Page 19 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“Yeah, yeah. She doesn’t use Russo. Maybe I shouldn’t have even told you, but...” he put his greasy bacon finger to his lips.

“Yeah, no. I won’t mention it.” I stepped to the door. “Ian Pope owns this apartment building? Why did I think you owned it?”

“I wish. His corporation owns it, and I manage things for him.” Matt glanced over his shoulder. “Between you and me? He just gave me the gig to keep me out of trouble.”

“And does it?”

A smirk hovered on his handsome face, and he tousled his auburn hair with one hand, flexing his bicep. “Mostly.”

“Okay, well, I’ll leave you to...Destiny. Thanks for letting me know about Jane.”

I emerged from Matt’s place and took a deep breath of fresh air. That explained how I landed this apartment in West Hollywood after my roommate got married and moved her husband into her place. The agency had found the it for me, and I knew we did some work for Ian Pope.

I’d have to tell Conor that Ian was my landlord.

But first I wanted to check out the tour bus. Once I secured Jane in the apartment, I finished my makeup. As I grabbed my keys, my phone rang, and I saw Dad’s picture on the screen.

“Hey, Dad. I was just leaving.”

“Just checking up on you, kiddo before I go to sleep. Everything going well out there in Hollywoodland?”

Ever since I chose music over medicine, Dad always thought I was one step away from living under a freeway overpass. If I did wind up there, he’d find a way to buy the freeway.

Mr. Rafe Alexander Martine the third, was a career diplomat and had connections everywhere. Embassies, government offices, security firms. If you needed a problem solved, someone always seemed to owe him a favor. And he used those favors to control people. He didn’t understand my world. Didn’t want to.

Mom was a doctor and when she died in a car accident during my pre-teen years, Dad did everything to get me and my sister, Vivienne to take her place in medicine. It worked with Vivienne, who practiced in Boston. Never worked on me.

And he never got over it. He never stopped trying to control every aspect of our lives.

“Everything’s going great. I’m up for a promotion, and I’m running PR for a whole tour on my own.” I didn’t know why I bothered trying to impress Dad with my accomplishments. They would never be enough. I would never be enough.

“A concert tour? Cool. Who’s it for, Bruce Springsteen?”

I rolled my eyes at Jane. “Artists a little more modern than Bruce. Ashley Bennett, Conor Flynn, and Ji-yoon.”

He snorted. “Never heard of any of them. Wait. Conor Flynn. Is he the kid from that boyband you liked?”

“I more than liked them, Dad. I coordinated PR for them from the beginning—right before they got huge.” I don’t know how he could forget Conor. I cried like a baby on Vivienne’s shoulder when Conor left, and my sister usually told Dad everything.

“Will you be traveling with the singers?”

“I don’t know about traveling with them, but I’ll be at every venue across the country. We start in LA and head to San Diego, making our way across the southern part of the States.”

“That’s nice, kiddo. Do you have enough money to get by?”

“I’m good, Dad. It must be late in...Paris.” I had to think about where he was stationed. He still moved around a lot.

“Just about ten o’clock. I’m going to read a bit and turn in. You have fun on your tour, Noelle.”

“Will do.” As I ended the call, I grumbled to Jane, “Fun. This is my job, Jane.”

She licked her paws in agreement, and I blew her a kiss as I walked out the door.

The bus was in a studio parking lot near the airport. The tour companies that supplied buses often parked them in this studio lot before the tours hit the road as they had the space.

Tour bus life was nothing new to me. I accompanied Five2Go on their first UK tour. That’s how Conor and I had...gotten close. Did I want that again? I’d be just a part-time visitor this time, and I’d encourage Ashley to take up full-time residency.

Maybe I’d never gotten over Conor, but I also never got over the way he ghosted me when the band went to Australia. My heart couldn’t take another thrashing.