A Love Song for Always - Piper Lawson Page 0,10

of notifications. Emails from lawyers.

I feel sick.

Even if he doesn’t have to address all of these, the entire world is demanding his attention.

I set the phone back on the nightstand, but the gnawing in my gut hasn’t gone away by the time Tyler returns to bed.

“You okay?” he murmurs as he shifts in next to me, sensing my stiffness.

“Yeah.” I nod.

He wraps his arm around me and falls asleep.

As much as I want him, there’s been distance between us since I arrived. It won’t be eliminated tonight.

I reach for my necklace with the promise ring and the rose pendant.

It’s not there.

The piece of jewelry I’ve had since my first summer with Tyler that’s been with me even when he wasn’t. It gave me hope when I had no reason to hope, and clutching it in my fist has always renewed my faith—in the world and in us.

I run a hand over the bedside table, then check the bathroom.

Without turning on a light, I pull on a robe and head outside to the yard. I had the necklace in the pool.

I’m fifteen minutes into my frantic search when the gate sounds.

Startled, I bolt around the house to find a woman in a blond wig and sunglasses smoking a joint.

“Rae, you scared the shit out of me. How was your set?” I manage once I recover from the surprise.

She pulls off her sunglasses but doesn’t answer.

I frown. “That bad?”

“The set was good.” Her voice is unusually tight. “Why’re you up by yourself?”

“I was looking for my necklace. I must’ve lost it in the yard today.”

She follows me to grab flashlights. We split up in the bushes, her taking one end and me starting at the other.

“Guys are assholes.” The night air carries her voice.

I stiffen, not crossing to her because I don’t want to shut her down but working my way closer, my hands skimming the grass. “Maybe it would help to talk about it.”

“I said I’d play another night, and I will. But whoever owns that place needs a wake-up call.”

I’ve learned pressing with Rae is like pressing against a concrete wall, but I’m concerned. We all have to deal with hurdles working in this industry, some of which range from gray issues to things that would turn your stomach.

“Gotta remind myself if you have your own back, you never need to worry about who else does.”

The earnestness from my friend makes my chest twinge.

We find nothing in this half of the yard, and eventually I meet her back at the patio.

Rae nods toward the pool chairs. I kneel down, peering under one chair, then another.

I eventually find the necklace caught in the pool filter, the clasp broken. Somehow, the ring is still on it and the pendant. I dry it on my outfit and fold it in my hand, heaving a sigh of relief.

But when I stroke a finger over the pendant, my stomach sinks.

“It’s broken. I’ve had it for seven years.” I fold it in my fist as if I can squeeze it back together. The feel of the broken pieces against my palm has tears stinging the backs of my eyes. “It’s not a big deal.”

The spark of light behind me has me turning. Rae’s parked herself in one of the chairs.

I drop into the other chair, stretching my legs out and surveying the city lights that twinkle like defiant man-made stars.

Rae holds out the joint. “That’s why you’re still out here. Because it’s not a big deal.”

I take it, and Rae shifts back, tugging off the wig and unpinning her hair until it falls around her shoulders. We sit there smoking, the cool breeze prickling along my skin.

“It is only a necklace,” she says after a minute. “He’d buy you another one in a heartbeat.”

I sigh. “I know it’s stupid. But it’s kind of irreplaceable.” The night breeze lifts the hairs on my arms. “You don’t think you’ll ever meet someone who makes you cry over a necklace?”

Rae lets out a low chuckle before shifting forward to stare at the city.

“No such guy.”

6

Six days until the wedding

It’s hollowly familiar, the feeling of being under the cool sheets in silence. The beating of my heart is a quiet reprieve from the world of chaos where people scream my name when I never asked them to, where executives in cars worth more than the house I grew up in want my time.

But for a few months, I grew accustomed to waking up next to the woman I fell for