***
Marie shook her head at us over the video call. “No.”
My jaw dropped as my anger rose. “What?”
“No?” Jake asked at the same time. “What do you mean, no? We have an experienced guitar player.”
“No, what you have is a retired teacher who hasn’t performed in the past decade, let alone performed in anything bigger than a local bar,” Marie countered. “I can’t gamble your reputation on an unprofessional livestream with an unknown who’s only got an hour to study the sheet music. I can’t risk that.”
“What do you mean?” Jake argued. “Of course you can—”
Marie sighed. “Jake—”
“Randy’s good. I’ll vouch for him myself.”
“Jake,” Marie said, firmer this time, “I let you talk me into this against my better judgment. I was desperate to find a way for you boys to stop fighting and get back together before tour, but I should never have green-lit this performance. Look at your wrist! This is the second time that girl’s nearly ruined you.” I blanched in shock and confusion as Marie jabbed a finger at me. “I stopped her from wrecking the band once, and I’ll do it again.”
“Don’t call Lucythat girl,” Jake said, his voice unexpectedly fierce and protective. “She— Wait, what do you mean you stopped her before?”
“She’s been a problem since day one,” Marie said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she took in an angry breath. “When the band first got together, you were easily distracted, even more than the others. I needed all four of you to concentrate on the band and your goals, not be caught up in what you left behind. You were already struggling. Then, one time when youleft your phone behind for dance practice,hertexts came. Little Luciana, who wrote how much she missed you and asked if you could ‘talk about the kiss.’ I knew she’d be too much of a distraction. I couldn’t risk you losing focus or getting homesick. So I deleted the messages and secretly blocked her number.”
Jake’s lips parted in surprise. Instinctively, he turned to look at me, hazel eyes blown wide.
I could only gape back as the truth settled in. Marie blocked my number. Jake never knew about my texts. All this time, I thought Jake had been purposely ignoring me, when that wasn’t the truth at all.
Jake turned back to Marie, his eyes as stormy as a hurricane. “I always thought Lucy never texted me back, but she did, and youknew. Youstoppedit.”
Another thought hit me, deep and sharp:
From Jake’s point of view,Iwas the one who hadn’t wanted to stay in touch and stopped writing. It looked likeIwas the one who gave up on us.
All this time, Jake thought I ghostedhim.
“You had no right to do that,” I told Marie, fury rising within me. I didn’t care how powerful that woman was; she’d been wrong, and I wasn’t afraid to let her know.
“Lucy’s right. I don’t have a three-sixty contract,” Jake added. “You’re just supposed to manage my singing career, not my personal life.”
“This wasaboutyour career. And you should be grateful,” Marie scolded. “I kept you from giving up.”
“No, you didn’t,” Jake argued. “Ikept me from giving up on my dream.Ikept going. What would’ve actually helped was knowing my friend was trying to talk to me! Instead, you mademe think that one of the people I cared the most about in the whole world hated me. I should’ve been happy that my dream of being a singer was coming true, but instead, all I did was worry that Lucy never wanted to talk to me again.”
My heart thudded painfully against my ribs. Had that been what Jake thought all this time?
And yet he still cared—cared enough to come all the way down here for me.
“I can’t get those years I missed with Lucy back,” Jake continued, “but Icanstop you now. We’re doing the livestream.”
Marie arched an eyebrow. “Really? I’m the band manager. What do you have to bargain with?”
“The truth,” Jake answered, without even thinking about it. “Let Lucy have the livestream, or I’ll tell everyone what you did.”
“You can’t,” Marie shot back. “You signed an NDA. Your contract states you can’t purposely disparage me unless you’re testifying due to a crime, which this is far from.” She scoffed. “There’s nothing you can do to damage my reputation.”
“But I can,” I realized, my gaze meeting Marie’s. “I never signed an NDA. This is my story as much as it is Jake’s.”
Marie’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” I stepped closer to the screen. “You’d do anything to protect yourself and the band’s image, but I’ll also do anything to protect this place.”
