Page 273 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

“Are you ready, H? If you got an offer from a music label today, what would you say?” Libby asked, watching her closely.

But she didn’t have to wait for them to call. She leaned forward, and one of the corners of the business card poked her chest. She pulled it from its hiding spot. “This was in with the contract. The attorney told Landon to give it to me so I could contact the Luxes when I was ready. It’s their direct number.”

“Have you called them?” Penny asked.

How was she supposed to answer?

She had to go with the truth.

She turned the card over in her hands. “No.”

“You haven’t?” Charlotte exclaimed, wide-eyed.

She shook her head.

What was she waiting for?

This question had to be percolating in her friends’ minds.

It had been rattling around hers from the moment she’d left the villa.

Why hadn’t she gotten into that cab and called the second they’d pulled away?

Why hadn’t she called when she returned to Denver?

Was Landon right?

Was she scared to take a risk?

Or was it worse?

The image of the city swallowing her parents’ van as they drove away from her grandparents’ house looped in her head.

If she were good enough, her mom and dad wouldn’t have driven off, Vance wouldn’t have left her behind, and Landon would have encouraged her to follow her dreams, right?

Was she destined to remain the girl who was left behind?

Or…had she cast herself in this role?

She’d accused Landon of being at war with himself. Was she any different?

Stop driving yourself crazy.

For a beat, her mind quieted as her thoughts shifted to Aria. She pictured the sweet heathen with her intelligent blue eyes, chestnut-colored hair that matched her uncle’s dreamy heartthrob locks, and all that sass packed into one terrific kid.

Her stomach dropped as another question broke through.

Would Aria think she’d abandoned her?

She might.

The ache in her chest intensified.

How was she supposed to be there for the little girl and protect her heart from breaking into a thousand pieces?

Despite attempting to ward off the clawing queries, the questions piled up and weighed down her battered heart. She was on the cusp of cramming every bonbon in her mouth and praying for a sugar coma to hit when a series of honks snapped her back to reality. “What the hell is that?” she demanded. She craned her neck toward the sound when another round ofhonk, honk, honkrang out. “Is this part two of your abduction plan?” she pressed, but her friends looked as surprised as she was.

“I don’t know why that car is honking at us,” Charlotte answered.

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