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Guys tended to like photos of equipment and the guitars Sterling and Moby used. She always made sure to include a photo of the bass or of David playing. The first time she had, multiple commenters thanked her and made jokes about everyone forgetting the bassist.
Girls and women tended to want more pictures of Sterling and the rest of the band. When they had their meeting, he said he hated having posed photos taken, so they kept those to a minimum. Which was better, since she didn’t have to talk to him taking casual, in-the-moment pictures. Though it did make her feel like a stalker.
Especially considering the fact that Sterling had spoken only three words to her since their conversation on the back of the bus. She had counted. (More stalker behavior.) He’d said “thanks” when she passed him a napkin while they were all eating in the green room. “Sorry” when they had almost run into each other walking on the bus. And “yeah” when she had asked about filming the sound check at the last show.
It’s what she wanted, right?
Not really. Not at all.
But it was probably what she needed. Seeing Morgan in his bed had made jealousy rise so fast and hard in her chest that it hurt. Physically hurt: stomach clenching, chest burning. For two full days afterward she felt jealous every time she saw him talking to Morgan. And they talked a lot.
Reese couldn’t feel that way for him. She just couldn’t. It made her feel out of control and emotionally wired. Whatever flirtations had passed between them probably meant way less for him than it did for Reese. She rarely dated and hadn’t had a long-term relationship. Things always seemed to fizzle out. A few relationships died more dramatically, with her most serious boyfriend cheating on her with another girl who went to her church. That did a number on her heart. Especially since she still saw them from time to time on Sunday mornings.
Did Sterling go to church? They hadn’t talked about this subject and it wasn’t really a possibility on tour. Reese had been trying to slip into a routine of having a devotional or prayer time, but with a different schedule every day it was hard. She could see how easy it would be not to crack open her Bible for the next two months. About as easy as it was not to bring up this topic with Sterling. Especially since they weren’t talking.
She tried to remind herself that this separation was necessary to do her job. And keep her job. But yeah, it sucked completely to lose out on the connection they had been forming. It felt like a new friendship had been ripped away from her. And the hope of something more. The irony was that she needed Sterling to like her so that if she quit her job, she could count on his recommendation. Would Sterling have anything good to say about her?
Maybe this was God’s way of guarding her heart. She didn’t know where Sterling stood in terms of his faith. And it’s not like she had given much indication of hers. Reese had a Bible in her bunk and read it most mornings, but it’s not like he saw that. It was the kind of thing she should probably have brought up before, but she hadn’t thought of a good conversation starter or segue that didn’t sound weird or awkward.
As the sun began to reach that intense light as it neared the horizon, crowds began to filter into the amphitheater. Reese did a panoramic shot of the mostly-empty seats. She would come back later and do another once the sold-out crowd filled in. Now that the tour dates were all sold out, she had been sending people to Sterling’s mailing list. It had grown by ten thousand since the tour started.
Most people obsessed over social media since that was public facing, the shiny number of followers right out front. But Reese knew that getting subscribers onto an email list had greater value. More sales were made over email than any other medium. She hadn’t talked with Sterling about this, but had created a nurturing email sequence for new fans. If he wanted to go out on his own rather than stay with his label, he’d have a solid email list to sell to right off the bat.
Kevin had been pleased when he called for an update earlier that day. He brushed off the email list bit, as he definitely cared more about public numbers, but loved everything else.
“You really locked this down,” he had said.
“Thanks?” Reese hadn’t quite understood that phrasing as it related to her work.
“You’re just starting the tour, though, so make sure you keep it up. Long game, Montgomery. I need you to impress me for months, not a week. This has set the bar high. Hope you can keep it up.”
Reese had no response to that, which was fine since Kevin hung up after that last comment. After that conversation she bought a domain name and messaged a web designer who owed her a favor to get Reese Montgomery Social Management set up. Privately, just in case Kevin had some kind of weird radar for her or something. But that was the first step toward actually moving on. Too bad she couldn’t give her notice before the tour ended so she wouldn’t have to ever set foot in the office again. But Kevin would likely pull her off the tour the second she did anything to make him mad. Which would include quitting.
The crowd was starting to get louder and Reese ducked to the side backstage, moderating comments on the video she’d posted earlier. She should probably hire a virtual assistant to handle simple things like deleting comments from trolls or the occasional self-promotional comment from trolls.
Reese had her face in her phone, which is how she missed Sterling standing there with his shirt off.
“Hey,” he said and she literally jumped back a step.
Four words. That was her very first thought: he had now spoken four words to her in the last few days. Then she realized he was shirtless.
“What? Hey,” Reese said.
Her eyes fell to his bare torso, but she jerked her gaze away immediately. He probably thought she was responding to him shirtless, but the truth was that Reese had simply been so focused on the phone that any person would have startled her.
Though Sterling James shirtless was enough to send a woman off-balance. Even with that quick glance, she could see that his broad build had solid definition. The kind that could have been immortalized on a calendar or something, even though as far as she knew, Sterling had never been shirtless on any kind of promotional photos. Maybe because of the scar across his chest? She had seen the long white line as she dragged her eyes away. She fought the desire to run her fingers along it. Or to ask where he got it.
“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize you were changing here. Why are you changing here?”
She forced her eyes back to his face so she could have a conversation like a normal person and not like some fan ogling his bare chest. He had just pulled on another black T-shirt and ran a hand over his hair.
“Morgan leaves shirts for me when it’s hot. I thought there was one in the green room, but they were all up here so I just changed here.”
“Oh.”
“I’m not a diva. I just don’t like getting sweat all over my guitars. It’s hot.” He smirked.
Reese couldn’t help but smile back, like she had just been waiting days for this chance. Basically, she had. “I never said you were a diva. I think you’re the furthest thing from a diva, actually. I’m sure your guitars appreciate it.”
