AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m positive she was about to make a comment about how much money I have again.
“Lauren works in marketing. Serena is about to start her last year of law school. Once she graduates, she’s moving back to South Carolina. That’s where her family and her fiancé live. They’ve been doing long-distance for two years, which is pretty impressive.”
I blink, taken aback by the amount of information she just shared. And part of me resents it, realizing how cynical I’ve become. How I’m used to editing chapters of my life to make sure anything I say won’t change the narrative my career has been carefully crafted around.
“Were you all friends in college?”
Piper shrugs before reaching for her water glass. The strap of her tank top slips, perilously close to the edge of her shoulder. “Sort of. We were friendly. Living together was more for convenience than anything. Neither of them is into music.”
“And you are?”
Her eyes dart toward mine, surprise and irritation clearly reflected in them. “Yes.”
It’s my turn to shrug, then reach for my glass. Enjoying how she tracks my movements, as if she can’t believe I have the audacity to hydrate after saying such a thing.
“Why would you think I’m notinto music?” she finally asks, her tone indignant.
I swallow and set my glass down. “I don’t know. You never seemed that enthused about sitting in on the meetings I was at. Aboutmusic.”
“Well, that’s—that was…”
I raise one eyebrow as I cut through layers of cheese and pasta, enjoying listening to her stutter. Mostly because I know exactly what she’s not saying—it was because of me. Because she doesn’t think country should be considered music.
“I want to discover new artists,” she finally says. “Find hidden talent. Not help singers who are already successful.”
“Is that what your promotion is?” I ask, keeping my eyes on my plate. Wary this is a touchy subject.
“Yeah.” Her answer is soft, just as tentative.
“Not everyone has what it takes.”
“I know.”
“You’ll have to hand out a lot more noes than yeses.”
“I know that too. And since I’ve actually heard noes, I think I understand what that means better thanyoudo.”
It’s disappointing—but not surprising—that we’ve ended up back in this place where Piper’s convinced she knows everything about me. Especially amusing, considering she didn’t even recognize me the first time our paths crossed. Instead of accepting it the way I’ve always done, I push back.
“I’ve heard noes.”
“You got signed after one audition. You were an overnight sensation.”
“You work at a record label, and you think I was anovernight sensation? Come on, Piper. Months of work went into that first album launch.”
“That’s nothing compared to the musicians who spenddecadeschasing success.”
“So, you’re trying to discover some new hits for retirement communities? Because if they’ve been trying fordecades, something isn’t working.”
Piper exhales, setting down her fork. “Or they haven’t had the right opportunity.”
“I’m not denying resources matter. I’m saying if you’ve tried at something for decades and not gotten anywhere, maybe you should try something different.”
“That’s awfully cynical.”
I laugh. “Guess how I got this way.”
“Maybe that says more about you than about music.”
