Page 145 of Beautiful Storm

Jesus. That’s a lot of effort to speak to me. “Okay, I’ll call him back after I’ve had a chat with Luke—”

“Please call him now. You know I’d never take his side over yours, and I know you’re supposed to be keeping your stress levels low, but he was worried. And he mentioned his news would affect Luke too. He said he could help.”

“Okay.” A panic works its way into my chest but I try to shut it down. Panic leads to stress, stress leads to… nope. I can’t think about that. “I’ll call him now.”

Luke is going to hate this.

I hang up from Hayley and turn to find Luke staring at me in question.

“We—” he begins as I say, “I—”

“Sorry.” Luke smiles. “You go first.”

“Thanks. I have to call Preston. He’s been trying to call me and Hayley said—”

“Don’t. He probably just found out about the baby and—”

“It’s about the fire.”

“What? Why?” I’d laugh at the fact we had the exact same response if I wasn’t so worried.

“I don’t know. That’s why I have to call him.”

“Okay, do you want me to leave?” His eyes flash to the door but thankfully he doesn’t move, because…

“God, no. I want you to stay so you can take the phone away from me if it sounds like I need it.”

“You want me to help you?” His lips pull into a smirk as he raises one eyebrow. Gloating.

“Yes, Luke. I need it.”

“You know I’ll always say yes. I’ve been here doing anything I can since the beginning.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Call him. I’ll be here.”

He sits back in his chair and lifts his ankle to his knee to get comfortable before crossing his arms over his chest. I’d take it as pissed-off body language if I didn’t know him as well as I do, and the reality is, it’s more of a shield.

Preston answers before I’ve registered the phone ringing, and the urgency in his voice has my pulse racing. “Amelia, thank God. You’re a difficult person to get ahold of. Thank you for calling me back.”

“What’s going on, Preston? Why did you have Hayley call me?”

“Because you wouldn’t answer me and I needed to speak to you.”

Déjavu hits me along with a wave of nausea. This reminds me of the beginning of my talk with my dad, and I can’t handle that much emotional stress right now.

“Get to the point, Preston. Please.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

Luke’s eyes flash to mine and he sits up, getting ready to take the phone away, but I shake my head. Preston hasn’t done anything wrong; I just want him to tell me what’s going on.

“My agent got a call from some guy named Jake who wanted to meet me. He said his company was interested in doing a short series about the band. I was dubious at first but agreed to a meeting.”

Jesus. What the hell could Jake want? If they were doing a show, surely they’d talk to me about it. A thought hits me and I gasp. “You never announced that we were divorced.”

“What?” His voice waivers as though my question threw him off his thoughts process.

---