Page 51 of Born To Be My Baby

That had largely been the reason he didn't allow himself to get involved over the years. He saw people get married and then wanted to be unmarried. He never wanted to be like that. The music industry was hard enough as it was. But if he could do it all over again, would he?

Would he have broken up with her? All things considered, no. But then again, he didn't have all the information.

He nodded to Jami, Axel, and Mads, "See you all tomorrow." And he left, eager to get home for the first time ever.

And that felt pretty damn good.

39

Gloria woke early. Last night she'd not slept well. Today was her big meeting and for the life of her, she couldn't decide how she wanted today to go.

If they fired her, which, who actually wants that unless they're ready and have something else to do to make a living? But, if they fired her, she'd find something. It wouldn't be easy, though. Getting fired on a conduct breach sent negative vibes out to all potential employers. Then again, if anyone looked closely at the situation, they'd see there was no violation at all, and it was a personal matter that needed to be worked out between the three of them and no one else.

She'd done nothing to dishonor her conduct clause in her contract. Basically, the conduct clause said that she couldn't publicly be abusive to anyone, speak racial slurs, talk about politics and religion, start fights, be drunk and disorderly, drunk driving, the usual. She'd done none of that. The only clause that her attorneys were worried about was, "Anything to disrespect or draw negative attention to the network."

That was the part she was worried about, and the part that she was afraid they were going to use against her.

She eased herself out of bed, careful not to wake Sean. She'd kept him awake for a while last night, tossing and turning. She slipped out of the bedroom, still in her pajamas.

She made the coffee as quietly as possible, then stepped outside while it brewed and sat on the deck. The sun was coming up in about an hour and right now, the weather was warm, the air humid, and the birds were just beginning to sing.

She scrolled on her phone a little bit, careful to stay away from the search engines, and only focusing on her emails and anything business related that she needed to worry about.

She saw the email Brody had sent with the video of the three of them making their public statement, and she saw an email from her attorney regarding the video of the three of them.

She opened that one first. His response was, "It looks good, nothing damning. I would get it up as soon as possible. Come to my office and we'll call in to the network together in the morning."

She swallowed, closed the email, mentally calculated how much a Sunday email from her lawyer would cost her, then opened the email from Brody with the video. She hit the play button and watched the video once more.

As she remembered, she looked shell-shocked. Her jaw was tight. She smiled once, and it looked like something from a horror film. Her critics would have a field day. Then she remembered the pictures she asked Sean to take of her in the hospital. And the pictures of Mina.

She stepped inside, poured some coffee, and found her computer bag in the kitchen. She slung that over her left shoulder, which wasn't as bruised as her right shoulder, picked up her coffee cup and stepped back out on the deck.

She rested her legs on the coffee table, opened her laptop and arranged the photos in a program she'd then send to her video editor to put together. She'd narrate the footage to explain what happened to them after they left the Crossroads concert on the beach. She'd show it to her attorney this morning after they met with the network to make sure she didn't say anything that could get her sued. Once she had his okay, they'd release their statement.

It was the first time in a few days now that she felt excited about a work project. Her mojo was coming back, though it had been slow to do so. She had thoughts the past few days that she'd never be the same again.

In truth, she never would be the same as she had been. Skeletons popping out of closets had a way of doing that to a person.

She focused on her pictures, arranging them in an order that told the story. She should get police photos of Sean's vehicle and the vehicle that crashed into them. Her fingers froze for a moment, and she hesitated mentally for a bit. They'd be on the internet likely.

She huffed out a breath, opened up a browser, and typed in Sammy Fender accident. Her screen filled with the images. Sean's vehicle upside down, the ambulance alongside the road. One of them being pulled out of the vehicle and placed on the stretcher. Sean walking slowly beside the stretcher. That must have been Mina. She tried recalling the events as they'd removed her from the vehicle, but she had no memory of most of it. Sean calling the police. She remembered him calling to Mina and asking her to wake up. She remembered the EMTs telling him to give them room. She only slightly remembered one of them asking her name. She’d been in and out and at one point she remembered being grateful that Sean cared so much about getting help for Mina.

She took a few of those pictures from the news site, notated the news site for her editor. They'd get the actual pictures so, they were clear and crisp.

The door slid open and Sean stepped out. She looked up at him and bit her bottom lip. "Morning."

He sat next to her, looked into her cup, then stepped inside once again. After he'd refilled her cup, he sat next to her. "What are you working on?"

She took a deep breath. "Our statement to the press. And arranging the pictures you took of me and Mina and of photos from the accident. I'm going to narrate over a photo montage telling all that happened and why we haven't made our statement before now."

Sean looked into her eyes. The sun was now rising, and the green of his eyes reminded her of emeralds glistening in the sun.

"May I see it?"

She nodded and turned her laptop toward him. She started the video presentation, then set her laptop on his lap. She sipped her coffee nervously as he watched. He didn't say a word during the video.

She saw him swallow a few times and his breathing became increasingly choppy. When the video finished, he turned to her once more.

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