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It took a lot of people to run Harper’s little kingdom. Everyone seemed to know exactly how they fit into the big picture…except me.
The newness of this situation felt odd and more than a little disorienting, but maybe that was to be expected. Being both Harper’s assistant and his boyfriend was obviously going to take some getting used to. So was the fact that I was (sort of) living here. I could see why we’d both hesitated to make it official, given how fast everything had happened. But it left me in a weird kind of limbo. I lived here, but not really. But I did. No wonder I felt like I was adrift.
Chapter 11
The next several days were utterly exhausting. I accompanied Harper to countless interviews, appearances on TV and radio shows, fan events—it went on and on. There was a lot of buzz about his upcoming sci-fi action film, which was good, but this never-ending cycle of answering the same questions and posing for photos and smiling for the cameras was taking its toll on Harper. He fell into bed soon after we got home every night, then got up the next morning and did it all again.
On the day before his birthday and the U.S. premiere of his film, we arrived on the set of the Allison Show. Allison Hall had been the undisputed queen of daytime talk shows for the last decade, after a successful career as a stand-up comedian. She and Harper got along great, and she always introduced him as one of her favorite guests.
She dropped by his dressing room before taping began, and after she gave him a hug, she turned to me and stuck her hand out as she said, “You must be Phoenix. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
That completely threw me off. I’d been to this show with Harper and other clients on at least four occasions, and she’d never acknowledged my existence. I shook her hand and murmured, “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
I didn’t know what had changed until she said, “I watched a couple of the videos you and Harper posted online, and they’re just wonderful. The chemistry between you two is off the charts! Since Harper brought you along today, I think we should call you up onstage in the middle of his interview. We’ll pretend it’s spontaneous, and that I’m ambushing you. The audience loves it when I do that. What do you say?”
My mouth fell open. I was so surprised that Harper ended up answering for me. “He’d love that. Right, Phee?”
“Yeah, but you’re here to promote your new movie,” I told him. “I don’t want to get in the way of that.”
Allison waved her hand dismissively, “We can do both. I’ll tell my producer, and we’ll shift a couple of things around. I was going to do a funny headlines segment, but this is fresher so I’ll cut the other bit. Let’s have you sing something for us, too. How about that sweet love song from the second video you posted? I’ll have my band leader run over and hand you a guitar while a crew member puts on your mic. Act like you didn’t expect that, either.”
“I…um, okay.”
“Great,” she said, as she headed for the door. “I’ll see you both out there.”
Once she was gone, I turned to Harper and asked, “What just happened?”
“You’re about to get priceless exposure by appearing on the Allison Show. This is great!”
“But…why?”
“The videos we posted are going viral, and Allison obviously wants to cash in on their popularity. She’s actually being really smart by getting you on her show first, before her competition has a chance to snatch you up.”
I asked, “Why would her competition care about snatching me up?”
“Because you’re right on the verge of a major career breakthrough, and they’ll all want to be a part of that success story.”
He said that like it was an absolute fact, but I reminded him, “My career’s been circling the drain for years.”
“Not anymore. Did you take a look at our videos yet to see how many views they’ve gotten?”
“But people are watching for you, not me. I’m just the guy who’s also in the video with gorgeous, popular movie star Harper Royce.”
“My name might be what gets them to tune in,” he said, “but they’re responding to your music. You know, you really should hire an agent, since you’ll need to start fielding requests any day now.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“It’ll happen. I’m sure of it. Appearing on Allison’s show is about to give you a huge boost, too.”
I’d barely processed any of that before a production assistant showed up to walk me through what was going to happen. I was led out to the set and introduced to the band leader while another crew member offered me a choice of three guitars. After I made my selection, the PA said, “We’ll mic you up once you’re seated beside Harper on the couch. That way, it’ll look like Allison spontaneously decided to pull you onto the stage.”
