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“Harvest Ranch.” Emily laughed a little at Cadence’s blank face. “Oh, it’s really small, but beautiful. My brother met his wife there.”
A gentle smile rested on Cadence’s lips. Neither of them had to say what a miracle that was. “It’s a great place to raise a family then?”
“Oh, definitely!” Now that they were talking about Harvest Ranch, Emily felt herself relax even more. Cadence had a gift. “It’s so pretty. Lots of green pastures and this time of year, the mountains are perfect for hiking. The people there are so friendly… just like the country songs say they are.”
Cadence burst into a laugh. “What about the men? You got anyone special over there?”
Emily flushed again. “No one special… exactly. I mean, there’s a family of really nice guys.” The weirdest thing was that they were all related to West Slade, the man she blamed for setting River on his crash course of drugs and partying, and yet… one face in particular came to mind—more than it should. He was kind of a player, which was really too bad, because Nash Slade always made her smile. “They have twins…” she said.
“Twins?”
“Yes, very attractive twins—too attractive, if you ask me. One of them is in Nashville. I haven’t seen him yet, but…” She was babbling now, because she noticed Cadence was watching something over her shoulder.
Emily followed her gaze and caught Cadence watching her boss with an anxious expression. Lacy Lynch had slipped away from Mia and was deep in conversation with three men in dark suits. They all held drinks, though judging by their serious faces, they were probably talking business. Was Cadence supposed to join them for her job?
Emily didn’t want Cadence to get into trouble. She tried to wrap up the conversation. “Anyway, you’d love it.” She noticed that behind the sparkles of gold makeup, her friend seemed tired. Her friend had helped her so much and she felt desperate to return the favor. “You should come and visit,” she said impulsively. “Take a break from your job. I bet it’s exhausting.”
“It is,” Cadence admitted.
The despairing note in her friend’s voice made Emily’s heart sink. For a moment, she forgot her own troubles. “You know, I won’t be there for the next few months, but…” a strange idea took form and for some reason, her concern for her friend just made her run with it. “Hey! You look like you could use a break. My apartment is adorable. It’s just above the soap shop where I used to work sometimes—Sudz. It’s really cute, too. Makes the apartment smell amazing.” Emily noticed Cadence’s eyes shift back to Lynch. “The point is that if you ever find that you need a vacation away from it all, come housesit or something; I’d love for you to water the plants while I’m away.” Porter, Nash’s twin, had the job now, but honestly, he would just kill them with his neglect. “But… yeah…”
Cadence cracked a smile, but at least she looked touched and didn’t watch Emily like she’d suddenly turned cuckoo. “How about I wait for you to get back to come? I don’t want to waste good vacation time without you.”
Emily let out a laugh. Of course that would be better. Why had she felt compelled to make such a strange invitation anyway? Squinting with embarrassment, she nodded. “Good! I mean, I can’t wait to introduce you to all those sweet people over there.”
“It sounds nice.”
And Cadence was sounding wistful again. Emily touched her arm. “The offer always stands.”
“You’re wonderful, you know that?” Cadence turned back to Lacy Lynch, her long dangling diamonds swinging around her strong neck.
Emily immediately felt bad for keeping her. “Well, I’d better go set up.”
“Of course.” Cadence hugged her again.
Strangely, Emily had the sense that Cadence was using the loving move to also comfort herself. Her arms tightened over Cadence. “Do you still have my number?”
“I’ve got it.”
Emily nodded, deciding that she’d call Cadence soon, so they could really talk. Her friend was seriously stressed. Becoming a senior associate in so short a time in her competitive field would take a lot of hard work.
Cadence released her, watching Emily like she was the last friend that she had in the world. “We’ll get together soon!”
“You bet.” Emily watched Cadence leave, biting her lip. Something felt off there. Cadence headed straight for Lacy Lynch, like Emily suspected that she would. She hovered near the fringe of men for a bit, but instead of joining her boss, she backed away. Cadence must’ve decided that she was needed elsewhere. The crowd covered her from Emily’s sight.
Sighing, Emily headed for the stage. Cadence was excited to see her perform, but the rest of these socialites might be harder to impress.
“Emily is such a goody two shoes. Does anyone else feel like when she’s looking at the camera that she’s judging you?”
“I can’t believe that she even sings about love. What does she know about it… or about anything?”
“What a fake.”
She tried to push away the criticisms from her mind. She wasn’t supposed to care what people thought of her, only God’s opinion mattered, right? She should be true to herself and her purpose, but… she was in a business where she needed to sell records. And so in the beginning of all this, she’d tried to chalk up the rudeness to jealousy, spitefulness, her inability to find her target audience,anythingrather than concede that her harsh critics we right about her. And now?
Ugh. Where there was smoke, there was fire, right? Her perfectionism was getting to her—her need to prove herself, to impress, to succeed in this business, and so it forced her to listen to the most painful of her reviews, to try to figure out what her critics were saying. For some reason they felt like she was out of touch. They might have a point. As she witnessed the sparkling appearances and jaded exchanges of wit and laughter in these people around her, she realized that she had no idea how this other half lived their lives.
How could she relax enough to connect with any of them, especially after losing her confidence? She didn’t feel like she belonged at all. Was she supposed to? Or did an artist just shine like a star and share the beauty within?
