but what happened between them mattered.
She stepped out of his grasp, then gave his arm a little squeeze.
“Keep me posted when you can. Okay?”
“Okay. I should go back inside.”
“Listen. The upshot is that he isn’t dead. Two dead parents inside two weeks and we’d have to answer to the local constable,” she joked. It worked. Mason cracked a tiny smile.
Thankfully, Xeni’s legs carried her to the car and somehow she made it back to the house safely. When she stepped inside and looked around at the boxes stacked against the wall, something in her finally cracked. She pulled out her phone and called the only person she knew would make things right.
* * *
Xeni had never been so grateful for the time zone difference in her life. Her mother let her blubber utter nonsense into the phone for a whole minute and a half before she offered to be on a red eye out of LAX to New York.
She thought her nerves and the need to get a text from Mason would have her up all night. But after she’d booked her mom’s last-minute flight and confirmed that she’d made it to the airport on time, she’d collapsed on the couch and cried herself to sleep. The sound of the doorbell chiming the next morning woke her up. Xeni stumbled to the door and found her mom standing on the front steps. She’d never been so happy to see her in her whole life.
“Oh, my baby girl.”
Xeni fell apart all over again as she let her mom gather her into her arms.“I’m sorry,” she said through her tears.
“For what? We’re all having a hell of a time. Come on.” Her mom pulled her inside the house. “Well, this is a nice place.”
“It’s ours now,” Xeni sniffled.
Her mom turned to her and looked her up and down. “You go get washed up. Take a nice hot shower and wash your hair. There a kettle?”
“Yeah, she has a real fancy one.”
“I’ll make us some tea and then I’ll braid your hair.”
“Okay. Thank you for coming, Mommy.”
“Anything for you, my baby girl.”
Xeni checked her phone when she got out of the shower. It was almost dead, but there was enough juice to see that Mason hadn’t texted or called. She thought about texting him, just to see if he was okay, but reconsidered it. He had enough going on and didn’t need her hovering. She’d check back around lunch time.
She got dressed, then grabbed her comb and all the hair products she’d brought with her and headed back to the kitchen. Their hot tea was waiting, but her mom wasn’t in the room. Xeni found her in Sable’s office. She was looking at the gold records.
“I was going to ship those home,” Xeni said.
“Good idea. You should have them. Sable sure had a gift.”
“You all do. I wish I could sing like you.”
“You can. You just didn’t spend hours and hours of your life rehearsing, but you have the gift. You’re an Everly.”
“I—”
“She told me first that she was pregnant with you. She knew mama and daddy and our manager would kill her, but she told me and then she told me she was going to give you away.”
