“You say, as ifyouweren’t the one who derailed us in the first place,” Darcy scoffed.
So… Juliet.
Who schooled her features again, sniffing haughtily at her. “To establish a fair concern. Discretion is obviously of the upmost importance.”
“I’ve been very discreet,” Darcy insisted. After all, she was the one who dressed down, who walked down the street or the block to and from Juliet’s house, or checked the hallway when sneaking out of a hotel room.
She wassoclose to pushing, wanting Juliet to admit: was it really about discretion or jealousy? The impulse to ask nearly had the question rolling off her tongue.
At the last second, she bit it back. Because she wasn’t quite sure what to make of her own flash of jealousy, so…
“Speaking of discretion,” she started, going in a different, relevant direction. She used her free hand to toy lightly with the edge of her blanket. “What are your thoughts on my, possibly, telling my sister?”
Juliet’s eyebrows furrowed deeply, obviously taken aback. “Youhaven’ttold your sister about me? Even after you came out?”
“No! You and I haven’t talked about it.”
“Emerson knows.”
“Yeah, because I talked to her about it before I knew… everything.”
Juliet shook her head. “What about your wholewe’re a teamthing? With We, The Romantics?”
“Wearea team,” she immediately shot back. “But I… something like this is different.” She sighed, feeling her stomach tying in little knots at that intent look in Juliet’s eyes. “I didn’t want you to feel like I betrayed your trust or something.”
Juliet’s stare softened in a way that mostly happened after sex. “Oh. That’s–” She cleared her throat. “That’s sweet. But yes, you can tell Blythe. Especially considering I already thought she knew.”
She let out a shaky laugh. Okay, then. That made things easier, didn’t it?
“Now, to the point of the call,” Juliet re-focused, nailing her with a look.
Darcy sat up straight, giving her a faux salute. Admittedly, she’d forgotten there was a different point to this call other thansimply talking to Juliet. “As you know, I didn’t have my phone on last night. Proceed.”
“Then you haven’t talked to your manager,” Juliet asserted.
“Correct.” She’d taken one look and responded to Juliet, so…
“You know Nik Kosta?”
Darcy wracked her mind. The Kosta family was a Hollywood legacy, so it was easy to place the name. But Nik, as far as she could recall, wasn’t an actor. “Is he the director?”
“Yes,” Juliet confirmed in the next breath, excitement gleaming in her eyes. She rocked forward wherever she sat, closer to the phone. “He has the movie coming out in the spring, the sweeping western drama?”
She nodded, slowly. She’d heard vaguely about it, but kept her finger far less on the pulse of movies and television than she did on music. But Nik Kosta films were huge, so sure, she’d heard about it. Big-time Oscar bait.
“He wants us to be on the soundtrack. Like – potentially – for the emotional centerpiece. He, apparently,loves‘Porchlight!’”
It was so rare to see this kind of unfettered excitement from Juliet, especially if it wasn’t about something related to sex. Darcy wouldn’t quite call her jaded, but she also wouldn’tnot. It was her first thought, taking in this beaming, glowing joy in Juliet’s expression, settling right in her chest.
Before it really registered what she was saying.
“Wait. They want us – you and me – to write a song together? For Nik Kosta’s movie?” Yep, that rocked through her now, her eyes widening. Holyshit.
“There’s the right response,” Juliet commended. “Finally.”
“It took me two seconds,” she challenged, without any heat behind it.Wow.
“You’re in, right?”
