Page 20 of Smoke and Glitter

I turn the heat lower.

"The clip isn't the problem. The clip is a stupid thing a teenager said."

Someone on the other end talks for a while. I can't make out the words from the kitchen, but whoever it is isn't happy.

Autumn doesn't interrupt.

When she answers, her voice has changed. The woman who was sitting on my counter a minute ago is gone from it. No laugh tucked beneath the words. No room left in them for anybody to misunderstand her.

"No. I'm not going to make her say she was wrong about that, because she wasn't."

I stop with the spoon against the side of the pot.

The person on the phone starts again.

Autumn lets them finish.

"She's going to have to say what she thinks now. Out loud. That's how she gets through this."

I've heard about her work for months. Calls at two in the morning, people panicking in bathrooms, executives who need to be physically separated from their phones before they make things worse. Until now, most of it has been stories told over a drink.

This sounds different.

"Anna, the tour opens in weeks. Nine weeks of sorry does nothing if she doesn't mean any of it."

Another stretch of silence.

"Send me the sponsor list tonight."

Her voice softens at the end.

"I know. We'll fix it."

The call ends.

I look down and realize the chili has been bubbling hard enough to spit onto the stove. I turn the burner off just as Autumn comes back into the kitchen, barefoot now, phone still in one hand.

She leans over the pot and breathes in.

"That smells amazing."

I set the spoon down. "Come here."

"Sam."

I put a hand behind her neck and kiss her.

She lets me for a while before both palms settle against my chest and she pulls away, forehead resting under my chin while we catch our breath.

"We do not have enough time for what I want to do with you right now."

I look down at her.

She lifts her head, still flushed from the kiss. "Where are the bowls?"

"You're asking me about bowls?"

"We have people coming."