Page 45 of To Bring You Back
“Yes.” Tegan had proved herself a true friend in this conversation. She hadn’t judged. She’d encouraged.
A friend like that deserved Adeline’s trust, which meant Adeline needed to consider that Tegan could be right.
Adeline could be friends with Gannon again.
She’d have to start by calling and apologizing for the whole grace abuser thing and for the words she’d put in Drew’s mouth. That would be as hard as this conversation had been. “I’m going to work on the siding for a while.”
Left to himself,Gannon wrote rough versions of two songs in the eight hours following his conversation with Harper. Music hadn’t come this easily in ages, but powerful emotions had always served his creativity well.
His phone lay face down on the desk near where he sat with his guitar. He flipped it over to check the time. Only five thirty in the morning, and notifications covered the display. Their flight to Minnesota for the weekend’s engagements would depart in a few hours, assuming the trip hadn’t been canceled.
He’d chosen a bad time to go dark, but if anything had needed his immediate attention, Tim knew where to find him. Gannon scrolled through the backlog.
His publicist had left a voicemail about the radio interviews scheduled for the weekend. “I told them to ask about Harper. Here’s what you’ll say: ‘I don’t know how a simple friendship has fueled so many dramatic rumors, but the truth hasn’t changed. Harper English is a friend. I’d never dream of hurting her, and with a little fact-checking it’d be obvious I’ve been nowhere near her for weeks.’ Don’t confirm the bruises or the stairs or the fact that she was at your place. We’re keeping it simple. Friendship, truth, fact-check.”
He repeated the words she’d supplied to the equipment-filled studio before moving on to his text messages.
The oldest was from Harper.You owe me.She’d followed up with a string of emojis, all blowing kisses.
What had she done now? Hopefully something helpful instead of something that would throw more gas on the fire.
Before he resorted to searching online to find out, the next text, from Lina, Awestruck’s social media manager, caught his eye.Harper posted a video, in case you haven’t seen it.
Gannon hurried to tap the link.
“Hi, darlings.” Harper’s fingers fluttered as she smiled at the camera. “You’ve all been so concerned about me. It’s the most touching thing, how you’re all these wonderful people who are so ready to stand up for me.”
Had she summoned tears? It looked like it, but she blinked quickly and moved on. “It’s the sweetest, and I’m beyond flattered. So I’m hopping on to let you know that I’m totally okay.”
She moved the phone farther out to include more of her body in the frame. She gave a shrug with a coy smile, then brought the camera closer again. “I did take a little tumble when I was at my dear friend Gannon’s house, but he’s off in Wisconsin. He wasn’t even there, friends. He didn’t hurt me. He let me stay at his place even though he wasn’t there because, you know, we have a very special relationship, he and I.”
She wiggled her eyebrows and seemed about to burst with a secret.
Gannon glared at the screen. She might be clearing up one rumor, but she was on a mission to ignite another. What would Adeline think of this? And Colton?
But wait. Was she once again at it with her evasion techniques? Harper had cleared his name, but she’d never said she’d been alone. She’d never said someone else hadn’t been involved in that “tumble.”
She praised her fans some more, thanked them for their concern, told them she loved them, and signed off.
Gannon heaved a sigh and ran a hand over his face.
He still had doubts about what had happened, and he would’ve given her a different script, but what she’d said seemed to have done the trick. Most of the comments on the video were positive.
Thank you, Lord.
He clicked back over to his messages.
The next one came from Tim.Harper’s video did some good. There are still skeptics, but they don’t appear to have organized a protest at the show.
Despite his relief, Gannon knew better than to believe this would be the last he’d hear of the accusations. Most likely, tabloids would still run with it. Some fans would doubt Harper’s sincerity in the video—Gannon couldn’t blame them when he had questions of his own.
Tim had messaged again a couple of hours later, in the middle of the night. The guy had been up late, if he’d gotten any sleep at all.The venue’s agreed to go ahead.
Thanks for your work on this,Gannon typed.Any progress on the surveillance tape?
Tim’s reply arrived immediately, confirming Gannon’s suspicion that he hadn’t slept.Didn’t think we still needed it.
I’d like to see it. The situation still didn’t sit right with Gannon. Finding out whether Harper had been alone that night would either put his mind at ease that she’d been alone or get him that much closer to the identity of the abuser.
