Page 53 of Taming His Rockstar

Chapter 27

“The dress for the governor’s charity gala has arrived.”

I look up and see Jane hang a dress bag on my closet door and turn away. Gathering Kent close to me, I hug him harder. The poor dog has been the subject of my attention the past few days, and I spend most of my time hugging him or just holding him. At least he doesn’t seem to mind it, and except for the times he gives me a strange look when I spend all day talking to him, I think he actually enjoys it.

“Katie,” Jane calls out to me. “Are you going to come and try it out so we’ll know if it needs to be adjusted? The gala is tomorrow.”

“I already told you I’m not going,” I mumble. “Already sent in my donation. They’re going to have to manage that.”

The bed dips as Jane sits next to me. “All right, can I know how long this moping is going to last so I can move all your important engagements?”

“I’m not moping,” I say defensively.

“You’re not? Could have fooled me.” Jane shakes her head. “All you do is eat in bed, watch movies, and talk to that dog. You don’t even talk to me.”

“Because you have all these opinions, and you talk back.” I hug Kent, smiling a little when he licks my face. “Kent loves me for me.”

“Of course he does. You give him food.” She eyes my dog. “You’re going to make him so fat he’ll have his own reality show.”

“Never.” I shake my head. “My dog is never going to be a celebrity. I would never do that to him.”

“Being a celebrity is not why you’re sitting here with a broken heart. You dumped him, remember.”

“Because I am a celebrity, and it could only lead to heartbreak.”

She stares at me. “So, to prevent him from breaking your heart in future, you decided to break it now yourself?”

I scowl at her. “I know you think I’m crazy, but it was the right thing to do.”

“And did you consider that he may be right?” Jane asks carefully. “That this may just be you acting scared.”

I regret telling Jane everything. But I was too distraught at the time to filter my story. If I had been in my right mind, I would’ve left out the part where Jake called me scared and maybe also the part where I called him scared right back. That part still makes me cringe.

“I’m not scared,” I mumble. “And you don’t need to come and babysit me. I can take care of myself.”

“Yesterday, you left the stove on, and this morning, you forgot your phone in the fridge. You serve all this food and barely touch it. Kent eats most of it. And you’ve been playing Gaynor for three days now. Even I didn’t think I would ever get tired of hearing this song.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself,” I mumble.

Jane moves closer to me. “Katie, you know you’re going to have to talk about it sometime. You don’t, and you won’t get over it.”

I’m silent. “It hurts to even talk about,” I finally say. “Especially since I know he may be right.”

“Then go back to him,” she suggests gently.

I splutter. “Go back to him? After how I left and the things I said? There is no way he is going to take me back now.”

“So, you do want to go back to him?”

I nod. “Every day, I want to pick up that phone and tell him it was a mistake. But I know I can’t.” I sit up. “He may be right that I’m afraid. Doesn’t mean my fears are invalid or unfounded. One day, he’s going to decide all the stress is not worth it and leave me.”

“I can’t believe you’re giving up like this. You know what?” She reaches for her phone. “I’m calling the squad. Maybe one of them will be able to talk some sense into you. You were falling in love with the guy for Christ’s sake. Then when he says he wants a relationship with you, you chicken out. The Katie I know would never back down. You pursued Michael even after I told you he was bad news because you thought he was the one. Why then are you scared to go after Jake when you know he is the one?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe somewhere inside me, I knew Michael was not the one for me, and so it was easy to chase after him. I knew that should he hurt me, I’d be able to endure it. If Jake ever broke my heart . . .”

I didn’t finish the statement. I didn’t need to.

Jane picks the phone. “I’m calling Ava . . .”

“Don’t,” I groan. “She already called yesterday to ask if I was doing fine, and I told her yes.”

“Good, now you get to prove it to her.” She calls Ava in my presence, and I hear Ava say she’d arrive in an hour. “All right.” Jane gets to her feet and taps on her knees for the dog. “I’m taking Kent for a walk. After all the food you’ve given him, God knows he needs it.”

I watch them leave. Turning around, I pick up the remote and raise the volume of the sound system and allow Gloria Gaynor’s voice to soothe my pain.

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