Page 64 of He's The Reason Why

Her get-out-of-the-house-now alarm went off. She should go.

The string of texts waited with silent judgment. She couldn’t leave Della’s messages dangling out there like that. It felt mean.

But she wasn’t ready to answer the question Della really wanted.

She thought about it, then sent two quick messages before she set out for the studio.

The first was to Della.Thanks for this. Recording today, will talk later.

The second went to Mattie.Love the song.

Blake was already in the studio when she got there, to her surprise. She couldn’t hear him because the mics weren’t activated, but from the way his lips were moving, she thought he was running through the warm-ups she’d taught him.

He seemed different this morning. His stride ate the floor in the studio as he paced back and forth. He seemed broody and intense, like a lion who wanted out of the cage.

Maybe things weren’t going well with Marshall’s location scouting. Or maybe something else had gone wrong.

He spun on one heel at the far side of the room and glanced in her direction. He caught her staring and froze.

She waved at him and mouthed, “Good morning.”

Blake’s gaze drank her in and refused to let her go. How did he manage to do that from another room, with thick glass in between them?

She pushed the door open and joined him.

“Slowpoke,” he said.

The moody intensity she’d seen through the glass vanished. She couldn’t tell if he was being himself now, or Jesse.

“I’m thirty minutes early.”

Blake was never late, but she was usually the first one to arrive after Jeanette, who appeared to live in that booth.

“Anxious to see me? Can’t blame you.” His grin was crooked and cocky and totally Jesse.

“You don’t have to do that. I can get into character all by myself now.” She put her bag down on the couch.

“Tamar?” Blake waved at the booth. “Do you mind if we run through it a couple of times just to get in the mood?”

Tamar gave him a thumbs-up and a big smile.

The digital displays near their stations came to life, and the dialogue for scene one appeared.

“This is just practice, right?” Piper asked.

Blake turned his head from side to side like an athlete getting ready. “Yep. Just getting warmed up.”

Calling it a warm-up took all the pressure off.

“Let me just run through my emotional state,” Piper said. “I’m angry that my sister was taken, worried that I won’t be able to save her, scared that she’ll be attacked in the forest, and I’m more than a little anxious about navigating this adventure alone.”

“Sounds right,” Blake said.

“I’ll just jump in, then.” She took a deep breath, let it out, then said her line. “Which way do I go? Right or left?”

The intercom clicked on. “Uh,” the reader said, “do you want me to fill in the extras for this, or are you just going to flash through your own dialogue?”

Piper looked at Blake and shrugged. “Read?”

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