“Out? Chevelle isn’t supposed to be around other people yet,” she said loud enough that both Elsa and Cass could hear the words.
Cass rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone from me. “Mom, I’m not staying trapped in the house. I’ll be fine. Chevelle will be fine. I’m not exposing him to anything dangerous. If you don’t stop this nonsense, I’m moving to San Francisco with Megan.”
It was the first time I’d heard Cass threaten our mom since Christmas when she’d threatened to get her own apartment. Moving clear across the country to be with her best friend was not something I could imagine Cassidy doing, no matter what happened with her and Mom. But it must have scared Mom enough for her to backpedal because I could no longer hear her screech.
Elsa was pretending not to listen, but she was clearly hanging on every word. I wasn’t sure if it meant the conversation would be blasted all over social media or if it would only be repeated verbatim to her brother.
“So, what do you think?” Elsa asked as Cass took my phone and headed down the stairs.
I watched my sister as she went, holding the rail, being extra cautious. I understood my mother’s fear when Cass was moving with the baby in her arms, but we also had to trust that Cassidy knew her limitations better than anyone else. Her priority was clearly the baby.
I returned my eyes to the space. It was at least twice as big as the upstairs at Elana’s, but it had also been used exclusively for storage. It was one big room with unfinished walls and a wood floor so old I was worried it might have been rotted.
“I think it needs a lot of work,” I told Elsa honestly.
“It really does, and it’s pretty tight the way it is. As a restaurant, it wouldn’t hold a huge crowd. But if you could merge it with one of the spaces next door, it would be plenty big.”
I met her dark-brown eyes with my own. We both knew she was talking aboutLa Musica de Ensueños.Elana’s store. Anger flew through me at both the Chan siblings being so set on destroying the place that had been my sanctuary growing up. There was no way Elsa was talking about merging with the exclusive hair salon that shared the opposite wall with Kincaid’s.
The thought of the hair salon did serve to remind me that I needed Patty to fix the mess I’d made of my hair since I’d hacked at it in frustration.
We headed back down just as Cass said, “Mom, I can’t discuss this right now.”
She hung up and passed me my phone before walking toward the kitchen we’d already been in once. I followed her.
“You know, this place has a lot of potential,” she said.
“It does?” I was surprised.
“Sure. If you pushed out this wall until it hit the stairs, the kitchen would be plenty big enough for a restaurant.”
“I was thinking of renovating it into a recording studio,” I told her truthfully. Then, I grinned and added on, “Because I have to have some kind of backup for when my good looks stop winning me awards.”
Elsa scoffed, and Cass flicked my ear.
“I thought you were going to be older than Tim McGraw while still making albums with your Faith Hill look-alike wife,” Cass teased.
I laughed. I had wanted to be like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill with a couple of kids just like them. I was young still, not even thirty yet—not for a few more months, at least. But I couldn’t help the image from appearing of Tristan at my side with a baby in her arms while I had a little girl wearing a top hat on my shoulders. A family. The longing for that hit me so hard in the gut it was hard to breathe.
“Well, I could record here and rent out the space when I wasn’t,” I told her.
I needed somewhere to spend my money and time. My family certainly didn’t let me spend it on them. Even Dani had set a limit on how much she’d let me give to From the Ashes as she’d set up the foundation. It was ridiculous the money I had floating around without a real use for it.
Elsa’s phone rang, and she stepped out of the kitchen to answer it, leaving Cass and me alone.
“What would you do with the kitchen space then?” she asked.
I shrugged. The point of buying the space had started as a way to keep the Chans’ greedy hands offLa Musica. But I did like the idea of having my own studio in Grand Orchard. It would allow me to be home more.
Elsa returned. “I’m sorry, I have to head out to show a warehouse outside of town. Is there anything else I can do for you today?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll be in touch, though.”
She beamed at me as we left the store. She locked up and then headed down the sidewalk to her luxury sedan, the sway of her hips drawing attention from at least two sets of college guys.
“That was for you, you know?” Cass said dryly.
I was almost oblivious to it on most days—the lure that got thrown out to test the waters, to see if I’d take a bite. But after the sensations from the night before, I couldn’t imagine biting anyone else but the blonde-eyed sensation who was walking into Sweet Lips across the street. I pulled on the leather bands at my wrist.
