“Just you?” Randy, the bass player, asked.

Kate nodded. “I tried to tell them you guys are my band, but they want just me.” In that moment, the emotional roller coaster of the last few days caught up to her, and she began to cry. Why does this have to be so hard?

Billy stepped away from the others and hugged her. “We always knew you wouldn’t be with us for long, honey.”

Kate looked up at him with surprise. “You did?”

He nodded. “We talked about it the day you first auditioned for us. You have star written all over you, and we agreed when we hired you that we’d never hold you back when you got your break. We hoped it would take a little longer, but you can’t say no to Buddy and Taylor, Kate. Chances like this don’t come along every day.”

The other band members chimed in their agreement, and each of them hugged Kate and offered congratulations.

“I promise you guys, if there’s ever an opportunity to hire my own band, I’ll come right back to you.”

Mike put an arm around her. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, darlin’. We’re making a nice living doing what we love. You don’t owe us anything.”

“You guys are great. I’ll never forget you.”

“I think practice is a bust today,” Billy said. “What do you say we go celebrate?”

Since it was high time she finally did just that, Kate agreed.

After she spent a few hours watching the guys down drinks in celebration of her big break, Kate stopped at her apartment to pick up her mail. In the parking lot, she saw Ashton leaning into the trunk of his car. Without giving herself time to think about it, she walked over to him.

“Ashton.”

“What do you want?”

“I need my attorney.”

“You’re going to have to get yourself a new one.” He slammed the Saab’s trunk closed.

“Why?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” He hardly resembled the kind, generous man she’d come to know.

“It’s just business. It has nothing to do with the other stuff. I’m going to have to sign stuff with Buddy and Taylor. I just thought—”

“You thought wrong.”

She sighed. “Are you ever going to talk to your dad?”

“That’s between him and me. You need to stay out of it. Before you showed up, we’d had twenty-five years of smooth sailing. In just a couple of months’ time, you’ve managed to undo all that.”

“Sure, blame me for everything. But maybe you can tell me why you had to call my dad.”

His face flushed to an angry red. “Why’d you have to screw mine?” He stormed away, leaving Kate’s mouth hanging open in shock.