Page 122 of The Encore’s Crown

“Some people are shameless,” I say as I sit.

Kasia smiles from across the table. She looks happier than she did when we first came home. Still missing Rafe, obviously, but now there’s anticipation beneath it. A countdown instead of an open wound. Halfway through dinner, she sets down her glass.

“The tour’s almost finished.”

Mama immediately brightens. “Rafe's coming home?”

“Soon. They have a few more shows, then press and meetings in Los Angeles.”

“Meetings,” I repeat, keeping my voice neutral.

Kasia nods. “Rafe says they’re planning something after. Some industry event. He was vague, which means it’s either genuinely complicated or he thinks he’s being mysterious.”

“Probably both,” I say.

“He said I should come. And…” She looks directly at me. “You’d be interested too, right?”

My stomach tightens.

“In an industry event?”

“You had such a good time on tour.”

There’s so much hope in her face that I understand immediately. She thinks she's solved me. She thinks I’ve been miserable because Japan and Korea gave me a glimpse of the life I want. Luxury hotels, backstage passes, beautiful clothes, content that performs better than anything I can create in Seattle. She thinks ordinary life has become dull after standing beside stages and watching famous people move through the world. She thinks inviting me back into it will wake me up.

She has no idea she’s inviting me directly back into the fire.

“You’d get great content,” she continues. “And there will be brands there. People you could meet. Rafe said he can get your name added once everything is confirmed.”

Mama looks delighted.

“You should go.”

“Obviously she should go,” Aga says. “She came back from Japan looking like someone had unplugged her from the wall.”

Kasia watches me, waiting for the first real excitement she’s seen in weeks. I swallow and put on the smile. The good one. Bright enough to make people stop asking questions.

“That’d be amazing,” I say. “Just let me know when, so I can arrange it with the temp job.”

Kasia’s face lights up.

“I knew you’d want to.”

Conversation moves on around me. Rafe coming home. Flights. Hotels. Whether Mama can send food with Kasia without airport security assuming she’s smuggling enough pierogi to feed a small country. I smile when I’m supposed to. Beneath the table, my hands tighten together in my lap.

Kiri will be there. Maybe Radhika too.

The worry begins as something small and cold in the center of my stomach.

Then it grows.

Chapter 43

What A Tragedy

Natalia

It's only Tuesday and I already regret everything.