Page 80 of Healing Hearts
The limo ride to New York City to see Lila is almost surreal. Mia’s renewed and increased level of fame since the album release means that Pasha and one other bodyguard are in the front, and we’re being followed by a second security vehicle that’ll be with us all weekend. We had to preselect where we were going to go for the bachelorette gathering—I can’t even call it a party—so that Mia’s team could secure a VIP area for security and privacy.
The whole thing is mind boggling. I don’t understand how she lives like this or even that my brother really enjoys all of it. But he seems to. Guess it all happened to the right person.
“When does the tour start?” I ask, though I have a vague recollection of something about the fall after Maggie’s wedding.
“November,” Mia says. “We’re mostly skirting the edges of the country, staying several days in each place, with a few stops in Missouri for the hometown fans.”
“I can’t imagine the planning for that,” Maggie says.
“It’s mostly Taryn and Rebecca who handle those details, and I just hired an HR company to deal with onboarding staff for the tour.”
“Do you work with the same people a lot?” I ask.
“My mom had a rule about changing people out every tour, but I wonder now whether that was to keep me isolated and dependent on her. If I didn’t have many friends, there wasn’t much of a chance I’d figure out Laura was more my manager than my mother, you know? She was all I knew. Sarah’s been my best friend forever, but even she was someone my mom approved of—a workaholic like me.” She lets out a laugh. “All that to say that I might have a couple dancers back who’ve toured with me before.”
“I think I’d be lonely on tour,” I admit.
“It can be lonely and disorienting if you’re in a different city every night. It’s part of the reason we’re booking multiple dates in each place and hoping fans come to us. It’s exhausting to pack up and move along constantly.”
“Given how big the album has blown up, I can’t imagine you’ll struggle to fill the stadiums,” Maggie says.
“Ticket sales have been going really well so far,” Mia says. “No complaints from me.” She grins and then digs into an armrest to bring out a bottle of sparkling water. “Anyone else want one?”
“There’s water in the armrests?” I ask, lifting up mine. And sure enough, there’s a selection of beverages. When I stick my hand in, it’s surprisingly cold.
“How’s Trent?” Mia asks, her voice quiet.
“My mom says the police have closed their investigation on him and Mullen Mechanics, but I haven’t talked to him much.” My stomach clenches at how little we’ve spoken. We’ve exchanged a few texts about Amir, especially since he was originally going to watch him while I was on this trip. Now thathe’s cleared, he agreed to stop by my mom’s to do the Lego set with Amir.
It’s a start. We’re rebuilding a relationship from the ground up, and I keep reminding myself that I have to be patient and not despair. The connection is there, and the love is there. I know he loves me, and the fact he admitted that is huge. It’s huge, and I need to hold onto the hope that at some point the love will matter more than any issues with his reputation.
The inquiry into his business, into him, was an earthquake, flattening the life we’d established. We hadn’t been earthquake-proofed yet, and I’m not sure I really believed we needed to be, that anything could dismantle things so completely. We felt so solid in that house together that I was starting to believe nothing would shake us.
“You two aren’t back to normal then,” Mia says, more a statement than a question. “I don’t know what I would have done if Tyler had ever pulled away. I can be a spiteful bitch.”
The way she says it makes me laugh a little. “Key his car? Slash his tires?”
Mia’s smile looks practically devious. “I would have enjoyed trying to come up with something, that’s for sure.” Then her smile fades, and she squeezes my hand. “But I wouldn’t have enjoyed the heartache. It’s the worst. Feels so hopeless, so helpless.”
It’s funny to me that Trent and I never confirmed anything to anyone, and yet everyone just seems to have assumed something was going on. Back when we were really just friends, their disbelief over our friendship frustrated me. But now—I don’t know—maybe they were just seeing something I was too stubborn to acknowledge, too afraid to let it be true.
“I definitely feel a little helpless,” I admit. “It’s hard when you know what you want, but you can’t make the other person see that it could work, would work.”
“Trent is ridiculously stubborn,” Maggie says.
“So am I,” I say.
“I can get Grady to talk to him,” Maggie says. “I won’t interfere if you tell me to stay out of it.”
“No,” I say. “Trent probably needs to talk to someone, and Grady understands the whole picture—mine and Trent’s.” Whether or not he’ll listen to Grady is a whole other discussion. Their relationship is complicated, but if Trent won’t talk to me, speaking to Grady or Maggie is likely the next best thing.
“I’ll ask him when we get back,” Maggie says.
For the last few days leading up to our trip to New York City, I’ve been queasy. Food hasn’t appealed to me, no matter what I’ve tried to eat. It’s like my stomach has gone on strike since Trent got arrested.
When we get to Lila’s apartment, her new fiancé, Henry, is already there. He’s slightly taller than Lila, with a wiry build. Lila already told us all that they’d bonded immediately over similar experiences in emigrating from China to America as little kids.
Lila’s glowing. Absolutely lit from the inside, and I couldn’t be happier for her. Henry matches Lila’s energy, cracking jokes and mixing drinks. If I could have imagined someone for her, that person would have been like Henry.
