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I nodded. “They screwed you over, yeah. I don’t blame you for taking a year off music production and never going near them again.”
She scratched her arm absently. “So… that’s where the dumbass part comes back in. They offered me another gig. And I took it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Masochistic all of a sudden?”
“Iguess.Hell if I know. Just…” She looked down, fussing with her wallet as she got her card out. Eventually, she mumbled just under her breath. “It’s still ahugelabel. It’s the highest-profile gig I’ve ever been offered. And I just… there’s tons of other producers who work with them all the time. And maybe one bad experience doesn’t mean they’re always going to be awful, you know?”
“I guess, but…” I pursed my lips. “Should I have a cake ready and waiting to comfort you if they fuck you over again?”
“No. I don’t…” She drew herself up taller, forcing in a breath, to meet my eyes. “I don’t think it’s going to go like that. I feel confident. It’s a big company. There’s more than one person there. This team I’m with is completely different from the one before. The guy—I checked—the guy who gave me the gig and then cut me off before, he’s not working at the label anymore altogether. And I know I regretted it and cursed the heavens and wished I’d never taken it, but… I want to give it another chance. Give the company another chance. Give…”
I paused. “Give yourself another chance,” I said, finally, and she nodded, her gaze dropping again.
“I guess… yeah.”
“You’re still dealing with what it did to your self-confidence last time. And you want to prove that it was a fluke.”
She let out a harsh sigh. “I guess? Maybe. That’s a generous way of looking at it. I thought maybe it was just that I was a dumbass who was easily tempted by money and recognition.”
“Can be both.” I took her card, swiped it through the machine. “You know, EM? Go for it. Give them hell. I think it’s a good idea. You know that even if they screw you over, it won’tblindside you, and that you can recover. So if this feels like something you need to do, then do it.”
She relaxed into the biggest, most relieved smile, taking her card back as I handed it over. “God, I needed to hear that. I mean, Aria said so, too, but… she’d support me with anything, no matter how harebrained. Thanks, Harps. Just please… if this goes badly, please wait for, like, atleastsix weeks before making fun of me for it.”
“Will do.” I pulled off the receipt, tossing it into the trash. “I’ll sign a contract and everything. But I don’t think we’ll need it. You’re going to ace it. I know you’ll come up with something good.”
“Well, yeah. I’m a genius.”
I laughed drily. “Paisley’s rubbing off on you.”
She put her hands on her hips. “She’s my best friend, we’re going to do that. Just because she wrongly thinks she’s a genius doesn’t mean I can’t know I’m a genius.”
“Yeah, yeah. I can see the similarities on rare occasions.” I handed over her bread and cupcakes, a dry smile on my lips. “You’re all set, Emberlynn. I’ll see you at the picnic, then?”
“Yeah, I’ll text you the updates and stuff. Thanks again.” She took them with a soft smile, taking a step back from the register. “Catch you there.”
She was a good person. A good producer, too, not to mention a good friend. I probably could have just told her. I needed to get it off my chest tosomebody,before it tore me apart.
But just… not today.
I was going to miss this place. It was nice seeing what kind of bread Emberlynn came in to buy each morning.
Chapter 2
Paisley
The bubble tea shop was sickeningly adorable, just the way it should have been. Jamie was in line in front of me, and that jerk took forever to order and I had important things to do here, so I sent him a text telling him to look out the front door, and when he checked his phone and turned to the front door of the place, I cut in line in front of him just as the person Kay was ringing up now moved on ahead and gave an opening for me. Jamie shot me a betrayed look, but he’d live.
“Hey, Paisley,” Kay said, beaming at me. “What’re you having this time?”
I put my hands on my hips. “You.”
She faltered. “Er… I’m taken. That’s really flattering, though!”
Kay was unbearable sometimes. She was so sweet and sunshiney and positive, and I still couldn’t get my head around the idea thatsheof all people in this world was dating Gwen, the crabbiest woman I ever adored.
Still, she had fit right into Bayview ever since she moved here in December. She was the kind of bubbly, easy personality everyone in town liked, and at the rate things were going, people were going to start likinghermore than they likedme.Which—really, it hardly seemed fair, didn’t it?
She fit the aesthetic of the place like a horse fit the water, or whatever the saying was—with her bright blue hair and piercings, wearing the pink-and-blue uniform of the place, she looked like a set piece here.
