Chapter 35
Four months later.
Erin watches Mia — whose hair is no longer lavender but back to her natural blonde — as she signs her name across the pages of the contract.
The doctor can barely breathe, relieved that it's finally happening, that her girl has shed an agent who only ever cared about how much money he could squeeze out of the singer.
After a fairly long meeting with Violette once Mia finally made it back to New York, the lawyer explained that Jude had been extremely clever in every clause of the contract he'd had her sign — except in the one that mattered most to him.
"All you need is three months' notice to terminate the agreement," the lawyer said.
"There's a clause requiring you to pay him one million dollars if he hasn't earned that amount from you before the partnership ends.
I still need to go over everything, but I can tell you he's made significantly more than that, so you can let him go without any problem. "
Erin managed to keep a straight face. Noah couldn't, and let out a snort he barely smothered by turning away and faking a coughing fit.
"How do I do it?" Mia asked. "Just tell him and that's it?"
"No. It has to be a formal written notice — your word alone isn't enough. If you're sure, I've already drafted the document you'll need to make it official the moment you hand it to him."
"Send it to me," Mia said without hesitating.
After that, the next step was going through the offers she had from other agents. Noah set up meetings with two of them, but the second had to be canceled, because Mia didn't have a single doubt when she walked out of the first.
"I want her," she told Noah, then looked at Erin for her opinion without even needing to ask, and Erin answered with a wink.
And now here they are — yesterday marked the end of Jude's contract, and today she's signing with the new agency.
"That's it," Mia announces, sliding the pages to her left, where Abigail Stone, seated beside her partner Liam, lays her elegant hand over the documents and pulls them in front of herself.
Liam hands her a pen, and Mia Wilder's new agent signs her name next to the singer's. When she's done, she squares the pages on the table, sets them aside, and fixes her gray-green eyes on Mia's blue ones before offering her hand.
"Welcome to Stone & Cottet, Mia."
The singer breaks into a wide smile and shakes it firmly. Abigail curves her lips just slightly without losing her icy expression, and then it's Liam's turn to congratulate her.
"And now yours, Erin," Abigail says, picking up another contract and sliding it toward her. "You'll be Mia's attending physician with authority — above mine," she adds, raising an eyebrow, "to cancel any event if it's in the interest of her wellbeing."
The doctor looks at her for a moment and takes the pen Mia had been holding just seconds before.
This had been one of the deciding factors in choosing Abigail Stone — among many others — when Noah laid out the singer's conditions, which included Erin as her doctor with full authority to make medical decisions. Neither Abigail nor Liam, who had also been in the room, raised a single objection.
Erin finishes signing and slides the contract back. Abigail does the same, adds her signature, and shakes the doctor's hand.
"Then we're all set." Abigail and Liam stand, and Erin and Mia follow.
"Give me a couple of weeks to go over your schedule with Noah.
I'll set up a meeting with the label about your new album, book the recording studio starting next month, and reach out to Helen Casterley to start planning the next tour. "
"Nell," Mia says.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't call her Helen. It makes her feel old and she hates it."
Abigail blinks as if she hasn't quite understood.
"She'll take care of it, don't worry," Liam says on her behalf, giving her a pat on the back that earns him a withering look from the executive — which makes Mia laugh.
"Fine, then — Nell," Abigail says. "I'll call you if I have any questions. In the meantime, keep writing and take it easy."
Mia and Erin leave the building ten minutes later, hand in hand, with the singer's security detail flanking them. They get into the waiting car, which takes them straight to the doctor's apartment.
Even though Erin had been very clear about her independence when she accepted the job with Mia, she hadn't seen this coming. It had simply happened, without them ever sitting down to talk about it.
The singer came back to New York two weeks after the doctor, and since Mia had always shared her place with Noah — the two of them practically siblings — it was Mia who started coming to Erin's apartment to see her, who began staying when Erin didn't have a shift, who accepted the key Erin gave her — because they often planned to meet at the end of Erin's shift, and if things ran late, Mia would have to wait in the lobby — who would be there with dinner ready, and who, a little over a month ago, had started staying every night.
"Erin," Mia says, as they walk into the kitchen and the doctor opens the fridge to see what they have to eat.
"What?" she asks without turning around.
"Can you sit down for a second?"
Erin tilts her head and sees Mia sitting at the small kitchen table, so she closes the fridge, a little worried, and sits down across from her.
"What's going on?"
"What's going on is that I've been taking over your home without asking, half my clothes have invaded your closet with no real order, and I've claimed the left side of the couch," the singer says.
Erin stays quiet, watching her through half-lowered lids, trying to read where this is going.
"We could make it official if you want." Mia doesn't give her time to overthink it, because she knows Erin's brain can start spinning all on its own without any help.
"You mean move in together?"
"We're already doing it, aren't we? And it's working pretty well," the singer points out.
"Yeah, I guess it is."
Mia smiles and gets up, comes around the table, and settles onto Erin's lap.
"Yesterday was your last shift at the hospital. From now on, you're all mine," she teases, and Erin wraps her arms around her waist.
"What are you actually trying to tell me? Because you're clearly up to something," Erin says, studying her.
"Have you ever thought about living somewhere other than New York?"
"Honestly? No. I bought this apartment because it was close to work." Erin goes quiet, and for a moment her mind drifts.
Living here is just another consequence of her robotic life.
Doing things out of habit, as if there were no other options.
It's close to the hospital, close to her sister, and it had been close to her mother.
She doesn't have the job anymore. Her mother is gone.
And Brooke hasn't reached out since that last message.
"We could live together somewhere else, away from the city. A small town where we can go for walks without anyone recognizing me, without the stress of these streets."
"What happens to your place and my apartment?"
"They stay." Mia shrugs. "I don't want to ask Noah to move out — even if I paid for it, that house is as much his as mine, and he loves it there. This apartment can stay for when we're in the city, but for our life together, we pick somewhere else."
"That does sound tempting," Erin admits with a smile. "Do you have somewhere in mind?"
"I like the Hudson Valley — lots of forests, small towns, farmers markets. We could spend a few days up there and look around."
"Cold Spring," Erin says when she mentions the valley. "I went once as a kid with my parents, before he left, and I remember loving it. We could start there."
"So you're on board?"
"Move to a valley with a rich, gorgeous singer? How could I say no?"
Mia laughs, and Erin nudges her to stand, grabs her by the hips, and lifts her so Mia wraps her legs around her waist and loops her arms around the back of her neck.
"I'm on board, honey," the doctor murmurs, carrying her across the room until she pins her against the wall. "I love being out in nature, and that area's full of trails we can explore whenever you have time off. A calm, easy place is exactly what you need after so much stress."
"Then pack your bag — we're leaving tomorrow."
Erin raises her eyebrows.
"You planned this without me? What would you have done if I'd said no?"
"Used my charm to change your mind."
Erin's laugh dies in Mia's mouth as the singer kisses her.