"Hey, Megs," Gideon started after the beep. "It's me. Please call when you get this." He hung up and ran a hand over his face.It’s me?Would she even recognize his voice over the phone?
“What’s going on?” Matt stood in the door to the studio.
Gideon dropped his phone into his pocket. “Nothing.”
“You were calling Megs?”
Gideon couldn’t stand still. He turned and stalked into the other room to get a drink from the water cooler. “Yep.”
“You have her number?”
Gideon squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them to fill his cup. “Long story.”
“It can’t be that long can it? You met at auditions—”
“Megs and I met before the auditions. At a coffee shop. Then she ended up in one of my classes.” Gideon’s chest was so tight, he thought it might crack.
Matt clicked his tongue. “She’s your student and you have her—”
“Don’t even start with me.” Gideon turned and took a drink. “I met her before she was my student.”
Matt held up his hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything.”
Gideon crumpled the cup and threw it away. “I don’t understand why she didn’t show.”
Matt sucked in a breath and held it. “I might have an idea.”
Gideon froze. “Did she send you a message or something?”
“Oh she sent me a message all right,” Matt muttered, and Gideon frowned. “At the festival. I . . . may have explored whether she was interested in me and it didn’t go well.”
“Explored?” Gideon’s blood started to simmer.
“Nothing terrible. I thought there was something between us, so I did the thing. You know, where you break the touch barrier, and then when she seemed into it—”
“You tried to kiss her?”
Matt cringed. “Try is a strong word for what I—”
Gideon ran his hands through his hair and started for the door.Where had he put his jacket?“Matt, seriously?”
“What? It’s not like—”
“You are herbossright now. You’re offering her the chance to win five thousand dollars and a narration contract, and then you tried something like that?” Gideon found his coat and snagged it from the corner of the desk. “What was she supposed to do?”
Matt opened and closed his mouth like a guppy.
“Did you do it in the corn maze?” The look on Matt’s face told him all he needed to know. “You tried to reenact the scene from your novel?”
“It just happened! I wasn’t planning to—”
“Do you have her address?” Blood rushed in Gideon’s ears.
“What?”
“From her audition materials, do you have her address? We had to fill out those audition forms, and I think—”
“Isn’t she your student?” Matt stalked across the room to grab his phone. “Couldn’t you look up her record?”
