Page 11 of Sing For Me

Reese looks panicked. She presses her hands to her temples. “Eli—we’re not prepped for this!”

“I know.” Guilt twists my guts as I look at her. She’s standing in front of me now, so close, and despite the fact that my whole life is about to mushroom-cloud, I can’t help noticing the way the delicate stretch of her collarbone looks as it disappears into her shirt. How the freckles on her nose seem to dance when she scrunches her nose.

“Can you please move? I need to—”

“That’s not all, Reese,” I say, my voice thick in my throat. I hesitate for a moment, unsure how the fuck I tell her they think we’re together? That I felt compelled to lie in the heat of the moment way back when I ran into my ex-wife and her new wildly successful husband?

You just tell her.

But before I can say anything, there’s a clap on my back. “Eli!”

I turn to see Neil in his skinny jeans, snakeskin boots, and a hat that looks like it once belonged to Crocodile Dundee. He’s got to have at least a decade on my thirty-nine years, but he dresses like a twenty-five-year-old rock star.

“Mate, it is fabulous to see you again.” His eyes go straight to Reese. “And this must be her.”

My heart pounds so hard I feel like my throat is pulsing. Fuck, fuck fuck!

“The esteemed manager of L’Aubergine”—a brief wash of relief goes over me. Okay. I’m okay. Then Neil raises his arms, turns around, and shouts, “The next filming site ofChef’s Apprentice!” The room erupts in cheers—the giant Scot out in the kitchen even whoops. Everybody looks fucking gleeful.

Except for Reese, who’s still in her office, trapped there by Neil and me crowding her at the door.

“Come out here, my dear,” Neil says, reaching out and draping an arm around Reese’s shoulder. She stiffens, but goes with him, her cheeks going pink as everyone in the kitchen continues to whoop and cheer.

I want to hate Neil, I really do, but his enthusiasm is infectious. The guy is a walking good time. And thankfully he seems to have left Kelly behind. Despite my precarious position, I smile, feeling myself relax slightly. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t a completely shit idea. Even Reese smiles, though she looks deeply uncomfortable to be at the nucleus of all this.

“Thank you so much for accommodating us, Reese, honestly,” Neil says as the cheers back down into loud conversation.

“Well, you know. Whatever Eli wants,” Reese says, her eyes meeting mine with ayou owe mekind of look.

Neil laughs, bringing his hands to his hips. “It’ll be wonderful. Wonderful! So we’re thinking of setting up our main station over there…”

But as Neil talks, I go stiff, my stomach flipping inside of me. There’s a man with a camera on his shoulder, pointing it at various parts of the kitchen—a prep chef chopping carrots, a dishwasher scraping food off a plate. But behind him, I spot a flash of black and red. The swish of a long skirt.

Then he shifts, and Kelly is suddenly there, walking our way in a cloud of fabric and perfume, like a dark-haired ethereal being.

Everyone’s heads turn as she walks by—she always has that effect.

My stomach seizes.

“Eli,” she says. Even her voice makes something crack inside of me. This woman. This fucking woman. When we met at college, she’d been majoring in broadcasting. She always knew she wanted to be on TV. Sometimes I wonder if that was part of the reason I’d been so enamored with her back then.

“Kelly,” I say, my voice coming out almost halting. At least it doesn’t fucking break.

Her eyes leave mine, and I let the breath I’d been holding out. I hate how she has this effect on me. Even now that I know divorce was the best thing for us, she still makes me antsy as fuck.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” she asks, smiling, as her eyes go to Reese.

My first instinct, somehow, is to step between them. To guide Reese into her office and close the door, keeping her untangled from the shit between me and Kelly. But it’s a bit late for that, isn’t it, Eli?

Especially now that Reese is extending her hand and smiling.

Her eyes dart to mine, so quickly I might have missed it if I weren’t staring at her. Reese knows how fucked up I was over Kelly. She knows what a mess I was. I was at my worst when she met me.

Yet she didn’t run.

“Kelly, meet Reese,” I say.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Reese says as Kelly takes her hand. She winces slightly as Kelly squeezes hers a tad too hard.

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