Page 29 of Protecting Hailey

I passed Sam the paper. Her lips moved as she read my scribbled words, and when she finished, she nodded and looked up at me. “It’s not exactly polished, but it’s fine. If this is what you want to go with, then we’ll do it.”

“Thank you. Now, can we discuss the feud with Kendra? How the hell did that begin?”

Sam turned to Ingrid, and she shrugged. “I’m not really sure,” said Ingrid. “There was a screenshot last week of a message you sent to a fan that Kendra took offensively. You called her lame and her music raunchy.”

“I would never use those words, even if I didn’t like someone’s music. How do we find out who sent it?”

“It’s difficult with the internet. People can make fake accounts. But we can put out another statement addressing the issue.”

“Yes. I want everyone to know that I did not make those statements. I am not even on social media.”

“Well, we can’t say you’re not on social,” said Sam. “Ingrid posts on your behalf and sometimes people think it’s you. But that’s a good thing because they engage more with the page if they think they’re speaking with the celebrity directly.”

“I’m not sure I like that.”

“Well, do you have four hours every day to post and engage with your community because that’s how long it takes to keep a social media page like yours active and engaged?”

“No, of course, I don’t have that time.”

“Then let us do what you hired us to do.”

My leg bounced underneath the table. “Fine.”

“Great.” She stood up, and Ingrid immediately pushed away from the desk after her. “We’ll release both statements today and work to end this scandal.”

“Thanks,” I said and watched them go.

Christian stood at the back of the room. I hadn’t noticed him until now. His face was blank of expression, as usual, but as I walked past him to head into the recording room with Tessa, I heard him say, “Good job.”

I turned around, surprised by how much his words reassured me I’d done the right thing and how much I needed to hear them. But “thanks,” was all I said back to him.

“Finally, we can get to work,” Tessa declared when I entered the recording room. “If you’re finished with the paperwork, we can get down to business.”

“That sounds great, Tessa. I had this idea for the bridge I wanted to run past you.”

I sang the lyrics to her.

“Try it an octave lower.”

I sang it lower as she suggested and the sound was softer, more vulnerable. “That’s it, that’s perfect,” I said, clapping my hands.

“This one should be your first single on the next album. It’s fresh.”

I agreed. Although we’d only written and composed two songs so far, this one was already my favorite.

A few hours later, my voice was scratchy again.

“I think we should call it a night.” I didn’t want to damage my vocals.

“Sure thing. Back here tomorrow, same time?” she asked.

“Definitely.”

I leaned in for a hug and said goodbye.

Christian stood at the front door, waiting for me. I passed him the car keys since I had a few emails and text messages to respond to on the way home.

I scrolled through my phone while he drove. I had seven messages from Trey. My shoulders loosened, and I smiled when I saw he had sent me a picture of himself making a heart sign. Aw! That was so sweet.

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