He raised an eyebrow. “Really? You keep in touch?”
“No, we didn’t, but we ran into each other recently. Had dinner last night, in fact.” She would probably kill me for telling him that, but maybe that’s what I was hoping for, some reaction from her. I couldn’t deal with her just writing me off.
“You did?” He frowned. “Where?”
“At her hotel.”
He scowled at me. “You’re kidding.”
Knowing it was time to come clean, I said, “It wasn’t a date, Austin. We were just clearing the air. Things didn’t end well between us, but we were just kids back then. I wanted to apologize, to let her know I’d never meant to hurt her.”
“Why?” His dark eyes narrowed. “I had a lot of relationships that ended badly, but I didn’t feel the need to make amends with any of my exes. You just chock it up to life experience and move on.”
I strummed my guitar, thinking about the song Codie inspired when I couldn’t fall asleep last night. Since I’d stopped drinking, I picked up the guitar whenever I had the urge to drink. I’d never been more prolific, but getting through every day without a drink still took Herculean effort.
“It’s not that easy to move on from a girl like Codie. She gets under your skin, stays with you.” I looked up at him. “Fair warning, if you intend to take things any further with her.”
He raked a hand through his cropped dark hair, looking frustrated. “Mav, this is awkward as hell. I’ve never dated a woman one of my artists had an interest in.”
“Did I say I was interested in Codie?”
“Come on, man. I’d have to be blind not to see it.” He paused a minute before pointing at me. “I saw video clips of the show last night online. That girl you wrote the song for, the one you dedicated it to, it was Codie, wasn’t it? That’s why she was in town, to see the show?”
I nodded, knowing there was no point trying to deny it. Austin always asked me who or what inspired my songs, so we could flesh them out during the production process and I’d told him the truth: that I wrote Codie’s song for the only girl I’d ever loved.
“Jesus.” He swiped a hand over his face, closing his hand. “This sucks, man. I can’t believe Codie’s the girl. Your girl.”
I should have claimed she hadn’t been mine in a long time, that she was free to date anyone she wanted to, including him. But I wasn’t that evolved yet, and didn’t think I ever would be.
“I don’t even know what to do with this.” Austin leaned back against the edge of the kitchen counter. “I meant what I said, I like her a lot. I think we could have something special.”
“I’m not gonna tell you not to date her.” Though I wanted to. “That’s your call.”
“But I’m your producer!” He sighed heavily. “You know what it could do to the music if there was resentment between us? Trust is everything between a producer and artist. I don’t have to tell you that. And I can see you’re gonna be a star, man. I want to be a part of that.”
“I want that too.” I meant it. I loved working with Austin. We really clicked. “You get me, and my music. I don’t want to work with anyone else.”
He shook his head, swearing softly. “You know what this means, don’t you? I’m going to have to tell Codie I can’t see her anymore. And I hate that! I hate having to choose between my career and a woman I care about. But I always choose my career, that’s what cost me my marriage.”
I assumed as much, though I’d never admit aloud that given the choice I believed Austin would choose working with me over dating Codie, because that would make me the same selfish asshole who dumped her all those years ago, and I didn’t want to be that guy anymore.
Austin groaned, tipping his head back. “I’ll call her later, let her know why I can’t see her anymore.”
Codie would probably be out for blood when Austin laid this on her… my blood.
* * *
I smirked when Codie’s name flashed across my screen a few hours after my meeting with Austin. “Hey, gorgeous. What’s up?”
“You are a conniving, manipulative, hateful bastard! Do you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.” I tipped my water bottle back, taking a deep swallow.
“Are you drinking?”
“Just water, babe. But it’s nice to know you care.”
She growled. “I don’t care! I don’t care what you do. You can drink yourself to death if you want to.”
