Until Fox. The one person Ihadn’twanted to hurt, ever, for anything.
“You look upset,” she said. “Ireally have to pee, but… don’t go anywhere, okay?”
She squeezed my shoulder anddisappeared into a stall.
I stayed where I was out offear of disappointing her, only a little uncomfortable that I was still hangingaround in a space where I probably shouldn’t have been.
Another woman walked in andheaded for a stall without even glancing at me, though, so maybe it wasn’t such a bigdeal. Lucy had recognized me, and that might have been the only reasonshe’dsaid anything.
I watched her wash her handswhen she reappeared, and then followed her out into the hall before realizingthat she had no reason to be here.
“What, umm…” I scratched theback of my neck. “What’reyoudoing here, anyway?”
“I was coming to state mycase for including your song,” she said.
“But it leaked.”
Lucy shrugged. “Might be goodpublicity. Your last album wouldn’t have gottennearlyas muchattention without the leak, and I think we both know that. The suits incorporate are just morons.”
I blinked at her.
But it suddenly seemed awhole lot clearer than it had.
Good publicity.
My brain had put a littleasterisk next to that, like it was something Iknewwas important, but Ihadn’tfigured out how or why yet.
I’d licensed that one song.Or Harmony had, anyway. That…
That wouldn’t have happenedif the album hadn’t leaked, would it?
“I…”
“I know, you’ve neverthought about it. You don’t need to think about this stuff,” Lucy said, and itwasn’t unkind at all, but it still hit me right in the center of the chest.
Uncle Vincent was supposedto take care of all of that.
I was only now starting torealize that he didn’t do it verywell. That I’d never been kept in theloop.
Which was the idea, wasn’t it? So Icouldn’t fire him.
“Hey, uh…” Lucy looked atme, her brows furrowed. “Do you maybe… need to go get a coffee? I’ll come with.”
I swallowed.
Yeah. Yeah, I needed to geta coffee. I needed totalkto someone. About all of this.
Trailing after Lucy like apuppy saved me from having to make any decisions on my own and I was glad ofit. I didn’tfeel like I could trust myself anymore.
I’d screwed up enough for oneday.
She deposited me in a cornerlike Fox had. It was just as well this wasn’t the same coffee shop he’dbrought me to, or I would have burst into tears all over again.
Was I being ridiculous? I’d known Fox alittle over a week. Less than ten days.
But my heart ached when Ithought of him, and when I’d whispered that I loved him into his ear, Imeantit.
My dad had told me once thathe’dknown the moment he saw my mom that he was going to marry her. He’d beenwalking past a student protest, mom had been shouting in someone’s face, and he’djust said… yeah. That’s the one I want, forever.
