20
A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not! He does not! —Persuasion
“You don’t seem excited enough about this,” Carlos says. “Do you know how much money you made in the last hour alone?” We are in the Musgrove bungalow. I’m in bed, and Carlos is on the couch with his laptop and phone. “All the morning shows want you as well as the late-night ones. You are the ‘it’ couple.”
“We’re not even a couple.” The words come out in frustration before I have time to think about it. I brace myself for Carlos’s reaction.
“Sure, whatever, but don’t you think you could fake it for a few weeks? Wait till the world loses interest.”
I stare at Carlos in disbelief. “This is your little sister we are talking about. Aren’t you concerned about her emotional well-being?”
“If she liked you, yeah, definitely. But my bet is she’s interested in someone else.”
My mouth falls open. “And she kissed me because?”
“To make him jealous. Keep up.”
My mind is spinning. I hazard a guess. “Flossman?”
Carlos laughs. “No, I’ll give you a hint. Rosie shows affection by hurling insults.”
And then I see it all. Rosie begging Benwick for a smile, calling him boring, instead of Boris, walking on the park bench holding his hand.
I run my hands through my hair. “I’m an idiot. How did I miss that?”
“And to think people call you the smart one.” Carlos laughs. “But you weren’t really interested in Rosie, were you?”
“No, she’s great but way too young for me.”
“I figured you had your sights elsewhere.” Carlos sounds almost embarrassed.
“Am I that obvious?” I ask.
“Tell me...” Carlos rubs his chin. “How long did you and Rainy date?”
I go completely still. “Who told you?” I’m shocked. I’m not sure why, maybe because no one ever asks me about dating April. It’s a dreadful relief. I’m afraid of myself; now that the floodgates are open, I want to share everything.
“Ha! So, you two did date!” Carlos does a fist pump. “I knew it.”
“Who told you? September?”
“No, when I floated the idea, she laughed outright. She claimed she’d know if her sister had dated Freddy West.”
“September was out of the country that year.”
“Ah yes, her eat, pray, love year.”
“So, if September didn’t say anything, how did you guess?”
“I have eyes. April is always watching you.”
I toss a pillow at him. “Shut up!”
“This is not idle curiosity,” says Carlos. “I expect I will soon get questions about this. It makes sense for your manager to know.”
“We were engaged briefly.”
Carlos lets out a low whistle. “When was this?”
“Five years ago. I hadn’t planned on getting married so soon, but I knew April was the one. So, when she talked about how much she wanted a fairytale wedding, I bought her a ring.” For one week, everything was golden. We were engaged and planning our future. April brought out her wedding Pinterest board, and we had so much fun adding to it. We also talked about where we would live, how many kids, dogs vs. cats. She wanted to go to college, which I fully supported.
“We had so many dreams.” Talking about it, I find myself reliving those hazy, happy days. “Before I proposed, I got the courage to talk to her dad. He was icy and said he couldn’t approve because I didn’t have a job yet. I had just graduated from law school and was studying for the bar. I knew he was hoping someone more famous would marry his daughter.”
Carlos laughs. “I can only imagine. It’s been a mystery to me why you and old Buck don’t get along.”
“I’m definitely not his favorite person. But in the end, he did relent. Said he himself married a commoner. And maybe someday I might amount to something.”
“Probably thought he was being generous.”
“Definitely.”
“Well, then, thank you for paving the way for a fellow commoner.”
“Ah! But you are rich.”
“So are you. You happen to be richer than I am.” He stops and checks a message on his phone. “And becoming wealthier every minute.”
“But I wasn’t then. In any case, someone changed April’s mind. Told her I was only after her money. I always figured it was her dad, or maybe her manager.”
“Janene? She does have a lot of influence over April.”
“I came home from surfing one morning and found the ring wedged behind my storm door.” There was a note written on a receipt that said, “I will always love you.” Something about the message on a receipt was doubly insulting. Couldn’t she have taken the time to find a decent piece of paper?
I tried texting. I tried calling. I soon realized my number had been blocked. She went back on tour, and I went back to studying the bar. But I was a broken man. I stopped studying. I stayed in bed for days. It was Kai who got me the guitar. At first, I only played because it reminded me of Rainy.
“So, April is the ‘you’ in all your songs,” Carlos asks. “The woman who broke your heart?”
I nod.
“This explains so much. Like why I never had a chance with her. She was already hung up on you.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“I am. I always felt like there was someone else. But I couldn’t figure out who.”He punches me in the shoulder. “And all along, it was you. I should have realized sooner. It was April who first told me to check you out.”
“She did?” My mind goes back to the first time I met Carlos. I was playing at a bar in San Diego. He found me after the show and told me I had a lot of talent. Handing me his card, he told me he managed musicians. I couldn’t believe my luck. Turns out my luck has always been April.
“Yeah, she’d seen you perform and thought I’d be impressed.”
Do I owe my whole career to Rainy? She taught me how to play guitar. She inspired at least two dozen angsty love songs. She sent Carlos to watch me perform.
“Why do you think she did that?” I ask.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I think of the note she left with the ring. I will always love you. I still have that receipt. The ink has almost faded away. I’ve read it over and over, wondering how long the feeling behind those words could last.
“Not to me.”
“You might be too close to this to see clearly.”
“Right now, absolutely nothing is clear. I have no idea what to do, and now everyone says I’m dating Rosie.”
“Dating Rosie is great for sales. Talk to Rosie. She won’t mind going with it for a few weeks and then when the public tires of you rescuing her, you can start dating April. That will be epic.”
“I can’t trust any of your advice. Your opinion is tainted by greed,” I say to Carlos. “You want to believe things will work with April because it would be awesome for sales.”
“Can’t lie,” he says with the hugest grin. “It would be amazing for your brand.”