Juliet scoffed.
She didn’t actually show her paintings or drawings to anyone. Laura had gotten the occasional glimpse, but… it felt far too personal. She already experienced the world devouring the artwork that was the closest to her heart, and this had only become athingbecause she needed to cope with that.
But Laura had also gotten her into fencing, which was something Laura had grown up doing. Also a woman of multitudes, her assistant. Fencing provided Juliet with a different kind of mental peace and clarity, and there was something to the physicality aspect that she deeply enjoyed.
“So…” She started, bracing herself against the counter, staring Laura down.
“So,” her assistant looked back up at her, lips pursed.
“Whyareyou here early?”
As far as Juliet was aware, she had no commitments for the next twenty-four hours. Given that Juliet was fastidious about her schedule, sheknewthat was true.
And though Laura didn’t only come over to discuss imminent business or issues, there was a look on her face that Juliet knew very well.
“Ah – well,” Laura started.
But Juliet had already pushed herself off of the counter, buzzing back to life. “Did Darcy respond?”
In a flash, she reached down and snatched her phone from the counter where she’d kept it charging face-down while she’d been in her studio.
“Are youhopingshe’s responded?” Laura asked, amusement working into her tone.
Juliet narrowed her eyes at her. “You know I’m not.”
Because, objectively,no, she didn’t want to hear any more of Darcy singing about her, slinging some sort of insult in her throaty voice. Something that would merry-go-round in Juliet’s mind without pause for far too long. Obviously she didn’twantthat; she wasn’t without reason.
“It just doesn’t make any sense that she hasn’t responded,” she muttered, unlocking her phone, vibrating with anticipation.
The truth was that Juliet had barely been able to sleep the night after she’d posted her piece. Waiting on pins and needles, all tied up inside waiting for Darcy’s response.
Darcy had proven in the last couple of months that shealwayshad a response to her. She always had something to say, some way to wiggle deeper under Juliet’s skin.
And even though Juliet didn’t want Darcy to have some sort of witty rejoinder, she’d been holding her breath waiting for it. Juliet, obviously, wanted to win this little tit-for-tat they’d gotten into. But she couldn’t imagine it would end there. She snapped back at Darcy through song, and now… nothing? Silence?
Why that bothered her just as much as Darcy’s song did in the first place was something for her therapist to figure out.
But she’d been waiting for this proverbial shoe to drop for nearly three weeks, and there were crickets.
As she checked her notifications, though, there was nothing about Darcy.
Her only alerts of note were from her mother.
Three texts, and that was more than enough to take the wind out of her sails, wrapping her up in confusion.
Mom – 11:21A.M.
Hi Jules, I hope you’re resting up now that you’re on your break from the tour
Just wanted to let you know that I sent some of those cranberry orange muffins with Harrison, so I hope you enjoy them!
See you soon
Juliet read her mom’s texts multiple times. Nothing in them was inherently wrong or alarming. Unless, of course, you could read the language of Tiffany Jacobs, which Juliet happened to be fluent in.
This message from her mom was to let her know that she would, apparently, be seeing Harrison soon. Her mother had leveled up in her ability to double-speak after getting married to Harrison, and she’d never sent a warning text that was so blunt.
Especially because that would mean she’d have to acknowledge any friction between Juliet and Harrison, which her mother was an expert at overlooking.
