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Cue the waterworks.
Her gaze grew blurry. “Landon is a neurodiverse learner like Aria and me. But he thinks he has to hide it to save face in the music world. Here’s the thing I can’t get past: he would have signed that contract and sold me out instead of asking for help.”
Charlotte leaned toward her. “Did he sign it? Does the record label have it?”
That was the million-dollar question.
She rocked back and forth. “I don’t know. He hadn’t when I was still there, but I left for the airport minutes after the call with the lawyer ended. And before you say I should give him another chance, there’s more. There’s something else.”
Her friends sat silently, giving her space to gather her resolve.
“The record label attorney asked Landon if he thought I wanted to pursue my own music.”
“Like as a solo recording artist?” Penny pressed.
“Yeah.”
Libby leaned in. “What did he say?”
It was like her heart was breaking all over again.
“He said he didn’t think it was the right time for me. With him making such a big change in his sound, he said that he thought we should wait on my prospects. After the call ended and I confronted him, he said he got the feeling that deep down, I didn’t think I was ready, like something was holding me back.” Her bottom lip trembled. “He doesn’t believe in me—in my talent.”
Believe.
That word had fed her soul. Now it tore it to shreds.
She’d been such a fool to fall for another musician.
“Harper, your talent is undeniable,” Charlotte said, conviction brimming in her eyes. “When you sang ‘Every Time You Break My Heart’ the way you wrote it, it was a showstopper.”
“That video has millions of views on LookyLoo. You know that, right?” Penny pressed.
Millions of views?
“No,” she rattled, “we were so focused on Aria and the new music, we’ve completely ignored social media.”
“I think you’re wrong about Landon. He sure looks like a man who believes in you,” Libby said and twisted her cascade of jet-black hair into a bun. “When you sang together at the last challenge, he gobbled you up with his eyes like you were the best thing since…” She held up a bonbon. “Since one of these.”
That’s how she’d felt in that dreamy, lyrical, cotton-candy encrusted moment.
Unstoppable.
Unbreakable.
But was it because she believed in herself or because Landon was by her side?
She’d spent the last few days furious with the man and hadn’t allowed her mind to go there.
“What was the last thing you said to him?” Charlotte asked.
She closed her eyes and exhaled a shaky breath, recalling the pain etched in Landon’s expression. “I told him that I believed he used me like Vance used me. I told him he was a coward for hiding his neurodiversity, and I told him that he doesn’t really love me.”
“Oh, H,” Charlotte lamented.
“Then,” she whispered, “I double-dog dared him to prove me wrong.”
There it was. Another Harper and Landon double-dog dare. Would the man rise to it, or was this the end?
