Page 77 of Love on Tour
“You’re in Florida. Matt is down the road.”
“I offered to get you a plane ticket. You said no.”
“I’m enjoying this lack of notoriety right now. Nobody is saying horrible things about me. It’s a welcome reprieve.”
“Haters gonna hate. Can’t let it stop you.”
“For now, it’s going to stop me. If I flew to Florida to visit you, it would be nonstop harassment. Can’t do it, Austin. Not even for you.”
“All right. Not going to bug you. You still with Matt?”
“No. Hey, Austin. Have you given any more thought to thesongs you’re cutting for the next album?” Christine rolled her eyes at herself. She hated asking. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t. But potentially losing her job was not normal circumstances.
“It’s all I think about. I’ll see you when I get back?”
“Of course,” she said, letting it drop. He’d tell her when he was ready, and she didn’t want to push too hard.
“And Canada is still on?”
“As of now, yes.”
“On that positive note, I’m going to go. Merry Christmas, Chrissy.”
“Merry Christmas, Austin.”
She hitENDand started singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Christine heard a sound and looked down to see her phone was still connected. Austin was yelling her name.
“Austin?”
“The phone never hung up.”
“Oh, God. Did you hear me singing?” Christine said, feeling the embarrassment heat her cheeks.
“I did. Again. Your phone doesn’t always hang up,” Austin said.
“I know. I need to make a trip to the cell store.”
“Chrissy?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t give up your day job. You can’t sing worth a shit.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know. Bye, Austin.”
“Later.”
Christine hitEND, making sure the call was disconnected, and then belted out “Jingle Bells.”
She lay in bed thinking about Matt. She allowed herself to have hope. He’d wanted a Christmas photo with her. And he’d kissed her, although chaste kissing was not unusual in the music industry. He hadn’t mentioned needing to buy Cait a gift or seeing her over break or for New Year’s Eve. Could their relationshipbe over? Maybe the new year would bring an opportunity for Christine to be honest and tell Matt how she felt. Was she ready? For the first time, she thought she might be. Canada might be a good time for true confessions.Yes, she thought.That’s when I’ll come clean.
THE HOLIDAY BREAK ALWAYS SEEMEDso long when it started and so short when it ended. Christine and Julianna were back in the office on January 2, sharing stories from their holiday. Christine’s had consisted of staying with her parents, baking cookies, and going to church. Julianna had gone to Aspen where her parents had a condo.
While Julianna took a quick call, Christine scanned her phone. She had taken a social media break over Christmas and found it refreshing. Now she did a quick catch-up. She stopped cold when she saw Phoebe’s post from New Year’s Eve.
Julianna ended her call. “Is something wrong? You just went pale.”
Christine turned her phone around.
