Page 92 of The Song We Lost

“They’re escalating,” Rachel says without preamble.

“How?”

“They’re threatening breach of contract if you don’t give them a recording timeline.”

I close my eyes.

“Tell them to send it in writing.”

“Bailey…”

“I’m not leaving.”

“I know,” she says. “But they’re not backing down.”

I lean my head against the wall.

“Can they not see what’s happening?” I ask quietly.

“They don’t know what’s happening,” Rachel says gently. “And you won’t let me tell them.”

“I know. But I can’t… I won’t,” I reply.

Because this isn’t theirs.

It doesn’t belong to the press.

It isn’t marketing.

It is not a story…

It’s ours.

I have always protected this from the life I had to live to earn it. That won’t change now.

“I’ll keep stalling,” Rachel says. “But you need a plan.”

I hang up and stand there for a second longer than necessary. When I turn around, Sadie is watching me from the doorway.

“Is it bad?” she asks.

“It’s nothing,” I lie.

She walks toward me slowly.

“Bailey.”

“It can wait.”

She shakes her head. “It can’t.”

“It can,” I insist. “Everything else can wait.”

She steps closer until she’s right in front of me.

“You don’t have to put your life on pause because mine is ending,” she says calmly.

I feel something inside me recoil.