Only One Survives by Hannah Mary McKinnon

Author:Hannah Mary McKinnon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises ULC
Published: 2024-05-07T15:00:46+00:00

30

6 weeks before the accident

Ten days went by and although I thought less about what happened in the Hamptons, I still checked the news for updates, but no cause of the fire was mentioned.

Madison messaged her parents, telling them how sad she was to hear of their beloved house burning down. While she received a single text from her mother saying Thank you, her dad remained silent. Madison didn’t seem to care.

I talked myself into believing there was no way she’d commit arson, but the doubts crept in, the same way they had when I’d discovered her jewelry in Mom’s bag. When those thoughts wouldn’t go away, I began wondering about how Madison had happened to be at the same bar as Theo the night he’d gone home with another woman. Had she been involved somehow? I gave my head a shake because...how?

As much as I told myself to stop being paranoid, the nagging suspicions wouldn’t leave me alone. For a few days I found myself watching Madison more closely, analyzing everything she said twice. I felt guilty, like a terrible friend, so I forced myself to stop.

Now the Bittersweet had a record deal, and we were expected to add nine tracks to “Sweet Spot” for our debut album, I was working harder than ever. I hummed and sang to myself all the time, woke up in the middle of the night to scribble a few lines of “Still Waters” and “Devil On My Shoulder.” My mind wandered to the harmonies of “Over You, Under You” when I was supposed to take orders during my shifts. I couldn’t help it. The words, the melodies were inside me, beguiling me. And obsessing me.

The cash from Mooseman had finally come through, and Roger helped us find a few local paid gigs—one of which Melodie Johnson attended—and a new rehearsal space in an old warehouse in Queens.

The heating didn’t work properly, the radiators made loud clanging noises causing us all to jump periodically, and we had to clear a thick layer of dust from the floor. The payoff was great acoustics and rent cheap enough for us to pay four months up-front. We figured we’d soon be ready for the recording sessions Mooseman would book at a Midtown studio.

Things had shifted within all of us since we’d signed the deal. The Bittersweet had been focused before, but now instead of what-ifs and hopes of being signed, we had deadlines, meaning more pressure for everyone.

Every week we sat down, pulled out our phones, and went through our upcoming day job schedules, trying to find pockets of practice time. There was an energy in the room, an undeniable belief we were on the verge of...something. None of us wanted to say out loud what something might be for fear of jinxing it, but it was there, and it was growing.

More exhilaration came when Chris, our A&R manager, suggested we release another track in January. “I know it’s not a lot of time,” he said during

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.