Page 168 of Movers and Shakers

“Hello?” she asked, in the same suspicious voice I would if I got a call from a random LA number.

“Hi, Ruth. It’s Lila. Barry’s friend.”

The line was silent. “Lila?” she asked. “How did you get . . . What—why?”

“I know it’s a lot. I got your number from Barry because he’s really busy and wanted me to invite you on the tour in a few weeks. The whole family could go, actually. You could invite Tom and Max, and Lynn if you wanted to.”

“What about Barry’s girlfriend, Rose?”

Shit.“Rose? Um, of course, she’s invited. I called her earlier, actually, but she’s not a big concert person, and she’s busy with work anyway.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense, I guess.”

I cringed, hoping I’d covered for myself well enough. “She’s just so busy right now. Oh, do you have a way to contact Barry’s coworkers, Liam and Audrey? I would ask him to mention it to them, but I’m sure he would say something about how they’re needed at the bar.”

I twirled my hair in my fingers, hoping the diversion would work. She was silent for so long I worried that it didn’t.

“I can figure out a way to talk to them. It’ll be like one big party.”

Whew.I was covered. “Right? I hope everyone can come. Barry is such a good friend that I want everyone he cares about to be there.”

“Of course. I guess I’ll be seeing you in LA, then?”

“Yeah,” I said, letting a relieved laugh escape me. “I’ll see you soon, Ruth.”

Barry

Ruth: Family meeting. Now. At my office.

I should have seen it coming. Ruth would either be excited that Lila Wilde had called her or there would be more questions. If I were unlucky, then it would be both.

Her text was oddly cryptic, but I hoped she was just about to say how wild it was that a huge pop star had called her.

Either way, it was unlike her to call a family meeting over something like this. I knew she and Tom loved seeing me in person, but this seemed out of pocket.

Which meant she probably had more questions.

Damn it.

I pulled into the garage for the PATH office just as Tom did.

“What do you think this is about?” he asked as he got out of his truck.

“I gave Lila Wilde Ruth’s number.”

“Ah,” Tom said. “So less of an emergency, then. Weird. She sounded mad.”

“She’s probably just being Ruth about this. We can’t worry too much.”

Iwasworrying too much, but I refused to let it show.

Tom nodded. He knew where her office was and led us there as if he knew the place like the back of his hand. As much as I wanted to pay attention to the place Ruth worked, all I could think about was all the ways she could question me about Lila again.

I really needed her to miss hints sometimes.

“Hey,” I said. “We made it.”

I readied myself for another barrage of questions as I stared down my sister. With her pursed lips and narrowed eyes, she didn’t look excited at all.

---