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Reese shook her head. “My phone is off. I can’t handle it today.”
“What happened, though? I mean, I talked to you and one minute you were giddy and then you’ve broken up and now you’re here. What am I missing?”
Reese thought of Sterling’s face as he stood in the hallway that morning. His whole body, so tensed with anger. It had been less about her and more about his own battles. She knew that. But she also knew that she couldn’t fix him. Right now, with whatever he was going through in his own internal struggle, a relationship was the last thing he needed. She couldn’t be with someone who flew into a rage over the idea of prayer. Sterling was wounded. Maybe if he wasn’t so wounded or was even open, not closed off. But he was.
She shook her head. “We talked more, and it became clear that he has some baggage—maybe a lot of baggage. And anger. I don’t think he could handle a relationship. I definitely couldn’t be with him the way he is right now. It wouldn’t be healthy for either of us. It was just a silly dream.”
Staci leaned her head on Reese’s shoulder. “Aw, sweetie. I’m so sorry. Maybe …”
“Nope. I’m not going to let myself think of maybes. I’ll turn on my phone tomorrow and deal with the fallout of all this. Tonight I need sleep. And probably to text Morgan and tell her I won’t be back.”
“I’m sure Kevin has already been in contact with her.”
“Oh, right. I’ll call him in the morning. Then we’ll look for new jobs and see if it’s a better idea just to move back home. But I really like Nashville. I’d rather stay.”
“Me too. Austin’s not so bad, though.”
“No, it’s not. As long as we can be together, I’m okay. I’m sorry I messed up all our chances to start our own company, though. I’ll be black-balled for sure after this.”
“It’s okay, honey. That was your dream, not mine. I’d work for you, but I want to find a guy, settle down, and have a bunch of babies. Does that sound very 1950s of me?”
“I was just thinking yesterday that I might fit in at an Amish community. Maybe we should move to Pennsylvania. Sorry—back to you. If you find the right guy and just want to be professionally married or professionally momming, who cares.”
“Would it be weird if that guy is Moby?”
She smiled at Staci. Reese had suspected that things were moving along with the two of them. Moby had seemed even happier the last few days and Staci had been unusually quiet. “You really like him, don’t you?”
“I do. I feel like we’ve known each other forever even though we haven’t met. I think he’s going to fly here and see me the next three-day break on the tour. I just don’t want it to be too hard on you if it reminds you of Sterling.”
“Everything reminds me of Sterling. I’ll be fine. I want you to be happy and you being happy makes me happy. Moby is a really great guy.”
“Yeah, he is.” Staci got a dreamy expression on her face and Reese excused herself, saying that she was jet-lagged as she went to her room. But the truth was that she was heart-broken. And while she meant what she said about being happy for Staci, seeing the happiness on her face was only a painful reminder of how she had felt that same way, only to have her happiness yanked away as fast as it had been given to her.
As she sobbed into her pillow, trying to muffle the sounds so Staci wouldn’t barge in and try to comfort her, she prayed.
Lord, I should have sought you first in all this. Maybe it would have turned out differently. Help heal my heart. And if you’ve got someone out there for me, make it obvious that he’s the right one. Don’t let me make dumb choices without you again.
* * *
When Sterling got back to the tour bus after a bumpy flight to Denver, he hoped to find Reese, not Morgan, in his room. As he walked onto the bus, the reactions from the guys were way more chill than he expected. It was a practiced calm, a little too forced, but he was at least glad that he didn’t have to answer any questions. They obviously had heard about the news stories and had been instructed not to say anything.
When he had finally gotten the chance to look at the headlines in his hotel room, he saw all the photos of him kissing Reese. This made him look like he was cheating on Morgan and gave more credit to the whole baby-Daddy story. They both knew this was a possibility but hadn’t anticipated telephoto lenses catching them on her hotel balcony or out by the pool.
Morgan spun at the sound of the door opening. Crossing the room, she threw her arms around him. “I’m so sorry about all of this,” she said. “Are you okay? I can’t even believe it.”
“Yeah, me neither.” He pulled back and dropped his suitcase. Morgan sat down in a chair and Sterling sank onto the bed. Where was Reese?
Sterling had gotten back to the hotel after seeing May off and went straight to Reese’s room. But housekeeping had been cleaning it out. The front desk said that she had turned in her key card. He found the note in his room after asking at the front desk. If he felt bad before about how he behaved, he felt worse now. Especially seeing how she signed the note. Love, Reese.
Did she … love him? Or was that just how she ended notes? He put it in his pocket, wanting to keep it close until he saw her. He tried calling Reese a few times, but phone went straight to voicemail and the voice mailbox was full. He wouldn’t have left a message anyway. His emotions weren’t trustworthy at the moment. For now, the note was all he had. He assumed she got to the airport and took an earlier flight. They left from LAX all day long.
“Where’s Reese?” Sterling asked, sinking down onto his bed. Morgan gave him space, staying across the room. Hopefully this meant that they were done with the whole fake relationship debacle.
“She didn’t come back with you?” Morgan asked.
Sterling felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his gut. A shaky breath escaped. “She was gone this morning after—uh, she left sometime earlier this morning. I thought she’d be here, doing damage control or whatever it is she does.”
Morgan looked a little sad. “Her boss called. You are no longer her client.”
