Page 5 of Night Songs

Shame prickled in my cheeks. “I mean… I know her name was Lulabelle, and she was from Tennessee. That’s where I was born.” I also knew she was a junkie who basically killed my father, but that didn’t feel right to mention.

He scowled, and his eyes flicked back toward the ceiling. “Your mother’s name was Lulabelle, yes, but she was more commonly known, at least by the public, as Belle.Belle Powers.”

“The country singer?”

“Yes.”

The image of a woman with towering blonde hair and garish makeup entered my mind like a fever dream. My heart beat in my temples. “Is this a prank or something? I don’t understand.”

His mouth settled into a flat line. “Rhea, I don’t know what your aunt and uncle told you, but Belle Powers was, without a doubt, your mother.”

“I think you have the wrong person…”

He shook his head. “You and I met once before, when you were smaller. Before she died.”

“But I was just a baby then. How would you even know it was me?”

Without looking down at my chest, he said, “I would know that birthmark anywhere.”

Heat spread across my collarbone, where part of the mark poked out above my tank top.

“Wait—so did she die of an overdose?”

He looked taken aback. “What on earth? Is that what they told you?”

I nodded, and his shock resolved back into a scowl. “I can’t believe…” He paused, collecting himself. “No. Your mother died in a plane crash. It actually happened a few hours from here, off the coast of Santa Barbara.”

I felt a bit woozy, like my body was dissolving and pooling into the polyester of the couch. My entire existence was a lie. “And my father? Who was he? How did he die?”

Mr. Blau swallowed uncomfortably. “Your father was a notable songwriter—wrote a few songs for big acts, I believe.” He smiled slightly, then went solemn again. “But he did in fact die of an overdose, I’m sorry to say.”

So maybe my life wasn’t a total lie. He’d OD’d. But nother. Her death had been some romantic tragedy. Not of weakness and negligence, but cruel fate.

And they had both been artists. Creative, glittering geniuses, and not worthless druggies fallen from grace. It struck me that I finally had something of real value, parents who were special and luminous.

And in the next moment, I’d already lost it—they were both gone.

“I know this is a lot to process,” Mr. Blau said, reaching across the table and resting a gentle hand on mine. When I didn’t respond, he sat back and crossed his arms over his lap. “What are your summer plans?”

I tried to remember who I’d been before this conversation. “I’m going to work full-time at the conference center.” I’d cater-waited there for the last four years, and I hated every minute of it. Running around in the fake tuxedo uniform, scrubbing ranch dressing from my nail beds, fending off drunk firemen at their annual gala.

“Do you enjoy that?”

“No.”

He smirked. “Well, then. What do you think about coming to Nashville for the summer? I have paperwork I need you to sign, and we couldtake more time to go over estate business. You can be as involved as you want, of course, but it might be good for you to get a sense of it.”

I considered this. “Do I have family in Nashville?”

He sighed. “No, not exactly. I was led to believe that Belle had a few relatives where she grew up in rural Tennessee, but they’ve all passed.”

“Oh… okay.” Not that I was eager to meet more relatives after my track record, but perhaps her people would have been different. Maybe we would have understood each other in a way I never had with my dad’s family. “What do you mean by ‘not exactly’?”

“Well, she considered her friends as family more than the people she came from. And there are quite a few still living in Nashville. Do you remember any of them?”

“No, I… I don’t even remember her.”

He looked disappointed then, and something like sadness passed over his face before he shook it off. “That’s a shame, but it’s no matter.”