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“Take it slow this time, maybe?”
Tatum sighed, heavy and dramatic. “We’ve never done anything slow.”
“Trust me, we all remember.” Micah laughed, dragging a hand through her curls, fluffing it up as she shifted on the couch.
“Enough about me, how are things with you and the rockstar?”
“It hasn’t changed since last night,” Micah explained, letting her mind wander to the brief kiss they shared the day before. “We’re taking it slow. I realized this morning that all we know about each other is what we’re like in bed. And even that, what we were like in bed sixteen years ago. I don’t want our new…whatever it is to be just that.”
“Aw, you like him.”
Micah rolled her eyes and scoffed. “He’s beautiful, Tate. Plus…glasses, tattoos and fuck, he wrote me a song.”
“An award-winning song too.”
Shaking her head, Micah put a hand over her heart to calm the racing. She knew how lucky she was to have this second chance with Fletcher, but she wasn’t going to let it be a repeat of their past. They were going to get to know each other this time, actually build a relationship and make something of it.
“Now we need to find someone musical from Sadie’s past and all three of us can have a second shot with musicians,” Micah teased, making Tatum burst into laughter that shook the couch. This then cracked Micah up and they were falling over each other as they laughed.
“What the…are you two high?” Emery’s voice broke through their giggling and Micah gasped in air as she sat up to look at her daughter. Tatum pushed herself into a sitting position as well and Emery shook her head. “Are you okay?”
“You’re my favorite kid, you know that?” Tatum asked, hands stretched out with a wide smile.
“I’m the only kid you know, Aunt Tate.”
“That doesn’t take away the fact that you’re my favorite.”
Emery rolled her eyes and turned away to stare into the recording booth. “Oh my god, that’s Pretty Ugly!” she squealed, bouncing in place.
“Wait, you know them?” Tatum pushed to her feet and helped Micah up.
“I’m obsessed with them.”
Tatum pressed a button on the console and said, “Ladies, if you’ve got a minute, I’d like to introduce you to someone.”
“Aunt Tate…what…no…” Emery’s eyes were wide as saucers and Micah couldn’t help but laugh at the shock on her face. The band walked through the side door, still in good spirits and Emery looked like she was going to pass out. “Hi,” she squeaked out and the band grinned at her.
“Emery, meet Pretty Ugly. Ladies, this is the offspring of the afore…introduced best friend. Apparently she’s obsessed with you.”
“Aunt Tate,” Emery groaned and using her daughter’s shocked state, she took a few photographs. Turning to the band, Emery waved awkwardly. “It’s really nice to meet you all. I am obsessed and have been since I heard “Caught”.”
One of the women clapped Emery on the shoulder and Micah saw her daughter sway, which only added to her amusement. Like mother like daughter. After all, Micah had raised Emery on this kind of music, to enjoy and appreciate the way musicians created their magic.
“Mom,” Emery whisper-shouted and Micah arched an eyebrow. “Can you take a picture, please?”
“Sure, sweetheart.” She waited as they arranged themselves around Emery and then took a picture. Her daughter looked so excited and teary at the same time, but it would be the kind of picture that Emery would hold onto forever.
“All right, ladies. Are we ready to lay down some music?” Tatum asked and after a quick round of ‘nice to meet you’ and ‘see you later’, the band went back into the booth. Emery watched them with one hand over her mouth and then turned to Micah to release a squeal.
“I’m going to tell Nico that I met Pretty Ugly!” And then she was off, phone in hand and fingers moving across the screen at a crazy speed.
“You raised her good, Mick,” Tatum said from where she was prepping the mixing board and Micah smiled.
As her friend got down to work, Micah sent Emery the pictures she’d taken. Then returned to the couch, reminiscing about her own life and what it had been like when she was that age. She’d gone through her boyband phase with Tatum and Sadie, then she’d fallen in love with Fletcher for one whole year. As long as Emery didn’t follow a rockstar around on tour and didn’t fall in love with them, Micah would be fine.
Hours later, Jada pushed a trolley filled with coffee and snacks into the studio. Emery was sitting with Tatum at the console, giving her two cents and squealing as Pretty Ugly recorded their songs. Micah had watched for a bit and then fell asleep, waking up to the sound of Emery singing along with the band. She was grateful for friends like Tatum, people who took Emery in as their own. Grateful for the kindness of strangers like the women of Pretty Ugly, for not treating her daughter like some kind of rabid fan. Truth was, Micah didn’t have to worry about Emery that much. She might be young, but her daughter was more than capable of surviving this crazy world.
“I’m looking for Em—Mick?”
