‘What about Ruby Rain?’ Luc offers. ‘She’s said in interviews that she’s a huge fan of yours and you’re a massive inspiration to her.’
I smile. ‘That’s not a bad idea.’
‘God knows you’ve been through enough shit in this industry to be a really helpful sounding board.’
‘It’ll be enough to know that all those horrible times were worth it to be able to help someone else through their career.’
‘I think you’d be brilliant at it, Sienna.’
He uses his index finger to guide my chin towards him, brushing his lips against mine. I exhale a smile.
It doesn’t escape me that things with Luc would be much easier if I was more stagnant. That a life without me touring and constantly in the studio would make things easier between us. That if I wasn’t in the public eye, the media would sooner or later lose interest in me and we could live a normal life, more like the one Luc is used to. But he doesn’t seem to want to have his opinions in this conversation. He doesn’t want to show me that he’s leaning more towards me staying in music or taking a break to pursue different things. I appreciate that he’s letting me make such an important decision based completely on what I want. A rogue worry that Luc puts too much emphasis on what I want and not what he wants passes through my brain.
Luc is still in bed the next morning when I slip out of the bedroom after hearing Jess’s key in the lock. I’m still tying my dressing gown around my waist when I fly down the stairs, just in time to see her drop her key back in the bottom of her bag and smile up at me.
‘Morning, sunshine,’ she smiles.
She leaves her bag at the bottom of the stairs and goes through to the kitchen. I fill up the back of my new coffee machine and put in one of her favourite pods to make her a proper latte. I pour myself a cup of breakfast tea. We sip our drinks in contentment, the sun already beating in the sky,shining on the overgrown grass in the garden, giving everything that glow only a late-September morning can bring.
‘So, tell me everything,’ Jess requests.
‘I can’t. He’s upstairs.’
Jess’s eyes widen. ‘Cute! So cute!’
I can’t help but smile.
‘Let me guess –you’re no longer fake breaking up at the beginning of the tour,’ Jess prompts.
‘I thought I made that obvious when I completely made a fool out of myself at the party.’
‘I thought someone was holding you hostage, or you were doing it for the dramatics. Still playing to Mimi’s plan to convince everyone that you and Luc are in love.’
‘I meant everything I said at the party.’
The smile that spreads across Jess’s face is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. She almost uses her entire body: her shoulders raise and her back straightens, feet kicking together. ‘I’m so happy for you, Sienna. You really deserve this.’
I take a deep breath. ‘I’m scared,’ I admit.
‘Of course, but… Sienna – it’s Luc.’
‘I know,’ I take a huge gulp of tea, letting it scald the back of my throat. ‘But that doesn’t– it doesn’t mean he won’t leave and hurt me if I let him in.’
‘It’s been, like, ten years.’
‘Only means it’d hurt more.’
‘I get that, but if he was going to leave, he would have done it by now.’
‘People can be married for thirty years and get a divorce.’
‘Sienna, you can’t– you have to live your life without planning out every eventuality like that.’
A moment of comfortable silence between us.
‘I knew something was going to happen between you when he asked Mimi to stop paying him,’ Jess adds.
My blood runs cold. ‘Mimi was paying him?’
