Nigel stopped the car at the arched doorway, opened her door, then grabbed her bag. As she stepped out of the car, she could hear music coming from the side of the house and looked to see if she could find it. It wasn't music she recognized and she wondered if there were other artiststhere,too.
"This way, Miss," Nigel said as he led her along the walkway towards the music. Curving along the house, they came to a smaller building, not much larger than a two-car garage. Above the front door was a red light. Nigel pressed a button then placed her bag next to her. "They'll be rightwithyou."
Listening to the rhythmic sound of the ocean beating the shore, she got lost in thought and didn't notice a young man open the door. His dark blond hair was shaved close to his scalp and he wore a white tank top under a grey hoodie with jeans. Briefly thinking he looked like a girl, she knew he looked familiar but couldn'tplacehim.
"Lucky Saldano?" he asked with an Irish accent. "I'm a big fan. I heard you were recording today but didn't know if I'd run into you. We should do something sometime. I really love those new songs you performedontour."
"Thanks. Umm…Jake, right?" She suddenly realized he was the latest teen pop star. "That soundslikefun."
"I've been trying to get people to take me seriously, you know. I know what they think of me. This album I'm working on here is going to blow everyone away. I'd love for you to give it a listen onceit’sdone."
"Sure, sounds great,thanks."
She followed him in and he brought her to a room with a large couch and several chairs. In the corner was akitchenette.
"Sorry, I was running late today. I don't mean to cut in on your time," Jake said. "If you're not dating anyone, maybe we could go out sometime while we're bothintown."
"Oh well, thanks, but I'mnotsure..."
"Callme."
He handed her his card and walked out of the room. Shaking her head, she tried not to laugh and thought of how funny Jordan would think it was. She pulled out her phone and begantextingher.
"Did that little shit try putting the movesonyou?"
Her breath caught in her throat as she heard his unmistakable voice. Her heart did its usual flips when Jude was around. She was afraid to look up. She couldn't move. She didn't want to be disappointed in case she finally lost her mind and was makinghimup.
The sound of his boots thudding on the floor mimicked the pounding heart in her chest. His hand covered hers and slipped Jake's business card out ofherhand.
"Hey, he gave that to me,"shesaid.
"Were you going tocallhim?"
She finally looked at him. Jude had that playful half smile that always wrecked her. His smoldering green eyes locked onto hers and she gasped softly, forgetting to breathe for amoment.
"No, I just thought it was funny. I was going to showJordan."
"Good. I couldn't take it if you chose him over me," Jude said with a laugh as he handed the card back. "Nice ring, bytheway."
She grinned stupidly and felt her cheeks burn again. Quickly texting Jordan "he's here," she slipped her phone back into her bag and could hear it dinging with Jordan'sreply.
"Why are you here? Do you know the producer?" sheasked.
"I am theproducer."
"Huh? ButRichardsaid--"
"That he entered into an exclusive deal? After I got out of that contract Donna negotiated, Richard and I got to talking. He knew what I really wanted to do was produce and write songs. That's why I was in that contract for so long. He refused to let me create music if she was going to benefit. Once he found a loophole, the contract was done, and well, here we are at my homestudio."
"Wow. So he tricked me. He knew I'd never come here if I knew itwasyou."
"And why is that? After everything we shared. Why did youendit?"
"I…I don't know. I think I was afraid,"shesaid.
"Ofwhat?"
He wrapped his arms around her, letting his hands rest on her hips, and looked into her eyes. Lucky thought about the songs they wrote about each other on the bus. She remembered their time together, not just LA or New York, but all the other cities, too. Then she thought about her time without him and her chestached.
