Page 16 of To the Moon and Back

“Shall I go bang on her door?” Trip whispered in Lauren’s ear.Normally, that would be the protocol. She’d keep things moving in the room, andher ASM would search out their problem child. Today felt different. Alreadyangry and resenting the hell out of Carly’s presence after what happened thisweekend, this behavior only multiplied her frustration.

“No. This is her fourth late arrival, and this one is flagrant.I’m going personally.”

Trip’s eyebrows touched his hairline. He hadn’t expected thatresponse, and she hadn’t expected to give it. “Gotcha. I’ll take over here.”

“I appreciate it,” she said, quietly, scooping up her bag.

Ethan moved to her, having overheard their discussion. “AndLauren? Make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“I hear you,” she said, swallowing her hatred for this day, and itwasn’t even noon.

She was familiar with the apartments the theater retained forhousing out-of-town talent. She hopped in her Mini, blasted the radio, andheaded there. She rode the elevator to the fourth floor of the building, stareddown the number 406 that matched the paperwork she had on Carly, and knockedthree times with maybe a little extra force. No one answered. Wonderful. Sheknocked again, this time vigorously, and when that didn’t work, she knockedwith her key to the theater, generating a much louder, grating sound.

“What the hell?” Carly said, swinging the door open, bleary-eyed.She stared at Lauren, then craned her head around the corner and stared downthe hallway. Then back to Lauren.

“Carly, you’re an hour late to rehearsal, and that’s if we wereteleported to The McAllister right this moment.”

More blinking. Carly ran her hand through her hair, which wastousled, but in that shampoo commercial way that only certain people—people whowere not Lauren—could pull off. When she opened the door more fully, Laurentook in her whole outfit. A tank top and what appeared to be a baby-blue thong.She looked away from the expanse of skin available to her gaze.

“Fuck. I didn’t mean to oversleep.” She glanced behind her foranswers, flashing a bare cheek at Lauren. “I was up late and probably didn’tset an alarm.”

“Probably?” Lauren asked and turned back to Carly, because thongor not, this irresponsibility at work was unacceptable.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. Let me get myself together.” Laurennodded and folded her arms. “What? You’re just going to stand there? Is yourplan to escort me?”

“I thought we’d ride over together, yeah.” Damn right she wasgoing to escort her. She was not walking back into that rehearsal hall withword that Carly would be there soon, while they all watched the door andcrossed their fingers.

“Lauren,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “I’m a successful adult.You don’t have to babysit me.”

“Apparently, I do.”

“Fine,” she said coolly. Carly let the door fall open as sheheaded back inside. “Then do so inside. Less weird that way. Plus, it might helpyou relax.”

Lauren followed quickly behind Carly, hostility flaring. “Pleasedon’t insinuate that I need to relax. That’s rude. I arrived on time for myjob. You’re the one who kept twenty people waiting and made both of us lookbad.”

“I said it was a mistake.” Carly raised a shoulder as if totelegraph this was no big deal and they should move on. “Why can’t youunderstand that things happen.”

“To just you? Because everyone else made a point to arrive ontime, prepared. I think we all deal with alarm clocks. We all have the sametraffic to battle. Hell, this apartment is ten minutes from the theater.”

“I’ll be early tomorrow. How’s that? I’ll add a little investmentto your time management bank account, because you’re clearly keeping track.Doesn’t clock-watching get boring?”

“That’s not enough.”

“Fine. What is it that you want from me? Why don’t you just spellit out and save us time? Because I’m starting to feel like it’s my head on aplatter.”

“That’s not at all what I want.” Lauren clasped her fingers infront of her to keep her tone calm, reined in. That had never been difficultbefore. Why was she struggling? “You have to make changes to not just yourpunctuality, but your approach to life. At the very least, to your work.”

Carly stared at her with fire in her eyes. The anger turned them adeeper shade of blue. Yep, she’d finally upset Carly. “Oh, I need to change theway I approach my work? Because I haven’t achieved any kind of status in acutthroat town like LA. Got it. Thank you so much for your unsolicited wisdomfrom…where are we again?” She looked around. “God, it’s good you’re here now tosteer me back onto the right path.”

“Well, if I wasn’t, you’d still be asleep. So there’s that.”

Silence hit. “It was an accident,” Carly said, biting off eachword before disappearing into the bedroom in a beautiful flutter of anger.

Lauren stifled an eye roll and stepped inside Carly’s apartment,as she’d left the door ajar for her. Wow, okay. Once inside, she took note ofthe fact that the space was definitely a lot neater than Lauren would havepredicted, given hurricane Carly. The entirely gray and white kitchen andmodern living room both gleamed. The granite countertops sparkled. No clothingbombs or pizza boxes to be seen. Everything appeared neat, tidy, and organized.Carly Daniel, who wasn’t capable of organizing her life if it killed her, wasneat? No. Who was this person? That’s when it hit her. Carlywascapable. She justhad to care enough. “All right. I see how it is.”

“Did you say something?” Carly called from in the bedroom.

“Nothing important,” Lauren called back.

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