Darcy satat an outside table at a cute café down the street from Copper Canyon.
She’d first stepped into the café, grabbed a drink, and sat in order to read Juliet’s texts, about her mother’s visit.
Apparently, it had gone “actually a lot better than an average visit” with her mother. Juliet had assured her she’d give her more details later.
That was fantastic. She wanted to go right back home and hear all about it now.
Not only because she wanted to know Juliet’s updates, but also because she wasn’t ready to go to the label.
She was supposed to be there in twenty minutes. And when she went there, she was supposed to informally finalize the contract they’d offered her.
Because Juliet and Blythe had been correct; they’d offered her a contract for three albums. Threesoloalbums. No hesitation.
And the deal was even more financially beneficial than the one they’d signed forJukebox Calamity.
Ostensibly, she should be thrilled.
The fear she’d had that the career she’d wanted and worked for and thought was within her grasp as We, The Romantics wasstillwithin her grasp as Darcy Kincaid.
And yet, she’d been dragging her feet getting to this meeting all day. She’d been dreading it all week, if she was being honest.
Sheshouldbe happy. She knew that. It was the only reasonable reaction. She should want to walk right into Copper Canyon and agree for the contract to be sent to her lawyer, happy as a clam.
But –
“Well, hello. Fancy running into you here.” Shelby Linwood’s unmistakable voice shook her out of her thoughts.
Darcy sat straight up, surprise working through her. “Shelby!” Would it ever stop being so incredible that Shelby Linwood not only knew her, but stopped while she appeared to have been shopping, to say hello to her? “How are you?”
Shelby’s smile was bright and wide as she stood across from Darcy’s table. “I’m just fine, sweetheart, and yourself? You look like you’re wound tighter than fence wire. If you don’t mind my saying.”
Reaching up, she rubbed her hands over her face, wondering how many people had walked by and observed her stress. Then again… god, what did she care? Shedidn’thave the energy to pretend and make her face all impassable, and she didn’t care to learn it. She was sure she and Juliet would go back and forth on that for a long time.
And that thought, at least, perked her up a little.
“I don’t mind you saying it. Because, ah, I am,” she admitted.
“You mind?” Shelby asked, laying her hand on the seat adjacent to Darcy’s.
Slowly, she shook her head. “Uh… no. You can sit wherever you’d like.”
Shelby chuckled, lowly. “Great.” She promptly settled into the chair. “Now, you gonna tell me what’s got you all wrapped up?”
Darcy hesitated. Shedidn’tknow Shelby, not really, though she’d admired her for literally her entire life. And if there was something she had taken to heart over the last year, it was that there was value in keeping some things to yourself.
“You don’t have to tell me a word, mind you. I was just asking.”
“You… eventually left Copper Canyon,” Darcy said slowly, turning the words over in her mind as she voiced them.
Shelbyhadn’tstayed with the label for her entire career, though. They’d given Shelby her big start, and she’d recorded a handful of albums with them. A handful of her best albums, even. But she’d ultimately left, twenty years ago by now.
So maybe Darcy could get her opinion.Shouldget it, even.
Shelby nodded. “Yes, I did.”
Darcy held her breath for a few seconds, before releasing it in a heavy sigh. What would the big deal be? WasShelbygoing to gossip about her? Even if she did, what would it matter? If Darcy did what she was thinking of doing, it wasn’t like it would be a secret.
“And you didn’t regret it?” She asked, studying Shelby.
