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I shook my head.
“You’ve never read it? It’s a classic high school read.”
“Didn’t do much reading in high school,” I said, bypassing the fact that I’d been homeschooled and the only things I read now were scripts. “But Fitzgerald’s quite a name.”
“Yeah, we call him Fitz. My sister’s name is Shelley. Familiar withFrankenstein?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen a couple different Frankenstein films.”
Bronte smiled like I was an adorable idiot. “They’re based on Mary Shelley’s book.”
“Of course.” Who knew this flight would come with an English test as well? “And what about your name?”
“The Brontës are three sisters who wrote a few books in the early nineteenth century, likeJane EyreandWuthering Heights, but they all died young in their twenties and thirties.”
“Yikes.” I pressed my head into my seat, ignoring Wes’s voice in the back of my mind, reminding me that the brightest flames always seemed to burn out the fastest. I might have been hailed as a genius in my craft, but Wes had said that didn’t mean I had to go out in a blaze of glory.
I pushed all that away and focused on the woman next to me. “Bronte is unusual, beautiful. It suits you.”
Her porcelain complexion turned pink. “Thank you…? I’m sorry, I didn’t even get your name.”
My stage name, CJ, almost dropped from my tongue, but I swallowed it. She clearly didn’t recognize me, and I wasn’t about to spoil it. “Chris.”
Bronte stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Chris.”
I liked hearing my real name after being CJ for so long. And it wasn’t because she was saying it. That fact had nothing to do with it.
Or, maybe, a tiny bit to do with it.
“My pleasure, Bronte.” My thumb caressed the back of her hand for a moment before I let go, and if she twitched in response, I pretended not to notice. “What were you doing in Chicago?”
“One of my best friends lives about an hour outside. She had a baby two months ago, and I went out there for my birthday, along with my two other friends.”
I smiled. “It’s your birthday?”
“It was Saturday. Turned twenty-six.”
“Happy birthday.”
She nodded her thanks. “The four of us try to get together as much as we can, but with Gemma having the baby and all of us living all over the place, it’s been impossible lately.”
“You spent your birthday with a two-month-old?”
“Yeah, it was great. Gem felt bad, but…” She shrugged. “Those girls are my best friends. Hell or high water, we’re getting together. Plus, I’m totally a type A personality, and it was relaxing for me to go there and do some dishes for her.”
“You did the dishes?”
“Well…” She laughed. It was breathy and kind of embarrassed, and it was the loveliest sound I’d heard in a long time. “Her fiancé has it pretty much covered, but yeah. I don’t mind. I’ve got a bunch of nieces and nephews, so I’m used to the baby panic.”
“How many?”
“My brother has three, and my sister is pregnant with baby number two.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Quite a brood.”
“Mm-hmm. Do you have any?”
“Nieces and nephews?” I asked.
“Yeah. Or kids, too, I guess.”
For a second, I was tempted to give her some family history, but I tossed the idea out as quickly as it came in. “Nope. None of the above.”
“Yeah, me neither.” Her gaze skated away from a moment, and I could almost see her mind working on something, before she met my eyes again. “So, if you aren’t a bandit, what is it you do, Chris?”
That was the question. It was now or never.
* * *
