“Hey,” Luke said from the doorway behind me.
I didn’t turn around.
“Magnolia? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“That was Ella McCabe’s assistant,” I said, my voice low and monotone. “She wants to meet with me.”
“Yeah?” His tone was cheery, animated. “Mags, that’s great.”
I pressed my lips together and pivoted to face him. “Luke, it’s not great.”
His smile faded. “What? Why?”
“You went behind my back, made a decision about my business without my permission.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. Maybe I’d have handled this better if I hadn’t just had a similar argument with my mother. Unfortunately we weren’t going to find that out today, because I wanted to scream.
“It’s my business,” I emphasized. “Nobody else’s. My successes and my failures. I don’t need a man thundering in and saving the damn day for me, Luke.” My voice had climbed in volume and pitch.
“I wasn’t thundering in or saving the day,” he said tiredly. “I just wanted to help.”
“You have to understand that sometimes people don’t want help. Sometimes they want to prove themselves. Need to prove themselves.”
“Magnolia, you don’t need to prove anything. You’re doing fantastic with your business.”
“Then why not stay out of it?” I asked.
I was wound up. Exhausted, stressed, and a touch hysterical with the emotions storming through me. Maybe I was being a raging stubborn idiot, but I didn’t care. I was sick to death of people who thought I wasn’t capable of running my own life.
“Ella McCabe is huge,” Luke said. “If she signs with you, it’s all you. I just wanted you to have the chance. You said yourself planning her wedding would be a foot in the door with the country-music scene.”
“It might be, but how can I feel good about it if she signs with me and if it leads to more business? Don’t you see? It’ll always be thanks to you.”
That truth made me feel like vomiting. In that moment, I couldn’t see how it would ever feel like my success—if I did someday find success. There would always be a kernel of doubt.
My entire business felt tainted. I’d started it by myself because I needed something that was all mine. It was supposed to be my fresh start after escaping Felix’s control.
Luke was only a couple of feet away from me now, but I was too upset. I needed to get out of here before I said something I couldn’t take back.
“I need to go,” I said abruptly. Without waiting for him to respond, I marched out of the prep room, grabbed my bag, left the centerpieces right where they were, and headed to the door.
“Magnolia,” Luke called out just before I reached it. “Come back here. Can’t we talk about this like adults?”
My answer was a big, fat hell no, but I didn’t bother to say it. I smacked the barn door open, stormed to my car, and managed to get off Luke’s property before my eyes filled with tears.
Luke
I stood there staring at the door Magnolia had exited through, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened.
“What the fuck?” I asked nobody.
She was pissed that I did something nice for her?
Something that had worked out to her benefit?
She’d gotten a meeting with a famous country star. If she landed Ella’s wedding, it would be because of what Magnolia said and the impression she gave during the meeting, not because I’d put a bug into Everly Ash’s ear.
All I’d done was try to help her with one little action. It’d been a serendipitous moment, not premeditated, just a random long shot for me to ask Everly if she knew Ella.
