Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“You’ve been busy,” he says. “Do you really think my friends would tell you if they’d heard from me?”
Her smile is all sharp teeth. “Then something made me think of Audrey, and I just knew I’d find you here in the middle of absolutely fucking nowhere. What even is this place?”
“June,” says Grandma. “This is Carrie Younger. She’s what’s known as a fixer, and she works for the record company.”
I take a sip of coffee and keep my mouth shut.
“I like the new look.” Carrie presses a kiss to his cheek. “We need to talk.”
Nash’s crosses his arms over his muscular chest. “Do we though?”
“Somewhere private would be nice.”
“Right here is fine, and they stay,” says Nash.
“You’re not still mad at me, are you?” she asks. “What we had was real. I wanted us to be together. My allegiances are just a little complicated is all.”
“Yeah. I know. Capitalism has your heart.”
She laughs. “You always did know how to make me laugh.”
Nash’s smile is begrudging.
“Whatever message you were trying to get across with the disappearing act worked. You shocked the shit out of them…walking away from it all like that,” she says. “Now what will it take for you to come back?”
“Not happening.”
“Talk to me, Aaron.”
He shakes his head. Close friends and family call him Nash. It sounds sort of strange hearing his other name. The legal one. And it also makes me wonder how close they really were.
“I’m on your side, baby.” She smiles. “Stick it to them. It’s not like you haven’t been making money for them hand over fist for years. They’ve approved a fifteen-percent increase on the next contract. Though I’m pretty sure you could push it to twenty. Just don’t forget who told you when the money starts rolling in. You know me and my weakness for bling.”
“I’m not coming back, Carrie.”
She laughs and artfully tosses her hair. I wish I was so graceful and effortlessly cool. Like someone in a shampoo commercial. Odds are if I attempted a maneuver like that, I’d just whip myself in the face. Probably take out an eye or something gruesome.
“You can’t stay here. That can’t really be your plan. I know you…you’ll be bored out of your brain in no time.” And for the first time, she frowns. As if maybe this situation isn’t something she can control after all. “The haircut and debearding might work for now, but it’s not going to last. Someone will recognize you. You’re famous, baby.”
Nothing from him.
“Aaron,” she purrs. “If you need some down time, we can do that. How about Tanzania on the company’s dime? Just you and me on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I’ve got the private jet standing by.”
“Hmm. I do love beaches, but I don’t think so.”
“I could forget to pack my bikini.”
He winces like he’s in pain. “No thank you.”
“Farmer only sent me to make sure you had everything you need. Back then and now,” she says. “It was just as much a surprise to me as it was to you when we had chemistry. My boss isn’t a bad guy.”
“I really wish you hadn’t wasted your time coming out here.”
“Don’t say that. We can try again,” she says, her hand resting on his arm. “With no outside interference this time.”
“Holy shit,” I say, in a moment of sheer brilliance. “Is this Lady Caroline, who had you on a string?”
“He was mean to write that song about me.” Her gaze never shifts from Nash. I am beneath her notice, apparently. And the sudden curl of her lip could cut stone. “But you only said those things because you were hurt. Weren’t you, baby?”
“Yeah.” He cocks his head. “That and because they were true. It was kind of a mix of the two.”
Her hands fall back to her side. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do, actually.”
Carrie’s red lips form a perfect o. Then, unlike me in the bar, she actually has the acting chops to squeeze out a tear. This perfect drop of saline running down her face. It doesn’t even harm her contouring. Whatever setting spray the woman is using, I need to know the brand.
“Don’t you dare cry,” he says.
“It just makes me so sad.”
“Carrie…”
“Aaron, you have to forgive me. I never meant to hurt you. Give us another chance,” she says. “We could go skiing in Japan. You remember how much fun the private onsen was…”
He squeezes his lips together tightly, as if he’s afraid of what words might sneak out. And he shakes his head vehemently. “You should go.”
“Please?” she pleads.
He turns to me in desperation and says in an almighty rush, “June and I have decided to start a family.”
I don’t mean to snort coffee out my nose. It’s just unfortunate timing. And I wish I wasn’t wearing a white shirt. What a mess.