Please be Sawyer.
The inward plea was silenced as Betzy saw it was Grandma calling.
“Hello?” Her attempt to put cheer into her voice failed.
“How are you doing, Hon?” Leave it to Grandma to know how much Betzy needed a kind voice.
“Crappy.”
“I know. I’m sorry. We’ve got you lined up forfivelive appearances over the week following theSlipper’srelease.”
Betzy plunked the side of her face into her pillow and sighed. “That’s good,” she said through smooshed lips. “Guess that’s how I get to spend my Christmas break.Reallygreat.”
“Sweetie?”
“Mm hmm?” The hot sting of tears pricked the corners of her eyes.
“Is something else bothering you?”
Yes,she wanted to say.I’m worried that I’ll be alone for the rest of my life. That I’ve been waiting for Sawyer this whole time and he doesn’t even want me. I’m worried that I missed my chance. I’m scared that maybe there never really was a chance. I worry that my mom was right all along.
She sniffed. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
“Yeah,” Grandma said. “It’s been a long day. You know, if your dad were here, he’d march right intoSlipperheadquarters and demand they remove your name from that article.” She laughed, and Betzy did too.
“You’re right.” Tears dripped down her temple and onto the sheet. Mom might have bonded best with her brothers, but Betzy was a Daddy’s girl all the way. And even though it’d been close to six years now, she hadn’t stopped missing him.
“I have one more possible contact at the magazine,” Grandma said. “They’re working to get a snapshot of the actual spread.”
Betzy sprung up like a jack in the box. “Of the spinster article? We might be able to see it before it comes out?”
“Maybe,” she said. “It’s sticky. This source—whomever it is—would be risking a lot. Not just their job, but there’s liability too.Slipper Magazinecould slap them with a hefty lawsuit for leaking information.”
Betzy nodded, imagining how nice it would be to know exactly what to expect. Nausea accompanied the thoughts, of course. She hated the idea that she’d be forced to defend herself.
But ugliness like that shouldn’t be tolerated, and if Betzy was going to be slammed unfairly in some stupid magazine owned by the spiteful little Daisy Shay, she wouldn’t lay down and take it.
“Get some sleep, sweetheart, okay? Tomorrow’s another day.”
“I’ll try. Goodnight, Grandma. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Betzy sank back into place, hoping to shut her mind off and get some rest.
But sleep didn’t come easy. At one a.m. she woke from a horrible dream where she’d lost control on live TV and slapped Daisy right across the face. It hadn’t seemed so impossible, if she thought about it. Heck, her brother, James, who was as well-tempered as they came, lashed out at a contestant during their last live broadcast.
She played word games on her phone to get her mind off of the dream, and finally dozed off somewhere past two, but by three o’clock she was up again, grumbling one defense after the next.Think I’m destined to be alone my whole life, do you? Maybe you’re the one who’ll wind up alone, Daisy Shay.
At four a.m., Betzy pulled up a sleep app and put on some white noise. Maybe that would help drown out the sounds in her head.
It must have, because suddenly it was six o’clock and her alarm was sounding. She tapped the snooze option and lay back in place.
Suddenly her phone let out an odd ding. One she didn’t recognize. Betzy snuck an arm from the covers, snatched her phone off the side table, and looked at the screen.
Message from unknown number.
Two options were listed below.Receive. Reject.
