“She’s found herself pregnant by a traveling stripper. That’d give any woman good reason to be scared.”
“Well…what do I do? I don’t know what her love language is, and it’s not like I can buy my way into her affection. She’s loaded.”
He arches a brow. “Love language?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Be there for her, be trustworthy, don’t let her catch you in a lie. Be predictable.”
“Predictable? Isn’t that…boring?”
“To young women, yes. To mothers, it’s appreciated.”
I see his point, but how am I supposed to be predictable when I’m on tour all the time?
I suppose the only way I can be.
I go through the show schedule and build a calendar of dates, and where I’ll be. Then, I set an alarm on my phone to remind me to send it at a more agreeable hour.
With a sliver of newfound hope, I get up from the sofa and stretch, hoping to get a few hours of sleep in before we stop.
“Thanks, man. You always know what to say.”
Armando gets up and follows me to the bunks.
Unfortunately, rest doesn’t come easy, and the dreams that follow are straight out of my worst nightmare, because there is nothing in this world I loathe more than the thought of my baby growing up without a father. And every time I close my eyes, that’s what I see.
I can’t let that happen. I refuse to.
But with Samantha’s mile-high wall she built between us, I don’t know what our futures hold, or if she’ll want to be a part of mine.
TEN
Samantha
I’mon my third cup of half-caff coffee when my phone pings, breaking my concentration.
The last thing I want to deal with this morning is Cassie Hoffman’s lofty demands. I’ve worked with B-listers who are more grateful than she is, and that’s not even speaking to their greater talent.
Unfortunately, the notification is for something worse than Cassie’s oversized ego.
Calvin McElroy has signed with a new publicist at Valued PR
This is a problem, considering he’s signed with me.
I pull up his contract and see that it ended three days ago. He never returned the one I sent two weeks ago or responded to its follow-up message.
And he certainly didn’t waste any time finding someone else to represent him.
I scan through our emails for any indication that he was unhappy or that he was planning to leave. I find none.
He ghosted me.
For so long, everything was perfect. I bend over backward for my clients, and I never lie to them. There isn’t a single need I haven’t fulfilled for Calvin far better than my competitors would. But the rise to fame is never quick enough for some.
Maybe his new publicist will get lucky and land him a whopper, but knowing how agencies work, I doubt he’ll get the plum role he’s been chasing, especially when he has to rely so heavily on his looks because his talent is subpar.
Carmen enters my office and places a beefsteak sandwich in front of me.
