Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal

With each rise in her career, the family home got bigger and better. Their father had quit his job with the post office to manage Ivy when she signed with KidZ Channel. Ivy became his whole focus.

Which brought Mia to tonight, and the business meeting her father and sister were attending with Nate. And just as her presence hadn’t been needed at the Mayfair Cosmetics meeting earlier that day, Mia wasn’t included now.

She wondered if Nate’s choice of WP24 had been for her benefit. She’d mentioned how she’d always wanted to try the restaurant, but that had been a couple months ago. Had Nate remembered?

Mia’s stomach grumbled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten anything since noon. Even though her appetite was nonexistent, her body still needed fuel. Time to stop brooding and scrounge up something for dinner. Ivy’s housekeeper usually cooked some chicken in case Ivy felt like supplementing her junk food diet with something healthy.

After pulling out the fixings for a salad and chopping up a chicken breast, Mia splurged with an extra tablespoon of ranch dressing. Too bad she gained weight simply by looking at French fries. As she headed into the den to watch some TV and hopefully take her mind off what was going on at WP24, she reminded herself that Nate had appreciated her full breasts, small waist and round hips.

Both Mia and Eva took after their mother with their dark brown hair and eyes, pale skin and curvy bodies. Ivy was built like their dad, lean and sinewy, but she had their mother’s hazel eyes, smoldering charm and singing ability. Sharon Bliss had been an opera singer in her youth, but happily traded a career on the stage for being a wife and mother when she got pregnant with Eva.

Mia had barely sat down when her cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw that the caller was Melody. “I feel as if I haven’t talked to you in ages. How are you doing?” she said by way of greeting.

“I’m doing great. Working on my album.”

“How many songs are you up to now?”

Melody was a prolific songwriter with a powerful voice and distaste for the spotlight. The two women had become close while on tour. Mia didn’t realize how much she missed having a friend until she and Melody had clicked.

“I don’t know,” Melody said. “Maybe around fifty. They’re not all good, but many of my favorites are the ones with the biggest flaws. How am I supposed to choose between them?”

“I know the feeling. Some of my best stuff will never be heard.” Until she’d gone on tour, only her family knew that she—and not Ivy—was the author of Ivy’s hit tunes. Then she’d met Nate and Melody, and both of them had figured out her secret. Or maybe she hadn’t tried very hard to conceal it. Both were such talented songwriters that Mia couldn’t resist the urge to talk to them about their process.

To preserve the illusion that Ivy was writing her own songs, Mia was always careful to work when no one was around. But sometimes a tune got into her head and she caught herself humming it. The same thing happened with lyrics. It was why she always carried around her journal.

The notebook contained bits and pieces of songs and snippets of lyrics. It also included doodles and miscellaneous thoughts. She filled one every six months or so.

“Nate could help you with that. I’m sure he’d be happy to work up some demos with you that you could shop around the industry. You never know what might get picked up.”

“Actually, he’s already offered.”

“And what are you waiting for?”

Mia hadn’t explained to anyone the real reason she stayed at her sister’s side despite the way she was treated like hired help instead of family. It wasn’t Mia’s story to tell and she knew neither Ivy nor her parents would appreciate the information getting out. Not that Melody or Nate couldn’t be trusted with yet another of her secrets.

“I’m not waiting for anything. It’s just that I barely have enough time to write, much less create demos.” But with Ivy scheduled to record her album at Nate’s Ugly Trout studios in Las Vegas, perhaps she would have time to do something for herself for a change.

“Speaking of Nate, did you know he was going in for throat surgery tomorrow?”

“No.” Mia’s heart gave a worried thump. “I knew he was struggling while we were on tour, and that he pushed through because he didn’t want to cancel any shows, but we haven’t spoken much since the tour ended.”

Nate had made it perfectly clear that he wanted to continue the relationship. As intoxicating as their affair had been, Mia knew it was only a matter of time until their paths diverged. He wanted her to choose him over Ivy, but she just couldn’t leave her sister. Would the time ever be right? It was the question Nate had posed that last morning in Sydney. Mia had no clear answer.

“I’m worried about him. He’s using a car service to get to and from the doctor’s office tomorrow, and he doesn’t have anyone staying with him at the hotel to help him after the procedure. I was wondering, since you are in LA, if you could check on him.”

“Of course.” It was something a friend would do and they’d parted on reasonably good terms. Why hadn’t he said anything to her when they’d met earlier?

Mia ran through what she would say to her sister tomorrow about taking care of Nate, and decided she would simply tell her that she needed some time off. It wasn’t as if Mia got to take vacations like a regular person. All the time she spent around Ivy was work, even when she was technically off. They might head to the Caribbean or the beaches of Europe together for a little R & R, but it wasn’t as though Mia got to party all night, drink too much and sleep in.

“Do you know what clinic he’s going to?” Mia asked. “And what time the surgery is?”

“No. I’m assuming that he’s using Dr. Hanson. He’s the best vocal cord surgeon in LA. Nate mentioned the appointment is first thing in the morning.”

“How about where he’s staying?”

“He usually gets a suite at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills when he’s in LA. It’s close to West Coast Records’ offices.”

“I know it well. Ivy stayed there while renovations were being done on her house.”

“One more thing. Don’t tell Nate you’re coming. You know how he hates accepting help.”

“I’ve got it covered. He’ll never know what hit him.”

“You’re a doll,” Melody said. “I’ve been sick, thinking about him all alone after the surgery.”

“Don’t worry,” Mia said. “I’ll take excellent care of him.”

“I know you will. And he might never admit it, but I think he’ll be really glad to have you there.”

Three (#u3c369106-7725-5084-a7cd-ac1ebfdf548b)

The morning of his surgery Nate’s thoughts were running on a hamster wheel, getting him nowhere. Not being able to talk for several weeks was going to make communicating with his clients a challenge. Although he’d asked for Mia’s help from her father and sister, he hadn’t approached her about acting as his voice for the next three to four weeks.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t hire an assistant with ASL experience, although it might be tricky finding one on such short notice. He also wasn’t worried that the studio was booked solid and people were counting on him. He dreaded getting turned down by Mia again.

Pushing all that to the side, Nate left his suite and headed to the elevator. When the car arrived at his floor, a young couple with a baby stroller were already inside. Nate stepped to the side of the elevator and gazed from the infant to the happy parents. Almost against his will, his thoughts turned to Mia.

During those days with her on tour, for the first time ever, he’d contemplated what it would take to balance life on the road with a family. With the amount of touring Free Fall had done for the first few years when they were making a name for themselves, Nate hadn’t even considered settling down.

Promoting an album meant grueling months on the road. It wasn’t the sort of thing where you dragged a wife and kids along. Well, some people did. But unless it was the right sort of relationship, traveling from one end of the country to another put a lot of strain on a couple.

And then he’d met Mia. She was used to long months of touring and being away from home. As Ivy’s personal assistant, she was on the go constantly. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure if she had a home of her own. He’d easily pictured them working together in the studio and then going out on tour. If they had a baby, the whole family would travel. It had been an appealing fantasy.

The elevator opened on the lobby and the couple with the stroller exited. Nate’s mood, already battered by his anxiety about the surgery, took another hit. Damn, he was tired of being alone.

Suddenly every muscle in his body ached. He hadn’t felt a sweeping depression like this in ten years. Back then he’d fought off the darkness with pills, booze and sex. None of it had helped, but for a while he’d been able to forget.

Nate stepped into the lobby, calling himself all kinds of coward and idiot for trying to handle things on his own. He was always the first one to lend a hand if someone needed it. Why did he have such an awful time accepting help?

Shame. Admitting that he wasn’t strong enough to protect his mother when he was a kid or conquer an addiction to drugs when he was in his early twenties had led to both situations becoming worse. If he’d reached out for help, maybe his mom wouldn’t have been nearly beaten to death by his father and he wouldn’t have ended up burning bridges in the music business.

Nate headed across the hotel lobby and outside to where a car should be waiting to take him to the doctor’s office. He’d turned down Trent’s and Melody’s offers to help, and he wasn’t feeling great about his decision. But he hated being a bother. Trent was out of town with Savannah and Dylan. Melody was in Las Vegas. And while his mother would have happily flown in from Dallas to baby him for a few days, Nate didn’t want to put her out. The surgery was delicate, but not overly invasive, and he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.

And then the most amazing thing happened. A familiar brunette got up from a chair near the front door and started walking in his direction. Her appearance was so unexpected that he rubbed his eyes to determine if he was hallucinating. If so, she was the most beautiful, wonderful, perfect figment of his imagination he’d ever experienced.

“Mia?”

“At last,” she said, gliding into step beside him. “I was worried that I’d missed you. How are you doing?” She peered up at him as the lobby doors opened with a whoosh and fresh air poured over them. “Are you nervous?”