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Staci smacked Reese on the arm. Now they were both giggling. “If he comments on my booty on the first date …”
“Deal breaker?”
Staci met Reese’s eyes in the mirror. “I would normally say yes, but honestly, I don’t know what this man could do that would be a deal breaker. You loved him, right? He’s good?”
“Very good. Tomorrow we can go look at bridesmaids’ dresses. I get to choose since I’ll be your maid of honor.”
“My sister might kill you for that spot.”
“Let her come at me,” Reese said. They were laughing so hard that they almost didn’t hear the doorbell. Staci’s eyes flew open and she began frantically dropping things from her makeup bag.
“Get it! Get it! Tell him I’ll be right there. I just need to find my lipstick.”
Reese hopped down off the bathroom counter and made her way to the door. She knew it was just Moby, not Sterling. But a part of her hoped. They were back in Nashville. That meant Sterling was here in the same city. Somewhere. Probably in his mansion. Did he have a mansion? She didn’t even know. That thought made her achingly sad.
But when she opened the door and Moby burst in, it was hard to stay sad. He enveloped her in a hug with his signature wide smile. “You are not the woman I’m here for,” he said. “But it is so good to see you. How are you? And where is my woman?”
Reese didn’t get to answer before Staci walked into the room. Reese stepped away from Moby. This was the first time they had ever seen each other in person. From their expressions, neither was disappointed. If her heart ached any more tonight, Reese might need a new one. Moby looked like cupid had just shot a thousand flaming arrows into his chest. Staci’s face could hardly contain her smile.
And then they ran to each other, just like in a movie, but right there in their cramped apartment living room. Staci squealed, and Moby picked her up off the ground, spinning her around, his laughter filling the room. Reese blinked back happy tears. Mostly happy tears. She wanted happiness for her friend. She did. If only she could see her friend happy without feeling sad herself. Maybe with time, Reese would stop thinking of the way she momentarily had her own happiness, only to have it all fall apart as fast as it came together.
Moby and Staci didn’t seem to notice as she slipped away, shutting herself in the bedroom. Reese had an exciting night of client work, sarcasm intended. She should be glad to have clients, period, but it was hard to find joy in anything since Sterling.
When she had finally called to tell Kevin that she quit, he had shocked her by offering her a raise. Of all things.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” he had told her. “That was a brilliant move. Everybody wants the Spin Doctor. When can you come back in?”
Hearing his words had made it all the more satisfying to say, “I quit.”
Though she used almost zero social media for herself, Reese did have a LinkedIn profile. When she went to dust off her profile and look for job postings, she found her inbox flooded with people wanting to work with her. Within a few days she had her website up and running and she was in business. With Staci on the payroll, they could take on ten to twenty high-level clients at a time and do better than either of them had been doing at Azul.
It couldn’t have gone better if Reese had planned it. She definitely had not, though people thought the whole thing was a part of a grand plan. They definitely gave her too much credit. As much as she had wanted her own business, she would not have gone through so much heartbreak to get it.
Personally, the tabloids had made her life difficult for a few weeks, but as she knew it would, the story about Sterling died down. In a secret call to Morgan, Reese had advised her that the best strategy was to keep him performing well.
“Don’t let him do anything interesting except on stage,” Reese had told her.
“You’ve met Sterling, right?” Morgan had joked. “He barely does anything interesting. Giant introvert. Add lovesick to the mix and he barely leaves the tour bus.”
Love sick? Reese had wanted to ask more, but she couldn’t handle it. That was the last time she had talked to Morgan, probably six weeks before. Sterling certainly didn’t seem love sick based on the videos from his more recent stops. Reese knew more than anyone that appearances didn’t tell the whole story.
A part of her had expected that his tour might suffer or his shows would lack the energy he had before she left. It was super egocentric to think that she had anything to do with his performances, though. If anything, he got better as the tour went on. Only on really, really low days did she allow herself to search Twitter and Facebook for fan videos. With only Morgan running his social media, his official accounts were pretty much ghost towns, which was unfortunate. She still had all the passwords. She had thought about logging back in, but it’s not like Reese could upload videos from her house. Also, that would be full circle to creepy, stalker behavior.
Launching a business had helped distract her from thoughts of Sterling. At least a little bit. But knowing the tour was over and seeing Moby in her living room made it hard not to wish and hope.
Lord, let me focus.
Not on Sterling.
A few hours later, Reese had finished almost a week’s worth of social media scheduling for clients when her phone buzzed on the desk.
Staci: Coming home! But I forgot my keys. Can you unlock the door?
Reese: Just knock. I’ll come open the door.
Staci: Unless you want to see me locking lips with my BOYFRIEND, you might want to just leave the door unlocked.
Reese: Done.
