"Don't answer it," I said, resting my forehead against her thigh in frustration.
"I wasn't going to." But she was looking at it, and I could see reality creeping back into her eyes.
The phone stopped, then immediately started again. Same caller.
"He'll keep calling," she said, sitting up, pulling the sheet around her.
"Let him."
It rang again. And again. And again.
"Jesus Christ," I muttered, grabbing the phone and answering it. "She's busy."
"Who is this? Where's Stevie? I need to speak to?—"
I hung up.
Stephy stared at me, mouth open. "Did you just hang up on my manager?"
"Yes."
The phone immediately started ringing again.
"He's going to keep calling," she said, but she was trying not to laugh.
"Then we'll throw your phone in the creek."
"Lee..."
But the spell was broken. She grabbed the phone on the fifth round of ringing, rejected the call, then scrolled through what looked like dozens of missed calls and texts.
"Jesus," she muttered. "Twenty-three missed calls. Forty-seven texts. Six emails marked urgent."
"Block him."
She looked at me, and there was something sad in her eyes. "I can't just block my entire life, Lee."
"Why not?"
Instead of answering, she opened one of the texts, and I saw her face change as she read. "The label is threatening legal action if I don't return to fulfill my promotional obligations. There's a radio tour scheduled that I'm apparently missing. Award show nominations I'm supposed to be campaigning for."
"You were attacked. You're recovering."
"They don't care about that. They care about the money they're losing every day I'm not out there selling myself."
She kept scrolling, her face getting tighter with each message. I wanted to take the phone and throw it out the window, but I knew that wouldn't solve anything. The outside world had found us, even here in our bedroom bubble.
"Hey," I said, gently taking the phone and setting it aside. "That can wait. All of it can wait."
"Can it, though?" She looked at me, and I could see the stress creeping back in, tightening her shoulders, dimming the light in her eyes. "I've been hiding here for almost two months. At some point, I have to deal with reality."
"Reality can wait one more hour. Come here."
I pulled her back down, and she came, but the easiness was gone. She was thinking now, I could feel it, her mind spinning with obligations and contracts and all the reasons last night couldn't be more than just last night.
"Oh!" she said suddenly, like she'd just remembered something. "Ivy and Louisa were telling me about the Founders’ Day Festival this weekend."
I tensed. "Yeah?"
