“Yes. Your agent.” Kaelee held out her phone. On it was an offer of representation from Emily. “I want her to be my agent, but if it’s just because of you—”
“It is not.” Toni stepped closer. “I’m not going to recommend your book if I haven’t read it.”
“So you didn’t make her offer to repr—”
“No one couldmakeher offer representation,” Toni interrupted. “Hell, she wouldn’t have offered it to me if she didn’t like my book, and I’ve known her since I was a kid.”
Kaelee looked like her knees were going to buckle. She stared at Toni and muttered, “I think I have an agent. Holy fuck.” She swayed.
Quickly, Toni wrapped her arms around Kaelee. “Whoa! Don’t fall.”
Kaelee hugged Toni tightly. “I think I might puke. I should stay here until I’m safe to drive.”
“You can get your car later.” Toni steered her to the passengerdoor of her Jeep. “You will not puke. I’m going to drive us to campus now, and you willnot puke in my vehicle.Do you hear me?”
Kaelee nodded. “I’m an author. This is my thesis, and Ms. Haide is going to sell it.”
“Right, well, hook your seat belt.” Toni pointed.
As she turned, she saw a man with a camera, thought about the photos of her and Addie, and promptly decided she was being paranoid. No one knew her mom was here, and if they did, they couldn’t get past security.
Once she was at campus, she was going to call the front desk of the memory care home anyhow. She didn’t care about a lot of people, but she wasn’t going to have her mother splashed all over the media. It was hard enough when someone had dug up her music. The renewed interest meant royalties for Lil, but the invasion of privacy sucked.
That’s what Addie’s life was always going to be, too. Media. Toni already hated her own career’s lack of privacy. She didn’t want her life analyzed by strangers—and yet it was.
No wonder my fake wedding was such a story.
The wedding might be fake, but I’mactuallyin love with Addie.
Toni could figure this out. She had to—or she’d lose Addie, and Toni wasn’t ready to do that.
Maybe I can hide it.
Keep from telling her.
The thought of lying to Addie hurt almost as much as the thought of losing her.
Chapter 44Addie
A week passed in which Addie simply didn’t reply to Toni. She set her phone to Do Not Disturb. She turned her out-of-office responder on for email, and she replied to texts only after a few hours had passed. When Toni replied instantly, Addie still waited at least three hours before replying. Then she moved on to waiting a day between replies.
Addie wasn’t trying to be rude. She simply didn’t know what to say.
The comments on socials had taken a turn; so many people were making crass remarks or baseless accusations, mostly making everything seem tawdry. Several accounts had started to ask for proof of Addie’s age, implying that Toni had done something wrong. One interview request suggested that Addie had been Toni’s student. Another suggested that Toni had “turned her” into a lesbian, revealing that Addie had dated men including Philip. She was fairly sure he was behind that leak.
From:June
To:Adelaine Stewart
CC:Marcela Gibson
Re:Interview
We need to get in front of the noise, Addie. What’s the plan with the joint interview? Do we need to loop in the publisher on this to get it on the calendar?
June
Addie winced. She knew she had agreed to the interview with Toni, but she wasn’t sure she could pull it off. Not now.
