Page 35 of He's The Reason Why

Her sister was sitting in the dining room of the cottage behind the main inn. It was quiet but brightly lit. Lizzie had let her hair down but was still dressed in what Piper thought of as her work clothes, a tailored suit coat over a white blouse and slacks. She looked tired but pleased with herself.

There was a cup of tea in front of her and a plate of what looked like shortbread cookies next to it.

Piper’s mouth watered. She’d skipped dinner again. “How’d the wedding go?”

Lizzie picked up the cup of tea and settled back against the seat. “It was a second time around for both of them, so we kept it intimate and romantic, with just the immediate family and friends. Low key, but perfect, and lucky for me not long-winded.”

Piper curled up on the couch and leaned against one of the big fluffy pillows. “Is it too late to talk?”

“It’s never too late.” Lizzie smiled at her with big sisterly fondness before her expression shifted to one of concern. “What’s going on? You look keyed up. Is the movie going okay?”

“No. It’s definitely not okay. Blake Ryan is completely impossible.”

Lizzie dragged the tea bag around in her cup. “What happened?”

It took Piper half an hour to fill Lizzie in on all the frustrations of the day. Her sister listened without much comment until the end, when Piper blurted out what really bugged her about the whole thing. “He said it was good enough. Can you believe that? He doesn’t give a crap about this movie, especially the music.”

“It’s just one bad day,” Lizzie soothed. “It doesn’t necessarily mean—”

“He’s hamming it up and totally over the top. His technique’s wrong. He doesn’t support the notes, he just blasts them. He goes all breathy when he should be bold, and shouts when he should be projecting. The more I think about it, the more I think he has no idea how to sing.”

Lizzie’s forehead wrinkled. “He hits the notes, right? He’s not off or tone-deaf or anything?”

“No.” Piper fluffed the pillow then sank into it, feeling grumpy. “Not like that. His pitch is fine, most of the time. Good, even. Every now and then there’s a spark of something great. That’s what’s so damn frustrating. Hecansing, but he’s not doing it right. I thought at first that he was just nervous, but by the third day, I realized that he either doesn’t care about this project, or he’s a complete amateur. I’m not sure which is worse.”

Lizzie took a cautious sip of her tea. “Maybe he’s a casual singer who doesn’t know how to use proper technique.”

“Honestly.” Piper blew out a breath. “They picked Eddie Ryan’s son. For crying out loud, he should know how to sing.”

“Just because his father is a great singer doesn’t mean he grew up with a vocal coach.”

“Something had to have rubbed off growing up around someone like that, right? I mean, you learned a lot from Mom, and I learned from you and Dad.”

“Not necessarily.” Lizzie shook her head. “According to the article I read, his parents had a really ugly divorce, and Blake stayed with his mom. It’s entirely possible he hasn’t seen that much of his dad.”

“Aw hell. I just assumed…dammit.” Piper groaned. She thought about everything that had happened in the past few days and realized her sister might be right. “I should have seen it. I mean, I did see it, I just thought he was tanking it on purpose. But if he didn’t know what he was doing, then we went at this all wrong. No wonder he overextended. Now he sounds like he gargled with sandpaper and it might be all my fault.”

“Ouch.” Lizzie winced and put a hand over her throat. “You think he did real damage? Or does he just need rest?”

“I don’t know.” Piper bit her lip. Oh God, what had she done? She’d attacked the studio time with him like she would have for her own albums. But if he was new to it, the pace would have been impossible to keep up with for very long. Still, he’d only really shown signs of distress this afternoon. “Hopefully just rest. I gave him my throat drops, but I doubt he uses them. I told him to rest his voice, but I doubt he does that, either. He was so busy arguing with me I doubt he noticed what I actually said.”

She swallowed against the guilt now piling up inside her stomach. “How do I fix this? Make him sit in a eucalyptus steam bath? Hope he spontaneously combusts so they have to find someone else?”

“His throat is injured,” Lizzie said in a matter-of-fact, it’s-obvious-if-you’d-just-open-your-eyes tone. “You know what to do for that kind of injury, but he might not. So coach him on how to take care of his throat, then maybe show him how to avoid hurting it again. Once you do that, move on to how he should be emoting rather than shouting.”

Piper sat back. “What if he refuses to listen?”

“Who on earth could refuse you when you put your mind to something?” Lizzie’s fond smile eased some of the stress she’d been feeling all day.

This wasn’t an impossible problem to solve. She and Blake Ryan just needed a do-over, that’s all.

After Piper ended the call, she sent a quick text to Neil. She needed to get some supplies, and she needed Blake Ryan’s address.

Need Blake Ryan’s addy. Have a present for him.

A few seconds later, he responded,Will it explode?

She laughed.No.

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