Liam looks at me like I’m a foreign object that doesn’t belong in his home. “He did that?”
I nod, biting my lower lip. “I told your mom that wasn’t the case. I think you need to bring her here, show her that her childhood home still stands.”
“What about you, would you consider living here?”
“In Los Angeles?” she asks.
“No, Hollywood. In this house, would you consider it? I need to be here, Josie, or the band is going to fail. I need to be in Beaumont or my family is going to grow up without me. What if we compromise? We can spend the school year in Beaumont, and the summers here. We can live here and raise the kids. Fill my grandma’s house with love and laughter. I think she would’ve liked that. I’ll still have to travel back and forth, but I’m not ready to give up my music… unless you ask me to.”
“I’ve learned my lesson about forcing or suggesting anything. I think what you’ve proposed will work. What about Harrison and Jimmy?”
“Harrison has a condo or apartment, whatever he wants to call it, south of here, but he could buy something close to us if he wanted to, so could JD and Jenna. Honestly, I think JD and Jenna are probably moving here anyway.”
“What about the café?”
Liam cups my cheeks, “Hire more people. I keep telling you that. Hire more people to cover for you. It’ll be worth it.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
Los Angeles was an eye-opener for Liam and me. We realized that we needed to work on our communication skills and stop worrying how the other might react when we have bad news. We hid stuff from each other that could’ve been very hurtful to our marriage. I still have looming questions about his past, mostly where Sam is concerned, but for the most part things between us are better than ever.
It’s been almost four months since the band went to LA to help out Trixie. In the end, the fundraiser was successful for Metro and Trixie’s call sheet started filling up again. I’m not saying it was all 4225 West’s doing, but I do believe the guys helped out a lot. Of course, being front and center for their performances was the best part. Jenna and Katelyn joined me for the last show and we rocked out like groupies, except we went home with the band for the night.
It’s the end of summer and life is winding down, or about to explode, depending on which way you look at it. I’m due in about five-weeks and instead of being home and getting ready, I’ve spent the past week and a half sitting on bleachers while I cheer my son and his baseball team on in the Little League World Series. We have one game left – the championship – and Noah is pitching.
We’re all here; Liam chartered a plane to make sure of it so we could all support Noah and Nick. Harrison, Katelyn and the kids, Jimmy, Jenna and Eden, my parents, Mr. Powell and Ms. James, Yvie and a very pregnant Aubrey... even Bianca is here. Xander has taken the position as team trainer and is on the bench, which is making Liam jealous.
“Why don’t you use your good eye, you know the one between your –” Liam’s hand clamps down over my mouth, causing me to mumble “ass cheeks” into his hand. When he finally removes it, I glare at him out of the corner of my eye.
“Jesus, Josie, you’re going to get tossed out of the ballpark. Do you want that?”
“No,” I say with a huff.
“You’d think being pregnant would calm you down, but I think it’s making it worse.”
I turn away from Liam and face Aubrey, who is holding her belly and laughing. As I look around at my family, everyone is laughing, except for Bianca - she’s giving me the thumbs up. Getting kicked out is the last thing I want, but I can’t help it when the umpire makes a shitty call and my son is batting.
But I know if I got kicked out, it would embarrass Noah and I’m not about to do that. He’s worked so hard to get where we are today. Liam’s right, I need to be on my best behavior.
“It’s okay, Aunt Josie! If I say it the umpire won’t kick me out; I’m too cute.” Peyton wraps her arm around me and sticks her tongue out at Liam, who throws his hands up in the air.
“I know, but Uncle Liam is right. I need to be good.”