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“I definitely think it’s the right way to go. Let the past be the past,” Mina said. She blew him a kiss. “And I have to run. My shift at Search and Rescue starts in twenty minutes.” She waved at the screen, then stood and disappeared from view.
Let the past be the past. He could do that when it came to Grey’s mistakes. He wasn’t finding it quite so easy to do with his own most recent screwups. He ignored that and focused on his screen. “What about you?” he asked Faith. “Don’t you have CloudFest stuff to do?”
Faith tilted her head. “I’ve got a bit of time.”
Something about her tone made him uneasy. “I have to be back in the studio soon.”
“Where it’s all going just ‘fine’?”
He could practically hear the quotes around “fine” in her voice. He wasn’t fooling her. He’d have to try harder. “Yes.”
“Then why do you look like crap?” She pointed at him. “Your face is not the face of a man blissfully happy making an album with his dream producer.”
Zach set his jaw. “I’m just tired. Jet lag.” Even to him, his voice sounded unconvincing.
Faith snorted. “You want to try that again? You look miserable.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. Neither of you is fine.” Faith said then clamped her lips together as though she wasn’t supposed to say that last part.
Leah. He’d told himself he wouldn’t ask. But he had to know. “Is she okay?”
Faith scowled. “No. She looks the same as you. You should come home. Fix it.”
“I need this album.”
“So make it with Leah,” Faith said. “Is Davis really so much better? Do you like what he’s doing more? Because you don’t look like you do.”
He could always rely on Faith to see right through him. But it didn’t really matter how he felt, did it? Not after what Billy had done. “I need his rep.”
She shook her head fiercely, hair flying around her face. “That’s crap. You need to be happy. The music won’t make you happy if you screw up the rest of your life. You have money. You have resources of your own. You can make this album work. You don’t need Davis Lewis or anybody else. Except Leah. You were so happy when you were here with her, Zach. That means something.”
It did. And he wanted to feel that way again. But he’d made a choice. “I can come back when I’m done.”
Faith opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then sighed. “If you wait that long she won’t be here.”
“Excuse me?” What the hell did that mean?
“Leah’s leaving after CloudFest.”
Leaving? Leah was leaving Lansing? That felt like a fist to the gut. Stole his breath. Leah gone? God. Had part of him been banking on going back to her? “Going where?”
“I’m not telling you that,” Faith said.
“But why would she go?”
“Because there’s nothing keeping her here.”
Not with him gone, is that what she meant? His gut clenched again, as though a second blow had landed. Leah gone. Out of his reach. Because of him she was blowing up her life. Shit. Maybe Billy was right. Maybe he was just like Grey. He didn’t want to be. Grey had always put music first, not people. Zach had never had the guts to ask him if he’d thought it was worth it. But somehow he knew it wouldn’t be for him. But he didn’t know if he could be different.
But, he realized, he wanted to try. There had to be a way. To do both. To be great at music and at life. To do it with Leah. And suddenly, he had an idea how.
He straightened. “You know, I read the festival agreement, after Billy pulled his stunt.” It hadn’t done any good at the time. It had only said what Faith had already confirmed. Though now …
Faith leaned forward. “And?”
“Do you have it there?” He was pretty sure he’d deleted the e-mail that Faith had sent him with the documents. Which wasn’t nearly as satisfying as tearing it into pieces. It felt like weeks ago.
