"Hey Jess, thanks for stopping by."  Link said as he motioned for me to come into his office.

My attention went straight to the smallish girl with the pixie cut sitting with her legs draped over the side of the chair. Her head was hanging over the other edge upside down and she was humming to herself.

Stells Leigh sat on furniture like I did.  It made me giggle a little, we had more than just our taste in music in common.

"My dad said you wanted to see me,"  I said nervously, looking between the ruddy-faced man and the Norwegian beauty.  I was not sure what Link wanted, but if Stells was in the room too, I was scared that I was not going to like what was about to happen.

"Sit your cute little butt down," Stells ordered when I lingered by the doorway.

I forced my feet to move my body across the room and took a seat next to her in the other chair.

"Jessa, dear."  Link said slowly. "Stells brought the song you two recorded back to her label for approval on the release."

"They hated it, didn't they?" I groaned.  "I knew we should have done another take. I felt pitchy on the second chorus."

"Not exactly." Link grinned at Stells and then she sat up straight and turned to me. 

"How would you like to go on tour and open for me?" Stells bounced up and down in the chair.

"What?" My mouth was hanging open.  There was no way I was hearing this right.  Me, Jessa Miller, out on tour with a female indie rock goddess. 

"The label loved the song.  They are pitching it for the next single.  They think it is going to be huge." She started dancing in her chair. Link was wiggling too with his hands clenched in giddy little fists.  For the first time in my life, I was the only one in the room not dancing. 

To say that I was in shock was an understatement. I was about to have a fucking heart attack.

"Jess, they are emailing over your tour contract and a copy of the contract to sign you to their label. Your dad asked me to sign on as your manager to handle the business side of things.  He thought it was a good idea since he knows how shady some of the dealings are and he trusts me to help you make decisions about your career. They want you signed as soon as possible so they can get you in the studio recording an album for them."

"I...I..." My light blue eyes were huge. I didn't even know how to react.

I leaned down and stuck my head between my knees to catch my breath. I tried counting to ten as I listened to Good Jessa reminding me to inhale and exhale in a slow, steady pace. I flipped my hair back as I sat back up and ran my hands over my face to make sure I could still feel my body. 

There was no way this was actually happening.  I must be delusional right now. Dr. Schroeder needed to change my meds quickly.  These hallucinations were becoming too real.

Stells was looking at me expectantly, waiting on me to say something.  I let out a few grunts and noncoherent noises, but my words were stuck in my throat.  My tongue felt like it had quadrupled in size.  I swore under my breath when I accidentally bit it. 

Ouch, it was hurting and a slight metallic taste hit my taste buds. Wait, that meant this was real. This was really happening right now.

Huh. Damn.

"So, are you ready to take over the world with me?" Stells nudged me, trying to snap me out of whatever weird emotions my body was going through right now. 

I almost opened my mouth to say yes to her when Cameron's face flashed across my mind.  How would he react if he found out about me leaving on tour again?  Would he be happy for me or would it ruin what we had been working on building?  What if he didn't support my decision? Would I have to choose between my dream or the man I could possibly spend the rest of my life with? 

I knew if I left that Cameron would be better off without me in the long run, but I was still selfish and felt extremely possessive of that golden-haired, too sexy for his own good, boy. I wouldn't be better without him in my life. There had to be a way to make this work for both of us. Unfortunately, I wasn't clear-headed enough yet to figure it out.  

Link's soft caramel eyes met mine.  He could see the hesitation written all over my face.  He smiled slightly and winked in my direction.  He already knew this wasn't the kind of decision to push me on without me even saying it out loud. He was pretty accustomed to the Miller ways after working with my dad for years.

"Stells, let's let her sleep on it.  It's a big commitment." Link said, saving me from answering the too eager girl. 

"Well, I'm not going to accept no as an answer. You better think fast because your name is about to be lights, Jessa Miller. You and I are going to have so much fun."  Stells bounced up and down on her chair again.

I came out of the room fifteen minutes later with a stupid blank expression on my face. I was clutching to the contracts like they were about to explode in my hands. I had read and reread them multiple times and they still didn't make any sense to me. I needed someone to help me figure this out.

I headed straight for the studio, where my Dad was probably tinkering on something. Even if he wasn't recording with someone, he never sat still. He was always working on sharpening his skills. It was what made him good at his job.

Dad was in the booth with a guitar in his hand.  He was wearing his serious guitar player face as he gracefully finger-picked out the notes. The melody was sinfully sweet with a splash of desperation and longing. It was the same song I had heard many times throughout my life.  He was playing the song he wrote for my mom.  I loved that song.  It was one of the first songs I had ever memorized.  I used to sit in front of him and study his finger movements until I could mimic them on my own without his help.

"Hey, sweet pea. I was wondering when you would get here. Come on in." He smiled when he saw me.

I walked over in front of him and stared down at his large frame sitting on the stool.  Without any rational thoughts in my head, I pulled my hand back and smacked him across the face.

"Shit Jessa, that's it. Go to time out, young lady." He said, rubbing his cheek.  He flexed his jaw back and forth, trying to relieve the sting.

"How long did you know?" I shouted at him.  From the surprised look on his face, this was not the reaction he was expecting.  It wasn't what I planned on doing either; it just happened.

"Like a week." He pulled the corner of his mouth up into a smirk.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" I hit him again on the shoulder this time. Mom would kill me if I punched him in the face and left a bruise.

"Will you quit hitting me? I'm not kidding about time out. There's a perfectly good corner over there with your name on it." 

"Did you tell Mom?" I asked.

"You know I don't keep things from her.  I told her the second I found out. She's sad about you leaving and wishes she could go with you, but she is really excited for you. That reminds me, make sure you check your suitcase before you leave to make sure she doesn't try to pack herself in there. I don't want to have to get on a plane to fly across the country to drag her back kicking and screaming."  He chuckled and returned his attention to his guitar like our conversation was over with.

"You know I can't go right now. Not with everything going on with Jenna.  You guys need me here." I was looking for any excuse I could to back out.

"She's the exact reason why you should go. She can't touch you if you're out of the state and surrounded by people all the time. You can't let your fear of the unknown get in the way of living your life.  If I did that at your age, I would have never found my way back to you and your mother. Jax definitely wouldn't be here."

"Is this supposed to be a pep talk?" I asked at the mention of Jax's existence.

"Jessa, I want you to go do this. It's not for me or anyone else. It's not to hide from the drama.  I want you to do this for you.  I don't want you to look back when you're my age and regret not giving it a shot. Opportunities like this do not come around twice.  I don't want to add to your stress, but this is it. This is your moment. This is where you have to decide what you really want." 

How was he ok with this? He seemed so certain this is what I was supposed to do with my life.  How did he know when I didn't even know myself?

"What if Jenna hurts you, Mom, or even Jax?"  I whimpered.

"Jess, you don't need to worry about that." He stopped playing to look at me again.

"But she could come back." I was flustered that he seemed to brush off my concern about leaving the family behind with a psycho after us.

"Jessa, you're not fooling me.  I know Jenna is not the real reason you don't want to leave. You don't need to try to convince me. I understand." He gave me that fatherly stare waiting for me to admit what I was really feeling inside.

"Why else wouldn't I want to go?"

"Cameron." He said bluntly.

"That's not the reason," I argued.

"It is, but I have found the perfect solution for that too." My dad smiled. He had too much time to think this through.

"What is that?" I was genuinely curious.

"Ask him to go with you."