AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Everett.”
“What?”
I blew out a breath, deciding it’d be too hard to be honest with him and not let the conversation go down the very dark road we’d traveled together. “Yes, I’m living the dream. I am. And a lot of people are dependin’ on me to put food on their tables. You have no idea how many employees it takes to manage a career like mine … so I’m grateful, and that’s all there is to it.”
“’Cept it isn’t.”
“What?”
“That isn’t all there is to it.”
Why had I even come in here looking for him? This was Everett. On what planet did I think we could have any sort of conversation without it getting too real? He’d been my best friend my entire life; not speaking for the last six years couldn’t erase that.
But since we were already halfway into this and it’d be weird to get up and walk out, I pursed my lips and decided to try. Sort of. “Do you think we can talk about it objectively—like the friends we used to be—and not bring up the elephant in the room?”
He tilted his head. “Elephant? What might that be?”
I stared daggers at him. “Really?”
“Okay, okay,” he said, palms out in surrender and an easy smile on his handsome face. “Pretend I’m not ‘The One Who Got Away’ and talk.”
I rolled my eyes but leaned forward on the counter. “It’s just that … the music I’m playin’ now isn’t the kind I imagined myself playin’. Sure, that night at the Bluebird I’d played my up-tempo tracks because it was supposed to be a lively crowd, but I didn’t think the label would turn me into Pop-Country Barbie.”
He laughed in earnest then, shocking me with how right it felt in my soul. “With the perfect pink convertible to boot.”
“Hush.”
“Not to mention the Ken Doll.”
Nerves shot up my spine, and I straightened. Did he know my relationship with Riley was nothing but an elaborate ruse orchestrated by our meddling managers? Could he tell that we looked like the perfect country duo because we were made to look like one and not because we actually were? No real relationship was as “perfect” as the fake one I had with Riley. Every bit of it was fashioned for public consumption, including that time we’d broken up and gotten back together just to keep people talking.
Before I could fish for whatever Everett may or may not know about Riley and me, he sobered a little, and a deep line appeared between his brows. “Seriously, though, you didn’t have any control over this new version of yourself?”
“Not really. You thought I did?”
“Well, sure. I didn’t have any reason to think you were all hat and no cattle. It wasn’t like we talked.”
I cleared my throat, playing with the end of the single braid that rested over my chest. “Right. Well, um, when they first signed me, I was young and eager to prove I’d be worth the signin’ bonus. It all happened so fast, and before I knew it, I had a brand and an image, and if a song didn’t fit what they’d built, they didn’t allow it on the album.”
“I see.” He seemed to think it over for a minute, then shrugged. “Well, Riley sure likes this new Laney Cole.”
Hmm. Now, who’s fishing? I couldn’t reply, though, because the sight of his jaw flexing under that scruff of facial hair had distracted me beyond belief.
“And, I gotta ask—if you were unhappy with the whole thing, why’d you keep doin’ it?”
Snapping out of it, I widened my eyes at him like he’d just suggested I run down Main Street in my birthday suit. “What was I supposed to do? Leave my record company and come back home with my tail between my legs?”
“Why not?”
“Everett.”
“I’m serious. You tried it, and you didn’t like it. No one would have judged you.”
“What would you have thought?” I asked, keeping my voice low so he couldn’t hear how unsteady it was.
He straightened, rising to his full height, all humor gone from his expression. His jaw flexed in a much different way as he looked down at me. “What would I have thought if you’d decided you didn’t want to be a country star anymore and came back to me?” Too late to backpedal, I nodded, unable—or unwilling—to audibly reply. “Darlin’, if you’ve gotta ask …”
I sat on the edge of my seat, waiting for the end of that sentence. But he didn’t give it to me. He just shook his head, so much sadness in his eyes that it cracked my heart in two. Then he turned on his heel and walked out the front door without another word.
