“Impatient.” Juliettsked at her with a smirk as she paused at the desk against the wall opposite the bed, then tapped on the top of –
“Is that one of your top-of-the-line humidifiers?” She asked when she realized what Juliet was doing, what the little machine was over on the desk. She hadn’t noticed it earlier, but she’d been preoccupied.
It wasn’t the same one Juliet had in her bedroom, which was freestanding and a lot bigger. But it looked, possibly, like the same brand?
It very quietly hummed to life, a background noise Darcy was now very familiar with.
“Clearly, yes,” Juliet answered, putting her hands on her bare hips as she nodded down at it. “Especially after today, it’ll be good for you.”
Darcy’s vocal cords could absolutely use a bit of a reset, especially given that tomorrow wasn’t a rest/travel day, and they had another show. “You sure came prepared to spend the night.”
Juliet’s eyebrows wrinkled together dismissively as she made her way back to the bed. “The humidifier isn’t forme. Yes, I have one that I travel with on tour. But that one,” she gestured across the room, “I bought for you.”
She’d looked up Juliet’stop-of-the-linehumidifiers after they’d spent their first couple of nights together, just to get a sense of what that even meant. The brand sold those little machines for literal thousands of dollars.
And Juliet waved her hand at this one as if it was nothing, as she was handing it off to Darcy.
“That’s–” Her refusal of a gift that costthousandswas cut off by Juliet’s stern stare as she climbed back under the covers, settling in next to Darcy.
“Trust me.” Juliet’s tone yielded no arguments. “You, Blythe, and Emerson are all going to appreciate having it on the tour bus. You’ll see.”
And because she knew Juliet, she knew that if she argued with her on this, they’d get nowhere. Also, other than the cost, Darcy didn’t want to argue; Juliet’s special humidifierwasgreat. She just couldn’t fathom spending that kind of money on one herself.
She leaned back against the pillows, softness washing through her. “You bought us one of your fancy humidifiers.”
“You have over twenty shows left on your tour,” Juliet said, as if it was that simple.
As if to say: of course, she dropped a ridiculous amount of money on a gift for Darcy, why wouldn’t she?
“I know. I just…” Darcy trailed off, narrowing her eyes slightly as she ran them up and down Juliet’s profile, really taking her fill.
Taking in those sweet, barely-there freckles on the bridge of her nose, and the softness of her lips, and the gentle slope of her nose.
“It’s kind of funny,” she whispered. “How carefully you guard your image of being asweetheart.”
Juliet raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. With interest, perhaps, at where Darcy was going, as she drawled, “Yes, that is so funny.”
Very lightly, she reached out and pinched Juliet’s thigh under the blanket, making her laugh and twitch her leg away. “The funny part is… so much of your image is just that. Image. But therealityof who you are is genuinely very sweet.”
Juliet’s eyes rolled so hard as she huffed out a breath. “Darcy. It’s a humidifier. Let’s not break out the comparisons to Mother Teresa just yet.”
“I’d never make that comparison, first of all, because I like the sharp parts of you,” Darcy promised, honestly. She didn’t want theimageversion of Juliet, sugary-sweet. “But it’s not just about the humidifier. It’s about the hospital visits. And you coming here to see me today when my mom’s interview got out. And the fact that you make personalized gift baskets for all of the producers and their families whenever you work together–”
“How do you know that?” Juliet broke in, turning sharply to face her again.
“Dustin told me about it when we did ‘Porchlight,’” Darcy informed her, thinking about how excited Dustin had been, telling her about the last time he’d worked with Juliet and what she’d sent him and his wife. “He was very excited to work with you again. That’s one of the things we talked about before you arrived the first day.”
Juliet’s cheeks tinged slightly pink, even as she shrugged.
“See?” Darcy pointed at her face, delighted by the response. And more than a little besotted. “I’m just saying that you do a lotof kind and thoughtful things. Things that youcouldpublicize a lot more for public praise or recognition. But… you don’t.”
Which, actually, didn’t make a whole lot of sense, when she thought about it. She wanted to know every nook and cranny of Juliet’s mind, wanted to hear her explanations for every piece of information.
But Juliet was quiet, staring across the dark room as the seconds crawled by. For so long, Darcy didn’t know if she intended to respond at all.
Juliet finally moved, plucking lightly at the down comforter with her fingertips as she said, “I need the distinction. There’s Juliet-the-public-image, and there’s Juliet-for-real, but if I do Real Juliet things and let it mix into the perception of who I am, it… it muddies things. Not for other people, but for me.”
Darcy supposed that made sense. “Country Sweetheart Juliet always keeps it light and friendly. Cute–”
