Athena’s white dress doesn't suit my Texas slice of desert, but she’ s managed not to pick up a grain of dirt on her way between the car and the house. A talent, looking at the satin, white stilettos strapped to her feet. Adora’s manager/agent is as pristine as freshly fallen snow. A pity that her moral clock doesn't reflect the same from what I’ve seen. The conflict of interest in roles barely scratches the surface with her.
“Taylor and Crew are her stylist and her publicist. They come with her everywhere,” Athena steps delicately into the house and shimmies.
I half expect the desert to fall off her, but nothing so dramatic happens. “And the rainbow gummy that fell into the house first?”
“Milo. He’s her teddy bear. Literally,” Athena shakes back her hair that matches her dress and looks down her nose at me. “Yes, it’s a job description. She takes him everywhere and sleeps with him. Like a security blanket,” she adds, reducing Adora to a needy creature and the vibrant young man to an object in the same sentence.
My gut clenches. “Do they sleep together? Should I worry about changing the sheets?”
Do I need to worry about Mister Cuddles?
Athena makes a rude noise that I don’t expect of the woman who presents such an elegant front. “Of course not. I mean, he’ll fuck anything that walks, but we all know not to screw with Adora. No matter how much we want to. She’s… Unavailable.”
That last seems tacked on, like an afterthought, thought somehow I doubt that’s quite Athena’s intention.Girl crush in the making?
A headache blooms as I consider the intricacies of the internal relationships of Adora’s team. “Right. Well, the kitchen is that way. Feel free to unpack.” I check for signs of luggage, but there is none. “Did you leave the limo driver out on the road?” I sent him a message early this morning to make sure he hadn’t been picked off by coyotes while he was relieving himself.
She shrugs. “He wasn’t there when we salvaged her harp.”
I nod, some of the tension in my shoulders receding. “Adora will be relieved.”
Athena throws me a sharp look. “I’m glad you’ve made inroads. The bags and harp are in the car. Milo will help you.” She clicks her fingers.
My eyebrows rise as she slides past me. Not glides; oddly, for all her appearance of perfection, Athena lacks Adora’s elegance. She clicks her fingers, summoning the rainbow teddy who trots over to her, sipping one of my beers. A muscle works in my jaw. I force my face into the facade of something more neutral.
“Let’s go grab everything.” Milo bounces beside me like a hyperactive puppy.
His innocence is both contagious and nauseating. “Do you have keys?” I hold out my hand.
He shakes his head. “Athena has them. Don’t bother.” One hand rises when I open my mouth. “Trust me. It’s all organized. And who’s going to rob us out here, anyway?”
I stare at him and hold the door open. “I’m more worried about something being put in the vehicle than anything being taken out. Or your luggage.”
“Like what?” his brow creases as he wanders outside without a care in the world.
I close my eyes and pray for strength. “A bomb.”
His faltered step isn’t half as satisfying as I need it to be after Adora’s entourage has invaded my house. I can’t wait to tell him that we’ll have to search every piece of luggage bit by bit. At least the next hours will be occupied if not in the way I planned. The pizza is on hold, though.
At least Adora has her harp back.
Music filled the house tonight for the first time since I bought the property over fifteen years ago. After Milo and I cleaned out the four wheel drive and checked every item they brought with them—from make-up supplies to a full liquor cabinet—Adora’s team turned my house into a carnival.
She took it all in her stride, accepting the harp I delivered with Milo’s help while the stylist styled and the publicist… I assume Crew did something on social media for her, or themselves.
Eventually, they all ran out of steam. I’m left awake while Crew and Taylor found a spare bedroom together an hour ago. I haven’t asked about their relationship and I choose to stay oblivious. Milo sleeps on my sofa, covered by a rug that Athena soured for him. Athena took a glass of wine to my study and locked herself in. For all I know she works the same sort of hours that I do, or she’ll sleep in there.
It won’t be the first time that the room has been witness to an overachiever, workaholic’s snores.
The horses whicker softly outside as I lock every window and check the doors. At Adora’s room, I pause. My hand lingers on her door, but I don't open it. She’s likely asleep, and disturbing her after everything she’s been through just to spend time with her alone is both selfish and cruel, as well as unprofessional. But we crossed that line from the first moments, and I’m struggling to find my factory reset with her now.
My own room across the hall and a room up is cold and dark. I leave it that way as I strip off and stretch, willing my head to clear of the unnecessary chatter that’s filled it from the hellish day.
The part that wasn’t hell was listening to the notes of Adora’s music filter through the house as she played, unfettered by the chaos that unfolded around her. Not including her and it struck me that though her people called themselves her team, she wasn’t a part of it. They simply exist near her, consider themselves importantforher… But after listening to her play, her story and everything that she’s not told me, I know the version of Adora that’s on paper doesn’t match the in person one. Her file is a fresh load of bullshit that I’m fairly sure Athena has manufactured, and from what I’ve seen, it's clear that Adora doesn’t need her entourage one little bit.
I wonder if any of them know that.
The one person I actually like is Milo. He never once complained when I told him that we needed to pull apart every suitcase in the back of the seven seater that crossed the desert to find Adora. And there are ten of the damn things—only one of them is for Adora, plus her harp.
