Page 3 of My Favorite Mistake

“There is a catch.” He lifted his hand and pinched his index finger and thumb together. “Small-ish catch.”

She pulled her lips between her teeth. “How small?”

He winced. “You’d have to relocate.”

Her gaze shifted away from his face and back again. “To where?”

“New Or-leeens,” he said, enunciating the word with his mouth stretched into a grin so wide it looked painful.

The mere mention of the city catapulted her into the recesses of her memories, and she clasped her palms together so tightly her knuckles were white.

He turned his palms over as if offering her something on a silver platter. “Now I can see you’re panicking again—”

“Idon’tpanic.”

“Your face, Liza,” AJ reminded her. “It’s very telling. And have you ever been to New Orleans? It’samazing. And it’s honestly one of the best places for anyone who works in this industry in any capacity.”

She swallowed. “I have been. Once. A long time ago.”

And he was right; it wasamazing. New Orleans hadn’t been the problem. It was what happenedafterNew Orleans that—

“And of course, you wouldn’t have to stay there forever,” AJ added hastily. “I imagine after about six months to a year you’d have them set up well enough that you could switch to a remote capacity.”

“Right.”

“You don’t sound too convinced.”

She lifted her shoulders. “I’ll have to think it over.”

“Don’t think too long.” He wagged his index finger as if she were a petulant child and not a seasoned professional whose work had helped an indie label take their artists from obscurity to the fuckingGrammy’sin only four years. “They might find someone else in the meantime, and this is all I’ve got to offer you.”

Her gaze drifted away from his face and out the window again to the view of Austin. Austin, her home, which she’d never planned to leave. She could almost make out the small corner on the south side of town where she’d driven around looking at potential neighborhoods where she’d buy her house. The house she could only buy if she increased her savings. And if she didn’t take this immediate opportunity, she risked not finding something else for a while and being forced to deplete that savings by living on it.

She felt resolve settle on her features. Liza was the master of her destiny and was at the mercy of no man or woman, however, no man or woman was exempt from being at the mercy of the Almighty Dollar.

AJ was right; it wouldn’t have to be permanent. And it was one hell of an opportunity. If she could have an active role in building up yet another independent label from obscurity well before her thirty-fifth birthday, she would be a force to reckon with in her industry. And she might even be set for life by the time she was forty.

Relocating wasn’t ideal, but sacrifice was often necessary to meet goals. And, again,New Orleanshad never been the problem;hehad been the problem. And honestly,hewas never the problem. It was only Liza’s stupid, blind faith in him.

Going back there exponentially increased the likelihood of them crossing paths again, but it wasn’t an inevitability, and if she happened to encounter him she would ignore him, or be polite and just walk away. She was the bigger person. He was the coward who couldn’t even…

Besides, it’s not like merely being in the same city would inexplicably bind her to him.

She tore her gaze from the window and back to AJ’s expectant face. “What’s the name of the label and who do I need to contact?”

2

Algiers Point, New Orleans

Rat-a-tat-tat ratta-ratta-tat-tatrapped the fingers of the young musician from the front of the small room, dark and scarlet from neon signs on every wall of the bar.

“Tu-wey pocky-wey!”the kid hooted along with all twenty-something of the concert-goers gathered around the low stage.

Connor Deneau gripped the neck of his sweaty bottle of Abita Amber and pushed his fist into his best friend, Brennan Riley’s shoulder. “Riley! You seeing this?”

“Yeah, Sarge!” Brennan’s dark brows were high on his forehead, eyes wide and focused like lasers on the musical phenom at the front of the bar. “He’s a fuckin’ beast!”

“Yeah you right!” Connor hollered back. “Kid’s a friggin’ monster!”

---