Page 109 of Undone By The Mountain Daddies

Who cares if these people see the real me? I’m out of here before the day’s over. Nothing will matter.

My phone immediately starts ringing. I accept without looking to see who’s calling as I drive through the gate, assuming it's Jules wanting to meet up for coffee.

Instead, I hear a male voice. One I know much too well.

“I hear you’re back in LA.”

Holden.

Fuck.

I roll my eyes, winding down the streets as I head toward the city. “Who told you that?”

“I have connections.”

Of course. I forgot how much Holden gossips with our nutritionist. Jules must have told Stacey that I was coming home.

“Meet me for a coffee on Rodeo Drive.”

I adjust my Miu Miu sunglasses. We just talked yesterday. Was that not enough for him?

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“You’ve got quite a day ahead of you, I hear. Where are you going now?”

“Why?”

“Just tell me.”

I hesitate as I make my way around a tight corner. I haven’t really thought this morning through.

I need to show my face, redeem myself, whatever, but LA is only just waking up.

So what do I do now?

I’ve been repeating the same things for so long that I now do them without question. Green juice, Pilates, shopping. Like I’m on autopilot.

I never used to be a routine kind of girl before I started acting.

“Sienna.”

“Ugh. Let a woman wake up first before you start bombarding her with questions.”

“I asked you where you’re going.”

“To get a green juice. Chillax.”

Holden always wakes up with the sunrise. He was the same when we were together. But he usually stays off his phone for the first hour—some dumb circadian rhythm thing.

And now he’s calling me—twenty minutes after sunrise, breaking his rule. Lucky me…

“Okay,” says Holden. “I’ll meet you there.”

“No, I don’t want you meeting me there. I’m going alone.”

“You have less than two hours before people start work. They’ll be checking their emails, finding out you’re back, and hounding you before you have time to hit the shops after your green juice. Is that what you want?”

“I don’t know what the fuck I want, Holden, other than for you to leave me alone and let me deal with this. By myself.”