“I can’t wait,” Cash said immediately.
“Oh, and there’s going to be a Battle of the Bands competition in the springtime. He’s been talking about maybe entering. I’ll bet he’d love for you to cheer him on.”
“I’ll be there,” Cash said instantly.
And for some reason, she believed him. Not about him not knowing about Cody this whole time, of course. That was nonsense. She knew Harper had reached out multiple times.
But it made sense that the information hadn’tmeantanything to him then—not then when he hadn’t met Cody, or understood how much the boy would need his dad.
We all grow and change,she reminded herself.If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t be so scared, and I wouldn’t have made Harper go backstage all by herself.
But then there would be no Cody.
“Maybe you’re coming into his life at the time when he needs you most,” Bella heard herself say.
“Thank you for letting me,” Cash said, putting his hand on hers again.
The warmth of his hand went through her, and suddenly her heart was fluttering like it was filled with a thousand butterflies.
Cash drew in a breath and his eyes flashed to hers. She was sure she saw longing in them, though that made no sense at all.
A guy like him wouldn’t fall for a girl like me,she reminded herself, pulling her hand back like she had been touching a hot stove.
Instantly, the spellwas broken.
“I… I guess I should let you get some sleep,” Cash said, standing. “Is it really okay for me to do the snowball fight with him this weekend?”
“That would be great,” she told him, heading for the door and hoping he would take the hint and leave right away.
“Okay, well, thanks again,” he said.
But he didn’t go anywhere. He just stood there, looking at her awkwardly, like he wanted to hug her or something.
“See you later,” she said, giving a half-hearted little wave.
“See you,” he said, waving back and letting himself out.
She glanced down the hallway, but saw that the bathroom light was out. Cody must have gotten ready for bed and headed back to his room while she and Cash were still chatting.
She lowered herself to the sofa, and tried to force herself to think hard about everything that had happened today, and what would happen next.
Instead, her mind took her back to where it so often went when she was stressed and worried…
13
BELLA
Seventeen years ago…
Seventeen-year-old Bella curledup in bed with her laptop.
Last night, she had been too down to even go online. But there was one person who always knew how to cheer her up.
She didn’t even know his real name, but he also didn’t know hers, and that was definitely for the best. Bella wasn’t the type of girl who boys fell in love with. She was a plain Jane and a bit of a nerd. Reading and music were her outlets from a life that was otherwise just burying herself in schoolwork. She lived for the rare weekends when she got to see her cool older cousin, Harper, and talk for hours while listening to music.
Harper had told her about Riffs, a local online forum for indie music, telling her that she had to join right away when she was eighteen and allowed on the site. Of course, the wayshe said it made it pretty clear that Harper would never be stopped by something as silly as an age restriction, but she knew Bella was a rule follower, always had been.
So no one was more surprised than Bella herself when, one lonely Saturday, Bella joined the forum, keeping her username a secret from everyone, including her cousin.
