interest—and off to college she went, without ever looking back.”
Willa is gutted by this. “I don’t think my mom would do that. She was a good person. And also a really strong person, self-aware, self-confident.”
“I’m sure she was as a grown-up,” Brett says. “But when she was seventeen, she was battling some pretty serious demons. The way she described Alison in the book sounded exactly like the Vivi I knew.”
“She probably had Alison lie about the pregnancy because that made for a better story,” Willa says. “She liked a lot of drama in her fiction.”
Brett sighs. “The only person who knows the truth is your mom, and sadly, she’s not here to tell us.” He opens the car door and leans over to kiss Willa on the cheek. “Your mom was a human being, Willa, just like the rest of us.” With that, Brett gets out of the car, shuts the door, and waves through the open window. “Thank you for today. Let’s stay in touch.”
“Okay,” Willa says. She wants to assure him that her mother didn’t lie to him and didn’t sabotage his big chance because she was lonely and insecure back in Ohio—but then Willa realizes that what Brett said is true: The only person who knows the truth is Vivi. What if Vivi did lie about the pregnancy? That could be a reason why she never breathed a word to anyone about Brett Caspian or their romance or the song. She might have been too ashamed. And this would also explain why Vivi told Willa she had never miscarried—because she hadn’t.
Mom! Willa thinks. What did you do?
Willa feels like she needs to apologize to Brett, make amends in some way.
When she gets back to Wee Bit, she forwards the video of Brett singing “Golden Girl” to her mother’s publicist, Flor; maybe Flor knows someone in the music business, maybe this can be the first step toward getting Brett an agent.
Then Willa watches the video again herself. Three more times.
Vivi
The only person who knows the truth is your mom, and sadly, she’s not here to tell us.
I’m here! Vivi thinks. Up here!
Your mom was a human being…just like the rest of us.
Brett! Vivi thinks. She’s not sure she deserves his kindness.
That night, while everyone sleeps, Vivi can’t help herself. She goes back to the summer of 1987.
Brett tells Vivi that his band, Escape from Ohio, has an actual paying gig, a bar mitzvah at the Holiday Inn in Independence.
“Six hundred bucks!” he says. “Two hundred apiece! For one night of work!”
“Can I come watch?” Vivi asks.
Brett looks uncomfortable. “You’d better not,” he says. “It’s a private function, they’re probably getting charged by the head…”
“I’m not going to eat anything!” Vivi says. “I just want to hear you.”
“I’ll meet you after,” he says. “We’ll drive to the lake, how about that?”
Vivi agrees, even though she feels shut out. She spends the hours when Brett is playing the bar mitzvah going through her drawers and closet. She leaves for Duke in six weeks. She and Brett haven’t talked about what will happen after Vivi leaves because it’s a topic that upsets them both. Vivi has been thinking of not going to Duke at all; she has been thinking of going to Denison, where she was offered a free ride as well. It’s a good school and it’s only two hours away. Brett could come every weekend. If she were assigned a single, he might be able to live in her dorm.
Brett is an hour late picking Vivi up after the gig, but instead of apologizing, he’s bursting with news. There was a guest at the bar mitzvah, the kid’s uncle, John Zubow, who’s a bigwig at Century Records and who likes their sound! He wants them to come to LA!
Vivi holds Brett’s hands and jumps up and down. She can feel her heart shattering into jagged pieces.
John Zubow buys Brett, Wayne, and Roy plane tickets to LA. Vivi and Brett’s summer together is being shortened by six weeks. Brett is leaving Ohio, and Vivi is staying behind. It was supposed to be the other way around.
Vivi drives Brett to the airport. She’s in shock. This all happened so fast; she isn’t ready, she doesn’t want Brett to leave, and if she were very honest, she would admit that she doesn’t want Brett to become a rock star. All Vivi can think of is Brett dripping with pretty girls the way that Zsa Zsa Gabor drips with diamonds. But she has