Chapter 3 #3
“With our audience? They’d side with him just for being a man, let alone that I’m a lesbian,” Juliet continued, the words seeming to spill out now. Like they’d been unlocked.
And that was also true.
They’d definitely had a strong show of support all over social media. A ton of queer people had been very excited and very ardent about how they’d never been into country but were now streaming hers and Juliet’s music like crazy.
But the reaction from a lot of their existing fanbase had ranged from disappointed to downright hateful.
Laura had combed through both of their socials and sent them some positive, encouraging posts, while blocking the awful ones.
“I knew that my mom likely wasn’t going to be able to contact me much for a while, while she was dealing with the Harrison fallout.”
That one had cut Juliet deeper than she’d have cared to admit; Darcy knew that. In the last year and a half, since Juliet had come out to her mom privately, they’d talked a lot more. Her mom had come to visit them a handful of times, which she knew hadn’t been normal prior to that.
And now that Juliet’s relationship with her mother was in a decent place for the first time in her adult life, the Harrison inferno was roaring.
“I knew these were the consequences, Darcy.” Juliet was quiet, so somber, as she turned those dark eyes back to hers, the open vulnerability in them digging sharply into Darcy’s chest. “Nothing about this is surprising. No, I literally couldn’t come out before.
But this is the reason people who aren’t held back by contracts stay in the closet.
All of the noise, the doors that once would have been open without a doubt slamming closed. ”
She saw the way Juliet’s hand curled into a tight fist in the blanket next to her.
“I don’t know what to even say about some of it, okay?
Because I’m frustrated with myself,” she admitted, the tightness in her voice unmistakable.
“I’m upset that any of this is getting to me.
Because I should have known this would happen.
” She lifted her hand, gesturing to her temple.
“Logically, I should have known. But I got so… caught up. Living in this bubble here,” she gestured around the room.
“With you. Writing music for our album. Letting myself, stupidly, believe in this dream that we could just get on the other side of this, relatively unscathed.”
Darcy knew that one of the biggest blows had come from the canceled meeting with Golden Tide. And then she’d watched as the black cloud forming above Juliet’s head and somewhere inside of her darkened when they’d been shut out by two other labels in the last couple of weeks.
Juliet flattened her hand onto the comforter, pressing down deeply in a way that spoke volumes about how intensely Juliet was feeling , even if she wasn’t showing it.
“And I’m… sorry,” Juliet muttered, closing her eyes for a beat before she blinked them open and looked into Darcy’s.
“I’m not trying to shut you out, but I just – I feel like I’m going to snap at any moment.
And I don’t know what’s going to happen when I do.
But if it’s white-hot anger, then I don’t want to aim it at you. ”
Darcy accepted that with a slow nod, letting it sink in. And it made sense to her, because she could tell that Juliet felt like a powder keg ready to explode.
But the thing was, Darcy wouldn’t mind being in the danger zone if it meant Juliet was letting her in. She could handle it.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have much more time to push. She’d planned on having this chat about an hour ago, but then the sex had happened, and now…
Shaking her head slightly, she held back a quiet sigh. As long as they were talking and this door was open even a little bit, Darcy counted this as a win.
“Thank you for telling me that. And, for the record, you can still bury your feelings in my body.” She teased very lightly, not wanting to leave Juliet on a negative note. “Or vice versa. Whenever you want. I just also want us to talk along with the sex.”
Juliet released a lofty exhale. “I can agree to working on being better.”
“Okay. Deal.”
She leaned in to press her lips to Juliet’s, sealing the deal with a kiss. A kiss that she lingered in, just breathing her in for several seconds, enjoying the way Juliet relaxed against her.
She only pulled away when her phone started to buzz, and she knew it was her alarm going off, reminding her that she only had three minutes before the car she’d scheduled should arrive.
So, she had to get the final piece out.
“I know that the plan was for you to come to Tennessee after your event with Robbie in New York.” The plan was for Juliet to come and meet Darcy in Pineford and attend Blythe’s wedding as her date, now that they were out .
And Darcy really, really wanted that. A surprising amount, for someone who’d spent most of her adult life without being attached in a romantic relationship.
“But if you don’t want to come, if it’s too much, you don’t have to. It’s okay.”
Juliet rolled her eyes. “I’m not afraid of the people of Pineford.”
Darcy continued without acknowledging that – mostly because she didn’t think Juliet was afraid, and definitely not of people from her hometown.
Buuuut, they hadn’t really been very public-facing lately, so there was something there, whether or not Juliet wanted to discuss it right now.
“Secondly, I know it’s all a lot right now.
If it wasn’t Blythe’s literal wedding, I wouldn’t be going anywhere. But–”
“You can’t let Blythe down,” Juliet stated, with no hesitation. “I wouldn’t want you to.”
She kissed Juliet again, just a quick taste, already speaking as she leaned back, “I’m just saying, if you don’t feel up for meeting me there… I get it.”
That had been their original plan, the one they’d made before they’d come out, before they were dealing with the aftermath.
Darcy was going to Pineford before the wedding to be there with Blythe for all of the last-minute finalizations and reviewing and the rehearsal dinner. Juliet was going to come to town on the morning of the wedding, so she’d be there for the big day, even if they weren’t “officially” a couple.
But there would be a lot of eyes on them. Blythe’s wedding wasn’t going to be an extravagant, lavish affair with anyone whose singular opinion Juliet cared about, but it wasn’t going to be small and private, either; it seemed like nearly the entire town of Pineford was coming.
Except for Brenna, of course.
“I love you,” Darcy breathed out against Juliet’s mouth as she pulled back from another kiss. “A lot.”
Before she could go too far, Juliet reached out and grabbed the lapels of her robe, yanking her back in and capturing Darcy in a blistering kiss.
Then Juliet released her, just as quickly. “All right. You need to get dressed and go. I love you, too.”
The conversation had made her feel slightly better. But definitely didn’t alleviate all of her concerns, which she was still ruminating about as she walked into one of the private suites at LAX.
“Well, well, well, look who’s coming out of hiding,” Kerrington drawled, sliding her sunglasses down her nose just enough to aim a small smile at Darcy. “And yes, I deliberately worded that.”
“Clever.” A smile bloomed over her face as she closed the distance between them, moving to sit next to Kerrington at the bar.
Kerrington slid her sunglasses all the way down, officially taking them off.
Darcy figured she’d worn them as a measure of obscuring her identity even when she’d been inside, but…
honestly, when someone had been onscreen for so much of her life the way Kerrington had, Darcy wasn’t sure anything could obscure her identity from the masses.
Made even more difficult by the fact that she was five-foot-nine and had such a striking, attention-grabbing face to match.
“Where are you heading?” She asked, tilting her head slowly.
Kerrington hadn’t gotten out much recently, especially not after a whole stalking ordeal she’d gone through last year.
“Vermont,” she answered without providing any other details. She fiddled slightly with the cover on her coffee cup, in a manner that was very unlike her.
At least, before last year.
Darcy accepted it without pushing for more. She’d done enough pushing today.
“Soooo,” Kerrington dragged the word out for several beats, eyeing Darcy with a very knowing look. “Should I welcome you to the lesbian celebrity club? Or should I say, the out lesbian celebrity club.”
“Why do I have the suspicion that you already knew?”
Even though Darcy had maintained a friendship with Kerrington since she’d moved to L.A.
, it had been… tricky still, navigating who to share their relationship with.
Kerrington was a lesbian, which in one way meant she was safe.
But in another, to Juliet’s point, Kerrington was a lot more lax about her sexuality and conversations regarding it.
Plus, they hadn’t seen one another in person a ton in the last year, between Kerrington’s personal life and Darcy going on tour with Juliet.