Bree
“Have you called Mom yet?” Zoey asks, sitting on the bench swing beside me in Colby’s backyard. The music video has been live for three days now, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
I lean my head back against the top of the bench and let out a gusty sigh. “I don’t want to face her.”
“You have to eventually. This isn’t really sustainable. The longer you put off the conversation, the worse it’s going to be.”
“I know,” I whisper.
“Hey, what is going on out there?” a man calls, coming into the backyard through the break between Benny and Colby’s houses.
Even with his sunglasses on, I can immediately tell it’s Peter.
Initial panic washes over me when I realize I have no disguise on, but it’s quickly replaced with a sense of calmness.
Peter’s not here to snap pictures of us. He’s probably looking for Benny.
Halfway across the lawn, his steps come to a stop, and he looks between my sister and me.
The back door opens, and Olive pokes her head out. “Noah’s on the phone, B. Want to talk to him?”
“I’ll call him back.”
“Bree Belacourt?” Peter says, passing a hand over his eyes and blinking at me.
Olive must notice Peter isn’t either of the men who frequent our space, because she says something into the phone and hangs up.
“Yeah.” I give an awkward chuckle. “Sorry.”
He shakes his head, clearly still trying to wrap his head around it. “Why?”
“For being dishonest. Hey, have you met my sister? This is Zoey.”
“In my dreams, yeah,” he says, coming forward with his hand out to shake hers.
Zoey stares at it in mild disgust. “Not a cute line.”
Peter waits a second longer before sliding his hand into his pocket.
“Did you need Benny?” I ask.
“Yeah, but there are tons of photographers on his…oh. I get it now.” He looks between us, then to Olive, who’s approaching from the back of the house. “They know you’re here.”
“They just know about me,” I tell him. “Not my sisters. We’re kind of hiding out. We have Colby’s Airbnb for another week.”
“Are you sticking around for the festival?”
“What festival?” Zoey asks.
“Their beach beautification board is putting on a music festival for a fundraiser.”
Peter snaps his fingers, pointing at me. “And Benny said he’d get on stage if we could get Bree Belacourt on stage. He knew you were Anne, didn’t he?”
“Yeah. I’ve known him a long time.”
He shakes his head. “What do you say, then? You want to get Benny back on a stage?”
Of course I do, but it’s not that simple. I shrug. “It has to be his choice.”
“You creatives are all the same.” He’s smiling, so I know it’s a joke. When he looks at Zoey a beat too long, I want to kick him to drag his attention away from her, but he’s out of reach. Does he know he’s staring? “I used to dream about marrying you.”
Okay, yeah. He knows.
Zoey looks up, her sleek brown eyebrows raised. “Charming.”
“You look amazing in person. They say don’t meet your heroes, but I don’t know. I’m really digging this.”
Zoey arches a single eyebrow.
Well, then. “Peter, do you want me to find Benny or Colby for you?”
“No, but thanks for offering. I drove by and saw all the commotion and wanted to make sure they were okay. But now I get it. Though…” He glances over his shoulder, then back at us. “Do they realize they’re at the wrong house?”
“Are you going to correct them?” Zoey snaps.
“I would never betray you,” he says, pressing a palm to his heart like he’s hurt she could even suggest such a thing.
I’m a little stunned by this exchange, so I don’t even notice when Colby leaves the house and heads our way until he’s almost next to Peter. “Cat’s out of the bag, then?”
“Peter will keep our secret.” I give him a hard look. “Won’t you?”
“Of course. Didn’t we just go over this?” He claps Colby on the back. “Apparently you know how to be a vault.”
“It’s Benny, really…anyway, my grandma is supposed to host bunco tonight, so I’m heading over there to help her get the house ready. You ladies need anything?”
I sit up. “Can I come with you?”
Colby pauses. “Sure. Let me tell Benny.”
“Okay. I’ll get my shoes.”
“Meet me at the Bronco.”
I’m five feet away when I hear Peter say something about Zoey’s hair and she shoots him down. “Want to admire my engagement ring?” she asks.
If I know Peter at all, though, that’s probably not going to stop him. I turn and walk backwards. “He’s harmless, Zo. Mostly just a big flirt.”
“Hey,” he calls, his grin stretching wide. “I mean every word I say.”
“Sure.” I’m laughing when I let myself inside.
Nancy lets us in the house—Benny decided to come, too—and I’m immediately concerned. Her skin is pale and chalky, and her movements are lacking the spunk I’m used to.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Been better. You really didn’t need to come.”
“If you’re going to insist on hosting, we’re helping,” Colby says. “I know you’ll scrub the house if we don’t, anyway.”
Nancy has no response to this.
Benny kisses her cheek. “Go put your feet up. We’ve got this.”
Colby starts for the hallway. “I’ve got bathrooms.”
“Kitchen,” Benny says.
“Where’s the vacuum?” I ask.
Nancy shakes her head. “No, you just come and keep me company.”
“I’d love to…after I vacuum.”
Nancy didn’t like that. She watched me with a deep groove between her eyebrows the entire time I vacuumed her living room and hallway, but put her foot down when I tried to take it into her bedrooms. It’s been a while since I’ve had to clean anything, really, but I feel like I did a decent job.
“Now come sit next to me.” Nancy pats the sofa.
I put the vacuum away in the closet and join her.
“How are your sisters settling in?”
I look at the same blue eyes she shares with her grandsons and her swingy silver bob and can’t help but smile. “They like it, but they haven’t seen much except Colby’s house and Sierra’s flowers.”
“We should fix that. Why don’t you take them to the beach? You have enough wigs for all of you, don’t you?”
“I do.” She’s right. It’s a possibility.
“I was angry after that segment on GMA the other day, but I don’t think anyone’s watching it anymore. They’re all too obsessed with your new song. You and Benny make a good team.”
“We make a great team.”
“Does he know that?”
I pause. I don’t know how much to reveal, and really, it’s not my place to share any of his issues, anyway. I can’t be the one to tell Nancy that Benny worries for her health, especially when she doesn’t look well.
“Benny and I are friends.”
“Baloney.”
“Nancy!”
“You and I both know it, honey. You love that man, and he loves you.”
Love? Love? That’s a strong word. I don’t know how I feel exactly, but I do know I care about him deeply, and if the situation were different, I’d want to date the heck out of him.
But I don’t say these things to her. I think about how dreamy the last few days have been with Benny at my side.
Stealing kisses when no one’s looking. Snuggling on the sofa during movies.
Hanging out in the backyard on the bench swing.
Snacking on saltwater taffy while we listen to music.
It’s been heavenly.
“I knew it,” Nancy says, smug.
“Slow your roll, Nancy Rhodes. No one is throwing around the L-word. We’re just hanging out. We’ve decided it can’t go anywhere, anyway. We want different things.”
“That’s an excuse.”
“It’s also the truth. He doesn’t like living in the public eye, and I can’t stop producing music. We’re not compatible.”
“Baloney,” she says again. “Something is holding you both back, but you have to let it go. At some point, you have to decide loving each other is worth everything you’d have to face.
To decide it will be okay, because you know you can do it together.
You want your career and Benny; he wants a quiet life and you.
You can’t both get what you want, so what’s the next best thing? ”
Anything, as long as he’s part of my life. That’s an easy answer. It’s the rest that’s hard to figure out.
“I’ve known that boy his entire life, and nothing makes him light up like you do,” Nancy says. “It would be worth it, Bree.”
“I know.” Each word cuts deeper and deeper. I can’t tell her he’s worried about her heart, her stress levels. “Let’s enjoy this time, okay?” I say.
Nancy frowns. “If I have no other choice.”
“I’m afraid not.”