AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can understand all that,” I said. “It’s a hard habit to break, that need to make your parents proud.”
“Yes. So, I did it. I didn’t want to let them or my team down. I got on the stage sicker than a dog. And it was going well. I mouthed the songs, made sure I lined up with the track. I have an excellent production team who went above and beyond to make sure no one was any wiser. We got away with it. Until one of the production team started talking. One of the paparazzi who was relentless somehow got ahold of a statement from one of them about what I did. And he had audio of Jasper talking to him about it.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. It was a different world than I was used to. And maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.
“Jasper cut a deal with this guy. We’d pay him hush money and agree that he’d get an exclusive on ten outings and backstage access for the next three concerts if he kept it quiet. So, things were all good—until a few weeks later, when I came here instead of living up to our agreement.”
It was making sense now, why Jasper and his parents were so desperate to get him back.
“Apparently, they couldn’t keep him patient any longer. So here we are. My career is imploding.”
“I don’t think it’s imploding. Give it a few days and people will be off to the next thing.”
He stared at the bagel in front of him, not taking a bite. “Maybe. But I hate that I let them talk me into sacrificing what mattered to me for money. I hate that I got up there and lied to my fans. It’s always been about the music for me, not the money. I gave in that night.”
“You’re human, Leo. And you weren’t doing it for you. You were doing it for everyone who depends on you. If you ask me, they should feel guilty for pushing you so much.”
“That’s just the business, though. They don’t tell you that when you’re a kid dreaming of being a star. They don’t tell you that once you’re in, you’re imprisoned by success and fame. They don’t tell you that singing, music, doing what you love becomes such a miniscule part of it all, you’ll wonder if any of it was even what you wanted.”
I could see the sadness and recognize the regret in his voice. At the core, Leo was a dreamer, too. And I knew a thing or two about dreams going awry.
“But maybe this is a good thing, Leo. This is a chance for you to put your foot down and make decisions on how your career is going to be. It can be a wakeup call for everyone that you’re in control, and you don’t have to do it the way they want to. It’s your chance to grab the reins of your singing and your career and get back on track with what you really want.”
“If anyone even still wants to hear me sing,” he said.
“Well, I for one can vouch that you have a great voice. You’re talented. If you can make a song in a dive bar sound that good in karaoke, you have my vote,” I said, smiling. “Now let these stupid tabloid papers fade. Take some time to sort out what you want in your career while you’re here, away from the pressure. And then, when you decide to come out of hiding, you’ll own it. You’ll make the choices and decisions. And you’ll take care of what you want for a change. Sounds like a good thing to me, even if it took a lip-syncing scandal to get there.”
He grabbed my hand then and kissed it softly. I shuddered, feeling connected to him even through the sadness. Perhaps especially because of the sadness.
“You’re right, Tillie. Thank you. I think for too long, I’ve just been living in the shadow of what everyone wants me to be. Maybe it’s time for a change for me, too.”
We dug into our bagels, and we stopped talking about work. We talked about Pickles and the cat sweater Leo’s neighbor agreed to make him. We talked about the crab boil coming up that weekend I wanted to take him to at a local restaurant I’d frequented as a child. We talked about needing to pick up our paintings we forgot about and maybe trying a new recipe later in the week.
We stopped trying to be the Tillie and Leo the world expected us to be. Instead, we were just Tillie and Leo, two people connected and excited about the little things. Maybe that was the real magic we’d found in each other—that with each other, we didn’t have to be anything specific or successful or proper. We just had to be.
Chapter Thirty
