CASSIE
“Where is she?” I ask Lisette again. Once more, she shakes her head. She doesn’t know. Not for the first time since we parted ways, I wish that Kevin was my manager. He would know where she is, if only because he would know where Martin is. I could call him, I think, but my pride won’t let me.
She should be here already, I tell myself for the umpteenth time. It was so stupid, her getting a flight today. It was so stupid of both of us to just go along with everyone else’s demands on our time when tonight is our first time seeing each other in nearly two months. We’re so stupid for letting that happen.
“Nora,” I say to my assistant, who is steaming my dress. “Could you go call Martin Dowde, please? Or someone in his team. Find out why Pia isn’t here yet. And if you can’t reach him or any of his staff, call Kevin or his secretary, Mindy Lassiter. See if he’s here already.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she says, and she’s gone a few seconds later. I’d expected the dressing room to feel a little less claustrophobic with one less person, but it’s still hot and stifling.
“I’ve heard she can be a bit … unreliable,” Lisette says, and her southern drawl really adds an extra emphasis where I don’t want to hear it. So much so, I nearly throw the perfume bottle in my hand at her.
“Pia’s not unreliable,” I say as levelly as I can.
Lisette is oblivious to how much her comment has ruffled my feathers, as she lights a cigar – another thing I don’t particularly like – and runs a hand through her short brown hair. “But if she doesn’t show, it will be her own undoing.”
“She will be here,” I say firmly enough that I can hopefully start to believe it.
“I’m just saying, it’s already pretty shitty of her to miss the rehearsal, but I have to say if she doesn’t show at all, it’s not the end of the world.” Lisette points her cigar at me. “It could be an excellent opportunity for us, for you.”
And that is the second time in five minutes that I wish Kevin were my manager again.
“What makes you say that?” I press, turning away from my mirror so I can face her directly and not in the reflection.
“Well, if you had to perform ‘What I Want’on your own and then accept the Grammy for Best Single?—”
“Which we don’t know if we’re going to get,” I interject.
“Oh, you’re getting it. Of that I’m certain. And when you do, when you go up on that stage and accept it on your own, it’s the perfect place to announce your solo career.”
I resist the urge to pucker my lips out of annoyance. “I thought we’d agreed that I wasn’t going to make any announcements until the album is finished.”
“We did, but I haven’t changed my opinion that doing so is a missed opportunity. Everybody wants to know what’s happened to Evergreene. There’s still interest surrounding the whole … scandal. Give them what they want when they want it, I say.”
I inhale and exhale before I reply. “And what about what I want?”
Lisette looks at me blankly, like I’ve started speaking a different language. And no. Absolutely not. I am not doing this. I open my mouth to tell Lisette exactly what I think about her idea, but there’s a knock on the door. Even though in my marrow I know that Pia would never knock on any door, least of all my dressing room door, I stand and rush over to it, praying it’s her.
It’s not. It’s Kevin Briggs.
“I heard you wanted to see me,” he says, and for the first time in my life, I discover what sheepish looks like on him.
“You heard correctly.” I move to the side so he can walk in. He stops as soon as he spots Lisette.
“Lisette,” he says. The air between them becomes so charged, it actually makes breathing a bit more difficult.
“Kevin,” she says, standing and adopting a very wide stance.
They don’t shake hands.
“Lisette, would you mind giving us the room,” I say.
Her mouth opens, I believe to object, but she closes it and presses her lips into a thin smile.
“Of course,” she says, gathering her belongings and her lips into a tight pout. “Excuse me.”
She moves past both of us, very deliberately making no eye or physical contact.
“Of all the managers in the world, why did you choose a bitch like that?” Kevin asks once the door is closed behind her. I stand up and step closer so we’re facing each other.
