Hadley grips my hand as tears drip down my cheeks. They ruin the makeup on Naomi’s face too and she sniffs. “Sorry,” she mumbles into the mic with an embarrassed laugh. She turns her head and swats at her eyes.
After a few seconds, she straightens on her stool.
“But then I went to live with my uncle. It wasn’t easy at first. I don’t think he believed things were ever going to get better for him either. Like me, I don’t think he liked living a whole lot, but then things started to change. I started to think he wasn’t as messed up as he thought he was and maybe that meant I wasn’t either. Even though I made him mad all the time…” She chuckles, and I release a choked laugh as well. “He didn’t give up on me. He kept trying to make things better even if he didn’t always realize he was doing it.”
She draws in a ragged breath. “We both lived in the bad days for so long that I think we were afraid to hope for more.” She stares out at the audience, and I swear she’s looking right at me even though there’s no way that’s possible. “The thing my Uncle Julian taught me is that life isn’t about always living in the good days. It’s about holding on long enough to believe the better days will come.”
She blinks away her tears and clutches her guitar.
“This is a song my uncle and I wrote called ‘Better Days.’”
Four minutes.
I sit paralyzed for four whole minutes in row seventeen seat H of the Rudwell Hunter Center for the Performing Arts. Hadley and Viv are crying around me. In fact, I don’t think there’s a dry eye in the house as that amazing girl works her way through a song neither of us could have imagined two months ago. But I don’t worry about any of that. No, my heart is on that stage, beating and bleeding with a little girl who changed my life, maybe saved it as much as she credits me with saving hers.
She’s right. I didn’t believe in better days. I didn’t believe in any damn thing when Allan dropped her off at my place.
Now, I’ve grown and matured into an entirely different man. The man my sister probably always hoped I’d be, even if she never could have guessed it’d be her daughter who’d transform me.
When she finishes her song and glances shyly at the audience, I can’t even join the rest of the crowd that jumps to its feet, whistling and shouting in the first standing ovation of the night.
I can’t move, frozen in a future I never saw coming.
Hadley lowers back to her seat and wraps her arms around me, pulling tight. I feel the warmth of her tears through my shirt, the love I never deserved filling me to overflowing.
Viv drops to the other side and grabs my arm, shaking me from my haze.
One look at her face, and I know what she’s thinking. It’s the same thing that’s been running through my head since the end of Naomi’s speech. I swallow the lump, and force my gaze to hers, our eyes finishing the conversation started by our hearts.
“That’s it,” Viv whispers. “That’s our band name.”
I nod and wipe my eyes.
“Better Days.”
EPILOGUE
Three months later…
HADLEY
“They just pulled in. They’re coming!” I call out.
I let the curtain drop over the window facing the parking lot. Turning back to the small gathering of our closest friends, I motion for them to stay quiet. So what if technically I broke into Julian’s apartment. I mean, it’s not B&E when the person gives you a key to their place, right?
The second I got the text from Julian that the guardianship was official, I called in the reserves to meet me here. I don’t know what I would have done with the cake if things hadn’t gone well today, but thankfully I don’t have to worry about that. I’m giddy at the thought of getting to hug the two of them—once they recover from the shock, of course.
We hear scraping at the door, and crap. I forgot to lock it again once we were all inside.
“The door’s unlocked. That’s weird.”
Julian’s muffled voice carries through from outside, and Viv and I exchange an oops look. “Stay back, okay?” he says to Naomi. Double crap. Good thing he doesn’t carry a gun or someone would probably be getting shot in the next two seconds.
He pushes the door open, and I flip on the lights.
“Surprise!” we yell for the second time in four months.
Julian recoils, and Naomi screams behind him. He stares at us in confusion before his gaze finally finds me across the room. He rubs a hand over his head, clearly trying to catch his breath.
“Geez,” he mutters, shaking his head.
Everyone laughs and rushes in for the congratulations. I hang back and let them have their moment, enjoying the animation on Julian’s face as he absorbs the good wishes and recounts the court proceeding. I especially love how he straight-up boasts about being the official guardian of Naomi Hayes. He’s already been talking to me about starting the adoption process as well to make their little family even more permanent.
A hand touches mine, and I glance over to find Naomi standing shyly beside me. She looks up and smiles. “Look what Uncle J gave me,” she says, leaning forward. She lifts a locket around her neck. “He called it a ‘gotcha present’ even though technically that’s for adoption.” Her face glows as she pushes her nail into the locket to open it. “Look. It’s my mom.”
I swallow a lump in my throat as I nod and pull her in for a hug. “He’s a lucky guy to have you in his life,” I say.
Her arms tighten around me. “Same,” she says quietly.
I laugh through my tears and pull back when she does. Wiping my eyes, I look for the subject of our conversation. He’s been accosted by Viv, and I grin, suddenly giddy again.
“What is it?” Naomi asks.
I motion toward the bandmates huddled alone in the kitchen. “She’s telling him the news.”
“What news?”
“Turner Artist Management wants to officially represent Better Days.”
“What?!” Naomi cries. “That’s awesome!”
“I know. Hang on. Let’s go eavesdrop.”
Naomi and I sneak toward the kitchen and park near a table of drinks where we can hear them without raising suspicions.
“There’s more,” Viv says. “Apparently White Flame is interested in us as well.”
“Shit, really? Aren’t they your old label?” Julian asks in a surprised voice.
Viv grins and nods. “Yep. They loved the demo Sam sent them. They want to bring us in to talk and do a formal audition.”
Julian shakes his head in disbelief. “That’s amazing. I mean…” He stops, his hand rubbing over his chin as he thinks. “Is that what we want, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just… didn’t we all just get burned and crushed by the industry? Do we want a label running our lives and our music?”
Viv leans back, her face pensive as well. “That’s a good point.”
Julian shrugs. “Yeah.” After a pause, he straightens and looks her in the eye. “So maybe we don’t do it. Maybe we find our way on our own.”