Page 20 of Love Out Loud

“So, I got the gig?” I ask.

“Not only did you get the gig, but my buddy, Noah—you remember me talking about him?”

“The producer?”

“Yeah, that’s him. Anyway, he wants to meet you.” Lennon winces. “He probably has a whole pitch or whatever, but I warned him to tone it down until this project is over.”

I stop what I’m doing and put my hands on my hips as I face the camera. “What kind of pitch?”

Lennon runs a hand through his sandy hair. A lock of it falls over his forehead, but he doesn’t bother pushing it out of the way. It makes him look boyish, and a little soft spot opens up in my heart.

“He wants to see how this project goes, but my guess is he’s going to want to get you on his roster of people to call to narrate other books.”

“All from that one audition?” I ask, incredulous.

Lennon shrugs. “He’s been at this for a while. He knows talent when he sees it.”

He says it as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. As if my talent is a given, not something I’ve let languish in the eighteen years since my last real performance. That unwavering confidence he seems to have in me settles some of my nervous energy.

I realize after what must be an awkward minute on his part that I’ve been staring at him, smiling a goofy smile. But he’s just returning it, waiting patiently, his eyes glimmering with what I think is pride.

It strikes me just then that I cannot wait to see his eyes in person again. Gorgeous hazel with speckles of gold and brown. I used to spend as much time as I could looking at them without letting on that’s what I was doing. Or maybe he knew and let me do it anyway. Either way, I can’t wait to look at them again.

“Sorry,” I say. “I got lost there for a minute. So, everything is falling into place?”

Lennon clears his throat as if he had been lost, too. “Right. Yes. Couldn’t have planned it better. Noah and Jessica want to meet with you as soon as possible. This isn’t a normal thing they do, but like I said, they love you. I used Devin’s graduation as an excuse to hold them off as long as I could. They’re chomping at the bit, though. I don’t want to overwhelm you the minute you get out here, but it would get them off my back if we could meet them for lunch after you land.”

I looked Jessica Jordans up on the internet, and she is gorgeous. Young, with long brown hair that’s always perfectly wavy. Slim but athletic. One-thousand-watt smile. I can’t say I’m excited to meet her and watch her fawn all over Lennon, because I’m sure she will. Who wouldn’t? Everyone would, if the women he’s had in and out of his life are any indication.

I take two more dresses out of the back of my closet and lay them next to my suitcase.

While I can’t say I’m excited to meet Jessica, I try to sound as enthusiastic as I can. “Oh. Sure. Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Perfect. Thank you. I’ll make it up to you by taking you somewhere really cool or—”

“You don’t have to do anything special,” I cut him off. “Just being with you is going to be more than enough.”

He tilts his head. “I want to, Songbird. I want to show my favorite person in the world around my favorite place in the world.”

I can’t help a smile at that. It sounds like exactly what I need.

***

Richard and Rachel leave as soon as they drop Devin off from their shopping trip. He grouses about carrying all the stuff they bought her back to New York, and I have to bite my tongue so I don’t mention that he could have saved himself the trouble by following the original plan.

Devin is a tornado of activity from the minute he leaves right up until I’m wheeling my suitcase to the front door and shouting up to her room that we need to get going.

My phone dings with a message just as Devin tosses a duffel bag down the stairs.

“I hope there wasn’t anything fragile in that,” I mumble to myself as I check my phone.

Hannah: Delivery for you!

What does that mean? I pull the curtain over the porch window aside and see a package on my doorstep. Hannah’s car is in the street, but she pulls away quickly. She stops down the street, and my phone dings again.

Hannah: I knew if I were still here when I gave it to you, you wouldn’t take it. I’ll be back a few times this week to check on the place.

What in the world? I open the door to get the box, then slide my finger under the tape keeping it shut. Inside is a bathing suit. A red one. Two pieces, though the bottom looks big enough to be high-waisted. I hold it up against my torso. It’ll probably fit.

Lark: You didn’t have to do that.

Hannah: Do you have a bathing suit?

Lark: No.

Hannah: You do now. You’re welcome. Have fun.

I laugh and, shaking my head, open my suitcase just enough to slip the bathing suit inside.

***

Somehow, I hold my tears back long enough for Devin to round the corner toward her terminal. Molly had texted her that she was already there and waiting, but Devin spent an extra few minutes with me, even though I could tell she was excited to go.

As soon as she’s out of sight, the waterworks start, and they don’t stop until I’m in the air. I pull Sizzling Secrets out of my carry-on to take some notes, and I try. I really do. But I end up mostly watching the puffy clouds pass underneath the wing of the plane from the window, counting down the minutes until I get to squeeze my best friend.