“Don’t you walk away.”
I obey her. This woman was more of a mother to me than my own ever was. The minute I stepped away from fame, my parents dropped me. They hardly even call anymore.
“We can never predict what is going to happen or where lifewill take us. Waiting on my health is pure folly. You have one shot at this life, and you have the perfect woman waiting for you out there. Are you really going to lose her because of something so silly?”
“It’s not silly,” I say firmly.
Grandma softens. She puts down the spatula and frames my face in her hands. “Don’t worry about me. Haven’t you seen improvement since Bree showed up? I’ve walked to her house many times. That’s only the beginning.”
I don’t know whether to buy it or not.
“If you make me the reason you lose out on that woman a second time, I’ll never forgive you.”
“Ouch, Grandma.”
“Well, I won’t. If you walk away, it’s your own dang fault. You can’t put that on me.” She huffs, picking up a rag to wipe batter from my shirt. “Now you can go.”
“Love you.”
“Well,thatis clear.”
I can’t help laughing as I make my way outside, but she’s given me a lot of food for thought, too. I agree with her, and I don’t want to get in my own way. She’s right. I’m scared, and I need to push aside those feelings and face a future with Bree. It would be better than anything I’m imagining anyway.
I get in the Bronco and close the door. “Is Bree hiding in the back?”
“Yes,” comes her muffled reply.
“You think Peter has made Zoey and Olive crazy yet?” Colby asks, chuckling.
I give him side-eye. “Why is that so funny?”
Colby shrugs. “One of them deserves to have her feathers ruffled, that’s all I’m saying.”
“I heard that,” Bree says. She must move the blanket because it’s easier to hear her now. “What do you have against Olive, anyway?”
“Nothing. She’s…fine.”
“That wasn’t convincing.”
“Trust me,” Colby says, pulling onto our street. “It’s mutual.”
I watch Bree scoot back under the blanket to hide and think,Same.
29
BREE
The dayof the music festival, I peek through the front blinds of Colby’s house and notice more than half the paps are missing. Pulling out my phone, I send a message to Benny.
Bree
Freedom at last??? Most of them are gone!
Benny
They’re probably staking out the festival. I bet they’ll all be gone in an hour or so.
Relief floods my body. It’ll be nice to ride in a car without laying under a blanket. In the week since we cleaned Nancy’s house for her bunco night, we’ve spent most of our time in this house or sneaking to the beach in wigs and sunglasses. So far, no one has spotted us out and about.
