Page 88 of Love on Tour

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CHRISTINE HADN’T HEARD FROMAustin in a week. She knew he was mad, so she gave him his space. When he did call, it was to tell her he was being interviewed on a national radio show.

“You’ve got to listen, Chrissy.”

“You’re not mad at me anymore?” she asked.

“I still think it was a lame thing to do, but no, I’m not mad anymore.”

“Okay, I’ll listen. What time?”

“Tomorrow at six.”

“In the morning?” Christine’s voice rose. She was not a morning person.

“Yep. Morning shows have the biggest audience. Set your alarm.”

Christine set it for exactly five minutes before six, not willing to get up one second before. The morning team consisted of Billy and Carly.

“Welcome to our new studio,” Billy said.

“This is nice. You used to kind of be in a . . .” Austin said.

“Dump?” Carly said.

“Ha. Yeah, thanks. I didn’t really want to say it. But this is state of the art. Everything is so clean. And there are so many microphones.”

“It works well for having guests. Especially when we have a band in here. They used to have to share microphones. How awkward, right?” Billy said.

“Definitely awkward. Nobody enjoys sharing a mic,” Austin said.

“You’ve had three number one hits and just came off a Canadian tour. Then there’s the award nominations, TV shows, and you recently won a CMA award. It’s been a big couple of years for you,” Carly said.

“Yeah, it has. I’m crazy fortunate. But there’s a lot left to do.”

“Let’s talk about the situation surrounding your personal life,” Billy said.

“What situation?”

“He’s being coy,” Billy said.

“Like a fish,” Carly said.

“So?” Billy asked.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking me,” Austin said.

Billy hit a loud buzzer, causing Austin to jump.

“What the—”

“Don’t say it!” Carly said.

“What was that noise for?” Austin asked.

“It’s a dodge buzzer. You’re dodging the question. Every time that happens, we hit the buzzer.”

“We had one artist, who will remain nameless, where we had to hit the buzzer so much it got stuck,” Carly said.

“Buzzed through the entire interview. Was pretty horrible actually,” Billy said.

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