38. Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Five
Lila
I was confused when I heard a knock at the door. Barry wouldn’t arrive until later today and I wasn’t expecting a visitor. Juno was already here, going through the plan for all the people coming into town. She raised an eyebrow at me before opening the door.
In the rare event that I had a guest, she gave a spiel about how this was private property. Paparazzi usually weren’t bold enough to knock, but sometimes salespeople or neighbors did. As light spilled into my home from the open door, I listened for any hint as to who it was. And when Juno muttered an, “Oh, uh . . .?” I knew something was up.
I peered around her and saw red hair tinged with gray, and hazel eyes like mine.
“Mom?” I asked.
“Hi, Rose,” she said, bypassing Juno to walk in and hug me.
“W-what are you doing here?”
She smiled. “I’m here to see your first concert. Your dad is coming too.”
“But you never come to my concerts.”
Her smile fell. “I know, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’ve let my nerves stop me from everything. I want to see you perform, even if it’s only once.”
My first thought was that I was being pranked. This was bold, especially for her. She didn’t just get on planes and surprise me. She always stayed home.
But I wanted her to see a show of mine.
Badly.
“And you must be Juno,” Mom said.
“Nice to meet you in person,” Juno replied.
“Yes. I must apologize for my anxiety about my daughter’s secret. I should have never put that pressure on you.”
Juno’s eyes widened and she looked at me with an expression that mirrored my own feelings.
What the fuck ?
“Wow, this house is beautiful,” she said. “I can’t believe I’ve never seen it.”
“H-how are you not terrified right now?”
“Oh, I am. But your dad found me a doctor who recommended some medicine to help, and it has. I want to see this part of your life. Even if I choose to stay away from cameras.”
“Yeah, okay. We can make that happen.” Juno walked back to her list of plans. “You can ride in separately from everyone and arrive early.”
“That’s perfect.” She looked around. “Is Barry here?”
“Um, he’s home. Back in Nashville, I mean. He has a life there.”
“That’s a shame. I was hoping to meet him.”
“He’ll be flying in later today, though.”
She smiled, and it hit me that I’d never seen her like this. What the fuck had Dad done?
My watch went off, a reminder that I had to get to the stadium and do my dress rehearsal.
“Work calls. Do you mind if Juno and I go?”
“Of course not. I’ll be here. Maybe Rose and I can get up to something tonight?”
“Yes, definitely.”
I nodded to Juno, who was waiting for me. I asked her to get another guard here in case Mom saw anyone, and she called someone in.
“So,” Juno started after we got on the road, “that was not the same woman I talked to on the phone.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Dad visited her after he found out what she’d done to you. Apparently, he helped.”
“We’ve gotta thank him.”
“This isn’t like him, though. He spent all of his time on traveling and avoiding responsibility. Why would he help with the family issues now?”
“Some people change. It’s best not to question it.”
“Is it?”
“Let me rephrase, it’s best not to question it when the biggest tour of your life starts in a few days.”
She was right. I needed to focus on my job, but I couldn’t help wonder what Dad had done. If I didn’t know and couldn’t replicate it, I would be blindsided when he returned to his old ways.
It was still on my mind when we pulled into the arena. Since today was the full dress rehearsal, I had to force myself to put it behind me. This was when we would finally see everything come together.
My skin buzzed with excitement. Malia said that despite all the drama surrounding me, my tickets had sold out instantaneously, which made me even more excited to get this started.
The second I arrived, my team got me in my first outfit, and I walked out onstage exactly how I would if the tour was going on. I danced and moved, pretending a crowd was in the empty seats.
I could feel Mickey’s eyes on me as usual, but I once again told myself it was nothing. It didn’t help that my costumes were more revealing than what I usually practiced in. I was probably feeling exposed from that alone.
Despite my weird feelings, he was good at what he did. He played the whole thing almost as good as Barry would.
Almost.
Two hours later, the show felt real, and Justice had clapped for the performance.
I was panting but feeling ready to share this with everyone. I couldn’t wait to see Barry and tell him about the rehearsal or hang out with Mom and show her the life I’d made here.
“Lila! Hang on!” Mickey called as I was heading to get undressed. I turned to see him jogging over to me.
“Good job today,” I said, giving him a polite smile. “I need to head out, though.”
His hand landed on my arm. “Let me take you out after this. You must be starving.”
Oh no . “Um, no thanks.”
He didn’t seem deterred from me turning him down.
“So you want to do a slow burn? I can get with that.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You do a whole romance thing with someone , and I’m the newest guy. I knew what I was signing up for and it’s gonna be great”—his eyes slid up and down me—“as long as we start soon.”
“I’m . . . I’m not single. I’m seeing someone.”
“Yeah, right. I know how show business works. I know what we have to do to keep the public interested.”
“We’re not going to be together.”
“My agent told me we would.”
“Your agent lied.”
“Then I guess I need to be persuasive. I won’t take no for an answer.”
My eyes slid to Justice who was talking with one of the stagehands. I desperately waved her over.
“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked.
“Um, can you tell Mickey that we aren’t doing a romance thing onstage?”
“What do you mean?” Justice asked.
“Come on.” Mickey rolled his eyes. “Lila Wilde needs a boy toy to flirt with to make her fans happy. That’s me.”
“No,” she said immediately. “We’re not doing that. The little thing with Blaze went way too far. We’re here to celebrate her talent and let Lila do what she’s comfortable with.”
“But I’m supposed to be the new Blaze.”
“I don’t want another one of him,” I cut in. “I just want a guitarist.”
“You need another Blaze Matthews. You can’t do this on your own.”
“That’s enough.” Justice stepped in front of me. “I will not tolerate you speaking down to her like that.”
“Blaze did.”
“And he better be glad I didn’t see it. Her team is on her side, so you can buzz off.”
“Oh, so you don’t need me?”
“Wait, we do,” I interjected. “It’s two days before the show.”
“That’s right,” Mickey said. “And I’m not doing this without some sort of romance.”
“Then you’re fired. Get out.”
Mickey shook his head, standing up straighter. “Yeah, right. You just said you needed me. I don’t have to leave.”
“Hey, buddy.” Juno’s angry voice made even my hair stand on end. “Leave or I will throw you out.”
“You can’t—?” Mickey stopped as his eyes finally fixed on Juno and he remembered how much bigger she was than him. “Whatever. When you crash and burn, I’ll be watching.”
He strode out without another word and Juno followed to make sure he actually left.
“What was that?” I asked, panicked. “We can’t fire him.”
“He’s looking at you like a piece of meat. And treating you like one too.”
“I mean, yes , but the tour—?”
“You’re not sacrificing yourself for this tour. We want you to enjoy it .”
I didn’t expect that answer.
“Let me talk to Malia,” Justice said. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“But we had a hard time finding Mickey. And now we have to do it again right before the tour?”
“We have other options. Don’t worry about it. Get some rest before this actually starts. Let us figure out the rest.”
“But—?”
“Lila,” Justice said, “you’re at the top of your game and deserve to be happy onstage. I already have some ideas to discuss with Malia. We have this. Go enjoy rest.”
I wanted to. The conversation with Mickey had exhausted me.
I nodded, pushing past the desire to fix everything for everyone or to pull an all-nighter until I solved this problem. I knew I wanted to focus on Mom being here and on Barry’s arrival. Malia and Justice had been fantastic to work with and I needed to let them handle this. “Okay, I trust you.”
And I did. But I didn’t see a way out of this. We were down a band member again, all because of me.
“She did the right thing,” Juno said as she walked up to me. “And don’t worry, if anyone can handle it, it’s Justice and Malia.”
“Why did he have to be weird?” I groaned.
“Some guys make it their goal to be as weird as possible. He should have taken the hint.”
“Let’s just go. The more I stay here, the more worried I get.”
Juno nodded, giving me a sympathetic look as we walked to the car.
We drove silently until we returned to the house where Mom lounged on the couch.
“Hey,” she said with a smile. She didn’t seem worried, and I was glad she didn’t. Our roles had been reversed in the span of a day. “How was the practice?”
“Um, fine,” I lied. “So, you wanted to see LA?”
“I do.”
“Let me get the wig off, then we can go.”
I went to the bathroom, hoping that meticulously taking off my disguise would put my Lila worries away.
It didn’t.
Barry
There was a limo waiting at the airport. I blinked at the driver standing outside of it holding a sign that read, The Murray Family .
“Is that for us?” Max asked, gripping my shoulder.
“I guess Lila wanted to spoil us.” I was hoping to see her here, whether as Lila or Rose, but with two days left before the tour, I knew she was more than likely practicing.
We piled in, and as we rode through the busy streets, Max excitedly talked about every aspect of our trip.
I played it cool, but I counted down the seconds until I saw her again.
We were all staying in a nice hotel close to the event. Everywhere was packed for the first night of her concert. Even our hotel was clogged with other fans coming into town. This morning, she’d mentioned all of us staying at her mansion, but I turned her down, knowing that the members of this party would not take it well if I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Lila.
And Ruth had reiterated that I had a terrible poker face.
It was better for our story if we stayed somewhat apart. Lila paid an excessive amount for the hotel to get us all rooms, plus offered extra tickets for the hotel to giveaway.
“Wow,” Selena said. “This is . . . huge. And loud.”
“You can rest for a bit if you feel like you need to,” Tom said.
“I think I will. I want to enjoy the concert, not overdo it beforehand. Max, do you want to join me?”
“Yeah. I need some quiet time.”
“As do I,” Lynn added. “Will you kids be okay without me?”
“We’ll be fine,” Ruth said, her hand in Knox’s.
“I actually have to go too,” Knox said. “Work calls.”
“Boo.” Ruth groaned. “But I understand. Just stop before dark, okay?”
I hated to admit it, but the weight was off my shoulders at the fact that the only people with me knew who Rose was. There would be far less to worry about with just the three of us.
“So, what’s the plan? Rose is obviously here, right?”
“Yeah, she is. But she might be practicing. I’ll text her and see if she’s free.”
I pulled out my phone and scrolled to our text chain.
Barry: Are you busy?
Rose: My mom is in town and I’m out as Rose.
Barry: Your mom came to LA?
Rose: I know. It’s wild, but she wants to see the show. Who are you with?
Barry: Tom and Ruth. We were talking about going to dinner.
Rose: I can’t wait to see you. Want to join us?
“So, how would you guys feel about seeing Rose and her mom?”
“Rose and not the other one?” Ruth asked. “I thought she was practicing.”
“Her mom is here, and being Rose is the only way she can get some peace. It should be far more low-key than if we were with you know who .”
“I think we can make that work,” Ruth said. “As long as there’s some food. I’m fucking starving.”
“You’re always starving,” Tom remarked dryly.
“I can’t help that the plane had terrible food. Who serves salmon on a plane?”
“First class does,” I remarked. “It’s why I prefer the lower classes.”
“This time, I agree with you. We should get going. Judging by the traffic, it’s gonna take us hours to get anywhere.”