Even though every part of Beckett wanted to be home, holding Daisy, he couldn’t turn his back on these people. The only way to get to Daisy was to go through this project. He dialed her number and the call went straight to voicemail.
“Hi, Daisy, it’s Beck. Which you probably already knew. Listen, I’m going to be out of range on this project. I’m sorry. I’m not sure how long it will take, but I’ll do my best to get back quickly.” He paused, wanting to tell her he loved her and that he was ready to grow some roots, but also not wanting those all-important words to be left on her voice mail. He quickly said goodbye and hung up before hurrying to the truck and hopping in theback.
“Let’s move.” The sooner he got this job done, the sooner he could kiss the woman heloved.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Amonth had goneby and still no word fromBeckett.
Daisy fumbled through filming a glitter lip tutorial while trying to appear as if she had all the time in the world. She dropped several of the lip tattoos into her large bowl of warm water. Dropping her head to the table top, she groaned. “Today is not my day,” she said into the mic, knowing Vivian would use it for the blooperreel.
This month was not her month. The longer Beckett was gone, the harder it was to find a reason to continue putting one foot in front of the other with this much ache in her soul. She missed him terribly and her heartache affected her work. With each passing day, she came to understand that this was not the life for her. And if this was not the life for her, then Beckett was not the man for herlife.
Her door burst open, scaring the living daylights out of her. She jumped and then glared at the lens. Might as well fill the blooper reel thismorning.
Vivian clutched a paper in her hand; with her other hand she dragged Jason into the room. “You’re not going to believe these numbers!” Vivian’s voice went up and up in pitch until she wasscreaming.
Jason moaned and collapsed onto Daisy’s bed, landing facedown. He reached up, grabbed a pillow, and pulled it over his head to block out hismom.
Good luck,kid.
Vivian bounced around the room. “Here.” She thrust the paper into Daisy’s hand. Daisy scanned the views/sponsors report that covered how many people watched Beck’s Blooper Reel, as they’d dubbed the newest episode, and the corresponding sponsorship money. His other episodes were trending nicely and they’d decided to put together a bonus video to keep interestalive.
Vivian had done all the editing and creative work, saving Daisy from looking at his handsome face. She was still trying to wrap her head around him taking off like a shot with one sweet kiss and a closet full of clothes left behind. She’d oscillated between giving them to the needy and wearing his T-shirts to bed. He’d left in her darkest hour and therefore damaged her trust in him as aboyfriend.
Daisy’s hands began to shake. “It’s been up for anhour.”
Vivian checked her smartwatch. “An hour and twenty minutes now. The numbers are evenhigher.”
“Holy cats!” Daisy fanned her face with the paper. “This is …is…”
“Amazing.”
“Overwhelming.” She twisted to the side and brought up the comments feed and scanned. “‘Great job! He looks so much better’ … ‘I was skeptical but he is better without the man bun’ … ‘I want to marry him’ … ‘There’s hope for my husband—we’re going to the barber’s today!’ … ‘President of the Keep Beck in the US club’ … ‘Death to man buns’ … ‘Bring BeckBack’ …
“They’re all in love withhim.”
“Can you blame them? He turned outhot.”
Daisy’s head spun with possibilities. “We should do a special episode—maybe once a month—dedicated to men’s grooming. I know there’s tons of channels on the subject out there, but we can’t do the same thing all the time or we’ll growstagnant.”
Vivian grabbed her by the shoulders. “You’re killing me. Will you stop for a minute and enjoy this?” She gave Daisy ashake.
Daisy took a breath, wondering if she’d taken in oxygen since Vivian entered the room. “Okay.” She lifted and then dropped her shoulders dramatically. The realization of having twenty thousand-ish new followers in one morning wasn’t the big thrill Vivian treated it assuch.
Was Daisy grateful?Yes.
Did she feel blessed?Yes.
Thiswasexciting—it just wasn’t as exciting as it should have been. Or would have been. Two months ago, all she focused on was her channel. She tracked the numbers religiously, thrilled each time she made headway. Now, it all seemed businesslike and impersonal. She dropped her face into her hands. The icy fingers of fear crept up her spine. What if she’d lost her passion for thework?
It’d happened to her mom. One day she was cropping, gluing, and glittering away at her scrapbooks, and the next she packed up her Silhouette and binders and moved toFlorida.
“I’m excited, really. I’m just stressed about—life.”
Vivian’s lower lip pouted out. “Iknow.”
“You’re wearing lipstick,” Daisy blurted. “To my house in the very early morning. You never wear lipstick. What’s goingon?”
