Page 81 of Make The Cut

I frown. “I thought you were going to tell him.”

After, she mouths, waving her hand around the dressing room.

The knocking stops and Ryder’s footsteps recede. Poppy takes another retreating step. “I’m going to go.”

“I’ll see you later, then. At the after party?”

She nods. “Or, maybe sooner than that.”

Before I can ponder her meaning, she’s disappeared out a side door that I didn’t notice, leaving only the scent of her perfume.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Poppy Black

I march down the hallway where hopefully, I won’t be spotted by anyone backstage who might report to my brother that I was coming out of Naoya Sugawa’s dressing room. I mean, I’m his stylist. It won’t be that weird. Will it?

It shouldn’t be. Right?

My palms sweat, and I have to keep myself from wiping them on my skirt. I take deep breaths to slow the racing of my heart, but it’s useless.

I’m going to tell the world that we’re together. Listening to One Direction’sThey Don’t Know About Usmay have had something to do with my decision, but still. It’s a good idea. Isn’t it?

Calm down, Poppy, and stop questioning yourself. You’re a successful businesswoman with a new venture ahead of you and a guy that loves you. Whom you also love. So there’s nothing scary about telling other people that you’re together. Nope. Even if he’s one of the most famous singers in the world, and his father is one of the most famous celebrity chefs in the world, and he has an army of fangirls who will probably hate my guts…

Nope. I am totally calm about this. It’s a completely normal thing to do.

I just don’t want to hide anymore. I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not. Tired of pretending I can’t be who I am and love what I do. Tired of hiding who I am and what I do, skulking around the shadows like a rat. I’m not a rat. If anything, I’m a lioness.

Ready to pounce on her enemy.

That is, until I walk out of the hallway and somehow end up in the seating area for the Grammys.

Only music’s biggest night of the year.

And I spot my parents, with River, and a girl wearing a red dress, who I don’t recognize but who seems familiar. They’re all sitting down near the front row, to the right side of the aisle.

I freeze. Should I go say hi?

As I watch, the girl in red stands and excuses herself, saying something to my mom. So they know each other. From my mom’s expression, she looks jubilantly excited to be here, and who could blame her? Ryder must have invited our family here to celebrate his nomination for the pop song of the year. But how did River get out of Kentucky? I thought he was still on house arrest. Did he chop off his own ankle?

The longer I stand there, the more attention I attract from some celebrities, who are annoyed with me just standing in the middle of the aisle and blocking them from reaching their chairs, and from random guests who are just wondering why someone’s in their way. I quickly get out of the way and start walking toward my parents, taking the seat that Red Dress Girl vacated.

“I didn’t expect to see all y’all here,” I say, slipping back into my southern drawl the way I always do when I’m around my family.

“Poppy!” My mom turns to me. She’s dressed in a beautiful gown, and as I look further down the row, I realize there’s two more faces I don’t recognize. They look Asian, tan—maybe Filipino? “Oh, I didn’t know you’d be here. Have you and Ryder made up?”

“We sure have.”And he’s going to kill me and Naoya very soon.“Who else are you here with?”

“Ryder’s girlfriend,” she says cheerily.I knew he was keeping something from me!“Ah, Bruce, can you believe it? All our kids in one place, just like old times.”

“So, how did River, ah, get out of the house? I thought he was, you know,” I say, gesturing toward my brother’s leg as he types something on his phone.

“He was acquitted.” My dad’s rumbly voice reaches my ears above the din of the crowds. “All charges dropped. Apparently, your brother got tricked by some no-good, shady business guy, Vic B.”

Anyone could have told him that Vic B was bad news, but I guess he never asked anyone.

The girl in the red dress returns. She must be who Ryder’s been seeing. Her olive skin glows against the bright red of her gown, and she’s wearing a matching shade of red lipstick. The sequins on her skirt rustle as she scrunches the fabric in one hand, scanning the rows for her seat.

“It’s great to see you guys again.” I stand up quickly. “I’m going to go. I have a, uh, seat somewhere else.”

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