“What do you mean?” She tried to keep a straight face. “Lara’s here.”
SDM’s new receptionist was as useless as Vancouver’s first-round draft pick. Lara, pronounced “Ley-rah” instead of “Laa-rah,” had been with the company for three months. She was an aspiring singer from the Philippines—a country with the most vocalists per capita.
“That’s not funny, dude.” Kim folded her arms and looked straight ahead. “She gives Asian chicks a bad rap.”
Later that day Tyler arrived at her dad’s house, Rory in tow. She’d flown on points, so her out-of-pocket expenses were almost zero. Living paycheck to paycheck, she knew how to stretch a budget.
None of her bands had earned a commission yet, so macaroni and cheese was her go-to dinner.No ketchup—that’s gross.
“Hello?” Tyler yelled as the door squeaked open.
The three-bedroom bungalow had changed little since the nineties; everything was in rough shape and needed to be replaced. The yellow and orange-flowered wallpaper peeled at the seams, the braided multi-colored area rug frayed at the edges, and her dad’s black leather recliner, which sat in front of the TV, was worn at the arms and the seat.
An overweight black Labrador Retriever bounded toward the door.
“Wilbur! Who’s a good boy?” Tyler bent down to say hello, but he made a beeline for Rory instead. The dogs wagged their tails into a full-blown windstorm.
“Tyler!” Dylan hollered from the kitchen. “In here.”
Her sister lived across the street with her husband, Joe, and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Nadie, a Cree name meaning “wise.” Dylan got pregnant when she was eighteen, which wasn’t planned, but she and Joe welcomed Nadie with open arms.
“Dylan!” Tyler met her halfway.
Apart from Dylan’s dark hair they could have passed for twins, the identical kind.
Dylan frowned. “I would’ve picked you up, dummy.”
“Don’t be silly.” She embraced her big sister. “Where’s Dad?”
The tapping paws of a miniature panda grabbed Dylan’s attention. “Hi, Rory!” She scooped up her nephew and kissed him on the head. “He’s at the casino getting everything ready.”
“Congrats on selling it out.”
“It wasn’t easy,” she admitted. “Joe sold a lot of tickets. He says hi, by the way.”
“Where’s Nadie?” Tyler glanced around, expecting to see her.
“At practice. She’s disappointed she won’t get to see you.”
Nadie was preparing for the lead role of Laurey in her high school’s production ofOklahoma!She’d told her aunt she’d won the part over twelve other girls, and Tyler couldn’t have been prouder.
“I’ll see her tomorrow.” Tyler checked her watch. “Come talk to me in the bathroom. I have to leave in twenty minutes.”
“To see Cary?” Dylan teased.
“Shut up! Just get in here.”
Dylan put down the dog and followed her into the bathroom. “What’s going on with you two?” She sat on a toilet lid cover made of high-pile fibers.
“I’m done with musicians.” Tyler applied a thin coat of mascara to her top lashes. “I’m not falling for Cary fucking Kingston.”
“Why not? You said he was a nice guy—and he kissed you.”
“It was a peck,” she clarified, regretting telling her sister the details of their encounter. “Don’t get too excited.”
“What’s he like in person?” Not surprisingly, she’d also had a crush on him in high school. It was Dylan who had turned her onto his music.
“He’s, like, a person.”
