“That’s what I told him. But he said to tell you it’s not because he wants you to get back with him or anything. He has somegame-changingopportunity to talk to you about. He says it’s, like,urgent.”
I still didn’t want to talk to him. Rowan squeezed my hand. I knew what it meant—that he wouldn’t stop me or be upset with me if I chose to hear the guy out. That Rowan trusted me. And that’s why I took the phone from Gia—because it wasn’t going to change anything at all between me and the guy I was sitting with. And honestly, I was curious what my ex had to say.
“Hello?” I said into Gia’s phone.
“Tahira!” Matteo said. I couldn’t help the goose bumps forming. It was so weird to hear his voice again.
“Yes, Matteo.”
“Oh man, it’s so good to talk to you. How’ve you been, babe? I’ve barely had the time to get any new content for my channels. I see you haven’t posted anything interesting, either.”
Okay, so he was still checking my social? Also, like, a week ago I posted those pictures of me and Rowan—he didn’t find thoseinteresting?
I sighed. This was a bad idea. I didn’t want to be playing whatever game Matteo was playing. I patted Rowan’s leg, then hopped off the big rock and went toward the barn for privacy. “What do you want, Matteo.”
“Man, don’t be cold like that. It’s beenages, and I get a ‘What do you want’?”
The goose bumps went to anger. “What do you mean, ‘It’s been ages’? Your sidepiece couldn’t keep you warm in my absence?”
He was silent for a few seconds. Then I heard him exhale. “I’m sorry, I deserved that. I told Gia...Alyssa’s out of the picture.”
“I don’t care even a little bit. What do you want?”
“I don’t think you’ll be so cold when you hear the amazing news I have for you.”
Everyone was watching me. Rowan looked worried, so I gave him a reassuring smile. “What?” I asked.
“Dasha Payne is coming to Toronto.”
“Why should I care?”
“C’mon, T,Dasha Payne! From theDashStyleblog? From LA?”
“I know who Dasha Payne is.” I hadn’t been reading her blog lately, and I’d stopped doing those weekly indie design challenges since I had no new designs to post and had been avoiding anything that reminded me of Matteo. “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“She just DMed me. She’s doing a series on the hottest style cities in North America, and she wants to interview us.”
“‘Us’ as in...”
“Tahira, she wants to interview you and me. She’s, like, doing this big photo shoot with a bunch of designers, models, and style influencers, but then she’s going to do profiles on some of the hottest names from the photo shoot. She wants you and me. As the #TorontoPowerCouple.”
“We’re not a couple anymore.”
“Tahira, just listen—Dasha ishuge. Like, a million viewers huge. She practically discovered Angel Torres.”
I exhaled. I didn’t need to be told about Dasha’s influence. I took my phone out of my pocket to pull upDashStyle’s Insta. It had wellovera million followers.
“We don’t have to actually be a couple,” Mateo continued. “She didn’t even know we’d dated, only that we’d collaborated a lot. I asked her if I could bring Gia to the big shoot—and she said sure, as long as me and you were there. There’s a big party Saturday night, too.”
“When exactly is all this?”
“The big photo shoot is Friday. Then she’s doing all the interviews in the city on Saturday. We have the time slot after lunch—she wants us to take her shopping on Queen Street during our interview. They’ll have a camera crew following us, both for stills and video. Her team is getting the permits sorted out now. The party is Saturday night, at this swank rooftop bar that has a pool. Everyone who is everyone will be there.”
I closed my eyes. The Bloom was Saturday. The plan was to all go to the nursery and pick the flowers to use on Friday. Then, of course, we had to be on the festival grounds by eight on Saturday for the actual competition.
“Can I just do the Friday part?”
“There’d be no point. Theprofileis the big deal. There’ll be a whole article about us on her site.”
