Page 44 of My UnTrue Love
Bill and Clementine both turned to look towards the sound of her voice, frowns on their faces.
“What the hell is Rosalee doing here?” He muttered in annoyance.
“I was just about to ask you the same question.” Clementine went marching towards the door, back to being pissed. “You didn’t invite her?”
“No.” He sounded insulted she even needed to ask. “What are you doing? Don’t open the door. I want to finish our important conversation.”
“Rosalee isn’t going to just leave. She’s probably here to lure you back to The Yellow Roses. She’s smart enough to know how important you are to the band.”
“Then she’s smart enough to know she’s not the one I’m aiming to get lured by.”
“Ever since you were flirting with her that time, Rosalee has had her eyes on you.” Did Clem sound accusatory? Yes. Could she help it? No.
He looked surprised and then guilty. “Darlin’, Iswearto you, I have no interest in…”
She wrenched open the door, before he could finish that thought. Rosalee stood on the doorstep, wearing a stylishponcho-dress. Her dark hair was twisted into an elegant chignon and her makeup was flawless. She looked rich, and professional, and gorgeous.
“It’s early to drop by.” Clementine informed the paragon of graceful beauty, who really needed better manners. Sure, Clem had gone knocking on Luke’s door at 9 am the other morning, but that had been so,sodifferent.
“Clementine.” Rosalee gave a disinterested kiss to the air beside Clem’s head. Her perfume smelled like a bouquet of plastic flowers. “Johnny told me Bill’s giving you a place to stay, while you’re recovering from your… issues.”
“The issue of you and Johnny firing me, you mean?”
Rosalee blinked at that unexpected show of assertiveness and then quickly moved past Clem into the apartment. “Bill, we must talk.”
“Nah.”He scoffed.
“It won’t take long.” Rosalee’s eyes skimmed around the room, visibly unimpressed. “You just have to issue a tiny little social media statement.”
“I don’t have any social media.”
“Yes, you do.” Rosalee insisted, her hard eyes belying her friendly smile. “You’re on Ti-Yi-Yo like everyone else in town. Your last post has gotten quite a response.”
“I posted that.” Clem chimed in. She left the door standing open, as a not-so-subtle hint for Rosalee to leave. “I run your social media, Bill. Remember?”
Bill clearly did not remember. “Huh.” He said with very little interest. “Yeah, that sounds good. Whatever you want is fine, Clem.”
“The last post isnotfine.” Rosalee interjected. “You’ll have to delete it.”
“He isn’t deleting anything.” Clementine shot back.
“That’s up to Bill, isn’t it?” Rosalee said with a patronizing sneer. She had no respect for muses, so she tended to condescend whenever Clem disagreed with her.
Bill ate more cereal. “Whatever Clem wants isfine.” He reiterated with total inflexibility.
Clementine was bolstered by his faith in her managerial decisions. Rosalee, Dinah, and Johnny might think she was ditzy, but Bill always supported her.
“When you joined the band, I asked if you wanted to use the social media team Johnny hired for the rest of The Yellow Roses.” She reminded him, so he’d know she hadn’t just hijacked his online life. “You said no, because you didn’t want some stranger ‘making up bullshit’ about you. Your exact words.” She crossed over to stand beside Bill and picked up his phone.
Bill gave another “huh” sound, this one meaning he now recalled that series of events.
Rosalee made a face, like this explanation was taking too long.
“It’s good for artists to promote themselves.” Clem knew Bill’s passcode, because she was the one who’d bought the phone for him in the first place. He didn’t even blink as she unlocked it and started going through his apps.
Who didn’t have a phone? Bill, before he’d met her. That’s who.
“You have a lot of followers, actually. They especially like the videos where you teach people how to play certain songs.”
