But before I could move, Junie had her arms wrapped around my legs.
“I knew I would meet you,” she whispered.
The lobby went silent.
Every eye landed on me. Especiallyhis. Roman Archer. Carefully watching. Brooding. Not pleased at all.
Believe me, I was just as shocked as he was.
But my arms wrapped around her of their own accord.
The goddess in me had taken over and whispered furiously to me. Telling me this little girl was important to me, and she needed me.No. No. No. That couldn’t be. That side of me was known to be a liar. She had to be lying now. But the harder Junie squeezed, the louder the whispering got.
“Look at that. You still have fans,” Jazzy trilled.
I had an inkling Junie wasn’t a fan. She had looked at me as if she knew me.
For a moment, the old me kicked in. I knelt to be at eye level with her. I’d done it thousands of times before—back when young gymnasts would approach me, eyes wide, voices trembling, telling me they wanted to grow up and be like me someday. Back then, I’d felt so grown up. So sure of myself. But I was really just a kid. Now I was a grown-up, and I felt like a child.
Junie’s amber eyes locked on to mine, steady and bright. She didn’t ask for an autograph. She didn’t gush. She just held me there. Like she was anchoring me to something I hadn’t remembered yet.
“Hi,” I whispered, my voice trembling. My defenses weakened in the face of this beautiful little girl. “What’s your name?” I figured I should ask. I shouldn’t have known who she was. No one here was supposed to know that I knew Roman.
“I’m Junie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Junie.”
“I have dreams about you.”
Oh, this couldn’t be good. I had a feeling these weren’t ordinary dreams. “You do?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“All right, Junie.” Roman cleared his throat and gently took her hand as if he didn’t want her to say anything else to me. “Miss Blake is busy.” He tried to curb the bite in his tone when mentioning me, but I could still detect it. Feel it. He hated me as much as he ever had.
“But, Daddy, she’s not too busy for me.”
Everyone around us laughed. That was my cue to stand. Unfortunately, I locked eyes with Roman. The anger that was always there whenever he looked at me was as strong as ever, maybe even stronger now. He’d been angry withme from the first moment we met. And disappointed. So disappointed. I felt it so keenly when I was seventeen and with every interaction we’d had since then. Until . . . now. His disappointment in me was gone, but in its place was confusion. No, not confusion—restraint. Huh.
I supposed it was him trying not to tell me off. Not to say what he really thought. He probably blamed me for this entire mess. Believe me, I didn’t want to be there any more than he wanted me there. He was the last person I needed meddling in my nonexistent love life. Or listening to the foolish confessions I would have to make to him on a weekly basis during the interview portions. He had no idea how humiliating this was for me. My life was literally hanging in the balance of his ridiculous show.
“You’re not wearing your glasses,” Roman blurted.
Well, that was unexpected.
He must have thought so too, judging by how red his ears turned.
“Um, I forgot them,” I said, flustered. Feeling more exposed than ever. I didn’t want people looking into my eyes, afraid of what they might see. I’d meant to put my glasses on as soon as I got off the motorcycle, but Jazzy’s appearance had thrown me off.
“You have the prettiest eyes ever,” Junie said.
“Uh, thank you.”
“Well.” Jazzy clapped her hands together, breaking the weird tension hanging in the air. “We have a schedule to keep. This way, Demi.”
I nodded, grateful for the out as I followed Jazzy, every eye still on me.
“Will you please read to me later?” Junie called out.
