Page 78 of Until We Come Home

It goes straight to voicemail.

“Dammit, pick up,” I whisper, panic tightening its grip on my chest.

Nothing.

I stand on the pavement, lost. I can’t go back inside to face the pitying looks in my floral stage dress. I start walking down the street, needing to get as far from the theater as my feet will carry me.

CHAPTER 22

Mateo

I’m out on the terrace with a beer, away from the party for a minute, telling myself it’s for the air. Mia’s performance ended an hour ago and I’ve been trying to get to her ever since, but she’s been swamped the entire time. My phone died somewhere around the speeches, which feels about right for tonight. So, standing alone in the blustery Seattle wind seems like my best shot at a clear head.

From up here, the city lights stretch out into the dark, reflecting off the water in the distance. I take a slow sip, resting my elbows against the railing as the breeze cuts straight through my jacket.

The heavy terrace doors creak open behind me, and I turn to find Calvin stepping out into the cold, his expression unusually grim as he scans the dark deck.

“Hey,” I say, straightening up off the railing. “You alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah,” he says, letting out a low breath. “I was looking for you inside. Did you hear what just went down with Mia and Derek?”

My chest tightens.

“No,” I say. “What the hell happened?”

“Derek proposed to Mia right in the middle of the room,” Calvin tells me, his brow furrowed.

My mind goes blank for a beat. I knew he was planning to ask her, but I figured he’d wait months, not spring a spectacle on her in a room full of strangers right after her performance. She’d despise every second of a public stunt like that. He had to be out of his mind. Then panic cuts through the disbelief. What did she say? I look up at Calvin, waiting for the rest.

“She turned him down,” Calvin says.

I can breathe again. And right behind the relief comes a quiet, fierce certainty that I can’t let her walk away again.

“Thanks, man,” I say, already turning toward the door.

“She’s not in there,” Calvin says, catching my arm. “She took off. Lark and Maren have been calling her for twenty minutes and she’s not picking up. I’ve been all over this place looking for you because I figured you’d...” He stops and looks at me, and whatever he sees makes the corner of his mouth come up. “Well. You know.”

I stop, meeting his eyes, the cold wind whipping my hair across my forehead. If Mia needs to clear her head, there’s only one place in this city she’d go.

“Thanks, Calvin,” I say. “I know where she is.”

Without waiting another second, I hurry down the stairs into the night.

Meridian is dark and empty with the whole staff across town at the benefit, but the side door by the studios is the one Mia’s always used after hours, and it gives when I pull it. I step into the dim corridor, navigating by memory past the quiet studios until the soft strains of a piano lead me to the far end. Studio C.

I push the door open.

Mia jumps at the noise, her eyes wide and wet with fresh tears as she looks up from the floorboards. She’s curled up in her green floral stage dress, her braids unraveling around her shoulders, only a few petals still clinging to the chestnut strands.

Even like this, she looks like something out of a dream, soft lilac eyeshadow around her hazel eyes, flecks of glitter on her cheekbones. She leans back against the mirror wall while a slow, melancholy song plays from the speaker in the corner.

“Mateo,” she says, her voice small. “What... how did you find me?”

I let the door click shut and walk across the fir floor, dropping down to sit beside her with my back resting against the glass. “Calvin filled me in on the scene with Derek. It wasn’t hard to figure out where you’d run after something like that.”

“Ah. That disaster.” Her laugh comes out thin and rueful. “Yeah. I looked for you first, but the crowd was wall-to-wall and I just needed to breathe.”

“I figured as much.” I look over at her. “Are you alright?”