Page 77 of The County Fair Queen

Rivers sniffed; a soft, gentle sound that tugged at every heartstring I had. "I'm scared, Firecracker. Scared of—"

"Just say it. You don't have anything to be scared of. The entire ride over, I wanted to tell my dad to turn the truck around. I wanted to run back up those stairs and crawl into bed with you, right where I belong. It feels like it did back then. Like I'm running. I don't think I want to run anymore. So, whatever you want to say, please… Please? I'm not going to hurt you."

He gripped my hip with his hand, his nails digging so deeply into my skin that I had to stifle a cry. "You promise?"

"I promise," I said, kissing the corner of his mouth. "I promise, I promise, I promise." Brenda/Carole, noticing something was amiss, grabbed the camera from her crew member and ran toward the airport, smacking her head on the glass when she tried to enter.

"Rivers," I said, nipping his lips with my teeth. "What I told you last night—"

"That you could've loved me?"

"I could," I whispered, and then, "I do. I love you, Riv. I love you, and I love Beau. Yeah, I know it's fast, but I don't really give a damn. I've never been good at this stuff. It never ends well for me. After a while, I just gave up on it altogether. Then you come in like some goddamn white knight to save my heart like a cliche cartoon hero, and make the world bigger and brighter than it ever was. Honestly, I could probably sue you for psychological damage." His hands gripped tighter around me as Brenda/Carole barged in, screaming that we needed to restart the scene. I flipped her off. "But I want this with you. I want to try. I'm just as scared as you are, but you're worth that fear. Every bit of it."

He paused, blinking back tears, and then he looked up at me with dripping eyes, and the briefest hint of a smile formed on his mouth. "Please… please stay."

"That's what you want?"

"Yes," he breathed. "More than anything. I love you too, Firecracker."

I kissed him. Right there, in front of everyone and no one, I made my choice. Hell, I was pretty sure I'd made it before I even left Aunt Lurlene's. And, sure, we were rushing things, but at that moment, I couldn't bring myself to care. Rivers Rivera—my silly little mayor—had chosen me. And wasn't that just something? Of all the people he could have picked, he'dcast his ballot for Phillip Firecracker. A man who'd never been particularly pick-worthy. A small-town kid who'd lucked out. A singer who couldn't hold a note. A reality television personality with a less than stellar personality. He chose me to be the man he loved.

And so, I said, "Yeah, Riv. Of course. Of course, I'll stay."

Epilogue

I was going to kill Rivers. I didn't know when, and I didn't know how, but Rivers Rivera was a dead man. If he thought that abandoning me when I needed him most could be forgiven and forgotten, he was out of his damn mind.

There was a knock on the dressing room door, followed by a voice calling out from the other side. "Ready when you are, Phillip."

I swiveled around on my stool, glaring at Jordan, but he was too busy playing on that damn tablet of his to pay me any mind. I fully planned on reprimanding him later. "Would it kill you to pay the slightest bit of attention to me? It's what I pay you for."

He rolled his eyes. "For the nine-hundredth time this week, you don't pay me, Phillip."

"Well, with that attitude, can you blame me?" I demanded. Jordan powered down his tablet and hopped off the small dressing room sofa before making his way over to me. He eyedme curiously, and then he grabbed a foam applicator from the table and splotched it across my face.

"Helpless," he said. "You're absolutely helpless without me."

"Which is why you're not allowed to quit," I reminded him. "I know you have this big dream of domesticity, but if you even think of abandoning me, I'll lock you in the basement and throw away the key."

"You don't have a basement," he reminded me, setting the applicator back in its place.

"We have a wine cellar. It will suffice."

He took a step back and eyed me up and down, checking to make sure I was camera ready. "Acceptable, I suppose."

"You're fired," I said, flinging my hands in the air. "Honest to God, it's like you're actively trying to humiliate me. Is that how you roll now, Jordy? Shatter my self-confidence until I'm just a whisper of the man I once was."

"Not much of a whisper," he muttered under his breath. I chose to ignore his blatant attempt at anarchy, because I had a show to do. If I began unloading on him, we'd be there all day. Rivers was half an hour late. He'd all but demanded a ten-minute spot on the show, and now he was ghosting me. I'd be forced to make my way through the Muscadine Madness of it all on my own.

Five minutes later, chaos unfolded around us as we made it to set. As Jordan scurried around extinguishing metaphorical fires, I took my seat on the hideous floral-print sofa in the center of the set.Shewas already there, waiting for me with a scowl.

"Siobhan," I said, giving her a nod.

She didn't respond, not that I expected her to. We hadn't spoken more than a handful of words to each other since I'd signed my contract. If I were in her position, I'd probably resent me as well, but that didn't do much to dampen my irritation.It wasn't like I'd purposefully set out to upstage her. For God's sake, the pairing hadn't even been my decision.

Rivers was still missing when the producer held up his hand, counting downthree, two,and finally,one.

"Good morning, Tallulah," Siobhan said with an overzealous smile. "I'm Siobhan Donahue, and today we have—"

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