Page 28 of Blue Moon

“For talking to your roommate but not you.”

“I’m just glad you had some support.” His fingers itched to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, but he held back. “While I’m here, I’ll pick up the groceries.”

“And when you’re gone?”

“We’ll work out a plan by the time I leave.”

“When will that be?”

“I’m here for a month.”

“A month? I didn’t think you’d have that much time off.” Luna chewed one corner of her lip. “I didn’t even believe you about the vacation. When you showed up on my doorstep, I figured you’d done something crazy like walking out of your job.”

He almost brushed the comment away, but he’d promised no more lies. “That’s not a million miles from the truth, but now I have a month off.”

“An actual month off? Or you quit, and in a month, you’ll start looking for a new position?”

He forced a laugh. In a month, he might be out of a job, but he couldn’t tell Luna that. If he did, she’d make the decision for him and send him back to Virginia.

“An actual month off. There’s a chance I might need to lend a hand in the Vegas office, but you’re my priority.”

Luna found the hash browns and the breakfast sandwiches and tipped them onto the kitchen counter, grinning like a kid. The newspapers had labelled her as high maintenance, but in truth, she was anything but.

“Do you want to share this? If I eat more than half, I won’t fit into my costumes.”

“Sure. I’ll eat whatever you don’t want.” Ryder could spend an hour in the gym when he went to the office later. Every Blackwood location had workout equipment, even if it was just a treadmill and a stack of weights. Staying fit was part of the company ethos. “Moon, I need to send everything from Mark A for analysis. Where are the earrings and the note you got with them?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I left the bag on the table backstage with all the other stuff I didn’t want. So I guess they might still be there?”

“I’ll take a look.”

“You’re coming to the theatre?”

Luna found plates and a knife and cut the sandwich in half. The pieces weren’t quite the same size, and she gave Ryder the bigger one.

“Yeah, I’m coming to the theatre. Once you’re in rehearsals or make-up or whatever it is you have to do, I’ll head out for a while, but I need to make sure you get there safely.”

“There’s no show this evening.” Luna flashed a smile. “Day off. You didn’t realise?”

In truth, he’d avoided everything to do with the show until her phone call. Okay, yeah, he’d considered buying tickets, but Caro had vetoed that idea and Knox took her side. And Luna hadn’t mentioned her schedule last night. After the conversation about Neve and Shylah, they’d eaten more or less in silence. And when he said “eaten,” he meant that Luna picked at her chicken while he nudged food around his plate. But when he asked if she wanted him to bring breakfast in the morning, she’d agreed, and so he hadn’t pushed for more.

“Where do you need to go this afternoon? Actually, forget that. It’s none of my business.”

“Moon, it is your business. Blackwood’s going to take a look at Mark A, see if we can identify him.”

“You really think he’s a problem? I get a lot of letters from randos. Jubilee used to joke that she could paper a house with them.”

“I get that, moon, but this one’s different. He knows where you live, and in the two notes I’ve seen, he says he’s going to see you soon. Plus he’s talking about reincarnation. Cleopatra and Marcus Antonius essentially died for each other.”

Luna shuddered. “I read that story on the internet. I hate this. I hate it. All I ever wanted to do was sing, and now I’ve got the show at the Nile Palace, which is great and everything, but there’s so much other trash that comes with the package. Interviews, meet-and-greets, stalkers, photographers… How many are out there this morning?”

“Half a dozen so far.”

“They’re going to write about you, you know. About us. If you hang around with me, you won’t be able to avoid them.”

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