Page 104 of Sing For Me

“Are they? Or are you in too deep with whatever you’ve got going on with Reese to see you’re just repeating history?”

Cass never did back down from a fight, especially not with me. “Cassandra,” I warn. I don’t want to fight with her.

“Do you think I’m an idiot, Eli? Reese couldn’t stand to be in the same room with you up until you ran into Kelly and offered our family business up on a platter for her. So you pick up with Reese, who probably never quite got over all the Eli affection you bestowed on her before yanking it away, just to what, make Kelly jealous? You—”

My phone buzzes with another text alert, but all I can do is grit my teeth. “Cass, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” She has it all fucking wrong.

“Don’t I? Why are you quitting now, Eli? Is it because you want to show Kelly you’re part of Reese’s bright future?”

“Goddammit, Cassandra!” I shout. “This has nothing to do with Kelly. I’m in love with Reese! I’m in goddamned love with her, in a way I never was with Kelly. Not for a day. Not for a fucking minute, and I’m quitting because once you figure something like that out, that you’re in love with someone so incredible, so smart and kind and perfect, who cares about you despite your shit and who’s brave enough to wade through all her own shit to follow her dreams, you can’t stand to be disingenuous for one moment more.”

Cass’s jaw hangs open and for a moment, there’s nothing but the echo of my words hanging between us.

“Eli,” she begins, but I shake my head.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“No, I’m—” But my phone buzzes again, insistent. This time, it’s a call.

“Goddammit,” I say softly, spent now. I pull it out to silence it, still breathing hard, then I pause, my stomach twisting at the name on the screen.

I look at my sister. “It’s Kelly.”

“Does she call you often?”

“Never,” I say, picking it up. “Kelly. What’s wrong?”

“Eli, you better come down here right away.”

All I can think isReese.

Then I’m running.

CHAPTER27

Reese

TRACK:Sinéad O’Connor, “The Last Day of Our Acquaintance”

It’s taken a few days, but I’ve finally gotten it through to people at work that I’m not really into talking about the video, not until the show’s finished filming, anyway. Not that that stops all of them. Just now, sweet, clueless Todd banged on my office door to show me a remix someone made, adding an electronic beat to the acoustic song that I have to admit was pretty damn good.

I laughed, but after he ran off to show Augusta, Sophie finds me a few minutes later at my desk, chewing my nails.

“You okay, boss?” she asks me.

I nod. “Everyone’s a bit wiggy with the show ending… I thought I’d start coming in again in case anyone needs me.”

Then I realize this means it looks like I’m not trusting everything to Sophie’s very capable hands, like she’s been doing perfectly for the past few weeks. “Not that everything’s not going fine here,” I say.

But apparently Sophie can see right through me—that I’m here because I don’t quite know what else to do with myself—because she comes in and sits down on my couch. “Tell me everything.”

To my surprise, I hesitate only a moment before I spill.

“Oh God, Sophie. It’s just all so much.

I explain how huge it was for me just to get up on that stage, and the video going viral makes those baby steps I was taking turn into high jumps. On steroids. “And Eli…” I swallow.

What I can’t tell Sophie is while some things about this week have been amazing, several things are now rapidly moving from the “I’ll think about it later” category into the “must deal with now” bucket.

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