Both my eyebrows went up in shock. “Four states?”
“And five stages of grief. We made up somewhere around Wyoming.” Jake shrugged. “We all got over it and became bros again like nothing ever happened. But this is the longest we’ve ever gone without talking in personortexting, since we’re supposed to be taking a break from each other.”
“Wait, hold on.” I pressed my fingers to my temples while Jake patiently waited for me to collect my thoughts. “I’m missing something—if you guys got in a fight and agreed not to talk right now, then why does your manager want you to perform together?”
“Marie didn’t like our decision to take a mini vacation from each other instead of doing more promo. She wants everyone back together and on good terms before we start our tour,” Jake explained. “Even if we aren’t in danger ofactuallybreaking up, Marie says she can’t have a repeat of the Great Midsummer’s Fair Incident.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what happened at the midsummer’s fair?”
“We had some dumb argument on the drive there and didn’t make up before we got onstage. So we each stood, like, four feet away from each other and avoided eye contact the entire time we were singing. A local reporter called it ‘social distancing choreography.’ It was a disaster.”
Yikes. “I can see why your manager wants you guys to go back to being friendly so badly.”
“Yeah. That’s why if I get everyone back together for her, Marie’s offering to fund the performance and put it on the official channels. Well, that,” Jake added wryly, “and because I’m sure she thinks it’s great promo for our tour.”
“So is she going to ask them?”
“No.” Jake made a face, crinkling his nose. “That’s the thing—she wantsmeto get everyone back together.”
“Why you?”
He avoided my gaze. “Because I’m sort of the one that started the fight?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Seriously?”
Me. His bandmates. His ex, Livie. Nice to know I wasn’t the only relationship this guy had problems maintaining. Apparently, it was just a thing with him. The Jake Moody starter pack contained: One smile as cryptic as his texts, eyes that mayhaunt your daydreams (or possibly your nightmares), and the never-ending thrill of wondering when he’d disappear off into the mist. Press his hand to hear him sing!
An easy fix for your problems not included.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to start anything,” Jake said defensively. “Yeah, Phillip and Aspen were fighting me at first, but then they somehow started arguing witheach other. They’re like Tom and Jerry. How’s that my fault?”
“What was the fight even about?”
Jake hesitated before blowing out a breath. “Nothing. Like I said, it was just stupid stuff.”
“Well, do you think we can get them to agree to come down here?” I asked. Jake didn’t answer, looking away, and I reached out for him on instinct. “Please.”
Jake didn’t look up at me; instead his focus caught on my fingers curled around his wrist.
“We need this,” I pleaded. “Ineed this.”
Jake’s eyes jumped to mine. He took a deep breath, “Let’s—”
Before he could finish his sentence, we heard a sudden shout.
“Lucy,” Amber called. “Are you organizing the pantry again? Oh my God, I just figured out why Sylvester looks so familiar, he’s actually—”
Without warning, the pantry door swung open fast, hitting the wall with a reverberatingbang.
I leapt backward, bumping my back hard against the shelves. The box on the shelf above me rocked back and forth, making the bell toys inside clink threateningly. I put my hands up to shield my head right before the box tipped over, its contents spilling onto Jake and me in a jingling cascade.
Clink! Clink! Clink!
“Ouch!” Jake tried to get out of the onslaught, but slipped on a ball, tumbling forward and falling into me instead. He let out a strangled noise as we both started tipping over.
Desperately trying to keep himself upright, Jake made a mad grab for the shelf behind my shoulders, only to accidentally cage me in against him with his arms in the process.
My first thought at seeing Jake accidentally arched over me was,Oh, that’s close. My second thought was,Huh, Jake’s arms are pretty toned.And my third thought went something along the lines of,What? Why am I noticing his biceps? Did I inhale catnip?
